Breeds: Stygian's Honour Part 17

"No doubt," Stygian growled as he turned on the other Breed slowly. "Was this a Bur- eau strike and watch?" he asked, referencing Jonas Wyatt's habit of making an attempt to draw enemies and friends alike out of the woodwork by staging an attack.

"Not with your mate in the line of fire."

Rule gave his head a hard shake, his black hair fanning against the side of his face as his deep blue eyes narrowed against the brilliance of the sunlight. "And he wouldn't have put one of his enforcers where anyone could take him out. One of Cullen's men just sniped that b.a.s.t.a.r.d shooting at the two of you like it was no more than spitting dis- tance." He nodded toward the cliff rising above the lake from the other side. "He took a next shot up there on the cliff and took the shooter's head off, and that's no s.h.i.t."

And no easy feat.

Stygian felt the muscles at his jaw flex.

"Have you ID'ed him?"

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"We had to use fingerprint ID." Rule shrugged. "Report came back as a former trainer for the Genetics Council. What he was doing here, though, I'm not certain. Who was he shooting at? You or your mate?"

"Both," Stygian bit out before moving to the edge of the incline and quickly making his way back to where he and Liza had been sitting. "How did he manage to follow us with you watching?"

"There's no way." A hard shake of Rule's head was decisive. "He had to have already been here."

"He couldn't have known where I was tak- ing her, or that we'd be here," Stygian growled as he moved quickly to the cycle. "I want a background report ASAP and I want to know every f.u.c.king second of his life since the day he stepped into the Genetics Council and I want it yesterday."

"Yeah, you Wolves are an impatient lot."

Rule sighed, though he was far enough away 240/862.

from him to evade any strike Stygian could make for the smart-a.s.sed remark. "Why don't you take it up with Jonas?"

"He's next." Flipping the key to start the motor, Stygian was burning rubber a second later as he tore from the parking lot and headed back toward the hotel.

Jonas had better have some f.u.c.king answers.

CHAPTER 8.

"He did what?" It was Ashley Truing's shocked exclamation that drew Liza's atten- tion from the fighting stance Emma was try- ing to teach her.

Oh h.e.l.l. Oh h.e.l.l.

She should have never, never told Chelsea and Claire what had happened before the shooting earlier that afternoon, Liza thought as her attention was pulled from her oppon- ent to the three women on the other side of the room.

She found herself flat on her a.s.s and star- ing up at Emma Truing in surprise a second later.

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"Keep your mind on the b.a.s.t.a.r.d trying to kill your a.s.s, not the pretty girl with the bottled-s.e.x voice as she tosses her hair."

Emma snorted.

Liza sat up and hung her head, breathing heavily as she felt the perspiration rolling down her back and the ache just beneath her skin at each point where Emma had touched her.

She rubbed at her arm irritably where the Breed female had gripped it to-oh so casu- ally-steady the hold she had when she threw Liza off balance.

"You're getting stronger," Liza muttered as she glanced over at Ashley, Chelsea and Claire where they were whispering and gig- gling in amus.e.m.e.nt, while Shiloh and Chi- mera stared back at Liza in amus.e.m.e.nt.

"Your hands feel like hammers tonight."

Emma arched her brow. "Really? Ashley swears I baby everyone."

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"She babies me." Ashley threw her sister a hard look. "Every Coyote in town has been babying me too. It's d.a.m.ned humiliating."

Ashley was delicate, impossibly pretty and as spoiled as any debutante, and every time she b.i.t.c.hed about getting kicked out of a fight, Liza wanted to laugh. She didn't look capable of swatting a fly, let alone commit- ting some of the b.l.o.o.d.y mayhem she'd heard of the other woman doing.

"And they'll keep babying you or answer to my knife at their throat one night," Emma stated, the cold hard tone an indication of her complete dedication to the threat.

"Stop interrupting the conversation over here if you two don't mind." Ashley displayed her incisors aggressively at her attempt to ignore her sister's threats. "Em, did you hear about Liza and Stygian's little ride out to the lake earlier today?"

"You mean the one where Stygian had her pinned against that post beneath the shelter 244/862.

a second before that shooter tried to re- arrange her head?" Emma grinned. "h.e.l.l yeah, the Breeds on protective detail were ribbing Stygian over that one before we left the hotel tonight."

Liza glanced at the girls gathered at the side of the room. "Just what I need, a bunch of Breeds gossiping about me when they should have been watching for the b.a.s.t.a.r.ds using me as target practice."

"Honey, you should have expected that the minute you hopped on that Harley with him," the Jaguar Breed Shiloh Gage spoke up with effortless sarcasm. "Breeds are nosier than any woman created. They're bigger gos- sips too. The fact that you managed to evade a professional a.s.sa.s.sin's bullet is just fodder for the rumor mill. What I can't believe is that he actually comes home instead of rush- ing you straight to his bed."

Emma and Ashley snickered at the declaration.

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"I still can't believe he didn't just kiss you."

Ashley giggled, her gray eyes twinkling in a merriment they hadn't seen since she'd been shot by Holden Mayhew.

