Navarro's Promise (7 page)

CHAPTER 4

It wasn’t her they wanted.

Navarro glanced down at her. Her pale face, the soft green of her eyes, the dark blond hair splayed around her, disheveled and falling around her like thousands of tiny ribbons, straight and tempting with their silken sheen.

As beautiful as she was, as intelligent, it wasn’t necessarily Mica they wanted. It was Phillip Brandenmore. Somehow, the bastard had managed to escape Sanctuary’s secured cells, and for over twelve hours he had been free. Long enough to contact the men he had been working with, long enough to tell them he wasn’t dead and where he had been. Long enough that before he was recaptured, he’d managed to create a mess Jonas still hadn’t been able to clean up.

That was why they wanted Mica. She was the only weak link within the main hierarchy of the Breed societies. She wasn’t a Breed, but she was Cassie Sinclair’s best friend and Dash Sinclair’s goddaughter.

If they had Mica, then they would try to use her to secure Brandenmore’s release, as well as the research he was demanding from the Breeds. Research they didn’t have.

In Brandenmore’s crazed state, he refused to believe that research didn’t exist.

“No answer?” The edge of fear in her voice, the scent of her still-simmering arousal mixed with that fear, had his fingers clenching on the hilt of the weapon he held at the side of his leg.

“It’s not a question I can answer,” he corrected her. “Jonas doesn’t share the details with his enforcers, Mica. Sometimes, he just gives the orders.”

That wasn’t necessarily the truth. Jonas hadn’t told him why, but he hadn’t needed to. Navarro had known Mica would be at risk. That was the reason he’d made certain his comm link was tuned to Wyatt’s. If it happened, he wanted to know.

“Sometimes he just fucks lives up too,” she retorted, anger flashing across her expression now and filling her scent.

God knew he preferred her anger over her fear. For some reason the scent of her fear seemed an affront that threatened to send him into a rage.

He, who had been created and trained to have no emotions period. And for the better part of his life, he’d assumed his creation and his training had been successful.

Until he had laid eyes on her, ten years before, no more than a child herself, facing off against irate young Breed males with nothing more than bravado and fury.

He heard the heavy sigh she tried to hide, and fought to keep from comforting her. Hell, he wanted to pull her into his arms, warm her, ease her, and it simply wasn’t possible.

He couldn’t risk her being seen. He could risk no suspicion whatsoever that she was in the vehicle, heading for Sanctuary.

“I should have stayed at Haven,” she finally said softly.

“Why didn’t you?” She would have been safe there. There would have been no way in hell the group searching for her could have reached her inside the main compound protected by the majority of the Wolf Breeds in existence.

Looking down at her, he saw the flash of vulnerability in her gaze, the aching need, the feminine awareness of an attraction she couldn’t fight.

“You were there,” she said softly.

Navarro turned his head forward, his jaw clenching. He understood what she wasn’t saying. It was the same reason he rarely stayed long in Haven when he knew she was there. Because the temptation was simply too great.

The communication link at his ear beeped, signaling an incoming communiqué from Jonas. Lifting his hand, he pretended to adjust the earpiece as he pressed twice, indicating he was listening but would only answer if necessary. Mica hadn’t donned the link, and if he could keep her from being more frightened, then he would do just that.

“I take it Mica’s in the dark?” Jonas drawled, waited and then continued. “Stygian and Rule are in the vehicle ahead of you, Lawe, myself, Mordecai and Cavalier are coming in behind you. There are reports all roads to Sanctuary are being watched. Enforcers are mobilizing along the way and will be pulling in with us. This is a well-organized, determined group and they’re pulling out the stops.”

Navarro clenched his teeth and fought back a curse.

“Do we know how many?” he asked. There was no hiding this from her.

Beside him, she was pulling on the earpiece, and the sound of activation clicked across the line.

“Ms. Toler,” Jonas said, greeting her presence. “How are you?”

“Cold, hungry and pissed off,” she retorted sweetly.

Jonas chuckled. “And none of us can blame you for that. I’ll see what I can do to fix the first two; the last, I’m sorry to say, I can do nothing to fix at the moment.”

