Damn, her cuticles looked good too. Nice and healthy in ways they hadn’t been when she was a teenager.
What else could she do?
There wasn’t a lot left. After all, there came a point when she had to admit she was either asleep or awake. Surely she would reach that point soon.
If it hurt, it was supposed to be real.
Right?
She could kiss Stygian, some demonic imp suggested silently. Just kiss him hard and deep and see if that mating stuff was true.
If it was, then that would assure her she was alive.
“Liza?” Looking up from where she sat on the comfortable couch in the suite of the hotel the Breeds were pretty much staking claim to, she stared at the cup of coffee Rachel Broen-Wyatt, Jonas Wyatt’s wife, was setting on the table in front of her. “Here’s some coffee. It will help with the shock.”
Shock? They thought she was in shock?
Well, God bless their hearts.
Actually, they had no idea how little things had ever shocked her.
It wasn’t the shock, it was that sense that this simply could not be happening. She couldn’t be a target.
She was an anonymous person.
She was a nobody.
There was no reason in the world that the infamous Genetics Council should want to target her. Not even for information on the underground network she was a part of. Until the day before, the Breeds hadn’t been certain she was part of it.
Liza accepted the coffee. It was creamy and sweet. Strangely enough, just the way she liked it.
“Are you okay?” Rachel knelt beside her, dark eyes filled with abject concern.
“Fine.” She swallowed tightly before lifting the cup to sip at the hot, sweet liquid again.
It was warming her insides.
A little, anyway.
But it wasn’t easing that sense of unreality, and she really wasn’t in the mood to pinch herself again.
Besides, the director’s wife was watching, and that probably wouldn’t look rational in her eyes.
“I’m very sorry about this, Liza,” Rachel said softly, her gaze heavy with guilt. “I hate the danger you’re in now.”
“What do you have to do with it?” It made very little sense that this woman would feel guilt for something she hadn’t orchestrated.
Her husband perhaps, but not her.
“Amber is my child,” Rachel whispered. “She’s the reason we’re so desperate to find Gideon.”
Ah yes, the baby.
Liza breathed out roughly. “I just wish I could have helped. If it would ease whatever your baby is going through, Mrs. Wyatt, then maybe this would make a little more sense to me.”
“Please, call me Rachel.” Easing to the couch, Rachel turned to face her.
Liza sipped at the coffee again, hoping to buy herself some time and a bit more of her equilibrium before she was forced to actually converse and make sense.
“Unfortunately, no one but the four involved in the experiments that created the drug Amber was given can help.” Rachel grimaced as a young Breed female set another cup of coffee on the table for the director’s wife.
The petite Breed was smaller than most Breed females. She was dainty, almost fragile, with shoulder-length dark brown hair and soft green eyes.
“Thank you, Erin.” Rachel’s smile was tired as she looked up at the younger woman. “Is Amber still sleeping?”
“Yes, ma’am,” Erin answered with a nod. “And the fever seems to have eased a bit.”
Rachel’s lashes lowered in relief for long moments before they opened once again.
“I’ll be in the kitchen if you need me,” Erin told her before turning and heading to the other end of the room.
“Everyone is here to find more than just Gideon then?” Because that wasn’t the story the president of the Navajo Nation had been given.
Rachel shook her head. “Gideon is the only one of the group the Breeds have been able to track down. The other boy and two girls have simply vanished.” Her voice thickened. “The two girls are truly the ones we need information on, but if Gideon is all we can find, then perhaps he can remember something from his time with the girls and the treatments they were given. Anything, Liza, that he could remember is better than the nothing we have now.” Emotion filled her voice, and tears gathered in her eyes.
Liza reached out and took the coffee cup and saucer that was shaking dangerously in Rachel’s hands and placed it on the table.
Rachel’s distress wasn’t forced. Her love and her concern for her daughter went to her soul. For a moment, as strange as it seemed, Liza swore she could sense that pain, the desperation and fear the other woman was feeling.
Her heart was really breaking for the mother forced to watch her daughter suffer.
How horrible it must be, a nightmare beyond compare to have to watch, day by day, as your child grew sicker, weaker, more pale—
“I’m sorry.” Rachel’s smile was shaky as she quickly wiped her eyes and looked around the room. “Thank God Jonas isn’t in the room yet. We try to be strong for each other—”
She broke off as the door to the suite opened and Jonas entered, along with Stygian, Malachi, Isabelle, Isabelle’s father, Terran, and the president of the Nation, Ray Martinez. There was Lawe Justice and his new wife, Diane Broen-Justice. Behind them trailed Rule Breaker—hell of a name—and a small, dark-haired woman. Liza actually recognized her.
Elyiana Morrey was the Feline Breeds’ genetic and physiological specialist and their main medical expert. Behind her was another woman, her long black hair hanging in thin braids nearly to her waist, her café au lait skin tone only a shade lighter than Stygian’s.
It took a moment, but she’d seen her picture in an article on the Wolf Breed community of Haven. Dr. Nikki Armani, the Wolf Breed genetic and medical expert.
It was a Breed convention, and she had no idea how the hell she had managed a personal invitation.
“Ms. Johnson.” Jonas stepped forward. “I’ve been in contact with your father. He’s in New York on Navajo business.”
Liza let her eyes close briefly.
Was she suddenly ten again?
They were calling her parents?
Opening her eyes, she shot Stygian a fulminating look before glaring at Jonas.
“Why would you call my parents? I wasn’t harmed.”
“It’s a basic courtesy,” he answered coolly. “We’ve extended our offer to provide the protection needed to ensure that today’s and tonight’s occurrences don’t become a repeat. If the offer is acceptable to you, then he’s in agreement with the Bureau of Breed Affairs providing security until his return in a week’s time.”