"Reports, Harmony." Lance caught her eye, the warning in his gaze determined as he resnapped his shirt.
"Fine. Reports." She straightened her shirt again. "I swear, I never had to write a report when I killed the bastards. Slice their throats and walk away. No paperwork, no hassle. Unless you have a brother determined to kill you." She smiled snidely back at Jonas. He inclined his head in acknowledgment as she walked from the room. Snarling silently, she made her way to the desk and plopped into the hard wood seat before finding the papers she needed. Stupid reports. Assassins didn't file reports. This was ridiculous. ________
"How can I help you, Jonas?" Lance waved him to a chair before moving behind the desk and taking his own.
His body was humming with lust; the need to push the Breed out the door and finish what had begun on that sofa was nearly overwhelming.
Jonas took his seat, his expression as coldly mocking as ever. There was something about Jonas that both repelled and drew a person. It was there in those quicksilver eyes—a ruthlessness, a sense of purpose that you were never quite certain you could trust.
Lance knew he couldn't be trusted.
"Is she settling in okay?" Jonas leaned back in his chair, his expression curious.
"She's doing fine." Lance nodded. "But I have a feeling that's not exactly why you're here at…" He looked at the clock. "One o'clock in the morning."
"I was passing through." Jonas shrugged. "I've been at Megan and Braden's this evening. Braden told me you had changed your schedule so I thought I'd drop by." That was interesting. He had a feeling Jonas was never curious about anything; he always had an agenda.
"Cut the shit, Jonas," he growled. "Drop your little bomb and head on out. It doesn't take Harmony that damned long to write her reports, and I have a feeling that for the time being, you two are better off separated."
Jonas's lips quirked.
"In all seriousness, as I said, I merely stopped by to see how she was doing…"
"Or to see if she had conceived yet?" Lance leaned forward as he lowered his voice.
"Braden mentioned once that a Breed can smell new life. Were you curious enough to check and see if you had managed to defeat her?"
Jonas stared at him silently.
Lance shook his head wearily as he leaned back in his chair.
"I'm not a stupid man, Jonas. What do you want from her? You always have a reason for everything you do. You knew when you brought her here what would happen. Just as you knew the chances for early conception if she didn't get the hormonal supplement in time. Is she pregnant?"
Jonas's face was devoid of expression by the time Lance finished.
"What do you want from her, Jonas?" he asked him, his voice grating. "What put her in a situation you could almost bet she would fail within if your intent was to save her?" That bothered him. Jonas was her brother; his main concern should have been in making certain she succeeded, not in making it as hard for her as possible.
"Is she learning how to work within the law for a change?" Jonas asked, rather than answering the question.
"Perfectly," Lance snapped. "Now answer the question. What do you want from her?" Jonas stared back at him silently.
Lance shook his head. "Forget it. I'll figure it out eventually. And if I find out you're putting her in harm's way, I'll make you pay. Breed or not. You will pay, Jonas." Jonas had played with Megan and her loyalties the year before, attempting to blame Lance for the leak in the office, to force her into throwing herself into the nightmare of emotions caused by two Breed deaths. Megan's abilities to pick up on their emotions as they died had been important in the investigation to find their murderer. How he had attempted to maneuver her hadn't sat well with Lance, or Megan's then lover, Braden.
"I can see checking up on her is a useless endeavor then." Jonas rose to his feet, his expression forbidding as their gazes clashed. "Keep a leash on her, Lance. I'd hate to have to give her over to Breed Law if she crosses the line again." Lance came slowly to his feet. "And I'd hate to have to kill you if you tried, Jonas," he answered coldly, tensing at the threat implied in the other man's voice. "Make no mistake, your games will get you killed if they involve Harmony much more. Law or no law, what's mine stays mine."
CHAPTER 14
Make no mistake, your games will get you killed if they involve Harmony much more. Law or no law, what's mine stays mine.
Lance and Jonas's conversation hadn't been too hard for her to keep up with while she typed out her report. Lance's final warning had shocked her though, and held her in the little office until Jonas left.
His defense of her made no sense to her. He knew what she was. He had read her file. How could he defend her so easily?
"You know, I really did kill all those people in my file," she stated as they entered his home several hours later.
Standing by the closed door, she watched as he toed his boots off, his dark blue eyes staring back into hers calmly.
"I know that, Harmony." He nodded as he straightened, standing before her, the lack of scorn or judgment in his expression confusing her further.
"I killed them in cold blood," she added. "I hunted them. Tracked them. And I felt their blood flow over my fingers. And I don't regret it, Lance."
"I know you don't." His expression was somber.
"How can you just accept it?" she whispered. "You're a sheriff. You deal in the law, you said it yourself. How can you claim me so easily?"
It made no sense. She could barely stand herself.
