He wasn't hiding from her. He wasn't manipulating her. And she knew Jonas well enough to know when he was doing exactly that.
"Sanctuary in sight," Jackal called out. "Prepare to disembark, Director. We have live fire still coming in. Duck and run."
The heli-jet swooped down, its engines powering down, vibrating through the cabin as it set down as close to the estate house as possible.
The door swung open. Rachel found herself held tight to Jonas's side, her feet off the ground as he jumped from the craft, raced across the short distance and toward the opened double doors, which led to the large underground lab network beneath the estate house.
Live fire burst around them from the mountainside. Jonas was shouting orders as Seth and Dawn raced behind them, completely surrounded by a formation of Breeds.
"We're in. We're in," Jonas called out as steel and cement surrounded them.
Jonas still held her tight against him, racing down the hallway and up a short flight of stairs before careening through a maze of tunnels until he reached the door he was searching for.
The door swung open as Merinus stepped out.
"In here." She was wild-eyed, her face streaked with tears. "Callan, Kane and Leo raced out of here minutes ago, after Harmony. A report came in that she was surrounded and Lance's uncles were unable to get to her. Elizabeth and Ely are with Lance but he's not awakened yet and communications can't contact any of them."
Rachel was set on her feet, but she found Jonas's arm still around her, his warmth surrounding her as Sherra, Callan's Pride sister and the woman who'd married Kane Tyler, and head of computer security, handed Amber to her.
Her baby.
Rachel buried her face against her little girl's neck, tears filling her eyes as her fear began to ease marginally.
"Rachel. I have to go."
Jonas was releasing her. His warmth was easing away.
"No. Not yet." She turned, clutching Amber to her. "Wait. Jonas . . ." She knew he wouldn't listen. She knew he couldn't listen.
Staring up into his eyes, she saw the torn loyalties. His need to stay with his mate, his need to save his people.
Swallowing tightly, she forced a smile to her face. "You have to go."
"I have to go." His hand lifted, his fingertips running across her lips. "I'll be back for you."
Fear was a desperate, agonized entity growing inside her. She didn't want to lose him. She'd fought with him for months, ached for him for just as long. She couldn't lose him until she knew where this was going.
"Hurry back," she whispered through numb lips as she fought to hold back the plea that he not leave at all.
"I'll hurry," he promised.
His head bent, his lips feathered over her cheek, and then, he truly was gone.
Minutes later, Jonas raced from the estate, dressed in black mission clothes rather than the tuxedo he had arrived in. Surrounded by Alpha Team One, which included Lawe, Rule and Mordecai, he ran for the waiting Raider.
There was no report on Harmony, Leo, Callan, Kane or the team sent in to cover them. They could be deliberately ignoring the calls, or, worst-case scenario, captured or killed.
He prayed, for the world's sake, that the latter was only a personal fear. There were enough Breeds banded together now that it would take more resources than America had to force them back into the labs, or to kill them.
The gunfire had stopped from the mountain above, the Breeds Leo had sent into the wilderness having finally succeeded in taking out the last of the sharpshooters firing on the house. It wasn't the men in the mountains he was worried about. It was his sister.
Harmony.
Her mate had nearly given his life for her once before; now, he had nearly given it for another, the son of a bitch. Jonas was definitely going to have to have a long talk with him about the proper way to take care of himself. That, or assign a damned detail to keep his ass out of trouble.
His sister Harmony, once known as the Breed assassin Death, didn't need more heartache in her life. She needed time to laugh, to love, to heal from the horror she had been trained within. A horror Jonas had unknowingly contributed to. And a chance to raise her infant son and watch him laugh, live, love and grow. A chance for more children, a life for herself that didn't include blood.
Death had been forced to die, and Harmony Lancaster had found a place in life, and in love, in the arms of her mate. Jonas intended to keep it that way.