Rule Breaker: A Novel of the Breeds (36 page)

“But you want me to stand aside and let you destroy my mate now?” Rule demanded, wondering if he would ever be able to handle the portion of that responsibility that he had accepted as division director. “If you convict her parents, Jonas, you’ll destroy her.”

“I’ll crucify them,” Jonas snapped in ready agreement, his canines flashing in a promise of retribution. “If they can’t or won’t tell me who gave them that device, then I will make damned certain they’re punished for it. If I don’t, then I’m giving every son of a bitch with a grudge against the Breeds permission to use any of our mates’ families against us. And that I won’t do, Rule. Even for a friend. Even for your friendship.”

Jonas was known to make concessions for his enforcers, especially those who gave their loyalty to him, that he would never make for another living being outside his mate. He’d always said there were few lines he wouldn’t cross for them.

Evidently, Jonas had finally found a line.

“Rule, he’s right.” Lawe spoke from the other side of the room, where he stood with his own mate, his senses reaching out to Rule, urging him to open, to allow the twin bond Rule had denied for so many months to merge with his. It was a demand Rule continued to deny. “If we don’t move now to show our determination to protect ourselves, then we’re giving future enemies the ammunition they need to escape justice later.”

Breed Law was like a living, breathing entity with the potential to grow, or to wither, with each decision the Breeds made regarding it.

“Unfortunately, even I have to agree with Jonas,” Callan sighed, his amber gaze holding a wealth of compassion as he sought out Rule’s. “If Jonas relents here, then any mate whose family members strike against us has precedence to get away with it unscathed later if it goes to trial. Just as with human law, we’re setting the strength or weaknesses of our own mandates with each action we take, just as we’re setting the strength of our honor and the example we make to our people if we attempt to subjugate the laws we set up ourselves.”

“That’s a complete crock.” Dane leaned forward, his green eyes flashing furiously as he faced the group. “No one knows but those of us in this room, and your enforcer Thor, that anything is even amiss. By admitting to it to anyone, the McQuades would be signing their own death warrants. There’s no sense in destroying a young woman who has, from your accounts, Jonas, done everything she could to ensure the success of the Breed communities and the Breeds by working with this sect of warriors you’re so certain can lead you to Gideon. Show your willingness to stand by the loyalty she’s given by attempting to rectify this in a reasonable manner, and perhaps it would build enough trust that Rule could convince her to give him the information she may hold.”

At this moment, for this meeting, Dane was a direct link to his father, the first Leo, who was overseeing the meeting via the comm link Dane wore with a specially designed additional video monitor attached to the audio wand. And the Leo’s opinion was never discounted.

Often argued, rarely obeyed, but never discounted.

Jonas glared at his brother before turning back to Rule. “Would it work?”

The question was in no way an agreement, but it was a sign of consideration. And for that alone, Rule refused to lie to him. He owed Jonas far more than just the truth to this question.

“At this time?” Rule breathed out heavily as he gripped the back of the chair that sat in front of him. “No. She’s loyal to them, believes implicitly in them. I can’t even get her to admit she works for them, let alone give you what you need to identify one of them.”

Jonas turned back to Dane. “Any other suggestions, Junior?” he questioned him mockingly.

“Arrogant little fuck,” Dane muttered as he sat back in his chair heavily. “You’ll be the death of me, you know.”

God only knew what their father was muttering. Both father and legitimate son had their issues with Jonas. And it was well known that he had his issues with them as well.

Jonas only glared at him for a moment before turning back to the room.

A chill of foreboding raced down Rule’s back as the director’s gaze hardened and turned icy, and he knew what was coming.

Just as he knew that the pain it would cause his mate was more than he could allow her to face.

“No one here regrets this more than I,” Jonas stated as he turned to the alphas who were listening silently, considering each argument and its merits. “As director of the Bureau of Breed Affairs, gentlemen, I’ll need your signatures on both the arrest warrant as well as the—”

“I’ll stand in the McQuades’ stead.” The decision sliced at his soul, and Rule knew, if accepted, the decision would ultimately destroy him. It would separate him from his mate, his brother, and the freedom he’d risked his life to attain. It would all be taken from him and he’d serve the rest of his life once again confined to a cell.

