It was all a farce. A farce that had kept her alive for the past twelve years and one she now had to uphold to save the only sister she had ever known.
She shook her head as she stared back at Jonas.
"Fawn was always so tiny. Judd and Gideon used to call her the little fairy. Every year on Claire"s birthday, a fairy is left where she can find it. And they"re always very, very expensive. She keeps them in a secured stor-age center in town where she can go look at them whenever she wants to."
Jonas nodded. "That would suit Fawn."
Then his gaze sharpened on her. "And what about you?"
"I must amuse him somehow, he"s always leaving me knives. And I"ve learned how to use every one he"s sent." Her breathing hitched painfully. "But I don"t know who leaves them or how they do it."
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He didn"t leave girly little knives either.
They were always lethal and always intended for one thing and one thing only: spilling blood.
"Where do we go from here, Jonas?" Stygi- an asked from behind her. "Don"t play games with me where she"s concerned. The time for your manipulations where Liza and I are concerned is over."
Liza. She had to stay Liza, not Honor. At least for a little while longer.
"Now, we"re tracking her a.s.sailants." His expression tightened once again. "Once we have them in custody and we learn how much the Genetics Council knows concern- ing them, I"ll handle that end. Until then, what you do remember of those years and the serum you were given, I must know."
Agony flashed in his gaze. "If I lose my daughter, Ms. Johnson, then it won"t matter the battle we"re fighting or the need to move with caution. I promise you, there won"t be a 838/862.
scientist or an individual a.s.sociated with that organization that I will allow to continue breathing. That, I promise you."
That promise Liza felt to the bottom of her soul.
"I still don"t remember everything." She was holding on to Stygian as though he were a lifeline, terrified she was going to sink into the fears tearing through her now. "But-"
She lifted her hands from Stygian to rub at the ache in her temples. "Jonas." She stared back at him miserably. "There were so many injections, and only Gideon knew what each one was. I was a.s.signed to the scientists that worked with the blood transfusions and who a.n.a.lyzed the data on the blood tests and the different hormones that showed in them.
Fawn worked with the techs that coded the information, and Judd was with the group that created and administered the medica- tions for the different side effects. Gideon was with Brandenmore and his scientists as 839/862.
they created the serums for the different groups and administered them."
"There was more than your group?" Jonas growled.
"Unfortunately." She had to bite back the sobs that still ached in her chest as more tears fell. "I don"t know how many, or what they were focused on. Only Gideon knew."
Jonas"s jaw clenched tight as his gaze flashed with a brutal fury.
"Then we"ll just have to ensure we draw Judd and Gideon in. Until then," he contin- ued. "No one outside a very select group, chosen by me, will know that you are now aware of your ident.i.ty or that we"re aware you"re anyone other than Liza Johnson. Not even your parents will know. Claire Martinez, especially, will be kept in the dark."
"What are you going to do?" she asked as Stygian"s arms wrapped around her once again.
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He"d remained quiet, but it was as though she could feel him, sense the careful calcula- tion and the plans he was working on himself as she and Jonas spoke.
Dropping his arms from his chest, he slid them instead into the pockets of his slacks as his lips quirked mockingly once again. "Why, Ms. Johnson, I"m going to do exactly what I"ve been doing for the past months. I"m go- ing to pull in the final two pieces. Once I have the four of you together, then I pray to G.o.d, I"ll have the key to saving my child."
With that, he moved to the door, calmly, carefully opened it and stepped into the sit- ting area of the suite. The door closed behind him almost silently as chills raced up Liza"s spine.
"Will he keep her safe?" she whispered.
"As a mate in her lover"s arms," he sighed as his arms wrapped around her and pulled her against the warmth of his chest. "She just might not enjoy the experience."
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Turning to him, exhausted, still torn and filled with doubts, she allowed his arms to surround her, to wrap her in the comfort and the warmth she"d always ached for.
"I wouldn"t have missed it," she told him, feeling his lips at her temple, the beat of his heart beneath her ear.
"Missed what, baby?" he asked gently, as though he didn"t know.
He had to know.
Tilting her head back, she stared up at him, her eyes filling with tears, but this time, tears of thankfulness, of joy.
"You." Her voice was thick with that emo- tion. "I wouldn"t have missed what we have, Stygian. Not for anything."
