Primal Claim (6 page)

“I’d remember you,” Mercury said simply, then turned to Bennett. “She said they stole from me and inseminated her.”

“Riiight.” Bennett leaned back, crossing his arms over his broad chest.

Commander Fitzsimmons’ only movement was to narrow his eyes. “How?”

Dani shrugged. “Janice said she got it one night at The Den. That’s all I know.”

“Janice was an Agent?” Bennett asked.

Dani put her fingers up to make air quotes. “Seduction trainer.”

“Where can we find this Janice?”

This time Dani shifted uncomfortably before she stopped herself. Lie by omission. “In the morgue at Sigma. When she found out my insemination was successful she started talking about going back to the club. You guys left quite an impression,” she said that a bit more caustically than intended. “They couldn’t let her take the chance.”

“When was this?” Bennett asked.

“Yesterday.”

“No, when was she with us?”

“A couple of months ago.”

Mercury and Bennett exchanged looks and each gave a small nod to the commander.

“Why did Madame G choose you?” the commander continued questioning her.

Dani shrugged. “All she said was she had a good feeling about me. I don’t know how.”

“Are you enhanced?”

Dani shook her head. “No, I always wondered why she didn’t test on me. I think she was afraid if she tampered with me, her plans wouldn’t work.”

“Are you an Agent?”

She shook her head again.

“Then why were you with them?”

Hesitating long enough to choose her words, she gave a quick run-down of her story. Simplest was best.

“She found me after my parents were killed. Held me prisoner for a few years until she figured out what to do with me. A couple of weeks ago she said I was ready and...” Dani drifted off, struggling to not remember that vile-tasting wine, Agent T’s slimy touch...

“And what, Dani?” Mercury spoke low, a faint rumble could be heard emanating from his direction. It was as if he could fill in the blanks and was not happy. That was crazy. He just met her, didn’t trust her, and other than the strange bond between them, most likely from the baby, he should feel ambiguous toward her.

Licking her lips, her already dry mouth now parched, she stared at the glass of water.

“Drink first,” Mercury urged. “Then finish telling us what happened.”

“Do you have bottled water?”

Bennett scoffed, “No, Princess.”

Mercury scowled at his partner, reached over and took a drink from the glass. “Now drink.”

Dani still debated. She was confident they wouldn’t poison her, but Madame G was such a fan of administering drugs, Dani became accustomed to not consuming anything she didn’t open. Not that it did her any good in the end. Making up her mind, she drained the glass in one long swallow.

Pushing the empty glass to the edge of the table, Mercury looked expectantly at Bennett.

“You don’t seriously expect me to go get more?” Bennett’s astounded, and slightly offended tone spoke volumes. Bennett must be the lead in their little friendship, the one who called the shots, and here he was relegated to servant for a little slip of a woman they’d all just met who hailed straight from the enemy.

Commander Fitzsimmons cut off any more bickering. “We’ll get her more after she finishes telling us what she spent her time doing as a prisoner and how she got pregnant.”

His tone made it obvious he didn’t entirely believe her story. She didn’t expect them to at first. Maybe with time. Much of it was true, really. She just left out the part where she willingly hunted and killed their species. For Sigma. It didn’t matter how evil the creatures were she hunted down, she didn’t think the Guardians would be so accepting and offer protection if they knew she had the skills to kill any one of them.

“I was put on menial details. Cleaning and stuff, stayed out of the Agents’ way. Then Madame G called me to her floor.” Dani took a deep cleansing breath. She could get through this as long as she remembered she gave the bastard what he deserved. “She made me drink wine that had a fertility booster and passed me off to an Agent to...”

Another deep breath and she rushed through the rest. “She told him to have fun with me, but nothing more so there was no contamination. He threw me on the table, stripped me down, but the wine mostly knocked me out. He couldn’t have the fun he planned to I guess, so he did what he had to and threw me back in my room.” There, that part was done.

“They brought me up for testing each week,” Dani continued, the rest was easier and would help them buy her escape story. “But I knew when I was pregnant. So yesterday, when the test came up positive, I knew I had to escape as soon as possible before they monitored me too closely or I got too big to run.”

