Lion's Heat (33 page)

So why hadn't he killed her?

Rachel pressed her hand against her stomach at the thought. Brandenmore didn't care about one small child, and he had meant to kill Rachel when she returned anyway. If he hadn't had plans for Amber, then why leave her alive? And if he did have plans for her, then it would be nothing that a mother could find but nightmares within.

Brandenmore was a scientist. He could have created something that hid itself within the sedative. Something that would have begun working long after initial tests were run. That was how he worked, according to the file she had read on him. He was subtle, vicious. Completely and totally deceptive.

She was shaking. She could almost feel her world shattering around her as she stared down at her still-sleeping daughter. Could she survive it if something happened to her baby?

She couldn't. Amber had matured her. Her daughter had given her a reason to live that hadn't existed before her birth.

Biting her lip, she fought to hold back the fear, the tears. Jonas could smell it. He might be in the shower, but who was to say that his sense of smell wasn't strong enough to feel the complete panic threatening to tear her apart?

Amber had known fear much too soon. She'd known pain too soon. Surely that couldn't bode well for the values she wanted to teach her daughter: acceptance, compassion, a small measure of trust that the world could be kind, at least sometimes.

And perhaps the world was trying to show Rachel otherwise.

"It's going to be okay, Rachel."

Jonas's soft voice had her whirling around to meet the dark cloth of his shirt as it stretched over his chest. Lifting her head, she stared into his eyes as he smoothed a tear from her cheek, which she hadn't even been aware she had shed.

"How can you be certain?" she whispered as his arms came around her. "How can I protect her, Jonas, when he's already done something to hurt her?"

Her fingers clenched in the fabric of his shirt as she fought to control the racing of her heart, the shudders beginning to wrack her body.

This was her baby. Her child. So innocent, so dependent on her mother to ensure that she wasn't harmed. She'd already failed her.

"Because I'll ensure it." His tone was so certain, so confident. "We have the finest minds working in Breed research. Scientists that exceptionally intelligent, Rachel, will find out what, if anything, Brandenmore has done. And if they don't"--he gripped her arms, holding her back at she stared down at her, the arrogance and pure determination in his expression brightening his eyes to a neon silver--"if they don't, I'll bring Brandenmore here, and trust me, once I have him here in my territory, he will talk."

That confidence sank into her. She had never seen Jonas break a promise. Even when she had been certain there was no way he could make something he had promised the Breed cabinet to work, he'd still managed it.

He manipulated, he connived. He threatened, he wasn't very good at cajoling, but he knew how to terrify a person. And he always, always did as he said he would.

"She's just a baby," she whispered, trying to explain her fear.

"Shhh." He laid his finger against her lips. "She's our child. She may not share my blood, Rachel, but she's captured my heart, as you've captured my soul. Never doubt, no matter the cost, I will protect our child."

Not her child. Not his child.
Their
child.

For the first time in Rachel's life, standing there in his arms, she felt that long-buried fear of desertion slowly ease away.

It would never be easy, living with Jonas. It might never be calm. But as she stood there, his arms wrapped around her, his warmth sheltering her, she knew it would always be exactly where she wanted to be. And something that nothing, or no one, could ever steal from her.

CHAPTER 18

The Leo was waiting on them in the labs, along with Elizabeth Vanderale; their son, Dane; Dr. Ely Morrey; and Dr. Jeffery Amburg.

Rachel had never paid much attention to the labs on previous visits, her attention always splintered by Jonas, that she'd had no time to consider much besides the danger they were facing.

That first night, Amber's unnatural sleep had held her attention solely. The second time she had been there, the discomfort she had felt during the examination Ely had performed and Jonas's unnaturally volatile mood had distracted her.

Now she stood holding Amber as Jonas, Leo and Dane seemed to confront each other.

She saw the lab was now painted in muted greens, tans and fall reds, rather than the stark white it had been when first taken over by the Breeds.

