Lora Leigh - Barak’s Bargain

“I say we just get medieval on their asses and have done with it. My daddy still has all those swords. And there’s a right beautiful axe that would cleave one in two.” Lady Pam Beaumont whispered with a decidedly bloodthirsty tone to her voice.

Her brown eyes were dark with anger, and a shadow of fear. Her café aulait complexion was flushed with anger though, and the narrowed intent of her gaze could cause nervousness in the strongest man.

Mary knew it could, she had seen it happen.

“I say we just wait them out. Who the bloody hell do they think they are, ordering us in this manner?

Perhapsits no more than a bluff.” Lady Lisa Kensington hissed furiously.

Her deep blue eyes sparkled with her own fury as she flipped back a thick strand of dark brown hair over her shoulder. She was pale though, an indication that she was more worried than she wanted to admit to.

Lady Mary Rhodes watched her dear dearest friends silently as they argued the matter out between them. At this point, she feared they really didn’t have a choice in the situation facing them.

“Money grubbing bastards,” Pam’s voice vibrated with the depth of her anger. “You would think the stinking rats would consider themselves well off by now.”

But they didn’t. The ‘bastards’ in question were always striving for more, always taking what they considered due them, whether such ‘due’ made sense or not. In this case, it made little sense to the three titled ladies faced with acquisition.

Acquisition.Mary barely restrained her shudder ofdistaste, they were being acquired, rather than courted.

As ‘Ladies’ of wealth, a new title bestowed in just the last decade to designate women of pure human blood, unpolluted by the Breeds that roamed among them.

“Why should it matter what our grandfather’s did?” Lisa said softly, knowing well that it mattered whether it made sense or not.

“Because they’ve gained power. And because they must find some way to wreak vengeance.Justice,”

Mary sighed regretfully as she came to her feet and walked to the high, narrow window of her bedroom.

She stared out over the city, seeing the flicker of lights below, imagining the horrors of the after-light life.

There were those who roamed the city when darkness fell, that had little mercy for those weaker than themselves.Dark, diseased beings, filled with rage and loathing for those who lived above them.

It was the way of the world now. So much had changed in the past decades, even since her own birth.

Only the strong survived now. Only those who managed to gain a foothold in the upper crust of society could make their way comfortably. And falling from that lofty stature was a terrifying thought. Their families could well fall, if they didn’t act.

“Violence will not achieve our ends,” Lisa finally sighed behind her. “And neither willignoring them I know. What else is left, Mary?”

Mary clenched her fists. She fought to hold onto her control despite the fury and sense of betrayal that filled her.

“We steal the files.” She turned back to her friends, watching them carefully as she gave voice to the idea that had formed over the past days. “They can do nothing without proof. We steal back the proof they

have gathered.”

Lisa’s eyes widened in concern, though Pam’s seemed to glitter with excitement.

“Their leader,Barak , forced the acquisition of the maternal estate from father. It’s a place we all know well. As Enforcers, they will be out working the night. Tomorrow night, we slip in, steal back the files, and return here. Then we can get medieval on their asses.” She grinned in triumph as her friends watched her with surprise.

It was a plan she was greatly looking forward to.Barak had dared to try to blackmail her into a relationship that she would have fully embraced had he but asked her.

“It will be exceedingly dangerous,” Lisa said slowly. “How will we get there?”

“We’ll leave before dark, and wait behind the estate until they leave. The safe has a fail catch that few are aware of. I can access it, no matter the change of the combination. He would of course keep such valuable papers protected.”

It would be so simple, she thought. The bastards would never know they were there.

“Excellent,” Pam breathed. “I’m in. We’ll beat them at their own game.”

“Too bad,” Lisa sighed, glancing at each of them then. “I rather likedTallan . It would have been no hardship to have been courted by him.”

“Derrick as well.”Pam shrugged. “He seemed quiet nice, even for such a merciless breed. I think I could have handled him though.” She gave them a saucy grin, though it was tingled with regret.

Mary said nothing. She had thought she andBarak had been forming a rather close friendship over the past months. She had not expected such deception from him. She felt betrayed, furious that he would attempt to blackmail her in this way.

“We’re agreed on our course of action then?” She asked the other two.

“Agreed.”They nodded as they spoke simultaneously.

“Excellent.Tomorrow then. And then we’ll see whose squirming when they no longer have the leverage needed to acquire us. Perhaps then, they’ll see we aren’t as weak as they would believe.”

Smug satisfaction filled her. She would show him she wasn’t as easy to defeat as he believed she would be. Acquire her would he?As though she were a piece of real estate, something to be bartered for. The new laws that governed the breeding of full blood humans and breeds now were ridiculous.As though one were better than the other. The world was a place of madness anymore.

It wasn’t a problem she could fix though. She had to concentrate onBarak , as much as she hated the thought of it. Damn him. He didn’t have to make such a move. Didn’t have to try to force what would have been willingly given. And yet, it was exactly what he had tried to do.

She ignored the need that clawed through her body like talons of greedy sensation. His touch made her burn, the few gentle kisses he had bestowed had given her hope. A hope he had destroyed in one senseless, cruel move.

She was fucked. Figuratively and Mary assumed, soon, literally. Pam and Lisa had been dragged from the room by the other two Enforcers, and now she faced their leader, the most merciless of breed males, as frowned he at her darkly.

That look should have frightened her. Rather it sent her blood pulsing in anticipation through her body to echo in the tight, clenching muscles of her cunt. Her breasts became swollen, sensitive, and she knew her nipples were poking againstthe clothe of her shirt in pleading need. He could fire her arousal as nothing, or no one else ever had.Making her need his touch, his taste.

He was slouched back in the large chair leather chair that had once been her grandfather’s, his auburn brows drawn together between his thickly lashed silver gray eyes. One foot was propped on an opened drawer at the side of the desk, and in his hands he held the pictures and documentation that could well destroy her father. Proof that hergrandfather, and her great-grandfather had been part of the murderous organization known as the Genetics Council.

“It was actually an exceptional plan,”Barak commented with cool admiration. “You’re to be commended for it.”

His voice sent a tremor of longing echoing through her body. How the hell was she supposed to deny him when all she wanted to have him fuck hersilly.

Mary shrugged, feeling the shirt rasp her sensitive nipples. She really didn’t anything to arouse her further.

“Commendations are good only for those plans that succeed.”