“How’d a little thing like you get away from Madame G if she didn’t let you go?” This time scorn was heavy in Bennett’s voice.

Mercury sat riveted to her story, not taking his eyes off her.

“Who was the Agent?” he growled.

“Agent T. He came back to finish what was started, waiting until he heard the news so he wouldn’t get blamed for any negative results. But I had snuck a knife under my pillow a long time ago. For just that reason. I got him across the throat and seized the opportunity.”

The low rumbling she heard stopped when she admitted to taking down the Agent. The Guardians continued to study her.

“And in all your time there, you never tried to escape otherwise?” Commander Fitzsimmons asked, disbelief of her story lacing his words.

“I had nothing to go back to. My parents had just been slaughtered. In front of me. And Sigma would’ve been hunting me.”

“Was Sigma involved in the attack?”

Dani wondered the same a few times, but eventually ruled it out. “No, it was an organized hit. My dad was a judge.”

The police ruled it as that – her dad was Italian, they lived on the East Coast, it made perfect sense. Dani knew better, but the truth wouldn’t be believed. That’s why she showed up on Sigma’s doorstep when she learned of their mission to wipe out, or control, all shifters.

“So you killed a full-fledged Agent, you’re only a couple of weeks pregnant, and you want our help? For how long?” The slight hint of facetiousness in what Commander Fitzsimmons just asked her was starting to piss Dani off. She was sick to her stomach, tired, still had dried blood on her, and her boobs hurt dammit.

“I don’t want your help at all,” she bit out. “But I
need
it. Do you think I wanted this? Do you think I sat at Sigma’s headquarters wishing I could be a Guardian’s mate and carry his child? Because one, motherhood was the last thing I was ready for. And two, I really didn’t picture myself settling down in the boonies with a man-whore, fearing for my life and my baby’s.”

Confusion curtained Mercury’s devastatingly handsome face. “Man-whore?”

Dani rolled her eyes. “Please. If I literally had
any
other place to go,
at all
, I would be heading there. Believe me, don’t believe me, whatever. Either help me or let me keep going before they totally surround the place.”

“Well, well, well.” Bennett’s lip curled in smugness. “Now our true feelings are showing. You know we can’t let you go, a human who knows about us. And they need to find the place before they can surround it. Should we keep her in the holding cell, Boss? Until we figure out what to do with her?” Bennett clearly didn’t believe her, but Dani was dismayed to find out how relieved she was when he informed her they wouldn’t let her go.

“She’ll stay in my cabin,” Mercury said abruptly.

“Merc-” Bennett started.

“Not a good idea,” the commander interjected.

Dani was even opening her mouth to argue, her heart starting to race at the thought of being imprisoned in his home, sleeping his bed. The holding cell sounded just fine. There she could get sleep. Not surrounded by the unusual male’s stuff, wondering what made him tick.

Mercury’s eyes, gleaming more silver now than when they had all walked into the room, gave one shake of his head, cutting both males off.

“She can have the cabin, I’ll sleep on the porch.”

“And what if she’s a Sigma plant and tries to kill you?”

Mercury pinned her with his intense dark stare. She could get lost in those eyes, hypnotized.

“She won’t.” Mercury’s statement was almost a question, making Dani nod her head in agreement. She truly didn’t plan to hurt anyone anymore, Guardian or otherwise. Since the beginnings of life snaked through her, making her aware and extremely protective of it, her only concern had been the safety of that life.

“She’s my mate. I will deal with her.”

Dani mentally sighed at the last statement. Just what every woman wanted to hear.

“We don’t know that Madame G didn’t tamper with her or even the baby. We don’t know what she is. Stay with her,” the commander ordered as he stood up. “Don’t her let her go anywhere around here by herself, and don’t let her leave.”

Tearing her gaze off Mercury before she sunk into the depths of that mesmerizing silver-tinted darkness, she saw that the commander was pointedly looking at her. Great. Well, at least they hadn’t killed her immediately, and didn’t seem to plan to in the near future. Their heightened senses told them what she already knew and felt, that her baby was also Mercury’s.

