Lora Leigh - Rule Breaker

“No . . .” Orrin came quickly to his feet, disbelief surging from him as he stared at his son.

“We have proof the package was sent, and proof that it was signed for,” Lawe stated, facing Ray as the president stared back at him with all the cunning deceit of the most depraved mind. “By Orrin Martinez.”

“No . . .” Orrin whispered, shaking with such strength that he seemed to shudder. “I saw no package. I saw no proof that my precious daughter lived.”

Ray’s eyes flicked between the four Breeds facing him. “I signed for nothing . . .”

“Do not lie.” Malachi, closest to him, caught the scent first. “Already I smell the stink of your deception, Ray, and it goes deep. What betrayal have you given the father you owe for your life and for your freedoms?”

“There were pictures of her children,” Lawe stated softly. “Especially of the girl. The baby. She was only five. She was the one Morningstar called her precious Little Bit, because she was so tiny.”

Orrin appeared to stumble, pain resonating from him as he stared back at Ray in shock.

“What have you done, Ray?” he whispered. “She was your sister. She loved you as she loved no other.”

“There’s proof someone of the Nation was supplying the Genetics Council with the names of Navajo girls whose family line showed a strong psychic connection,” Lawe stated softly.

Rule could feel a part of his soul bleeding. He had treated this old man with disgust and disrespect, despite the truth that resonated even in his scent, because of the deception of the son.

“Morningstar cried for her brother.” Rule couldn’t hold back the rumble of the animal’s growl. “From the time we were babes she would cry for her Ray,” he sneered. “She would vow that her brother, so strong and loving, was coming for her. And all that time, it was the brother she so loved who destroyed her.”

Ray stood, staring back at them all with icy disdain, refusing to speak.

“One of our own was selling our girls to the evil of those labs?” Orrin whispered painfully. “No. Ray. Tell them you did not do this horrible thing. Tell them.”

“You know I wouldn’t, Father.” Sincerity filled his expression despite the coolness in his voice. “Star was my sister. I loved her . . .”

No Breed refuted the words, but the stench of the lie had all four losing control of the dangerous, predatory growls that rumbled in their chests.

“He’s lying.” It was Terran who spoke up, tears escaping his eyes as his daughters moved to surround him. “I came to him with the proof of my suspicions that someone within Window Rock was working with the Genetics Council since before Star was taken. He took the file I’d been putting together for decades and later swore it had been stolen. As though I’m so stupid as to not keep a backup.” Fists clenched and rage poured from him. “You bastard. You bastard. We could have saved her. We could have brought her home.”

Malachi and Stygian both jumped for Terran as he moved to grab his brother, murder firing in his eyes as the scent of vengeance began to pour from him. Like a sweet-smelling acid, it burned at the senses and the knowledge that given the chance, Terran would indeed kill him.

Even Ray’s daughter, Claire, and wife, Maria, had stepped back from him, staring at him in horror.

Sneering at his brother, Ray straightened his jacket with a jerk. “I’ll be damned if I have to stand here and listen to this.” Turning to his wife and daughter, he snapped, “We’re leaving.”

Gripping his wife’s arm and pulling her behind him, he was halfway to the door before he realized Claire hadn’t followed.

Pausing, he glared back at his daughter to spit furiously, “Now, Claire.”

Terran reached out for the girl who stood alone, tears whispering down her pale cheeks, her arms wrapped around her chest as though to hold back her pain.

Pulling her to him, between his own daughters and the protection of the Breed who stood with them, he sheltered her as Rule and Lawe had heard he always protected her.

“She’s always come to me to escape the cruelty you pretended was so misunderstood,” he stated, his voice heavy with pain. “She’ll stay with me now.”

Terran held her as she buried her face against his chest, her thin shoulders shaking with her silent sobs.

“And she’ll regret it.” A retaliatory sneer curled Ray’s lips before he turned to Audi, Jane, Liza and the Breed who now stood with them. “They’ll both regret it,” he promised, his voice soft.

“Don’t do it, Ray.” Audi glared back at him. “Don’t compound the horror of what you’ve already done.”

As Audi spoke, Maria Martinez jerked from her husband’s grip, quickly avoiding his attempt to grab her again as she stumbled against the back of Rule’s chair.

Before either Rule or Lawe could steady her, Diane was there. Placing herself between the larger, broader Ray Martinez and his petite wife, icy contempt filling her eyes, she stared back at the Navajo president with a jeering smile.

“Touch her,” Diane whispered, “and I’ll take immense satisfaction in castrating you.”

“You’ll all regret it,” Ray promised, his gaze slicing to Audi. “You especially.”

With the final warning, he turned and stalked from the chief’s office.

“Dog, keep an eye on President Martinez.” Lawe activated the clip at his ear as the door slammed behind the other man. “If he leaves the building, I want to know where he goes. Lock jamming on all communication devices he attempts to use and inform me immediately if he attempts to contact any Council sources.”

“Affirmative.” Dog’s reply came back immediately.

Breathing out heavily, Rule turned back to the Martinez family, his gaze going to the man who could have been his grandfather. If he had been born a man rather than a Breed.

Orrin sat down slowly, his gaze meeting Rule’s, those endless dark eyes filled with nearly forty years of misery.

“You came to this office when first you arrived and spoke to my son, to request the help of the Navajo Nation in finding a rogue,” Orrin whispered, shaking his head. “In your eyes I saw a carefully veiled contempt, and I agreed with Ray’s suggestion that nothing good could come of helping you.”

“He convinced us all, Grandfather,” Audi spoke then, the title Orrin had given him use of when he was but a boy slipping from him as he stared at the old man in regret.

There was love here now, Rule thought. The tendrils of deceit and malice that he hadn’t been able to pinpoint finally identified. Now, only love and aching regret remained.

Orrin nodded slowly, still holding Rule’s gaze.

“I have ached for the day that if the children of my daughter existed, they would come to her family. That they would reach out and allow us to extend to them all the love we felt for our precious Star, and more besides.” A tear slipped past his cheek. “I would pray that the day would come that you would extend me your hand, grandson, and grant me the chance to show you the truth of my words.”

Rule glanced at Lawe, knowing his brother had hoped this would be the greeting they received when they first arrived.

Lawe nodded slowly. Rule turned to him and slowly extended his hand. “I look forward to knowing you, sir.”

To that, Orrin smiled sadly. “Ah, my daughter’s son, I look forward to knowing my grandson.” He turned to Lawe then, took his hand and whispered, “Both my grandsons, as well as the women they so love.”

Orrin turned to his family then. “Liza, could you, Chelsea, Claire and Isabelle step into the outer office with your and Claire’s mothers?” Audi Johnson asked heavily as he slowly moved his arm from where he’d held his wife to his side.