“The security detail was helping them,” she whispered in shock. “They had to be. Tammy deactivated the alarm on the back door when she went to the bathroom, but they should have known that. The safeguards would have warned them of that.”
“Damn, she’s a bright one, Kiowa. You might want to consider keeping her.” Simon’s glowing praise was slightly mocking.
Bastard.
“Why would they do that?” She shook her head, refusing to turn and even glance at Kiowa. If she looked at him, saw his eyes, his mouth, she would be a goner. “I can almost understand Tammy if it’s money. Kylie is so sick. But why did the guards help?”
“Well, that’s one we’re trying to figure out,” Simon answered her. “Who’s this Tammy person anyway?”
She quickly explained what had occurred with Kylie’s mother. The trip to the bathroom, Amanda seeing that the alarm had been deactivated. As she spoke, she had to forcibly push back the building awareness of the man at her side and the slowly rising hunger. It was like a demon inside her, claws raking at her womb, demanding the hard thrust of his cock, the white-hot release of his se**n.
“Rumor drifted in that the hit would be made just after Dash made contact with the Feline Breeds,”
Stephanie revealed, her voice soft, obviously less antagonistic than the two chest-beaters sharing the vehicle with them. “We were delayed in putting together a plan to protect you when his wife, Elizabeth, went into labor. As soon as they were able to travel, Dash met with your father. He didn’t seem to take the threats seriously.”
Amanda couldn’t control the hitch in her breathing then. Neither her brother nor her father had taken a threat against her seriously? They hadn’t even told her?
“You’re lying,” she whispered then. “My parents wouldn’t risk my life.”
“They put a damned good detail on you,” Kiowa assured her. “The four men protecting you are the best. All he had to go on was a rumor, no hard intelligence. And I believe you refused to move into the White House for any length of time.”
Sarcasm colored his voice now.
But he was right, she had refused to move into the official Presidential home for any reason. The fight had been a bitter one. Why hadn’t he told her there might have been a threat? She might have changed her mind.
No, she amended that thought, she wouldn’t have. She was high on her own independence, her new job, her friends and her home. She would have required proof, not rumor.
“What now?” she asked then.
“Now, we get you to safety then contact your father,” Kiowa answered her sharply. “And we keep you there until the vote on Breed Law comes up next week. With your safety assured, President Marion will vote the bill in rather than shoot it down because you have a gun at your head.”
“And since you’ve mated with a Breed, why everything’s just going to be peachy now,” Simon drawled mockingly. “Ain’t we all lucky?”
She would have jerked up if Kiowa’s hand hadn’t suddenly pressed her back down.
“What the hell is he talking about?” she snarled, flipping around as she held the blanket close to her nakedness.
“Ignore him. He’s a twit,” Kiowa advised, his voice dangerously soft.
“Funny, he doesn’t sound like a twit. An ass**le maybe, but not a twit,” she pointed out furiously. “Why did he say that?”
“Because he wants to cause trouble. Simon likes causing trouble. Don’t you, Simon?”
Amanda did not trust his tone of voice in the least.
“Oh yeah, trouble is just my middle name, ain’t it, Steph?” he drawled.
“Or something,” she replied. The underlying messages were driving Amanda crazy.
“You’re lying to me,” she told Kiowa then. “Why lie to me now?”
He breathed in roughly. “Look, Manda, it’s about as clear as daylight that you don’t want to know anything more than you already do. Just stay down and leave things alone for now. We’ll talk later.”
“I don’t want to talk later,” she replied with all the false sweetness she could muster. “I want to talk now. I want to know why the hell he called me your mate and just exactly what being a mate entails.”
His brow lifted sardonically. “As you stated earlier, you are very well aware of what an animal is. You figure it out.”
She could feel herself paling. It didn’t help the heat building in her pu**y.