“Kane went ape shit when Dad showed him the box your mother had sent to him on her death,” she revealed. “I don’t know why, but I know he was hurt. Hurt and angry, but not at you. He spent months gathering evidence, working to reveal the Council members. He has a list from your shoulder to your elbow and a stack of proof against them that would terrify you.”
Callan narrowed his eyes on her.
“Why didn’t you tell me this before?” he asked her.
“I tried to tell you, but you never wanted to hear it.” She rolled her eyes at his abrupt question. “I told you we had everything taken care of. Did you think I would lie to you?”
“The hell if I knew what to think then, or now,” he grunted, shutting down the email program and pacing the floor. “I know we’ve been betrayed by someone close to us, and accusing your brother is a hell of a lot easier than the alternative.” Better than believing that one of his own would do it. He couldn’t get the thought out of his head that one of his own had betrayed him, or the memory of that scent in the caves, lingering on the flesh of the soldier.
“Who is the alternative?” Merinus asked him carefully. “Callan, Kane didn’t know we had mated, or whatever this is. He wasn’t even certain we were having sex. He suspected it, but he didn’t know it was anything deeper.”
“He would have known.” Callan frowned. He knew Kane had at least suspected that his sister was too emotionally involved with her lover to leave. The Council would have suspected the rest based on that.
Merinus sighed. “Maybe he would have, but he wouldn’t have betrayed me or you. He’s put too much into this, taken too many risks himself.”
“Why?” Callan snapped. “Why would he do this, just for a story? He didn’t need anything more than the proof Maria had to run it.”
Merinus bit her lip thoughtfully.
“I don’t know why,” she finally admitted. “All I know is that he did. And I know he’s been very upset since this came about, almost obsessed with it. He wouldn’t betray you, not just because of the risk to myself, but because of whatever is driving him as well.”
Callan growled low in his throat.
“That is such a sexy sound.” He turned in surprise at the aroused amusement in her voice. She was watching him, her body relaxed for a change, her head tilted thoughtfully.
“What is?” he asked her carefully.
“That growl in your voice,” she said, watching him with heavy lidded desire. “It makes me shiver, makes my body want to rub over all yours.”
Her heat wasn’t upon her yet. He smelled the air carefully. The scent of warm, willing woman was there, but not the desperate lust he was used to smelling when she wanted him. Callan watched her carefully, seeing nothing in her expression that would indicate that the chemically induced needs were riding her. There was no smell of it on the air, no desperation or tense muscles showing that would hint at her need. There was something elusive, though. Like the faintest fragrance of spring. He admitted to being more than a little confused now.
“Why are you looking at me like that?” She pushed her fingers through her hair, attempting to restore it to order. She still looked sexy and tousled though, warm and beckoning.
“You want me.” He was more than a little amazed by that fact.
“Well, duh,” she gave him a look that suggested she was beginning to suspect his intelligence. “Just figure that one out, Sherlock?”
Callan frowned.
“Woman, you are a snide creature.” He allowed the rumble in his chest to echo in his voice. Her face flushed, but her expression showed her knowledge that he was tempting her.
“I’m a bitch.” She was clearly laughing at him. “Ask Kane, he’ll tell you.”
The mention of her brother sobered him. He tucked his hands in the pockets of his jeans and paced to the window that he kept covered with heavy curtains. He didn’t look out, there was no need to. There was enough wildlife in the area that if he were being stalked here, he would know it. The birds would
stop singing, the frogs would ease their early evening serenade.
“Do you have a way of contacting him, other than the cell phone?” he asked her. She sighed, sobering. She was filled with laughter and hope, despite their circumstances. Her innocence amazed and terrified him.
“No, not really.” He glanced back as she shrugged. “Kane secured the phones we were using before I left so the calls couldn’t be hacked or traced. Both units have an indicator on them, in case the impossible happens and someone locks onto the channel. He took every precaution with them.”
Merinus’ unit was tucked in his pack. He had felt the vibration of it earlier in the morning when he had dug out the ammunition for his pistol.
“Either your brother or mine has betrayed us,” he told her, watching her face go blank with shock.
“We’re in trouble here, Merinus. The Council knows I’ve mated with you; they will stop at nothing to take you now. They did everything to breed us while we were in captivity, thinking our children would be easier to control than we were. If they take you, then they have me willingly, and they know that.”
He watched the fear that washed over her face. She swallowed tightly, her hands gripping the material of the shirt at her waist, her fingers turning white with the tension that invaded her body.