The gurney sheets were brightly colored, real pillows laying at one end. There were comfortable-looking chairs, sheer drapes falling from ceiling to floor in the far corner where a reading chair sat, and heavy, brightly colored screens hiding the necessary equipment needed to aid the scientists.

"You two can bloody well stop getting on my nerves." Dane finally sighed as he glanced from Leo to Jonas, a heavy frown creasing his brow as white brows lowered over his bright, emerald green eyes.

Leo's lips thinned in irritation.

"Leo, I don't have time for this," Elizabeth added weight to her son's disgusted proclamation. "You're here to help, not to make everyone more agitated than they already are."

Leo grunted, but his golden gaze shifted to the child Rachel held. His expression relaxed as his lips seemed to want to tilt into a grin.

"She's a lovely child." He stepped closer as Rachel shifted her gaze to Jonas, her nerves making her ill.

"Settle down now, Ms. Broen." Leo smiled. A faint quirk of his lips, which added weight to Jonas's vow that nothing bad was going to happen here. "May I hold your precious angel?"

Rachel licked her lips before turning Amber over to the tall, roughly hewn patriarch.

Amber whimpered for several seconds before settling back down, her eyes staring up at the unfamiliar male as Leo made a small, almost purring sound as he held her. It was a sound she had accidentally caught Jonas making one night as she pretended to be asleep while he slipped Amber from her crib for a bottle and diaper.

"The purr is distinctive," Leo told her as he glanced up at her. "A mated Breed has many different sounds that they don't make before they mate. The purr they have for their mates. The one they have for their child." He ran his finger over Amber's cheek as his gaze lifted to Jonas. "She's a perfect addition to Sanctuary, I believe."

Jonas shrugged as he crossed his arms over his chest and seemed to wait.

"I'm nearly a hundred and thirty years old, Ms. Broen." His smile was quick, amused, as he glanced at her. "Can you tell?"

"I thought your arrogance was rather defined for a mere century," she quipped, barely refraining from rolling her eyes.

Leo chuckled, obviously taking no offense. "That comes from being the leader of a Pride of hardheaded, rough-bitten, less-than-congenial Breeds in the wilds of Africa," he assured her. "You develop it better than they do, or you suffer."

"You also learn the fine art of bragging," Elizabeth snorted, though she did so with an edge of pure love as she gazed at her mate. "Get on with it, Leo. I'm certain Rachel would like to leave here sometime today with a knowledge of what's going on."

"The Leo has a hell of a way of wasting time," Dane informed her.

"Watch your language, Dane." Jonas frowned, his brows lowering with dark warning.

Dane's own brows lifted in surprise, though those green eyes held understanding. "Of course, brother. Forgive me."

An apology from a Breed, how interesting. But the bit of byplay helped ease her nerves marginally.

"Come here, little one," Leo crooned, the gentle purr in his chest increasing as he turned and walked to the rocking chair that sat on the other side of the gurney. "Let the Leo get a feel for your scent here. Though my own angels are going to protest a bit when Papa returns with the scent of another babe on him. They're a bit possessive, you know."

He continued to speak to her as he rocked, his head lowered, his nostrils flared, as he obviously drew in her scent.

Rachel rubbed at her arms as she felt Jonas move behind her. His hands settled on her shoulders, his strength and warmth behind her lending her courage.

Leo frowned, then his brow cleared. He smiled a bit, managed to get a chortle from Amber and frowned again as Dr. Amburg watched the scene curiously. Elizabeth moved behind her mate, her hands settling on his shoulders as she watched Amber reach up for the long strands of hair that fell over the Leo's shoulder.

Coarse, a rich tawny blended with black, russet and golden browns.

"Her mother's scent is strong," Leo murmured to Elizabeth.

"I assumed," Elizabeth agreed quietly. "She looks much like her mother. She'll be a replica of her when she gets older."

"The day will come when strangers will believe you're twins rather than mother and daughter." The Leo chuckled as he glanced at Rachel.