“Unless you’re at fault, then it’s not your place to fix it,” she responded. “It’s not your fault, is it, Mr. Wyatt?”

There was more than one sound of amusement across the shared, secured line.

“Not this time,” he assured her. “Though I’ll see what I can do about the next adventure you’re forced to make.”

“What’s our status?” Navarro cut into the byplay as he reached behind the seat and pulled free the pack he had thrown there earlier.

“Up shit creek,” Jonas grunted. “Thankfully, we do have a few paddles. We have teams mobilizing and due to begin meeting us on the other side of the tunnel. By the time we reach the state line, we’ll have a fucking convoy moving to Sanctuary, with more waiting ahead of us. We should have over three hundred enforcers, Feline, Wolf and Coyote, on the drive to Buffalo Gap. I rather doubt our friends will attack that.”

“Or they could use the opportunity to strike and take out the majority of your first responding enforcers,” Mica stated.

“A situation we’ve considered,” Jonas agreed. “Thankfully, we also have two planes in the air, satellite backup, and several other contingency plans at our disposal. Until we have one of the heli-jets available, safe transport is something we can’t depend upon. We have you covered though. You’ll be safe and sound within hours.”

“Who’s behind it?” she bit out, the anger, the fear in her voice raw now.

“A subject we’ll need to discuss at a later date,” Jonas informed her. “Until then, stay low and out of sight. I’ll update you if other reports come through.”

“With all the security, what’s the point in staying low?” she asked, her voice tight.

“That way they’re not certain which vehicle to target on the off chance they’ll decide to attempt to kill you rather than kidnap you.” That was Jonas. Mating sure as hell hadn’t taught him to soften the blow, it seemed.

Navarro watched from the corner of his eye as she jerked the link from her head and tossed it across the back of the SUV. For a second, tears glittered in her eyes, before they were quickly covered.

“We’ll discuss that later, Jonas,” Navarro promised him softly.

“No doubt we will,” Jonas sighed. “Look, Wolf, I don’t have time for tender feelings here. We’re both well aware of the stakes. If we lose her, then we chance losing Cassie for the simple fact the guilt will destroy her. Our enemies know that as well as we do. If they take the girl, then they’re effectively kidnapping both women. I think we agree that’s not the best scenario for the Breeds at the moment.”

Because Jonas would be forced to give up the prize he had stolen months before when he’d captured Phillip Brandenmore and had him secured in Sanctuary’s underground cells.

If he had to make a choice between Brandenmore and the pair of Mica and Cassie, then Cassie would win hands down. Her importance ensured Mica’s for the simple fact that the two young women were so close.

“We’ll have a few things slipped into the vehicle at first opportunity to make her more comfortable,” Jonas promised when Navarro refused to comment further. “We’ll discuss this more at Sanctuary.”

“Bet on it,” Navarro stated coolly before disconnecting the link and turning back to Mica.

She was staring at the ceiling of the SUV blankly, obviously distancing herself as much as possible from the entire situation.

She had that habit. He’d watched her do it plenty of times when she’d been forced to Sanctuary or Haven for the sake of Cassie’s safety over the years.

“I have to say, he’s still an asshole,” she sighed, continuing to stare at the ceiling. “I’d rather go to Haven as soon as possible.”

“As soon as possible,” he agreed. “I’ll make the arrangements as soon as one of the heli-jets is back from mission status.”

“They need more heli-jets.”

And wasn’t that the truth.

The fact was, at the moment, there wasn’t a damn thing he could do about it though. There were no more heli-jets, and they were stuck on land, driving through the night in an attempt to get her to safety.

As they passed beneath the Hudson River, through the Lincoln Tunnel and into New Jersey, the heavens opened up again with their liquid fury pounding down in driving sheets around the SUV.

Cougar, thankfully, was in his element. The SUV never lost speed, but continued on at a smooth, hard pace as the other Breed sped them toward Sanctuary.

It was the Feline Breed home base, but it was shared with Wolves and Coyotes who were in need. All Breeds inhabited both bases, though they had originally been designated one Feline, the other Wolf.

Mica was as at home in Sanctuary as she was in Haven, though it was Haven she spent the most time in, due to its proximity to her father’s home in Colorado.

