She closed her eyes, remembering his smile, his laughter—
“It’s not in you not to love, Gypsy. I raised you better than that.” The memory of the conversation that had come on the heels of yet another forgotten birthday by her parents surprised her.
“I don’t need their stupid old presents or their happy birthdays.” She shrugged, her arms crossed tight over her aching chest. “They don’t matter to me. No one matters but you.” She looked into his somber eyes. “You never forget my birthdays, do you, Mark?”
His smile was incredibly gentle. “And I’ll never forget one of them,” he promised. “How could I forget the day my favorite girl started screaming like someone was killing her when she heard my voice?”
He’d told her that story so many times.
“But I shut up when you held me.” She finished it for him with a smile.
The hug he gave her had eased the hurt, as had the cake and the surprise pizza party in town with several of her friends from school.
But her parents hadn’t been there. Her sister hadn’t been there. They’d been in California on another business trip. Mark had refused to go, but Gypsy hadn’t been invited.
He wouldn’t have blamed her, she thought. But he wouldn’t have blamed her for his death either.
“What do I do?” she whispered into the silence of the bedroom. “What do I do with my life now, Mark?”
Because she knew, once she let Rule take her to his bed, Mark would really be gone in ways he hadn’t been in the past nine years. And despite the aching regret, the pain, she knew it was inevitable.
Rule Breaker. The name said it all. Because he was making her break the rules she had lived by. Forcing her to realize she was more than just Mark’s sister.
And that was something she had never wanted to do.
...
Listening to the lost, pain-filled voice through the audio device Jonas had placed in her room, Rule lowered his head and rubbed at the bridge of his nose in frustration.
Dammit, he should be there with her. Holding her.
Behind him, Jonas was quiet as well, and Rule swore he could feel the emanations of the director’s regret.
“We’ve had that f**king bug in her room for a week now, Jonas,” he growled, still furious that it had been placed there without his knowledge. “If she were meeting with anyone there, we would know it.”
The director was becoming more calculating, he thought. The device had been in place for two days before he’d gotten around to telling Rule about it. Not that Jonas told him everything, but this he would have expected to know about.
“I still remember that night,” Jonas sighed behind him. “She didn’t cry. I don’t think she’s ever cried, because each time she’s in my presence I swear I can feel those tears ripping her apart.”
No, she hadn’t. And Rule felt it himself, just as he’d felt the pressure inside her increasing later.
“Then stop this f**king investigation,” he snarled, pushing the desk chair back with heavy force as he came to his feet. “Leave her the f**k alone.”
He faced the other Breed as he rounded on him, watching the silver mercury in Jonas’s eyes swirl like storm clouds boiling on the horizon.
“I don’t smell Mating Heat,” Jonas stated casually.
“What, one of your schemes not working so well this time, Mate Matcher?” he accused furiously.
“My schemes always work, Rule, one way or the other. You should know that by now. The question here is, am I scheming?” Jonas pointed out without so much as a hint of arrogance. He was pure confidence instead. That was what pissed off his enforcers the most.
“You’re always scheming,” he growled, pacing to the bar for a drink, all too aware of the silent presence of his brother Lawe and Lawe’s mate, Diane.
“That’s enough, Jonas,” Lawe spoke up.
Rule flicked his brother a look of false amusement as anger pounded at his temples. “Still trying to protect me, big brother?”
“No more than you still try to protect me, little brother,” Lawe answered quietly.