Rachel couldn't speak. She knew what was going on. The Leo was using his own senses to draw in the scent of whatever was changing in her child.

"Dane, could you come here?" Leo rose from the chair as Dane moved to him. "Hold her for a moment."

Dane accepted the slight weight as Rachel felt her stomach knot in panic again.

Dane spoke gently, easily, to the baby. He obviously had experience with children. Within minutes, he had Amber cooing, her eyes bright, her lips stretched wide in a smile. Her daughter, even at her young age, was quite content with the male attention she was gaining.

"I can't stand this," Rachel whispered as she felt Jonas's head against the side of hers.

"Easy, love," he whispered, laying a kiss to her ear as though there weren't five others standing there who glanced at him, their expressions registering momentary shock before they returned their attention to Amber.

"There are slight physical changes," Elizabeth remarked, then glanced at Rachel. "May I remove her gown?"

Rachel nodded jerkily.

The examination took a toll on her nerves. If not for Jonas, Rachel didn't know if she could have survived the ordeal. It seemed to last forever before they laid Amber on a gurney covered in a soft russet-colored blanket.

Ely and Amburg moved closer as Elizabeth took several pressure vials of blood, swabbed Amber's mouth, then, surprisingly, swabbed under her arms, behind her knees and again behind her neck.

"Sweat collects continually beneath the arms, behind the knees and along the back and front of a baby's neck," Elizabeth explained as she stored the samples in sterile containers. "We can use her diaper for a urine sample. That's imperative at this point. We need as many differing samples as possible to see if any changes are occurring in her."

"There's definitely no disease or illness," Leo stated as he glanced back at Rachel. "I agree with Jonas's determination that her scent has changed though. I was here the night you brought her in and took a moment to check her scent then. It's different, and the change isn't natural."

Dane remained silent as they glanced back at him.

"Dane." Leo frowned. "You're often better with the babies than I. What did you sense?"

Dane shook his head. "What you found, Father. I'd be interested in seeing the results of the samples the doctors are taking though."

"Jonas's scent is heavy," Ely stated then, her hand stroking over Amber's head as the baby tried to catch her fingers. "You hold her often?" she asked Jonas.

"Often." Behind her, she felt the slight movement of Jonas's nod.

"Could the changing scent be a marker of some sort?" Elizabeth turned back to her husband and son.

"Of some sort." Dane nodded, his expression too cool, too restrained for the man Rachel had always sensed he was.

"Are the two of you ready now?" Elizabeth turned back to them, a comforting smile on her face. "It will be a while before we have the results back, and we'll need yours as well."

Rachel moved to the gurney, where Amber was once again chortling up at Dane.

"She's physically fine, Ms. Broen," he assured her. "I promise you, if she stays this healthy, she'll grow up to give you gray hairs despite the fact that you're barely going to age a year or two by the time she's mature."

She had to accept their assurances; she had no other choice. She had come to know Leo and Dane over the months she had worked with the Bureau. She had spent quite a bit of time in Sanctuary and had socialized with them often. They were as bluntly honest as Jonas could be. They were manipulating as hell; it seemed to be a family trait as well as a Breed trait. But they wouldn't lie to her about this. Besides, her stomach was finally settling down, assuring her that there was no lie to watch out for.

"Elizabeth, please take enough of Ms. Broen's and Jonas's samples to allow me ample amounts to conduct the tests we discussed earlier," Amburg asked.

"What tests?" Rachel turned to him quickly.

Amburg smiled coolly. He wasn't a warm man. "Simply an array of medical tests, Ms. Broen. Unlike the Breeds, I don't have a sense of smell, and I like to have my own assurances before I begin searching for other answers."

He was lying.

Rachel glanced back at Jonas to see his gaze narrowed on the doctor. Jonas knew he was lying as well. When he turned back to her, though, his gaze wasn't concerned or worried. Doctors were always evasive, she told herself, though she couldn't quite convince herself that everything would be fine.

She knew it had to be fine. Anything else was unacceptable.