His hand lifted, brushed back the hair at her temple then cupped the side of her head as his lowered to hers. "Neither would I, mate. Not for the world, or the safety of any- one in it, would I have missed a single mo- ment we"ve had, or all the moments to come.
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She wouldn"t have missed it for anything; now she just prayed the past she had man- aged to escape for twelve years didn"t find a way to turn around and destroy them. Then she didn"t think, regret or fear. As his lips slid over hers, his tongue stroking against them, parting them and sending brilliant forks of sizzling pleasure to race through her body, Liza knew there was nothing on the face of the earth that could have convinced her to miss this moment, this life and this man.
The taste of the mating heat filled her senses, washing through her, sensitizing her nerve endings and leaving her wet, needy, wanting his touch, his hold as she had never needed anything before.
Wrapping her arms around his neck, she held on to him, feeling the heat and incred- ible hardness of his body as he lifted her closer. As he gripped her hips, lifting her and bearing her back on the bed as he came over 843/862.
her, Liza felt a sensual, feminine weakness sweeping over her.
This was the most incredible pleasure.
Watching him come over her as he leaned close, the fingers of one hand moving for the b.u.t.tons of the light cotton blouse she wore and slowly loosening them.
Her heart rate jumped as the backs of his fingers brushed against the mounds of her b.r.e.a.s.t.s. A moan whispered past her lips as he flicked open the front clasp of her bra and eased the cups from the swollen b.r.e.a.s.t.s.
"Stygian, yes." Her hands moved from his shoulders to his hair, reaching for the thin strip of leather that held the silken strands back from his face.
"Not yet." Catching her wrists, he pulled them back over her head, anchoring them to the mattress with one hand as his lips lowered to the hard tips of her nipples.
Arching, straining against his hold, she whimpered as the heat of his tongue licked 844/862.
over the pebble-hard tip and his free hand slid along her hip before moving to the small metal tabs of her jeans.
Her legs shifting, thighs tightening as heat began building in her v.a.g.i.n.a, her moisture easing along the swollen folds, she toed her sneakers off, desperate to do whatever it took to get as naked as possible, as fast as possible.
As her shoes. .h.i.t the floor, the last tab slipped free at the same moment, and Stygi- an"s lips parted and covered the desperately swollen bud of her nipple.
"Oh G.o.d." Liza arched as he sucked the tip into his mouth, his tongue lashing at it as he began pushing at the denim and her silk panties. Working them over her hips as she lifted for him, pushing the jeans to her thighs, then to her knees until Liza could work them free of her legs, he rumbled a growl of approval in his chest at her antic.i.p.ation.
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His hand stroked from her knee, moving slowly upward, the calloused pads caressing up her inner thigh as her legs parted for the intimate touch. His fingers moved to the slick, bare folds of her p.u.s.s.y, easing between the swollen flesh to stroke against the clenched, snug entrance as pleasure bom- barded her and searing flashes of heated sen- sation raced over her nerve endings.
Her juices eased from her inner flesh, meeting his fingertips to heat and slicken them as she arched against him, feeling the electric arc of pleasure/pain that struck her womb as his mouth tightened on her nipple, his tongue burning it as he lashed at it.
Lifting his head from the tight, throbbing peak of one nipple, he moved his lips to the other, sucked it inside and licked it, tormenting it. His teeth gripped the tender bundle of nerves, drawing a startled cry of pleasure from her as she tried to lift her hands, tried to touch him.
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His head lifted.
The blue in his eyes obliterated the dark ir- ises, gleaming between his thick lashes as he stared down at her, watching her face as his fingers stroked from the tight opening of her v.a.g.i.n.a to the swollen, throbbing bud of her c.l.i.t.
"Stygian," she moaned, arching to him, her hips lifting as she became desperate for a deeper, harder touch. "Please, don"t tease me."
"Tease you?" The rasp of his voice stroked against her senses, adding to the sensations.
"Oh, mate, teasing isn"t what I had in mind."
His fingers circled her c.l.i.toris, easing along the slick, hot cleft and following the wet heat that spilled from her p.u.s.s.y and eased lower to heat the forbidden entrance to her rear.
Her entire body was heating. Sensations were tearing through her, blazing through her senses and tearing at her control as 847/862.