"A child has no defenses," he said then. "What was done to you as a child was inexcusable. How you've dealt with that as an adult is more than forgivable. But you know as well as I do that the time for it has come to an end. In ways, Jonas is right. To survive, you're going to have to learn how to work within the system."
"A system that lets monsters roam free?" she sneered as her chest tightened painfully.
"Do you know what they did to those children, Lance? Do you have any idea… ?"
"Do you think you can save them all, Harmony?" He stared back at her remorselessly.
"Every life you've taken has taken a piece of your soul. I held you while you slept, after Jonas brought you to the office. I saw the tears you shed and heard the pain you felt. Do you think you're not killing yourself like this?"
She flinched. She had known there was a chance she had dreamed, but he had never mentioned it, never let her guess.
"I'm just one person," she whispered. "A creation, that's all."
"No, dammit, that's not all you are, Harmony," he bit out, his hands gripping her upper arms as he gave her a little shake. "Look at yourself, baby. You don't sleep, you barely eat. You run on nerves and sheer gut stubbornness alone. How much longer can you do that? How much longer before it catches up with you and you mess up? How much longer do you think you can avoid the repercussions of it? You will be caught. You will be arrested. And you will die."
Harmony inhaled roughly, seeing the pain in his eyes, the determination in his face to keep that from happening.
"They are children," she cried out before she could stop herself. "Helpless. Dear God, Lance—"
"Work within the law, Harmony," he ground out. "You're smart, and you're intuitive as hell. Use those abilities to find the proof and bring them to justice. Justice does work, baby. When you use the law to your advantage."
"While children are dying."
"While you're alive to put as many of them as possible behind bars," he yelled back at her. "For God's sake, what good are you going to do a single child if you're dead?"
"I save as many as I can." She shook her head desperately.
"Bullshit!" He released her as quickly as he had grabbed her. "You know yourself that this isn't working, Harmony. It's destroying you."
"I don't know what else to do," she cried out furiously. "I can't stand it, Lance. I can't stand to see the pain in the eyes of children who have been abused. I can't stand knowing I was created and used to kill even one of the people who could have saved them."
She slapped her hand to her mouth, turning away from him as comprehension flooded his expression.
"The kills you made as a child," he said behind her. "You're still trying to make up for them, aren't you?"
Her chest was so tight with pain she could barely breathe. A hard chill wracked her body and she could feel the cold icing in her soul.
"The assassinations I performed as a child, each victim fought for children and their rights," she whispered, shaking her head at the futility of even remembering. "Each one of them. They were exemplary parents, and they fought for the children who had no parents worthy of the name."
"And you think this is how they would want you to repay the fight they took on?" His arms came around her, as though he knew the dark, cold places that tormented her. "If you knew anything of their lives, then you know it's not."
Harmony fought to control her breathing, to control the dampness that flooded her eyes. She was tired, strung out from exhaustion and arousal and emotions that just didn't make sense to her anymore.
"They died for their beliefs," she whispered. "They suspected the Council was creating us. Information had been smuggled from the labs several times and it was brought to their attention. Before they could save any of us, they were killed. I killed them." She tried to jerk away from him, tried to put distance between herself and the man weakening her from the inside out.
"You were lied to and you were used," he whispered at her ear. "You know that as well as I do. Just as you know that you were killing yourself from the inside out over the blood you were shedding before Jonas caught you. If you hadn't been, he would have never found you."
"That's not true…"
"It is true, baby." He held onto her firmly. "That's why you've gone along with this game he's playing. Keeping whatever it is that he wants hidden and trying to atone for the deaths. You know as well as I do, that you'd had enough."
Had she? Had she somehow let Jonas capture her?
"What do you have, Harmony, that Jonas wants? What is making him so desperate that he'll sacrifice you for it?"
Harmony knew exactly what Jonas was after, what she could never let him have: the information she had stolen from the labs the day she escaped. The last remaining proof that as of ten years ago, the first Feline Breed, created nearly a century before, still lived.
"Jonas wants revenge." It was partially the truth. "Revenge for his mother's death."
"Jonas is a smart man." He let her go slowly, allowing her to turn and face him once again. "And he's smart enough to know the truth by now. He can read as well as I can, and the reports from the other labs and scientists on Dr. LaRue were pretty conclusive. Now, one more time, what does Jonas want from you?"
She stared around the dimly lit entryway, the shadowed living room and kitchen as she swallowed tightly.
"I can't tell you," she whispered almost soundlessly.
He sighed deeply as he shook his head. "I'm too tired for this, Harmony. When you're ready to talk, let me know. But do us both a favor and do it while I can help you." It had never been her way to confide to anyone. Even Dane, the man who had saved her countless times over, and had been her first lover, didn't know the truth. Harmony stepped into the shower, adjusted the spray then leaned her forehead against the shower wall, barely feeling the heat of the water as it beat over her skin. But she felt her tears as the silent sobs shook her body with brutal intensity.