Those damned earbud communicators. Jonas wouldn’t let her have one.
“Should I tell him you’ll be a while?” he asked her, his voice gentle as the elevator came to a smooth stop.
“No. Facing him now is just as good as later. Preferable, even.”
His hand settled at the small of her back. The touch was surprisingly comforting, and far too pleasurable. For a second, a moment out of time, she could feel his c**k pushing inside her, his lips on hers. She could taste his kiss, feel his touch.
“Now you’re just making me horny,” he drawled as they reached the suite next to theirs.
Liza remained silent.
Stygian’s hard knock was answered quickly by Dog.
A scowl covered his face while his light gray eyes were the color of hard, cold steel.
“Join the party,” he invited, his voice low. “We’re just all getting ready to have fun.”
Liza stepped inside and looked around the room.
Her father stood with Ray Martinez on the far side of the room. Ray leaned against the desk behind him, his arms crossed over his chest, a heavy frown pulling at his brow as his dark eyes flashed in anger.
Audi Johnson stood to the side of the desk, hands braced on hips, lips thin with obvious impatience. To the other side of the Nation president, his legal advisor and Isabelle and Chelsea’s father, Terran Martinez, stood, leaning against the wall rather than the desk.
“Did you show up at work too before you realized you’d been fired?” Chelsea sat on the couch next to Claire, who had her head down, concentrating on her fingers.
“Pretty much,” Liza agreed, moving to the couch to join her friends, always aware of Stygian close to her. On the love seat across from Claire and Chelsea, Isabelle and Malachi sat silently as well. Isabelle was obviously upset; Malachi appeared furious.
She turned to her father. “You didn’t call, Dad. You let security deny me access.”
Her father’s lips thinned. “I did call, Liza, the call didn’t go through. I’ve tried to contact you since three in the morning. I learned at about six that your sat-phone signal had somehow been hijacked and your phone was connected to another source and uploading data to it.”
She blinked back at him. “I wasn’t uploading anything.”
“No, you weren’t,” he agreed. “Any more than you were uploading from your laptop, but both were in the process of a large upload. I managed to sever the upload and the connection, but your phone and laptop Wi-Fi chips have been permanently disabled.”
“The laptop screen was flickering again this weekend,” she stated, moving to set the briefcase on the floor as though it would somehow incriminate her. “Just like it did last month.”
Her father nodded. “There’s a serious security breach with each of your electronics,” he told them. “The Breeds obviously are not included in that statement.” There was a vein of animosity in his tone now.
“Is there any way the Breeds can help, Mr. Johnson?” Malachi offered cordially.
“Oh, there sure is—”
“Dad, don’t—” Liza knew that tone of voice, the look in his eyes.
“You and your buddies can pack the hell up and get off Navajo land. And take those God be-damned Genetics Council agents with you.”
Isabelle’s expression flared with fury as she made it halfway out of her seat in defense of her lover.
Malachi caught her instantly, pulling her back to his side as he leaned close, his head over hers as he whispered something intently at her ear.
“That’s enough!” Liza stepped forward, overwhelmed by the sheer disbelief that her father had said such a thing. “That’s unfair, Dad, and you know it.”
No matter any of their personal feelings, her father still considered Isabelle a favored niece. To say such a thing to the man she loved was horrendous.
“This is none of your business, Liza.” He used that cool, firm tone that assured her he still considered her a child and just as easy to control.
“Oh, well now, I just have to beg to disagree.” He’d taught her to stand her ground and to fight for what she believed in.
She’d never imagined it would one day be her father she was having to defend a friend to, though.
“Trust me, Liza, it has nothing to do with you,” he repeated, his gaze brooding and filled with anger.
“When my lover is one of the Breeds you’re trying to run off Navajo land, then yes, I do believe it is my business.”
Her father’s shock was surprising. “There’s no way I heard you correctly.” His gaze was colder, harder now than before, shocking her.
Surely he had already guessed?
“Why are you so surprised?” Her arms crossed over her br**sts once again. “You knew we were sharing a suite. You knew he had been at the house when we were attacked. As for Malachi, you seem to be forgetting what Holden Mayhew would have done to Isabelle if Malachi hadn’t been there.”
“What he did wouldn’t have happened if it wasn’t for him.” Audi’s finger jabbed in Malachi’s direction. The Breed followed his mate as she jumped from the love seat again.
“Because rather than trying to give her to the Genetics Council, he would have just raped her himself.” Claire surprised them all as she stood, fury flushing her face.
“Claire, what is wrong with you?” her father snapped, his gaze suspicious. “Son of a bitch, are you on something?”
The accusation had silence suddenly filling the room as all eyes turned on the Nation’s president.
Liza couldn’t believe the words had left his lips. That he had dared to say something so horrible to Claire, especially in front of so many people.
The look on Claire’s face was so rife with tortured pain, Liza could only stare back at her miserably before turning to her own father again.
“So if we stand up to either of you then we obviously have to be on something? We can’t possibly be adults who are simply sick and damned tired of being treated like children, could we?” Liza asked them as her chest tightened with pain.
Ray had always aggressively fought Claire’s independence with every weapon he could come up with. This was one of them. Accusing her of doing drugs as past friends did, or not caring about her family, whatever it took to get her to back down and obey his demands rather than living as she longed to do.