As for the mate business, she wasn’t going to think about that. It didn’t matter. She wasn’t Mercury’s mate. Aside from him being a shifter, she wouldn’t tie herself to a Guardian with their legendary exploits of violence and women. No matter how much he made her aware she was woman. Maybe it was the pregnancy amping up her hormones, maybe the waning adrenaline high, but her attraction to him was superficial. He was a stunning creature and she had seen every inch of him.

But how many other women could say that? That thought cooled any curls of desire snaking through her, replacing it with what could
not
be jealousy. She’d just met the guy. Didn’t matter, she wasn’t his mate.

Bennett was eyeballing her like she was a rattlesnake, ready to strike. The commander had already left the room. Mercury rose in a fluid motion. For a big man, he moved gracefully and silently.

“Come with me Dani. You can shower and rest at my place.”

The look on his mate’s face told Mercury she wasn’t comforted at all by the idea of staying at his place.

Human. His mate was human. Mercury didn’t care. She already knew all about their world and with human mates, that was over half the battle. He also knew Madame G didn’t have a hand in this. Dani was his. The baby was his.

Of course, Madame G was involved in more than just orchestrating the events that brought Dani to him. They’d find out how and remove her influence, somehow.

Bennett headed out the door, Dani turned to follow, weaving slightly. Mercury was there to steady her with a hand on her back. That brief touch, even through her shirt, sent a shock up his arm, straight down to his groin.

“I’m fine,” she snapped at him, and he jerked his hand back.

Even worn and pale from tonight, she was a beauty. Her dark brown eyes, so expressive, flashing with irritation. Mercury frowned when he remembered her irritation had been at him and the stories she heard about him. Many of them were true. But many were not and he’d discern what needed clearing up and what didn’t. Man-whore?

In single file, Dani buffered between the two much larger males, they made their way out into the night. Mercury kept his guard up, he would be a fool to trust someone with such strong ties to Sigma. Her ass, though. He watched it sway in her tight-fitting black pants. She had a lean athletic build, subtle muscles rounding her arms and legs in all the right places, including that ass. Assurance and determination in each step suggested her story of being imprisoned for three years may not be entirely accurate. Big shock. She didn’t have the walk of someone who’d spent her time bent over toilets, scrubbing floors, fearing for her life.

They left through the back door, heading deeper into the trees. This was Mercury’s favorite view. Tall, healthy trees, finally filled out after the long winter, nearly entirely hiding the cabins that lay within. Rustic, but sturdy, cabins littered the acres behind the lodge. With peaked roofs and log sides, the two bedroom cabins that were the living quarters of the individual Guardians didn’t look like much but quaint little vacation stayovers.

They weren’t though. Well, maybe Mercury’s. He wasn’t much for tangible goods, preferring action to lounging. Aside from his books, his space was sparsely furnished with minimal, actually no, décor.

When they arrived at Mercury’s place, Bennett spoke to him while giving Dani a warning stare.

“You sure about this?”

“Would I have said it if I wasn’t?” Mercury got sick of the shadowed talk most people did with each other. He really didn’t get the complexities of human interactions. The environment he grew up in, before Master Bellamy brought him into the shifter world to become a Guardian, didn’t allow for double meanings. Voiced intentions were followed by actions, otherwise there was no need to speak. Especially since the pack he was raised in with didn’t talk.

Bennett continued to give Dani the stink eye and she faced him head-on with her own challenging look. He finally said, “All right then. Howl if you need me.”

With Bennett walking in the direction of his living quarters, which was the closest cabin a couple hundred yards away, Mercury took the chance to study Dani. Daniella. What did she prefer to be called?

“What do you want to be called?”

“What?” she asked perplexed, tearing her gaze away from studying Mercury’s cabin and the surrounding woods. Her human eyes couldn’t make out much in the darkness, but she was taking in what she could.

“Your name. You said it was Dani, but it’s Daniella.”

“Would I tell you my name was Dani if I hated to be called that?”

Okay.

“Dani fits you, but Daniella’s a beautiful name and that fits you too. It’d be a shame not to use it.”

She gave him a wary look. He was used to it, people trying to make out if he was serious, what was the hidden meaning in his words.