Joseph Redwolf grunted. "That is nothing. All creatures of the earth have such abilities. They have only to learn how to use them. Come, sit with me." He patted the wide rock with gnarled fingers.
"I don't know, you remind me too much of Lance. That could be dangerous to my mental state." She crossed her arms over her breasts, seeing the pleased smile that creased his weathered face.
"Ahh, you are a charmer." He shook his finger chidingly at her. "And think to turn an old man's head with flattery."
"I have a feeling flattery is the last thing that would turn your head." A reluctant smile edged at her lips. "Did you know I would be here?"
She stepped over, easing down on the rock as she pulled the water bottle from her utility belt. She remembered her first impression of him and knew he was like Lance. Only stronger. This was a man the earth listened to as well as spoke to.
"I knew. The winds whispered your name and led me here. So I came." She uncapped her water and handed it to him. When he waved it away, she tilted it back and took a long, refreshing drink.
"So, why would the winds lead you to me?"
"Ahh, the winds sometimes keep a few secrets." He sighed. "I merely follow their guidance."
Somehow, she doubted that.
"You are uncertain of my grandson still?" he asked her then. Harmony braced her elbows on her knees as she stared at the ground.
"I'm not uncertain of him." She shrugged, uncomfortable. She didn't talk to others easily. Lance was an exception. But she couldn't not talk to his grandfather. She had a feeling he wouldn't let her ignore him anyway.
"Perhaps you are uncertain of yourself," he said softly.
She lifted her head, staring into the distance with a frown.
"Perhaps," she finally admitted softly. "No matter how much I want what he offers, Death is still there."
"And Death bears great guilt and much responsibility."
She nodded at the statement, not even bothering to question how he knew the difference between Death and Harmony.
"My grandson, he is a good man," he said. "I have watched him grow, watched a boy's laughter turn to a man's amusement. I have watched him fall to his knees, force himself up again, and watched him walk proud. He is a man more accepting and understanding than most."
"Death soils him," she whispered. "She brings danger and blood. He'll never be safe." His laughter shouldn't have shocked her. She stared back at him in disbelief as he reached out, waved his hand, and the breeze in front of them began to churn the dust and dirt, growing larger, picking up more and more until it rose more than twelve feet above them and screamed with power.
Just as quickly, it eased, steadily diminishing until the dark cloud settled back to the ground and the dirt scattered at their feet.
"The earth protects those who seek her embrace." His voice deepened with warning.
"My grandson and what is his will always know its protection. No matter which land they step upon or which side their enemies think to attack. She will always protect him, and cherish what is his. The earth gave you to his embrace, and only the earth can tear you away from it."
She turned, staring back at him as his words sank inside her mind, her soul.
"Why would it choose me?" she whispered. "Every part of me is stained with blood." He snorted. "You did the land a favor in the lives you have taken. But the time for that is now at an end. Return to my grandson, and as you do, decide once and for all. Are you Harmony or are you Death? For the two can no longer entwine and survive. Make your choice now, woman, before you destroy not just yourself, but the man who would give you life."
Make her choice. If she chose Lance, then Death would be gone forever and so would vengeance. And so would the safety of the young women and children she protected. It was a choice she feared could end up destroying her.
__________
Jonas slipped through the silent house, eyes narrowed, his senses alert as he sought for signs of something other than death.
His eyes narrowed on the figure lying in the center of the bedroom floor. Tommy Mason's throat had been cut, a near perfect imitation of a Death Caress, the signature slice attributed to the serial vigilante who had struck across the United States and Europe over the past ten years.
There were a few slight anomalies to the cut. Depth, the angle of the cut, the width of the blade used. But not enough that anything other than a Breed could identify. Only someone much too familiar with Death's training would notice the anomalies.
"Where's the wife and kid?" he spoke into the comm link quietly.
"Still locked in the basement. They're alive."
He knelt beside the corpse, studying the body. Mason hadn't been dead long. An hour maybe. Jonas glanced at his watch. It was barely eight in the morning.
"I can't smell anything unusual anywhere else in the house," Merc reported over the link.
"Nothing but fear and filth."
Jonas rubbed his hand over his jaw. Someone was definitely framing Harmony, and they expected him to tie the noose around her neck.
Sanctuary's spy, he thought, shaking his head. Only a select number of people had known about Death's presence in the cells below the detention building. He was narrowing the suspects down, but he would have preferred to do so in a different way.
"Someone to report she went running, then someone to come in and make the kill," he murmured over the link. "Time of death will coincide with her absence from Lance's home and make the case for her guilt."
"Only one group that would go to that extreme," Rule stated as he stepped into the bedroom. "Alonzo must know who she is."Jonas's lips thinned. She wasn't the same girl she had been ten years ago. She had filled out, firmed up; her features had evened out. But if someone had known what to look for, they would have seen the resemblance. Alonzo could have only known that Harmony was here if the spy at Sanctuary had warned him. Son of a bitch, when was the bastard spilling their secrets going to mess up enough to get caught?