Stygian"s head lowered and his lips covered hers. As he released her wrists, Liza lifted her arms, wrapping them around his neck, holding on to him as his tongue stroked against hers, teased it, flickered against her lips until they closed on it and suckled at it hungrily as the taste and heat of the mating hormone began to speed through her system.
The arousal built, tearing at her, making her desperate for more, for his c.o.c.k f.u.c.king inside her, stroking into the clenched depths of her v.a.g.i.n.a.
Their moans began to fill the room, des- perate and filled with torment as the hunger began to burn through their system and lash at Liza"s senses.
She pulled at his shirt, jerking it up his muscular back before flattening her hands and running them to his midriff to push be- neath the material.
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"Take it off," she cried out as his lips moved from hers to spread hungry kisses to her jaw, her neck. "Take it off now."
Levering to his knees, he jerked at the hem, intent on doing just that as she lifted herself as well and began tugging at his belt.
Loosening the leather, she pushed it out of her way to jerk at the tabs of his jeans, pulling at the closures to part the material and release the heavy width of his c.o.c.k.
She didn"t bother to glance up at him. The thick, heavily veined shaft throbbed, pulsing with the need to fill her with his release. To thicken inside her and lock him so intimately inside her that there was no escaping for either of them.
Neither physically or emotionally.
"I want to taste you," she whispered as a bead of pre-c.u.m eased from the slit at the wide crest.
Bending her head, lifting her gaze to stare up at him, she let her tongue lick over the 849/862.
flared c.o.c.k head, her inner muscles tighten- ing as need burned through her c.l.i.t, swelling it further.
"Ah h.e.l.l, baby." One hand buried in her hair, tearing it loose from the clip that held it back from her face as her lips parted and slid over the engorged crest. "Ah f.u.c.k yes. Wrap your pretty mouth around it."
She was drunk on excitement now, flying into a super- nova of sensation as Stygian"s fingers clenched her hair, tugging at the strands and creating a pleasure/pain sensa- tion that rocked her to her core. As her lips surrounded his c.o.c.k head, she stretched them with the same erotic sting as his c.o.c.k pushing into her p.u.s.s.y. The hunger for him began to overwhelm her.
The thick crest filled her mouth, throbbing in it as she used her tongue to lick and rub at the underside as she tasted the salt and male essence of him and moaned with her need for more.
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It was so erotic, so s.e.xually charged that electric fingers of sensation p.r.i.c.ked over her flesh, driving her higher into the wicked heat of a hunger she had no will to resist.
Who she was wasn"t who she was. Her friend was someone other than who Liza had believed her to be.
It didn"t matter that they had made the choice to take this destiny. All that mattered was finding herself here and now. With her mate"s d.i.c.k pushing between her lips, stretching them as a growl rumbled in his chest from the pleasure-that was all that mattered.
The world outside the heavy steel door could go to h.e.l.l for all she was aware of at the moment.
As her lips sucked, her tongue stroked, Liza pushed at the denim until it was below his thighs, giving her unlimited access to the tight, hairless sac of his b.a.l.l.s.
Oh G.o.d, she needed more of him.
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Stroking the tightly drawn flesh beneath his c.o.c.k as she worked over the engorged c.o.c.k head, licking it, sucking at it, she teased the flesh below with her fingers as she stroked and teased it with merciless hunger.
She needed to drive him to that brink of control where nothing mattered but her.
Where his only thought was burying himself so deep inside her p.u.s.s.y that they were no longer two ent.i.ties, but merged into one.
That place where pleasure, both physical and emotional, joined and burned them from the inside out, melding them together.
"Sweet Liza." He groaned above her.
"That"s it, baby, suck my d.i.c.k. Work that pretty mouth over it."
Her p.u.s.s.y clenched, spilling more of her juices as her c.l.i.t throbbed desperately and her v.a.g.i.n.a ached to feel the heavy width bur- rowing between her thighs.
"Ah, baby, I"m going to die right here if you don"t stop."
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His c.o.c.k seemed to thicken in her mouth, the head pulsing, pounding at the roof of her mouth as she moaned in excitement, arousal tearing through her at the knowledge that he was close, so close to coming for her.
As that thought flashed through her brain, a heavy spurt of the pre-c.u.m that always filled her as his c.o.c.k began penetrating her p.u.s.s.y filled her mouth.