It was a decision the man was willing to make.

It was a decision the animal accepted with a sense of quiet resignation.

Breed Law was a complicated, honor-driven set of mandates created to adapt and strengthen the Breed community as a whole. But it was written by compassionate men who believed in the inner strength and honor of the Breeds it was made to protect. It was also written to protect what they considered the very heart of the community as a whole. Their mates and their children. And the fact that there were times when certain circumstances could arise that would threaten their mates or their children within Breed Law. For those eventualities a Breed could purchase a onetime pass for whatever the mate would have to face. A pass that would forever imprison him and ban him from any Breed associations.

Shock held the room silent for long moments. Never had a Breed requested Self-Warrant, or even suggested requesting it for anyone. That one was now doing it, not for his mate, but to ensure that his mate did not face the pain of her parents’ actions, was unthinkable.

“The hell you will.” Lawe surged forward, suddenly enraged as his mate gasped, gripping his arm and being nearly dragged behind him before Lawe came to a hard stop. “I won’t allow it, by God, you will not do this.”

“You have no say in it,” Rule informed him, though he never once took his gaze from Jonas’s. “If the McQuades refuse or don’t have the information that will exonerate them, and if Gypsy refuses to give it, then I demand Self-Warrant. I’ll take their punishment as my own.”

“Why?” Lawe roared out, enraged now, his eyes burning as Rule met his gaze calmly. “For God’s sake, Rule, tell me why you would give your life for those fucking bastards.”

“She’s my mate,” Rule sighed heavily. “The burden she carries each day where her brother’s death is concerned is destroying her a little more every year, Lawe. It eats away at her soul like acid. If she lost her parents to Breed Law, she would never be able to live with the guilt of it. I’d lose her anyway. At least this way, she has a chance . . .”

“No,” Lawe snarled, trying to break his mate’s grip to rush to his brother, to try to knock the sense back into him that Mating Heat seemed to have knocked out of him. “Goddammit, Rule, I won’t accept—”

“There’s no one else I can trust to look after her, Lawe,” he stated heavily, knowing the burden his brother would carry with the request he was making. “No one else I could ever make see what I see in Gypsy, but you.”

“I won’t do it,” Lawe snarled, enraged. “There’s not a chance in hell.”

Sorrow surged through Rule as he opened a small part of himself to the emanations of the bond swirling around him. He gave his brother but a few small seconds to glimpse what had lived inside him since the moment he’d met Gypsy’s eyes across that crowded bar.

The aching sorrow for the pain he sensed inside her, but also the depth of the pain he sensed that gouged at her tender soul. The nightmares the animal inside him sought to ease for his mate, and the love he’d felt for her since the night his animal instincts had bonded with her, nine years before.

The sound that broke from Lawe’s throat was a roar of pure rage, shocking everyone but Rule. There was a reason he hadn’t allowed his brother in for the past two months. A reason he’d kept that shield firmly in place. Because his mate’s pain, her nightmares and her inability to accept that she deserved every ounce of the pure, steel-core devotion he felt for her was gouging those same wounds into his spirit as well.

Gypsy didn’t love him, not as he loved her. The potential for it was there, he believed. Given a bit more time, he could have helped her heal enough of her inner self that she would have accepted his love for her, and accepted that she could love in return. But now, the chances of that time ever coming were diminishing by the second.

Jonas didn’t speak for long seconds. Then he strode stiffly to the monitors on the wall and activated the link.

“Yes, Director?” Thor stepped to the video console immediately.

“Bring them out,” Jonas snapped.

What the hell was he up to?

Less than a minute later, Hansel and Greta McQuade stepped from the blacked-out room into the videoconferencing module.

Greta had been weeping, while Hansel stood resolutely beside her.

“You admitted to knowingly bringing a stealth device into a secured Breed location, is this true?” Jonas snapped.

“We did,” Hansel answered for both of them.

CHAPTER 25

“My patience is at a fucking end, Flint,” she informed the Breed furiously. “Those are my parents in there and I’ll be damned if I’m going to allow Jonas Wyatt or Rule Breaker to browbeat them into admitting to something they may not have had a choice in.”

