“Well, he’s not so young,” she muttered, flicking a glare over her shoulder. At the last second, her father saw the softening of that glare though, the warmth in her gaze and the way her gaze lingered on the Breed that had taken a protective stance just inside the door of the anteroom.
She was in love.
That realization pricked at his father’s heart even as it filled him with pride but also a fury born of fear. Because he couldn’t allow it. This man would destroy his daughter’s life.
He had read the report on this Breed.
Stygian Black was a powerful enforcer, but he was also one who stood by his word and his own code. He was a man—a Breed—that Audi knew would follow his daughter into any battle she chose and always watch her back, protect her too-delicate body, and guard her too-compassionate heart.
He would also, Audi knew, instigate the revelation of secrets Audi had prayed would never need to be revealed.
And he hated the Breed for that. Hated him for the fact that he knew Stygian Black would take his daughter away from him. By time the Breeds finished in Window Rock, the child he loved, the child he would die for, would no longer even exist. And that knowledge made him wish he was the man he had been thirty years before. The man who could kill and not suffer a conscience born of the soul he had found when he’d met his Jane.
“To me, he’s young.” Her father chuckled as he pulled her close to his side and extended his hand to Stygian. “Mr. Black? It’s good to finally meet you,” he lied convincingly enough that his daughter relaxed in relief.
“You as well, sir.” Stygian stepped forward and accepted her father’s handshake, his expression as respectful as his demeanor. “I hope you were able to complete your business?”
“Everything’s fine.” Her father nodded.
Liza knew her father, though, and she knew he would be spending the better part of his time on the phone now that he was back, completing that business.
“You can go back now, Dad.” She looked up at him, knowing she would be okay now.
He had come for her, he was here to protect her, to support her. Knowing he had made that sacrifice, as much as she regretted it, still soothed the little girl who would always need her father’s guidance and offer of protection.
“The hell I can.” He all but glared down at her as her mother gave her a firm look. “I think I’ll be right here, Liza. There’s no way in hell I’m going anywhere while this is going on. Ray filled me in on the attacks, and it sounds to me as though it’s a little more dangerous than Mr. Wyatt let on.” His glare shifted uncontrollably to Stygian and deepened. “He ignored my calls this morning by the way. It took forever to get ahold of him.”
Stygian rubbed uncomfortably at the back of his neck. “Mr. Wyatt does have a tendency to do that,” he agreed. “I’ll contact his wife and make certain he gets in touch.”
“No need.” Her father grunted. “Mr. Wyatt and I have spoken. I’ve had to listen to his preaching about making the situation more dangerous by returning. I swear, Jane already had us packed and ready to leave before that man finished telling me all reasons why I wasn’t needed here, and I just had to listen to it again. Last night, I just agreed with him, got off the phone and headed straight for the airport. It’s more than obvious he has some growing to do as a father if he ever imagined I wouldn’t be here as quickly as possible.”
Stygian watched Audi and Jane Johnson with their daughter, but he paid more attention to Liza. To the scent of her relief and the easing of that tightly held fear inside her.
She had needed them here, he realized.
She had known she was safe, known Stygian would never allow her to be harmed, but her father had always been her protector, and she needed him as well. Stygian realized then he should never have agreed with Jonas’s decision to assure the father it was fine to conclude his business before returning.
“I’d like to discuss the security you’re using to ensure her protection,” Mr. Johnson informed him as Liza moved from his hold and headed to her office doorway.
Stygian could sense the other man’s tightly leashed anger, and his dislike. He was fooling no one but Liza, and possibly his wife. That knowledge had Stygian steeling himself for what he knew was to come later.
They followed her to the small sitting area across from her as she moved to her desk, her mother following close behind and chatting quietly about the trip to New York.
“I’d also like to know what you’ve learned about the assassin that shot at her.” Audi’s rage was so heavy now Stygian swore it would begin glowing red around him any moment. The fact that he was restraining it, hiding it so well from his daughter, was a testament to the control he’d honed as a younger man in Black Ops.
“Yes, sir.” Stygian nodded, remaining polite, respectful.
An assassin with the Bureau of Breed Affairs, Mathias Slaughter, had once told him that should his mate’s father ever decide he wasn’t good enough for his daughter, Mathias would still treat the man with the utmost respect and consideration simply because his mate would always love that man as her father. The pain she would feel if her mate and father should ever dislike each other would be too great, the assassin had stated. The Wolf inside him had sensed the little girl that every woman was, who needed to always have the illusion that her father could do no wrong. It was a security, a safety net that even a Breed couldn’t provide.
Stygian hadn’t understood the reasoning at the time, but now, as he sensed Liza’s father’s disapproval of him, it made more sense. Never did he want his mate to hurt, to lose that innocent, vulnerable part of her inner self that her love for her father kept alive.
For just a second in the elevator he’d felt her reluctance to face her parents. That part of her had been terrified that her father would disapprove of her actions and her choices as an adult, and Stygian had sensed her need for that parental approval.
Now, it was as though part of that deepening pain she had felt was slowly easing away. The fear of her parents’ disapproval had eased away, leaving her stronger, more confident in herself. The arousal was still burning through her senses, but that sense of desertion had eased away.
She was close to her parents, and they were dedicated to her.
Taking his mate from her home and those she loved would be as Malachi had said of Isabelle: like stealing a part of her soul from her body.