She wasn’t at home in the middle of a rainstorm, racing across an interstate at eighty miles per hour while lying in the back of an SUV, at the mercy of a Wolf Breed and a stubborn Feline with an attitude problem.

And she was staring up at the Wolf as though she had all the trust in the world in him.

That look in her eyes made him want to crawl in the back with her and show her exactly why she shouldn’t trust him. There was nothing in the world he wanted more right now than to sink his cock as deep inside her as possible.

Fucking her had become an obsession. It wasn’t a heat, thank God, but it was a hell of a lot more than a want. It was a driving need that made his dick so fucking hard it was ready to burst straight from his jeans.

“Cassie warned me not to come home,” she sighed into the uneasy silence that had descended in the vehicle. “She said I was going to end up running through the rain.” A soft laugh feathered around his senses as he glanced down at her, watching as she stared up at the ceiling of the SUV. “I told her I didn’t melt.”

He could just imagine that conversation. Cassie rarely understood the many visions she had now that she was maturing. As though her mind no longer wanted to accept the paranormal world that existed around her and often dragged her into its sphere.

“She’s not going to be happy with me,” she sighed again when he remained quiet.

“She rarely is when you leave.” Most Breeds who knew Cassie well knew she was rarely pleased whenever Mica returned to live the life she was trying to build for herself.

It was a life Breeds were often messing with just enough to keep it from growing, or to keep her from drawing away from them.

Navarro wondered if even Mica understood her friend, or whatever needs drove her. Sometimes, Navarro was certain no one had a chance at fully understanding the Wolf/ Coyote hybrid Breed or the friend she was so close to. Definitely, there was no Breed capable of it.

But Navarro had found himself considering the second job. There was something about Mica, a mystery he needed to figure out, and it pulled at his training, at the genetics that had gone into his creation.

He was created as a man of many faces. A Breed made to fit any situation, any personality or temperament needed for any mission.

He was a liar. A traitor. A Breed that could never be trusted because he was created to be the ultimate deceiver. He wondered what Mica would think if she knew the genetics that had gone into creating him.

“You’re not talking to me,” she stated irritably. “I’m not exactly feeling safe and secure here, Navarro. That makes me a little nervous, you know?”

He glanced down at her again, his jaw clenching as he fought against the need to growl.

It was emotion. Emotion was such an unfamiliar sensation that many Breeds could only react to it instinctively. A growl, a snarl, a sound of danger that they had little control over.

“Do you know many Breeds who do talk much?” he asked her quietly, aware of Cougar in the front, well able to sense and scent the emotions swirling behind him.

“Cassie?” There was a note of laughter in her soft voice.

Navarro allowed his lips to quirk. “She does have her moments, doesn’t she?”

“There are times you can’t shut her up,” Mica agreed. “Then times you can’t get her to talk if your life depends upon it.”

“In other words, a woman?” His brow arched as he looked down at her again, tempting the arousal that pounded between his thighs.

“That isn’t nice.” She peeked back at him through the veil of her lashes. “At least we talk. Have you tried to get a Breed to talk lately when they wanted to be silent? Talk about mule stubborn. Some of you would put the mule to shame.”

“The pot calling the kettle black?” he questioned, holding back the smile he wasn’t certain what to do with.

“I’m not in the least stubborn,” she said in denial.

She was terrified. He could smell it wrapping around his senses, and the need to alleviate it had his fingers forming fists as he fought against it.

“You are the most stubborn woman I’ve met,” he argued, fighting back the anger.

In the seat ahead of him Cougar made a rumbling Feline sound of displeasure. It was too low for Mica to hear, but Navarro had no problem hearing it. The fear reaching the Feline Breed’s senses was abhorrent to him. Women were simply his weakness, and their fear was guaranteed to piss him off.

Perhaps that was what made most Breed males so very different from their human counterparts. They responded to a female’s pain and fear, even a female that was not a Breed. Especially perhaps a female that was not a Breed, because she was even weaker, even less capable of defending herself against predators. That fear and pain seemed to dig into an unnamed animal instinct the Breed males found almost impossible to ignore. Those found to be able to ignore that instinct were rare. Even those Coyotes who still gave their loyalty to their Genetic Council masters were affected by it.