A frown marred Flint’s brow as his surprise gleamed in his eyes for the barest second. “Is that what they do, Gypsy? Strange, I’ve always known both Jonas, as well as Rule, to be highly unlikely to browbeat anyone, especially where a mate is concerned. Jonas has bent over backward to accommodate every Breed Enforcer on his teams and their mates. And Rule is one of his most trusted commanders; I can’t see him doing anything less with his own mate. Or her parents.”

Shame threatened to suck the fury from her, but nothing could penetrate the cold hard core of fear tearing her guts to shreds.

“If they’re in trouble . . .” Her breathing hitched. “Please, Flint, let me see them. Let me help them,” she whispered, aware of Loki and Kandy coming in behind her. “They’re my parents.”

“Are they?” he asked, gently, perhaps too gently. “I’ve seen very little proof of that, Gypsy. But if you’ll give me two minutes I’ll contact Assistant Director Brannigan and see if he can’t get in to talk to Jonas. Because this suite is on total lockdown. The only way to get through any of us is to kill us. Can you do that?”

She hadn’t cried in nine years. The agony trapped inside her hadn’t had a release in so long that Gypsy had forgotten what the moisture in her eyes should feel like.

Until she had to blink it back.

She looked over his shoulder to the door, knowing she wasn’t getting in there, even if she did manage to kill every Breed blocking it. “You don’t understand.”

“I’ve known you a long time, Gypsy,” he stated, that soft, compassionate tone tearing at her, reminding her of how many times Rule had spoken to her with the same gentleness, that same understanding, that she had made herself ignore. “And you know what? I’ve seen Kandy’s parents rush to her side many times. I’ve yet to see them rush to your side once. Even when I know for a fact that you needed them.”

That didn’t matter. Kandy had needed them, she had deserved them. What had Gypsy deserved after leading Mark to his death? Besides, she had never asked her parents to come to her, had she?

“Just get me in there, Flint,” she demanded, her voice so hoarse, so filled with dread that she barely recognized it.

“What is he talking about, Gypsy? Gypsy, what’s going on?” Kandy whispered behind her, fear trembling in her tone. “What’s happened to Mom and Dad?”

Gypsy’s fist clenched at her sides. She didn’t need Flint or Rule to tell her what had happened. She knew her parents. Or rather, she knew her mother. Greta McQuade had gotten away with slipping the device in before, she believed. She would have been convinced she could do so again.

God, why hadn’t she gone last night when Rule had refused to allow her to leave alone? If she had confronted him, if she had demanded it, he would have taken her, she realized. She knew Rule, almost as well as she knew many of the other Breeds. But she had slept with Rule, and she knew things about him that a woman only knew about the man she chose as her lover.

Stepping to the side of the door as the other six Breeds covered the panel, she watched as he touched the comm link at his ear and flipped down the small wand to rest at the side of his cheek.

“Yes, sir, Mr. and Mrs. McQuade’s daughters are at the door. Gypsy requests access to ascertain the charges being brought against her parents and to assure herself of their well-being.”

God no.

Oh God, if they charged her parents with Breed Law, there would be no fixing the damage it would make to their lives.

“Gypsy, what is he talking about?” Kandy cried out, though her voice was low, from behind her. “What charges?”

When she didn’t answer, her sister grabbed her arm firmly, sending a rush of almost violent pain stabbing at her flesh before she hurriedly jerked back, turning to face the young woman she had always tried to protect.

“What is he talking about?” her sister demanded, tears bright and threatening to fall from her eyes as the Coyote behind her, Loki, stood with his back to the wall, his head lowered as he apparently stared at the tips of his dusty, worn boots.

For a second, she could swear she had met him before his arrival in Window Rock two months before. Something about his shaggy, dark blond hair kept tugging at her memory before she was forced to focus her attention on her sister instead.

“It’s a long story, Kandy,” she muttered, swiping her fingers through her unbound hair, and glanced back at Flint.

She wanted to hear what he was saying, but her sister refused to wait.

“Then start talking.” Younger, but by no means less determined, her sister stared back at her furiously, the tears in her eyes threatening to fall at any minute.

