The blatant lie almost had his lips curling in another smile, one that would assure her he had seen through it. But the white-hot agony pouring from her deserved far more than even a facsimile of humor.
As he stared down at her somberly, her lips suddenly began to tremble before she lifted her fingers and forced them to stillness.
“I want to go home,” she whispered, and she felt so lost, so very alone that his heart absolutely broke for her, and he was reminded vividly of that night, nine years before, when she had whispered those same words.
“Carl,” he called to the doorman.
“Yes, Enforcer Justice?” Carl maintained his distance, though he too watched Gypsy worriedly.
“Would you call down and have my driver pull my car around, please?” he asked the doorman.
“Yes, sir.” Carl moved quickly to do as he was asked, calling down to the Breed parking level where one of the enforcers on duty would be waiting in case they were needed.
Then he turned back to Gypsy and ached to find a way to comfort her. Unfortunately, there was little he or even Diane could do. The scent of mating wasn’t as strong as he’d scented on others, but it was there. Another male’s touch could be extremely painful during Mating Heat. He couldn’t even pat her delicate shoulder. Diane couldn’t give her one of those girl hugs that she was forever giving her friends.
Gypsy was forced to stand alone, without comfort. And for that, Lawe thought, his brother deserved to have his ass kicked.
...
She had been a virgin and Rule had known it. He had been her first, her only lover, and didn’t she feel stupid as hell?
Used.
She felt used and cast off.
Unwanted.
The humiliation of it left her feeling so raw, so damned helpless that she didn’t know how to handle it.
He had just jumped off her and all but demanded she leave.
He would take her home after he washed up?
As though she had left him feeling dirty.
Her stomach roiled at the thought, pitching with such agony that she wondered if she was going to throw up. Piercing, white-hot humiliation and such pain she didn’t know how to bear it. Her knees felt weak from it, her stomach tightening with the bitter waves of it. She just wanted to escape. Escape and find some way to hide from it.
...
Lawe flinched.
God, the emotions his brother’s little mate was feeling. This tiny, delicate woman who had been meant to share his brother’s life had such agony rolling from her that he could only stare at her in confusion.
How had Rule managed to hurt her?
Whatever he had done, he had hurt his tender little mate in ways she should never have known after the mating had begun.
His car pulled to the curb then, the Breed driving it stepping from the car and moving to them, his gaze curious as he too scented Rule’s mark on her.
The Breed opened the back door for her.
“Come on, Gypsy.” Careful to keep his jacket between his touch and her arm, he helped her into the backseat of the car, then bent and waited until she finally turned to look at him miserably. “If you need a friend, Diane and I, both of us, are your friends, I promise you. Call us if you need someone to talk to. Sometimes, Breeds, by their very nature, can be incredibly stupid. Perhaps, whatever he did, isn’t something he realized had hurt you.”
She simply nodded before turning away from him, her fingers linking and unlinking as she stared down at them.
Lawe shook his head, straightened, then closed the door gently on her.
“Take her home,” he ordered the enforcer before his gaze hardened warningly. “And if you so much as breathe a word of her scent, even to Rule, then you’ll answer to me. Do you understand?”
The enforcer snorted mockingly. “Hey, Breaker wants to cut his own nose off, then that’s his business, right?”
“Exactly,” Lawe agreed. “Keep believing that. I’ll have a team follow behind you and set up security for her. I don’t want her running around unprotected until Breaker gets his head out of his ass.”
“Or you pull it out for him?” The enforcer grinned before turning and hurriedly moving to the driver’s side, sliding inside, and a second later, the car pulled away from the curb.
Lawe shook his head before returning to the lobby and his mate where she waited. He couldn’t help but stop in front of her, and as her gaze lifted to his, he cupped her face, his lips lowering gently to hers for a brief kiss.
“Have I told you lately how blessed I am in you?” he asked her, adoration rising inside him as tears filled her eyes.
His hardened mercenary had to blink back her emotion and the tears that would have escaped at his declaration.
“And I love you, mate,” she whispered. “With all my soul.”
And his brother would throw his own mate away? Cast her away and live without her? Wrapping his arm around his bloodthirsty little warrior, Lawe drew her into the elevator and led her to their suite.
Perhaps he should have gone to Rule’s room and kicked his ass, but he decided to wait. Once Lawe was in his room and the quiet was close around him, he would do what he had been doing since he’d realized Rule was closing himself off from the twin bond they had shared for so long.
At first, it had just pissed him off that his twin would desert him. But once he’d realized why Rule was doing it, it had made more sense. Hell, he didn’t want Rule sensing the pleasure Diane gave him any more than Rule wanted to sense it.
The link was still there when they needed it, so he didn’t worry as much about it. Especially when he was able to slip back into that link without Rule’s awareness of it, just to make certain his brother was doing okay.
For a week or so, he’d worried. Then one night Lawe sensed Rule’s instincts pacing, growling. Realizing his brother slept, Lawe had shifted through the impressions his brother’s animal senses had been telegraphing, almost as though asking for advice.
Lawe had seen the woman, felt the animal’s need for her, his brother’s denial of her, and he’d grinned.
Animal sense to animal sense, Lawe had sent back the impression of Rule accepting it, no matter his denial of it. But had his brother’s animal, his subconscious, somehow known Rule would have actually run?
Breeds were far more than just human with a few added features. They were both human and animal, and not always in equal measure. The face of the human might greet each day, but many times, Lawe knew, even for him, it was the animal that was aware as they slept, waiting for trouble, watching the human’s back.
Sometimes, in those Breeds with the stronger genetics, it was almost as though the human and the animal simply shared the same body. He’d often sensed that in Rule. Despite his brother’s control, his denials to the contrary, it was often the animal senses that guided him.
What if the man had suddenly sensed what the animal was trying to hide from him?
He grinned at that.
God, to have been a fly on the wall. Gypsy probably thought his brother was fucking crazy. Or would, once she’d gotten over the pain.
And maybe, he thought, he could have helped, should have done more. But Rule had gotten himself into this mess and he was going to get himself out of it. If he was too stubborn to accept that his animal would never have accepted a mate who was too weak to be the woman he needed, then he’d just have to suffer until he realized the truth.
Or until Lawe decided he’d suffered enough and felt sorry for him.
He’d wait till morning, Lawe decided. Then he’d decide if his brother deserved the help.
CHAPTER 15
“Going somewhere, Breaker?”