“Enough, Liza.” Claire’s voice was firm, unaffected, despite the glitter of pain in her eyes as Liza turned to glance at her. “I’m tired, and I’m certain you are as well. I’m leaving now.”
“You’re leaving with us,” Ray stepped forward, only to stop as Cavalier moved to block his path. “You’ll leave with us or you and Liza can both forget about coming back to work until this situation is entirely resolved. I won’t allow you to risk yourself so easily nor do I believe we should place the Nation in such jeopardy as well.”
He was lying.
Neither the Nation headquarters nor the Nation itself was in any danger, Liza and Claire were. Taking their jobs seemed more to be his way of punishing them for refusing to obey him.
“I’ve already e-mailed my resignation,” Claire surprised her with her answer. “And I’m sorry, Father, for all the trouble you’ve been caused.”
There were no tears, her voice wasn’t husky, but Liza swore she could feel the pain tearing at her friend. That she could feel the gut-wrenching pain as well as the sense of complete abandonment that filled her as she left the room, Dog ahead of her, as Mutt and Mongrel followed behind.
“Why do I have a feeling neither of us will be returning when this is over?” Liza asked of the two men.
Audi was staring at his friend as though he didn’t know him, while Maria had stepped away from him, turned her back on him and was obviously drying her eyes. Ray himself watched her, dry eyed, but his expression pulled in lines of doubt and uncertainty. Unlike the others watching him, Liza could see the torment raging through him.
What was driving these two men? What fears and emotions had caused each of them to come here, one to attempt to protect his daughter, the other who appeared intent on driving her away?
“When it’s over, the jobs will be there if you want them.” Ray shrugged as though it didn’t matter, but his dark eyes glittered with torment.
“No wonder Jonas questions the honesty to be found between the two of you where this situation is concerned,” Liza whispered painfully. “I question it myself.”
Casting the Martinezes one last glare, Liza turned and moved to the door as well.
“Stygian, after getting Ms. Johnson and Ms. Martinez settled, I’d like a moment of your time to discuss a few things,” Jonas requested.
Stygian nodded shortly before opening the door and stepping from the suite. After a quick look along the hall, he turned back and nodded to her and Claire before he and Dog’s team escorted them from Jonas’s suite.
There was something surreal about the trip to the luxurious suite they had been given this time. As hard as Liza tried, once again her attempts to hide within herself were foiled, and with each step her confusion grew.
See, she told herself, this was why she had panicked earlier. Why the fear had taken such a hold of her once she learned Gideon was in town and asking about her and Claire. At any other time she would have allowed herself to pull back, to step behind a veil of emotionlessness, fearlessness. It made it easier to fight when there was no fear of the consequences. No fear of dying.
“Are you okay?” Stygian asked after the room had been thoroughly checked and Claire escorted to her room by Dog and his team.
She didn’t like the look on Claire’s face or the bitter knowledge in her friend’s gaze. It was as though she had been looking at a stranger.
She turned back to Stygian, the man who assured her he was her mate, taking in the jeans, dark T-shirt and sober expression as he stood silently and watched her. His expression was uncompromising, his gaze flickering with blue demand. There was no give in him, but he wasn’t taking either.
He was demanding a partner. He was demanding a woman that she wasn’t certain existed.
The long, soft strands of black hair were tied back at the nape of his neck, revealing the powerful, savage features of his face that only amplified the glitter of blue in his gaze. He looked like a warrior. Her warrior.
“Answer me, Liza,” he demanded. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine.” What more could she say? What more could she feel?
“Don’t lie to me.” Before she could turn away, he had her chin in his hand, forcing her head back, catching her gaze and holding it with his. “Something’s wrong, I can feel it. Something more than Gideon, your parents, Claire’s or Jonas’s suspicions.”
“You can smell it?” She snorted. “And don’t you think that would be enough to ruin any girl’s day?”
“No, I can feel it,” he repeated, ignoring the latter. “I don’t have to smell your emotions. You’re my mate, I’ll always sense them.”
This was impossible to believe, yet she knew he wasn’t lying. She could see the truth of the statement in his gaze.
“I needed this, didn’t I? This mating stuff?” she asked, resigned, almost amused at the lack of anger she felt. She should have been furious with him. “What have you done to me, Stygian? Why did you do it?”
She couldn’t escape. There was no way to retreat any longer. And as much as she had hated that distance as a child, as a teenager, she’d found she’d learned to rely on it as an adult. She wished, at this moment, that she could still access it. Because it would have made this Gideon situation a hell of a lot easier to deal with.
“What have I done to you?” There was that primal growl in his voice as his head dipped, his gaze becoming intent as he stalked around her in a tight circle. “Have I harmed you, mate? Have I stolen from you or somehow marred you?”