She stared back at them blankly. It was one of the last times Chaz had touched her. Not that the experience hadn’t been pleasurable, but the hollow sense of shame that had filled her later had followed her for years. And now it was back.
“I had no idea Chaz was paying him for anything.” She forced herself to retreat mentally, emotionally. She couldn’t afford to feel shame or pain at this point. “All I knew was that he was a friend of Chaz’s.”
“Man, the men in your life managed to keep some hellacious secrets from you.” He clucked in mock sympathy. “Were you just too stupid to see how you were being used? Or did you enjoy it?”
“I enjoyed it,” she crooned, burying the flash of pain deep enough inside the dark little corner she reserved just for such occasions. For the times when the knowledge of her own stupidity cut into her like a hot blade. “Maybe Tanner should have let you watch. The two of you could have jacked off together while you played your little spy games.”
Cabal grimaced sarcastically. “Now, that’s just sick. You do have a twisted little mind, don’t you, Schemer?”
A knife slammed into the table in front of Cabal, point first, vibrating with an innate violence as Scheme’s gaze flew to Tanner.
“Keep it up, Cabal, and we’ll have words,” Tanner warned him. “Is that what you really want?”
“No, what I want is to figure out why the hell we have enforcers and Council soldiers jacking around in this mountain. How did they figure out who has her and where you’re hidden?” Cabal jerked the dagger from the table and stared back at his brother angrily.
“You’re a big boy,” Tanner informed him. “You’ll survive not getting exactly what you want. They’ll leave when they realize they’re not going to get what they want.”
“And both of you are beginning to get on my nerves,” she snapped as she turned to Tanner. “We need to talk. Get rid of Mr. Hyde here so we can do that. I believe your vacation is nearly up. We don’t have all year.”
“Does that make you Dr. Jekyll?” Cabal mused mockingly as he glanced at Tanner.
“Shut up, Cabal,” Tanner rasped again.
Scheme stared back at him, miserably aware that he was holding himself distant from her now. He hadn’t touched her since they entered the caverns, and now that Cabal was here, she could feel the chill in the air.
The sense of safety was rapidly evaporating.
“Tanner, please,” she whispered. “We need to talk.”
“Is that one of those hidden female messages for f**k me?” Cabal broke in. “Do I get to stay and play?”
Tanner stared back at him warningly.
Cabal grinned. “I think he’s waiting on permission from you, gorgeous. Can’t I play too?”
He was already playing, or attempting to play her by making her angry. Cabal wasn’t the joking sort. The only question was, was Tanner playing the game with him?
Of course he was. These two didn’t play alone, no matter the game. She should have expected Cabal to show up. Should have known he would be there. She was slipping bad, trusting a man, a Breed, when she knew better than to trust anyone.
“You two can play together all you like,” she informed them both coldly. “I’m not up for more games myself though, so you’ll have to count me out.”
Cabal’s grin widened, while Tanner stared back at her thoughtfully.
She turned and moved to the couch, lifted the remote for the television and pushed the power button. She flipped to the History Channel and settled back with her water, her mind running, plotting.
Tanner would make him leave soon, she told herself. Wouldn’t he? Surely he didn’t seriously mean to attempt to share her with him. Not now. Not when she needed to tell Tanner the truth, when she needed to accept everything he had been trying to give her for the past week.
Uncapping the water, she sipped at it as she focused her gaze on a documentary rerun on the marines, and her mind tried to deal with this new, surprising development. Her life was, quite literally, going to hell, and as of yet she had found no way to stop it.
Tanner had finally brought his brother in. Surprisingly, she hadn’t thought of that. As though some part of her had actually believed that he would consider her exclusively his. That he would maybe suggest using the mating clause in the Breed bylaws to protect her. If he claimed her as his woman, he could have taken her to Sanctuary and placed her under the Breeds’ protection rather than Breed Law.
She mentally kicked herself. What had ever made her even halfway believe such a thing would happen? She was hated. She was Cyrus Tallant’s daughter, his assistant, part of the organization that had created and tortured the Breeds for decades.
It didn’t matter that she had nearly given her life a dozen times over to save them. That on at least one occasion she had actually died from the torture her father had inflicted on her.
She blinked back the dampness in her eyes.
She should have known better. To claim her, he would have to love her. And that wasn’t going to happen. Ever. And no matter how hard her heart ached, no matter the regret that twisted through her and made her throat tighten, love wasn’t going to happen for her.