That middle name never failed to make his lips quirk, whether in disgust or amusement he was never certain.
As he turned to the next tunnel, Tanner paused, a growl rumbling in his throat at the sound of an almost animalistic keening echoing from the cavern.
There was no way anyone could have invaded the caverns without him knowing. Jerking the electronic remote to the sensors from the holder at his side, Tanner deactivated the automatic lights before crouching and moving quickly toward the main chambers.
He could smell terror, thick and cloying. Scheme’s terror.
The small, guttural sounds of uncontrolled hysteria sliced through his soul and brought the Bengal lurking just beneath the surface to violent life. Tanner could feel his lips peeling back in a silent snarl as he tested the air, but found no scent other than Scheme and her terror.
His night vision picked up the area, if not perfectly, then with enough clarity to be certain no enemies were lurking or waiting for him.
A frown pulled at his brow as he slid silently into the cavern.
“I don’t know anything,” she sobbed. “Please. Please turn the lights on. Please, Tanner…” Her weeping was strained, exhausted. Hysterical.
“Scheme?” Tanner moved quickly across the room, finding her huddled in the middle of the cavern floor, naked, her hair and arms wrapped around her body as she curled on the cold stone defensively.
Kneeling next to her, he reached for her, his fingers curling around her arms when she erupted.
Clawed fingers raked his cheek as her cry shattered his senses. There was no sanity in that cry. There was only pain, fear and the need to escape.
“Scheme.” He gripped her wrists, jerking her to him, trying to hold on to her as she fought like a wildcat. One small fist found the side of his head, her knee came impossibly close to his sensitive balls.
Fractured sobs echoed around him as he restrained her. He wrapped his arms around her from the back, locking her to his chest as one powerful arm held her and the other reached for the button of the remote at his side.
Soft, gentle light filled the room as she suddenly stilled. And then he got his first look at her face.
Deathly pale, her brown eyes nearly black, her face streaked with tears. The sight of it was heartbreaking. Enraging. This was not a normal reaction to being caught in the dark.
“I don’t know anything,” she cried again as he allowed her to jerk away from him, rising quickly to his feet as she stumbled back to the bed. “Leaving me in the dark won’t change that.”
“You think I left you in the dark to punish you?” he asked her slowly, grief filling his soul at the implications of her hysteria.
“Didn’t you?” Her voice was shaking, hoarse, as she jerked the quilt from the bed and wrapped it around her shuddering body. “The lights wouldn’t come on. There was no power to the appliances.” She was gasping, fighting for breath as she tightened her hold on the quilt and moved to the bottom of the bed. “Do you really think it’s going to work?” she screamed, her expression twisting painfully.
“Think what is going to work?” He wanted her in his arms. He couldn’t bear to see the remnants of terror that filled her expression.
“Do you think turning the lights off here is worse than being tied hand and foot in a f**king coffin? You son of a bitch, you don’t have a clue.”
Rage, uncontained, filled with pain, fear, with the resounding echo of horror, filled her voice and filled Tanner’s soul.
“Someone buried you alive?” It was all he could do to keep his voice calm, to keep the outrage and fury out of his voice.
Her laugh was bitter, cynical. “Oh, really, Tanner. You’ve investigated me. Watched me. For how long? Were you watching me the last time I disappeared for a few days?”
He had been. He nodded slowly.
“Would you like to know where I was?” Her voice was low, guttural.
“You were at your father’s estate,” he said. “You stayed a week.”
“I was buried alive in a coffin, in my father’s basement, because my profile of his favorite Coyote was weak. The Coyote was spying on Father for the Breeds and got away with it. I paid for it. Or did you already know that, Tanner? Tell me, did you know the punishment I would receive when Cyrus found out your Coyote was working for you?”
His hand clenched at his side. That had been his decision, placing the Coyote in Tallant’s camp, using him to gain information not just on Tallant, but on Scheme. But this wasn’t in that Coyote’s report.
“For three days, Tanner,” she snarled. “I was locked in a coffin, my hands and feet tied while a goddamned electronic voice counted down the hours of oxygen I had left.”
The animal inside him roared in rage. A rage so black, so violent, he had to restrain the need to leave, to go hunting for the bastard who would dare to do something so evil to her.