“He knows.” She nodded to Loki. “That’s why he distracted you and held you back when you arrived with Mom and Dad. Isn’t it, Loki? You already suspected what they were going to do. Why didn’t you tell Kandy before she warned me that they were here?”

He looked up at her through the generous length of gold-tipped lashes, his features impassive, his dark gray eyes flat and deliberately cool.

“How was I supposed to know, Gypsy? I intended to take Kandy out to lunch when your parents arrived with her, concerned about the rumors that Rule had kidnapped you from that bar. They had already requested the meeting with Jonas after they were called and assured of your safety. Assured you would contact them later. They wouldn’t wait for Kandy and me to talk a minute; they didn’t even acknowledge that she had stopped to speak to me. They just stalked to the elevators and demanded to see the director,” he told her quietly, his eyes shifting with such a slight movement to the Breeds behind her that she doubted they even knew he’d done so. When they came back to her, there was a warning in them before he then allowed the shift to move in Kandy’s direction.

The message was clear. Drop the subject or Kandy could become involved as well.

He’d deliberately delayed Kandy, there was no doubt about it, just in case her parents were stupid enough to pull the same stunt they had pulled the last time they had arrived at the hotel to speak with Jonas.

“Gypsy.” Flint drew her attention as he stepped from his position against the far wall, his gaze solemn as she felt her throat tighten apprehensively.

Shoving her hands into the pockets of her jeans and hunching her shoulders protectively against whatever bad news he might be delivering, she faced him anxiously.

“Assistant Director Brannigan is on his way up,” he informed her, watching her warily now. “Now listen to me, he’s not Jonas. Jonas knows you. He feels protective toward you, and that’s allowed you to get away with a hell of a lot since he arrived here, things Brannigan’s not going to tolerate.”

It was more than clear that he was worried as Gypsy frowned, glaring back at him. “What the hell are you trying to say, Flint?” Her hands came out of her pockets, crossed over her breasts.

She watched him militantly, suddenly angry at the implication that she didn’t know how to be polite.

“I believe,” a familiar, imposing voice spoke before Flint could answer her, causing her to whirl around in surprise, “that you’re a bit rude, Ms. McQuade, unless it suits you to be polite. Which, as I understand it, it rarely does.”

Mr. Freaky from the bar.

Just what she needed, another smart-ass Breed.

His smile was all teeth and curved canines.

And a Coyote to boot. Just what the hell she needed. Other than certain ones, she did not get along with Coyotes very well.

“Loki, could you please escort Ms. McQuade the younger to your suite until I contact you?” It might have been phrased as a request, but it was clearly an order.

Loki gave a sharp nod as he straightened, his gaze meeting the frozen, Celtic green gaze of the assistant director warily before he turned to Kandy and extended his hand to her.

“Gypsy, please tell me what’s going on,” Kandy whispered tearfully, breaking Gypsy’s heart. “I’m scared.”

“I want to go home,” she whispered as Mark stared back at her, his eyes filled with sorrow. “I’m scared, Mark.”

Don’t cry. Be brave, Peanut,
he mouthed, his gaze boring into hers, and she knew he was trying to tell her something. Something she didn’t understand. “Don’t cry. Be brave, Peanut.”

“Ms. McQuade? If you’re going to come with me, then now is the time.” Brannigan’s tone hardened in demand.

“I promise I’ll explain everything later, Kandy,” she swore. “Go with Loki, I’ll be there soon. I swear.”

She turned back to Brannigan, staring up at him directly, refusing to quail beneath the icy regard as he watched her knowingly.

“Neither Jonas nor your parents are in his suite,” he told her then as he turned and started down the hall. “Come with me. Jonas is in one of the conference rooms on another floor, while your parents are in the one next to him. I believe you might recognize the title they gave it. The blackout room.”

She swore that she felt as though she were going to pass out. A wave of sickening realization swept over her as a cold sweat suddenly popped out on her forehead and a sense of unreality threatened to blanket her entirely.

Shaking it off wasn’t easy.

Reaching out, she steadied herself as she followed him by bracing her palm against the wall as she walked, certain she didn’t want to fall in this Breed’s presence.

He would instantly take advantage of the sign of weakness.

He didn’t even glance behind him as he led the way to the private elevator in the next hall and stepped inside, waving her in.

