Lora Leigh - Rule Breaker

A low, all-but-silent little whimper reached his sharp ears then. A cry he was certain the girl was unaware she had even made.

“Where’s that fucking doctor?” he questioned Lawe as the enforcer moved quickly toward him. “That kid’s going to die of grief if he doesn’t get here soon and give her something.”

“They make drugs to cure grief now, boss?” Simon asked, his voice low and resonating with the same aching regret they all felt for her pain. “Can I have some?”

“Lobo’s having the doctor flown in now,” Lawe Justice assured him. “He should be here within the next five minutes. Rule’s been outside coordinating our people and taking care of her brother. Reever’s men are taking care of disposing of the Council’s rogue Coyotes. One of them is still alive, though,” he said, his voice lowered to carry no farther. “The guard who was at the front of the cave. Swears he’s the one who contacted us and led us here after they took the McQuade girl.”

Jonas’s eyes narrowed. “How did he survive?” He knew that damned Coyote had taken a laser blast to his chest.

“Reinforced laser-resistant Kevlar,” Lawe answered. “Seems he wasn’t into suicide tonight, were his words I believe. Swears he has video and that he tried to delay McQuade’s death and says you’ll know him. Grody wasn’t just here for the Council either, according to this Coyote. He was paid by a human to make certain McQuade and his sister both died tonight.”

“And he has video?” Jonas mused.

Lawe gave a sharp, brief nod.

“What’s his name?”

“Goes by Loki,” Lawe answered. “But his brother, a full brother, is one of the Council’s best trackers and assassins, Farce.”

Jonas’s lips curled at the name. “He’s not their best, he’s their luckiest.” Then he sighed. “Damn, I didn’t know Loki was in the area, though.”

“You know him?” Lawe questioned, his eyes narrowing.

He knew him, Jonas thought with a sigh, and he should have known to expect him here.

“He’s one of ours,” Jonas confirmed. “As damnedably stubborn and hardheaded as he is, he’s one of ours.”

Lawe’s eyes widened. “Rule’s beating the fuck out of one of ours, then . . .”

Lawe turned and rushed from the cavern, motioning to several of the enforcers guarding the entrance as he moved to rescue the young trouble magnet, Loki, from Rule Breaker’s clutches.

As the Breed rushed from him, several others following behind, Jonas watched as a young female moved toward him. With her short black hair and emerald green eyes, the Irish blood was damned close to the surface. As were her Breed genetics.

“Mr. McQuade is demanding to speak to you ASAP. He and his wife are en route for arrival in one hour, sir,” Moira O’Malley, a young Breed just out of the labs she was confined in, faced him coolly with the information.

Jonas shook his head. “Contact Pride Leader Lyons and have him inform the McQuades that I’ll answer what questions I can when they arrive.”

There would be time enough for questions once the heli-jet landed. For now, he had other things to do now that he knew Gypsy McQuade’s fate was tied to the Breeds.

Moving back to her, he watched the ghostly form that had begun advancing from the entrance of the cave earlier.

Wary, suspicious, it watched Jonas warningly, a savage snarl curling its lip.

He wouldn’t have expected it, but that misty image of the lion prowled slowly, carefully to the girl until the huge beast settled protectively at her side to rub its huge head against her much smaller one.

A psychic connection, he thought in wonder, a manifestation of the creature’s ability to sense far more than the man who carried it within him.

It blinked back at him, those eyes locking with his, and he knew. He knew in that moment, staring into the beast’s eyes, exactly who this psychic creature was a part of, and felt a warning chill race up his spine.

The lion snarled at him silently, warning him to keep his thoughts to himself.

Jonas was curious just how strong the animal inside that Breed was now, and how long the man would wait once Gypsy matured before he was forced to face who and what she was to him.

He refused to allow that curiosity to influence any decisions he would make, though. If she was destined to eventually be the mate that Breed swore he would never have, then that was what she would be. If not, then forcing him to acknowledge who she was would only change the destiny evolving around her.

Either way, Jonas was responsible for ensuring that she survived here and now. Nothing less and nothing more. That didn’t mean he wouldn’t do a hell of a lot more, if possible, to make this tragedy easier for her.

Though God help him, how he wanted to ensure that neither she nor another child suffered the depravity that the Council practiced ever again.

Shaking his head, he moved to another female Breed rushing to him, heavy blankets cradled in her arms as she returned from the heli-jet they’d used to fly into the area. It had just landed again after making a run to the Reever estate.

“Enforcer Breaker asked that I tell you he’s sending the dead Coyotes to the Reever estate until you can examine them and decide what do with them. Enforcer Justice has your contact secured outside and awaiting your orders, sir,” the Jaguar female enforcer stated as she moved to Gypsy.

Jonas wasn’t surprised that Rule had taken command while Jonas sat with the girl and tried to figure out what had happened in this desolate place.

He was surprised that Rule had broken protocol and decided to beat one lone, living Coyote within an inch of his life rather than saving him for interrogation, though.

Rule Breaker, despite his amusing choice of a name, this single, understandable mistake where Loki was concerned, was turning into one of his most intuitive leaders. His brother, Lawe Justice, though, was quickly becoming his right hand.

A female enforcer crouched before Gypsy and eased the blankets in place around the girl huddling on the makeshift bed. Gypsy’s arms were wrapped around her scratched, bruised legs as her forehead rested on her knees. She was shaking so damned hard he was surprised her teeth weren’t chattering.

He sensed the tears, the screams trapped within her. Sensed the agony burning like a fiery ball of pain that buried itself in her heart the second she was forced to watch the Coyote slice her brother’s throat.

The debt the Breed community owed her brother was too great not to ensure that if his sister ever needed the Bureau or the Breeds, they would be there for her.

For now, though, all he could do was try to make her warm and comfortable and await the family flying out to her. A loving family, he hoped. Parents who would try to help her repair the wounds this night would leave on her gentle heart.

As he watched her, watched the ghostly lion sheltering her, he had a feeling nothing could repair Gypsy’s wounds, and he was afraid of what her parents’ arrival might bring, regarding their acceptance of her.

Son of a bitch, he wished he’d gotten there sooner.

Wished he’d had Mark McQuade’s location ahead of the Coyotes who had killed him.

As he watched Gypsy McQuade, he realized just how heavily the regret that he hadn’t been fast enough lay inside him.

It was a futile wish, because it was now something he couldn’t change. Jonas didn’t dwell on things that couldn’t be changed.

He moved on to things that could be.

And though it was the hardest thing he’d done in his life, he turned his back on her after giving the female enforcer a silent order to stay by her side.

This night was over.

He hadn’t been fast enough, he hadn’t tracked McQuade in time. When he returned to the Bureau, he’d ensure that all their equipment was updated with the best the government and the corporations ordered to provide for the Breeds could pay for.