“The Breed Cabinet convenes monthly for ideas,” he told her then. “You can attend the meeting and propose it.”
Her lips twitched. “I can just see Jonas embracing it, let alone the parents of those children. Breeds are very stubborn, I’ve noticed.”
“So are you.” He gripped her arm, turning her toward the sheltered, camouflaged area farther behind the house. “All you have to do is fight for it.”
She might have a chance if she had a hope of having children herself.
“Live for it,” he whispered a second later.
Scheme jerked her gaze away, staring instead into the dappled sunlight that pierced the netting into the yard.
“Tanner,” she began to protest.
“Scheme.” He crowded her. His larger body seemed to surround her as he backed her into a small grotto of flowering bushes.
“I’m not trying to die, you know,” she bit out, frustrated by the needs of her own body and the need to learn as much as she could to figure out the identity of the assassin within Sanctuary. “This isn’t helping me do my job.”
“I don’t want you to do your f**king job,” he growled. “I want you back in the house. I want you safe until this is over.”
“And how is it supposed to be over?” she hissed back. “I can help here.”
“Not until that spy is caught.”
“I’m the only one who can draw that bastard out.” Her whisper was frustrated. “He won’t try to kill me; he’ll try to take me. Try working with me for a change.”
They had raged over this argument since early that morning, and still Tanner refused to see sense. The only reason she had made it out of the house to begin with was because Cabal had finally out-argued his brother. And Tanner hadn’t been pleased over it.
“I’ve had enough.” His lips drew back from his teeth, red flickering in that golden gaze. “We’ve been out here for more than a half hour, plenty of time to draw him out if he was going to be drawn.”
Her eyes narrowed. “You know better than that, Tanner,” she argued. “I need more time.”
“Time for him to load his rifle and get in place for the shot?” he asked, his voice dangerously calm.
She scoffed. “Not hardly. Time for Cabal to see who’s watching and how close. That’s all the spy will do until he makes his move.”
She lifted her hand to touch his face, marveling at the perfection of it, at least to her. The strong planes and savage angles. The fallen-angel sensuality and long, shielded golden eyes.
“I don’t want to die,” she said. “I want to live and laugh, and fight with you for years to come, but we won’t have that chance if the spy doesn’t show himself.” Her voice dropped. “You know that as well as I do.”
“You terrify me,” he growled. “Waiting around on a bullet is no way to fight back.”
“Trust me Tanner, there will be no bullet.” She let her lips twitch with amusement. “But he will make plans. He’ll watch. He’ll test security. All we need is one mistake and then you can take him down. I promise not to interfere in that.”
“That’s big of you.” He wasn’t in the least placated.
Scheme shrugged as she stared around the grounds. “It will never be easy for either of us, Tanner, you know that. Father will always be waiting for me.”
“He doesn’t have to live forever.” His head lowered, the red in his eyes deepening.
Scheme backed up sharply, her eyes widening. “What are you talking about? For God’s sake, Tanner, what are you planning? You can’t kill him any more than he can kill you without it backfiring.”
His expression instantly closed. “All I’m concerned with is keeping you alive,” he snapped, his fingers curling around her arm as he headed to the back door. “Nothing more.”
“I’m getting sick of you dragging me around like this.” She jerked at her arm. “And I’m getting really sick of you treating me like a dimwit.”
“You are a dimwit,” he snapped as he pulled her into the house. “You just put yourself in danger like tomorrow doesn’t matter.” The back door slammed behind him. “Just f**k it, as far as you’re concerned it’s going to be done your way, period.”
“It’s not like that.”