Gypsy moved into the narrow cubicle, waiting as he stepped inside with her, remaining silent as the doors closed behind them. The elevator didn’t begin moving immediately, though.

First, a strange hum filled the area as a dim, white light began moving over both of them.

Her eyes closed for a second in acceptance. When she forced them back open, he was watching her, his arms resting comfortably at his side.

This would take forever, she thought fatalistically. The scanner was no doubt one of the new ones her contact had warned her about weeks before the Breeds arrived. Designed to pick up any anomalies whatsoever.

“I have never betrayed the Breeds,” she whispered. “And I would never have aided anyone else in doing so.”

“But you’ll do everything you can to protect your parents, no matter the actions they’ve taken? Correct?” The clinical, considering gleam in his gaze had her stomach tightening in dread.

What did he expect her to say? “If there’s any way possible.”

He nodded to that. “I think that’s perhaps the hardest part of this job in some ways, from enforcers on up to Jonas’s position. Understanding that loyalty to parents when we don’t even have foster parents as a guidepost, siblings or children. But we do try our best to take that into consideration when needed.”

Gypsy held his gaze, knowing he could read the fear rising inside her clearly. “Just tell me what I need to do. Don’t play with me.”

His lips quirked, his eyes darkening assessingly.

“And you would do whatever you have to?” he asked, his voice low, warning.

Gypsy steeled herself for the coming battle with her own conscience. “I will do whatever I have to do, Mr. Brannigan.”

“Even if it means sacrificing your mate?” He tilted his head to the side as he leaned against the side of the elevator. “The one man, perhaps the only person in this world, who would be willing to give his life for you?”

The elevator began a slow descent as the scanners continued their work.

“That’s enough.” She forced the order past lips that were suddenly numb from the accusation.

He nodded slowly. “Tell me, have you heard much of Breed Law?”

“Some,” she admitted, suddenly wary of the question. “Why?”

“Have you heard of Self-Warrant?” Something seemed to flicker in his gaze at the question.

Gypsy shook her head slowly. “I haven’t.”

“It’s a part of Breed mating law,” he admitted. “Perhaps you haven’t. I believe those mandates are kept within secure Breed hearings if needed.”

“Then why ask?”

“Self-Warrant is a onetime get-out-of-jail-free card that a Breed can use for his mate, or child, should one of them break Breed Law seriously enough that the sentence they face is more than the Breed believes is bearable. It can also be used in other situations. Such as a mate’s parents facing an enraged director of the Bureau of Breed Affairs who’s considering using the fullest extent of Breed Law against them for the crimes they’ve committed.”

“I don’t understand,” she whispered, but she was very much afraid she did. “What does this have to do with me?”

His brow lifted lazily. “Listen and you’ll know what it has to do with you. To ensure that the human doesn’t suffer the full effects of Mating Heat, she would be taken to her Breed monthly. It would be enough to keep both of them sane, barely—though the female has options with the hormonal treatments our scientists and doctors have come up with that the male does not. Other than that, the Breed is locked in a cell similar to that of the labs he was created in, because the need for freedom would soon make him enraged. As long as he is calm, he can have his mate once a month. But for the rest of his life, other than those few short hours, he speaks to no one. No letters from home. No television, no weight room, library or computer privileges,” he sneered. “Breeds don’t suffer idiocy well. And if another Breed willingly gives up his life for the protection of his mate, to serve such a sentence for parents who obviously have no love for his mate to begin with, then why should we show him mercy? It would teach others that came after him the foolhardiness of such a decision.”

“What are you trying to say, damn you?” She snapped, tired of this game. “What has Rule done?”

Oh God, he wouldn’t do that. He wouldn’t sacrifice himself in such a way, would he?

“It’s what your parents have done, Ms. McQuade,” he snarled. “And what that Breed is willing to do to save you the pain of their judgment and punishment. Under Breed Law, any human or Breed attempting to bring a nano-nit device into any area marked as Breed Secure invites punishment by death under Breed Law. What would Rule do to save you the pain of watching your parents die for attempting to threaten the infant child of the director of Breed Affairs when they brought in a nit programmed to activate, and record, upon the sound of a child’s innocent voice?”