He should have killed Alonzo himself. If he hadn't attained such popularity, such notice over the past years, then Jonas would have. Unfortunately, his death would have only brought suspicion on the Breed community.
"Courtesy of our friendly Sanctuary spy," Jonas murmured as he straightened. "At least they left the wife and kid alive."
"Death would never hurt them." Rule shrugged. "What do we do now?" Jonas rubbed at the back of his neck wearily. "We use it."
"Hell, Jonas." Rule's voice was filled with disbelief. "You can't call Breed Law on her over this. She didn't do it."
"Dammit, Rule!" he snapped. "Do you really think I'm going to see my sister dead for someone else's crime? Hell, I wouldn't pull Breed Law for her crimes, why do it over this?"
"You haven't exactly been brotherly," Rule pointed out. "Why didn't you just ask her to cooperate?"
"Because she would never give him up, whether she trusted me or not. Harmony is nothing if not loyal. The only chance I have of catching him is pushing her until one of them makes a mistake."
"You want that shadow of hers damned bad," Rule pointed out.
"Not bad enough to sacrifice the only good thing that ever came out of those fucking labs," he snarled before inhaling roughly and gathering his control in both hands. "He's the first Leo. He and his mate have what we need. The answers to the aging process. We have to figure out what the hell is going on before proof of it hits the press. I want him bad, Rule, but not bad enough to actually endanger her life with Breed Law. He and his scientist mate hold the answers to the mating heat and the aging, and I want those damned answers."
The discovery of the slim evidence they had attained that the first Leo was indeed still alive, nearly a century after his birth, and still in peak physical condition, had been a fluke.
After Harmony had ignored his messages to meet with him years before, Jonas had begun tracking her. Two years ago, he had nearly caught up with her after Council Coyotes had captured her. He had been only hours late. Harmony had already been rescued.
But her rescuer had left something behind. A bloodied scrap of a shirt. Only one Breed carried the specific imprint of the DNA that the blood contained. The first Leo. The very first Breed ever created. In essence, the father of them all.
Nearly a century before, the first Leo had supposedly died in a fiery helicopter crash while escaping with his scientist mate from the South American lab he was created within.
Where the mate was, Jonas couldn't guess. But he knew where Harmony was, Leo wouldn't be far behind. Unfortunately, the spy operating within Sanctuary was aware of Harmony as well, and now he was betting Alonzo knew.
"Let's get the hell out of here." Jonas turned, careful to make certain he left no evidence of his steps. "Make an anonymous call to the Sheriff's Department in an hour or so and report the wife's and the child's cries. Then we'll fly back in."
"Lance will kill you if you try to take Harmony," Rule warned him as they stepped from the room.
"Lance will fight for her." Jonas grimaced. "But he knows the stakes. And so will she. She'll give me her shadow, and no one will ever know Harmony was here. I'll make sure of that myself."
There were a lot of lengths he would go to in ensuring the survival of the Breeds, but he wouldn't sacrifice his sister, or the child she would eventually conceive. She was the last ounce of gentleness left within his life. And he would make certain it stayed that way.
CHAPTER 18
The phone was ringing as Harmony slipped back into the house. She heard Lance answer it. A few seconds later she heard a vicious curse, a second before he called out her name imperatively.
She moved through the hallway to the doorway, leaning against the frame casually as he jerked sweatpants over his long, muscular legs.
"What's up?"
His head jerked around, his eyes narrowing on her clothes, the weapons, her damp hair.
"Where have you been?" The angry question had her brow lifting.
"I've been running. Why?"
"Running?" he snapped. "After nearly being taken last night you just went off running?"
"I wasn't in any danger," she drawled slowly. "What's the big deal?"
"What time did you leave?" He stalked over to her, stepping directly in front of her before reaching down and sliding her knife from its sheath.
"About dawn."
Harmony watched as his gaze went over the blade, his fingers sliding over it, testing its edge before his gaze lifted and went carefully over her.
His jaw flexed, the muscle jumping beneath the flesh as he watched her.
"What's wrong, Lance?" She straightened slowly. She could see an edge of suspicion in his gaze, a flame of anger burning behind it.
"Did you go to Tommy Mason's house?" he finally asked, his voice dark, warning.
"Mason's?" A frown furrowed her brow as she watched him. "Why would I go to Mason's? He hasn't done anything yet."
"Don't joke about this, dammit!" His hand clenched on the hilt of the dagger. "Did you go there?"
"No, Lance, I didn't go there." She shook her head slowly. "Why?"
"Get cleaned up. Mason's been murdered. His wife and son were locked in the basement and his throat was slit just after dawn. We're heading straight there." Harmony stiffened in shock at the information.
"And you think I did it?" she asked him carefully. "I told you I wasn't there, Lance. Isn't that enough?"
If it wasn't, then she would be damned if she'd tell him who she was with. Fuck it. She should have known better than to believe in complete trust, she thought painfully. Love. Bullshit. "It's enough for me," he snapped, but she could tell it really wasn't. "It won't be for Jonas. Now get cleaned up." He handed her the knife as he repeated the order. "We have a crime scene to investigate."