And though Liza was d.a.m.ned happy that the other girl seemed to be recovering so well, she still wasn't pleased that Chelsea had placed her head on the chopping block to amuse Ashley.

At least Chelsea and Claire hadn't told the other girls how he refused to deny mating heat existed. That part, they had sworn to never tell. She should have made them swear on the rest of it as well. At least, until they knew for certain about the whole punishment-by-death thing.

Yet there they were, all watching her after her friend had been so kind as to inform them of what may have transpired before the shooting.

"How much did you tell them, anyway?"

Liza questioned her with suspicion.

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She should have told them not to mention that almost kiss. She'd remember next time not to.

Chelsea gave a light shrug and a smirk.

"Probably more than you would be comfort- able with, but come on, Liza, it was so interesting."

Liza felt heat wash through her face as she remembered the sensuality that had tightened Stygian's expression.

"Great," she muttered, resting her face against her up-raised her knees.

"h.e.l.l, I just can't believe Stygian got so fresh," Shiloh drawled. "He doesn't even get s.e.xy-nasty with the Breed females he takes to his bed. He hasn't even been known to flirt."

Oh, he knew how to flirt-just as he knew how to make a woman insane with anger.

"Why don't you guys find something else to talk about?" Liza demanded.

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"Because, this is just so interesting,"

Shiloh a.s.sured her with practiced mockery.

"Come on, Liza, it's simply uncalled for to hear of Stygian actually going on a date."

"Well, you can at least take a break and let us finish here," Emma declared as she moved back to the center of the mat where Liza sat, finally breathing regularly. "Come on, bad girl, get off your lazy a.s.s and see if you can't find a way to at least tip me here." Turning her palm, she gave Liza a backward wave.

"Up and at 'em."

Liza rolled her eyes as she came to her feet and gave her arms a loose shake to relax her stiffening muscles.

"Take it easy with those paws of yours,"

she ordered the other girl. "h.e.l.l, my arms still ache."

"Sissy. Stop wussing out on me."

Wussing out on her?

Liza glared back at her.

She had yet to wuss out on anything.

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Watching Emma carefully, she was able to dodge the first set of jabs as well as Emma's attempt to trip her.

Liza focused her memory on the fight she'd managed to glimpse between Diane Broen and one of her former mercenaries.

She concentrated on coordinating her move- ments to match the practiced symmetry the Bureau enforcer had used.

Why hadn't she tried that before? she wondered distantly.

She'd watched enough Breeds sparring over the years that she should have already been incorporating what she'd watched them do.

She blocked Emma's next attempt to grab and throw her to the mat. As though she had slipped into someone else's skin, she began moving automatically. Blocking, jabbing, moving offensively instead of defensively un- til she had Emma actually breaking a sweat.

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She had watched the Breeds-Cullen, Reever, and Klah-sparring for most of her life, and had resisted the urge to attempt to use the maneuvers she'd seen. Her body al- ways felt ready, prepared to execute the moves, but her confidence in putting into practice what she had seen without training, had held her back.

Until tonight.

Until the urge to do so overcame her lack of confidence and she learned she had a tal- ent she'd never recognized before. It was a talent she realized she'd had since her and Claire's accident. The fiery car crash had nearly taken both of their lives, and had left each with subtle talents that for some reason they were terrified to reveal. Talents they had only shared the secrets of with each other.

"Geez," Emma muttered as Liza blocked another move and came back at her quickly 250/862.

with an offensive jab to her jaw, then fol- lowed with one to the midriff.

Emma barely had time to block before awareness of another move slid into Liza's consciousness and went straight to the in- stinctive impulses snapping through her brain then to her body.

Emma sent a jab to her jaw. Sweeping back and going to the floor, Liza caught her- self on her shoulders and arms, legs swinging out as she rolled and swept Emma off balance.

As the Breed went down, Liza was there, her fist coming in and stopping short of Emma's throat in what would have been a killing blow for a human. For a Breed, at the very least, it would cause a lengthy incapacitation, giving Liza a chance to escape.

As Liza blinked down at the shock in Emma's face, she quickly jumped back, stared down at her hands, then to the Breeds 251/862.

and two friends watching her in wide-eyed disbelief.

In Claire's eyes though, Liza saw fear-and a desperate warning.

Fear that the minute changes they had ex- perienced after their recovery would be de- tected and alter them in the eyes of their loved ones.

The warning that she was skirting the line and placing them both in danger.

"Who the f.u.c.k are you and where did Liza go?" Emma sat up slowly, her gaze narrowed.

"I told you she was holding back," Shiloh crowed in triumph as her mocking laughter filled the bas.e.m.e.nt. "What have I been telling you for months and you couldn't see it? Every d.a.m.ned time she could have shown she was picking up these d.a.m.ned moves she would back off like a scared little baby."

"I never showed her that move." Emma watched Liza as though she were a particu- larly complicated puzzle.

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"Neither did I," Ashley stated.

"No, we didn't. But have you forgotten what Liza does for fun? She buys fighting videos and practices without us. I told you all along she was going to kick your a.s.ses one day when you least expected it."

The suspicion, thank G.o.d. Oh, thank G.o.d.