“Look.” Scheme finally inhaled deeply. “Just give her the benefit of a doubt before you do anything harsh. You asked me to trust you; now I’m asking you to trust me. I’m telling you, you lock that kid up in a cell and terrorize her, and you’ll regret it.”
“Beats regretting the possible consequences if I don’t. Your death,” he pointed out.
“Trust me, Tanner. She’s not your spy.”
“Are you willing to bet your life on it?” he asked her then.
Was she? Was she ready to put herself that firmly on the line for a Breed she knew only through her lab files? Lab files filled with failures, punishments, and years of living with the knowledge that she would die because of those failures. Even the psychologists assigned to try to mend whatever was broken within the girl to make her productive hadn’t been able to fix her.
Jolian Brandeau was one of the few Breeds that clearly stood out in Scheme’s mind. Because everything in her initial psych files had pointed to a strong, adaptable Breed female. But nothing in her performance had proved it.
“At this point,” she finally answered him, “I’m not willing to bet my life on anyone but you and Jonas. But something tells me you and Cabal had better walk a very fine line with that kid, because breaking her would be easier than you believe.”
“And you say that because of her files,” Tanner pointed out. “Files that could have been wrong, Scheme. I could smell her guilt while she stood there facing us. I could smell her attempts to hide something. Files are not always right.”
“No, I say that because of her eyes,” she said softly. “She has very sad, very old eyes, Tanner. And whatever was going on here, whatever she was hiding, it wasn’t an attempt to kill. Your harsh attitude with her hurt her. That’s not something that can be faked as easily as you think it can be. Don’t focus on her and risk overlooking the real threat.”
“I’ll overlook nothing. No one.” Before she could evade him, he had her in his arms; his hands were tugging at her sweatshirt as he pressed her against the back of the love seat, jerking the sweatshirt up and over her head before he moved to her pants. “Because I’d die without this.”
His hand cupped between her thighs, causing her to lift to her tiptoes as sensation slammed inside her. Pleasure. Oh God, the pleasure was so intense that sometimes she felt she would die from it.
“Feel that,” he rasped, his fingers massaging her wet flesh, stroking her, sending tendrils of sensation to race through every nerve ending. “Feel it, Scheme. Do you want to lose this forever?”
Before she could answer, before she could form a coherent reply, his lips were on hers and he was bracing her on the back of the love seat, spreading her thighs, releasing his c**k and pressing between the saturated folds of her sex.
Her arms wrapped around his neck, her knees tightened on his hips, as he began to work inside her. Stroke her, stretch her. And bind her soul tighter to him.
She could feel that each time he touched her. Each time she felt his kiss on her lips, ravishing her, sipping at the passion that rose between them, hotter, wilder, more intense than anything she had ever known in her life.
Yes, the mating heat stole control. But Tanner had stolen her control before this heat had ever begun. He had stolen her heart. No matter what came later. No matter what happened in the future, she knew she had found something more than blinding desire and heated lust.
She had found Tanner.
She had found trust.
As his h*ps moved between hers, his tongue tasted her, let her taste him. The mix of rich, dark desire and stormy passion filled her senses. The taste of him was exquisite. She needed more. She craved more.
His pelvis caressed her cl*t with each stroke, rasped against it, sensitized it as his c**k began slamming inside her, thrusting so hard and deep she was screaming her pleasure into his kiss. Screaming, begging with each cry, then tearing her lips from his as her orgasm exploded through her.
The pleasure was rich and hot, washing through her with the force of a tidal wave and leaving her shaking, shuddering in the wake of a release she still couldn’t get used to. It was like this every time. Each time he touched her, took her, possessed her. Riotous and soul-deep. Profound satisfaction and an intimacy that shook her to her core.
“Be careful, damn you,” he panted at her ear then, his hands caressing over her as he lifted her and carried her to his bed. “Please God, Scheme, let me protect you. Let me keep you safe.”
She smiled as he lay down and pulled her close to him, tucking her against his sweat-dampened body as his arms held her tight, possessively.
“How about I let you help protect me?” she asked then. “Don’t discount me, Tanner. I’ve survived ten years on the Tallant estate. I can’t just sit back and wait for you to fix everything now.”
“And I can’t handle the thought of you being in danger,” he argued. “Your father will stop at nothing to kill you, Scheme. He deals in positives. He didn’t kill a Breed without proof that he was a failure. He doesn’t kill his people without proof of betrayal. He knows you’ve betrayed him now. He won’t miss an opportunity to take you out.”
“But it will have to be dealt with personally. I’m his daughter. He won’t tolerate another killing me now. Not after I escaped Chaz. Chaz was the only one he trusted to kill me with mercy, other than himself. He’ll have to do it himself, Tanner. Nothing else will satisfy him.”
She had given it a lot of thought, had considered each possibility and the placement of the spy in Sanctuary. It was dangerous, and there was always a chance she could be wrong, but she had never been wrong before, despite her deliberate mistakes. She was a better profiler than even her father understood. And she knew, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that Cyrus would have to kill her himself. He might not realize it yet. And Tanner might not believe it. But when it came right down to it, it would eat her father alive. He would have to punish her himself. He was her father. No one else had the right.
“He’ll never get you out of Sanctuary,” Tanner swore.
She hoped he couldn’t. But she knew her father, and she knew he had managed to do many things that others had believed impossible.
CHAPTER 27