"The dowdy clothes. Your hair twisted into that perfect, tight little bun. It keeps everyone at a distance. It shouts Go away. But I didn't go away."
Not yet he hadn't.
"No, you haven't gone away," she finally whispered. And she wondered what she would do when he did.
That small warning instinct inside her wouldn't stop. It continued to echo caution, and she continued to ignore it.
But she hated the dress and the shoes more than she had when she put them on. His arguments had made her remember the few dresses she owned that made her feel alive. The ones she longed to dress in, the ones that fit the makeup she preferred, the heels she loved. And she was reminded each time she "dressed up" that she was alone. There was no one to see her. Because she had always been safer alone.
She couldn't be broken, if no one knew her well enough to break her.
Until now.
Through the ride back to Sanctuary, and their entrance into the secured glittering beauty of the mansion, Mercury's accusations played within her mind.
She glimpsed Dane across the ballroom, immersed in talks with several of the high-level corporate shareholders she had investigated in the past. Dane moved among the crowd, his silver eyes watching everything, the blond lawyer he was rumored to be involved with at his side.
Breeds filled the mansion in dress uniform, as did Kane Tyler's personal security force, the men he had brought with him when he came to Sanctuary in those first steps the Breeds had taken into the world.
She moved through the room with Mercury, watching the gazes that slid over her, dismissing her. They always dismissed her, and until now she had never realized how much she hated dressing down to allow for it.
Mercury saw something completely different. As they moved around the room and he introduced her to the men and women present for the party, he saw how many recognized her name or her.
He saw how easily her cool, stark beauty intimidated others. The women saw the simplicity of her clothes and the regal grace that showed through, and they moved on. The men took one look at her on Mercury's arm, and most knew fear at the thought of tempting a Breed's anger over his woman. It wasn't done. To become forward with a Breed mate was to take one's life in one's own hands.
And he felt her dissatisfaction. Her need to let all that wildfire inside her free. She only let herself go when he was taking her, loving her. But that fire burned inside her eternally.
He could see her in reds garnets and the vivid scarlet. She would light up the night with her long hair, high heels and the dresses he knew she would love. And she would light up everyone around her.
But she was frightened. He could feel her fear, and it pricked at the animal he could feel stretching inside himself, called free by that primal response in the woman he loved.
He hadn't felt that instinct in over eleven years. Until her fear. Until the smell of it as they entered Sanctuary drifted around him and he felt it come awake inside him, stretching past the bonds of control, easing into his mind. Watching. Waiting.
And more. He felt something more, and it made no sense.
As they mingled and talked, she sipped at her champagne and watched the CEO of Engalls Pharmaceuticals as closely as decorum allowed.
She could feel Mercury's tension beside her, increasing as they chatted, working closer to Horace Engalls, one of the men information was flowing to, and his snobbish wife, Cara Brandenmore Engalls.
Ria ran the information she had on the woman through her head quickly. There was nothing significantly important about Cara. She was on the board of both Engalls Pharmaceuticals and Brandenmore Research, of which Engalls was a division.
She was the daughter of Phillip Brandenmore, married to the man her father had chosen for her. She was younger than Engalls by ten years and her voice had risen against Breed law when it came up for vote several years before. She was a powerful figure in her own little set, regarded with wariness and considered a formidable enemy.
Horace Engalls had begun courting Sanctuary years ago in the hopes of acquiring Breeds to strengthen his security on his labs. He'd been turned down repeatedly. But he and Brandenmore both were associates of a very powerful senator that Sanctuary liked to keep happy. Which meant the two men had the invitations the senator requested for them.
Ria knew Cara well, just as she had known Cara's mother before Phillip Brandenmore divorced her.
"Ria, my dear, what are you doing here?" Cara's cool, superior smile hid the heart of a viper as she glanced at where Ria's hand rested on Mercury's arm. "And with a . . . man." The pause had Ria's eyes narrowing. "I'm surprised Dane allowed it."
Ria arched her brow. "Dane's my employer, Cara, not my brother."
"I always assumed much more." Cara's laughter was light, vicious. "Perhaps I was wrong?"
"Perhaps you were," Ria told her. "I haven't seen Phillip tonight, though." She glanced around the room, looking for Cara's father. "I'd hoped to say hello to him."
"He had an unexpected stop to make at the airport on the way." Cara's lips curved in smug satisfaction. "His newest little playmate, I believe, was delayed. He should be here momentarily."
"I hope to see him before I leave then." Ria smiled tightly, nodding to her as well as Horace. "Perhaps we can get a chance to talk later."