She and sleep were not close personal acquaintances. But she and the nightmares that followed her were.
“That Breed won’t be easy to turn away,” he told her. “And getting the information we need will be impossible if you ignore him.”
“Getting the information you need will be impossible if I sleep with him, remember?” she said, mocking him. “If I sleep with him, then you’ll no longer answer my calls.”
“I have voice mail. Leave a message. I’ll always listen.”
Gypsy narrowed her gaze on him as he slowly straightened from his position against the door frame.
“Are you rescinding the terms of my participation?” she asked slowly.
“That’s not possible,” he sighed heavily. “But should you break the terms of your participation, it doesn’t mean I’ll completely desert you. I’ll just refuse to work with you further.”
“Have you ever considered how ignorant that would be?” she asked him as she shook her head, disbelief reflecting in her voice now. “The information I pull in for you in a week’s time amazes even me. I never use a computer, I never endanger myself or my friends, but you still get more information than you know what to do with. Would you really cut me off like that?”
“Of course.”
Disbelief coursed through her. “For God’s sake, why?”
“The same reason we should have cut your brother off when he and Thea Lacey became lovers. He became careless,” he stated, his voice harsh now. “I won’t take that risk with you.”
“Mark wasn’t the one who became careless,” she sneered. “And we both know it.”
“Gypsy.” It was one of the few times he used her name.
“Don’t Gypsy me.” Anger surged through her.
Finishing the beer, she tossed the bottle in the trash before turning on the warrior furiously. “I was careless. And I refuse to discuss it. Now tell me why you’re here, or leave so I can shower.”
Silence stretched between them. A lengthy, tension-filled silence that warned her that the warrior was seriously considering continuing the confrontation.
God, don’t let him continue the confrontation, she thought painfully. She didn’t think she could bear it.
Finally, he shook his head, breathing out heavily.
“The information we suspected the Breeds have on the Unknown has been confirmed. We have a leak among our contacts, and we need to know who that leak is. We need you to find out who that leak is.”
A leak?
“How many contacts do you have, exactly?” she asked then, tamping down her anger from moments before as she stared back at him suspiciously.
“The number wouldn’t help you,” he told her, the arrogance that was so much a part of him reminding her far too much of Commander Breaker.
“Okay then, a list of known contacts?” she asked instead.
“Such a thing doesn’t exist.”
When she would have argued that statement, his hand lifted in a gesture of silence before he continued. “There are six of us, and each of us has our own contacts that we’re forbidden to identify. Even we have rules we have to abide by, Whisper.”
How shocking.
“Forbidden to identify,” she murmured, disgust curling at her lips. “Why doesn’t that surprise me? That would just make it far too easy, wouldn’t it?”
“I thought you’d see it that way,” he agreed as though perfectly serious. “You enjoy doing everything else the hard way, I thought you’d appreciate that one too.”
Clenching her teeth as her lips thinned, she propped her hands on her hips and faced him, knowing he would clearly read the mocking suspicion in her face.
“So how am I supposed to figure out who this contact is?” she snapped. “Am I supposed to sleep with Rule and forever give up my own dreams to do so?”