She had cared though.
Gritting his teeth, Gideon fought back the memory. She had cared to see him living, to see him tortured further. To see his hell extended in ways none of them could have envisioned.
He found it strange that Judd hadn’t told him who had aided them by slipping the other Breed the keys to his chains. Gideon had always wondered how Judd had managed to gain his freedom, but his injuries and the result of Judd and the girl’s attempts to save him hadn’t allowed for a question-and-answer session.
Gideon’s fists clenched as he moved to the window, standing to the side to gaze through the narrow crack at the side of the curtain. There he watched as the doors swung open on the black SUV and Lawe Justice and his brother, Rule Breaker, stepped from the interior to gaze up at the room Ms. Broen had taken.
Two other vehicles pulled in on each side, both similar to the one Justice and his brother were in. There were three Enforcers in each of those vehicles, a total of six to complete the eight-man team commanded by Justice and his brother.
Ms. Broen’s Breed was taking no chances with her safety. Seeing them, though, recognizing the threat they represented forced a growl from his throat. He’d known they would arrive soon, but the complication and the animal that threatened to overtake him sent a punch of adrenaline and feral fury surging through him.
They dared to attempt to get in his way? To attempt to steal the only solace he had, the only hope he had of finding the girl and gaining his vengeance? He wouldn’t allow it.
He would kill them all before he would allow them to steal all he had worked for or the only chance he would ever have at finding peace.
Lawe moved up the steps while Rule held back, staying close to the SUV. Gideon stepped to the table where the small receiver and headphones were set up.
The commander, Lawe Justice, was known to be the right hand of the director of the Bureau of Breed Affairs. If the director knew something, then Commander Justice knew it. He was curious as to what information could be gleaned in this meeting. Or if the woman inside the room would kick the Breed out as quickly as he had entered.
He’d known Justice would follow the little female mercenary. There was a scent on her that he had left. It wasn’t mating heat, and it wasn’t that brand of ownership male Breeds placed on their mated females. Still, though, it was a scent that warned other male Breeds away. One that lingered on her and assured a Breed that touching her would be territorial invasion.
The primal genetics that were so much a part of Gideon had drawn back in discomfort, uncertain about nearing the female any farther than he had when he’d brushed against her at the airport the other night.
Justice hadn’t mated her.
He’d done something far, far more primal.
Lawe Justice had somehow managed to mark her with just enough of his scent to ensure that any other Breed recognized his intent to mate her. She belonged to a powerful, dangerous primal being.
A Breed who would kill to keep what he had marked as his.
Lawe unlocked the door and eased it open. Slowly, he stepped into the hotel room Diane had taken for the night and glanced around the small room.
The sound of the shower running and the soft scent of her wafting from the bathroom assured him she was currently standing beneath the running water rather than watching from some shadowy corner, waiting to spring a trap.
She was actually damned good at that. She was as quiet as any Breed, just as capable and, when needed, just as merciless. She lacked only their strength. Their strength and their ability to call upon the DNA that added the extra surge of power, the rush of adrenaline infused with a feral hormone, which added to their strength and their lack of mercy.
The scent of her, beyond the artificial soy and almond scent of her soap and shampoos, reached out to him, causing him to close his eyes as a grimace of hunger pulsed in the engorged iron-hard length of his dick.
God, he swore her scent was that of peace, of solace. Whenever she was near he could feel those qualities attempting to slip past his guard.
The scent of her was like a beacon. She smelled of a spring rain and summer heat, which pierced him with a bolt of pure lust that tightened his balls and filled his c**k with a furious, burning sexual need.
She smelled of promises, and only God knew how he figured that one. It was a scent he couldn’t pin down, one that filled with warmth that went beyond lust and had his arms aching to hold her.
Just hold her.
To find and give comfort.
Comfort was another quality he’d never truly known and had no idea how he managed to identify it.
As he turned the dead bolt on the door, the bathroom door opened and a rush of steam spilled into the room. Before Lawe could draw in a breath, Diane stepped out and for a few precious seconds stole any chance he had of breathing.
Water beaded on her shoulders. A small rivulet coursed across her collarbone. Beneath the towel, her legs shimmered with a satiny smoothness that bespoke regular visits to salons for exfoliation. There were no razor marks, no redness from waxing. She was particular when it came to her body. She was rounded but toned, healthy but without the current fixation on being skinny.
She was, to the male and to the animal, perfection.
Arousal hit him instantly, throwing his senses into chaos as her soft freshness lanced through his control. He’d never imagined there was a break in the shields that kept emotion from weakening the formidable drive and determination he’d once had to never feel for another being.