Rule Breaker (Breeds 20)

Shame threatened to suck the fury from her, but nothing could penetrate the cold hard core of fear tearing her guts to shreds.

“If they’re in trouble . . .” Her breathing hitched. “Please, Flint, let me see them. Let me help them,” she whispered, aware of Loki and Kandy coming in behind her. “They’re my parents.”

“Are they?” he asked, gently, perhaps too gently. “I’ve seen very little proof of that, Gypsy. But if you’ll give me two minutes I’ll contact Assistant Director Brannigan and see if he can’t get in to talk to Jonas. Because this suite is on total lockdown. The only way to get through any of us is to kill us. Can you do that?”

She hadn’t cried in nine years. The agony trapped inside her hadn’t had a release in so long that Gypsy had forgotten what the moisture in her eyes should feel like.

Until she had to blink it back.

She looked over his shoulder to the door, knowing she wasn’t getting in there, even if she did manage to kill every Breed blocking it. “You don’t understand.”

“I’ve known you a long time, Gypsy,” he stated, that soft, compassionate tone tearing at her, reminding her of how many times Rule had spoken to her with the same gentleness, that same understanding, that she had made herself ignore. “And you know what? I’ve seen Kandy’s parents rush to her side many times. I’ve yet to see them rush to your side once. Even when I know for a fact that you needed them.”

That didn’t matter. Kandy had needed them, she had deserved them. What had Gypsy deserved after leading Mark to his death? Besides, she had never asked her parents to come to her, had she?

“Just get me in there, Flint,” she demanded, her voice so hoarse, so filled with dread that she barely recognized it.

“What is he talking about, Gypsy? Gypsy, what’s going on?” Kandy whispered behind her, fear trembling in her tone. “What’s happened to Mom and Dad?”

Gypsy’s fist clenched at her sides. She didn’t need Flint or Rule to tell her what had happened. She knew her parents. Or rather, she knew her mother. Greta McQuade had gotten away with slipping the device in before, she believed. She would have been convinced she could do so again.

God, why hadn’t she gone last night when Rule had refused to allow her to leave alone? If she had confronted him, if she had demanded it, he would have taken her, she realized. She knew Rule, almost as well as she knew many of the other Breeds. But she had slept with Rule, and she knew things about him that a woman only knew about the man she chose as her lover.

Stepping to the side of the door as the other six Breeds covered the panel, she watched as he touched the comm link at his ear and flipped down the small wand to rest at the side of his cheek.

“Yes, sir, Mr. and Mrs. McQuade’s daughters are at the door. Gypsy requests access to ascertain the charges being brought against her parents and to assure herself of their well-being.”

God no.

Oh God, if they charged her parents with Breed Law, there would be no fixing the damage it would make to their lives.

“Gypsy, what is he talking about?” Kandy cried out, though her voice was low, from behind her. “What charges?”

When she didn’t answer, her sister grabbed her arm firmly, sending a rush of almost violent pain stabbing at her flesh before she hurriedly jerked back, turning to face the young woman she had always tried to protect.

“What is he talking about?” her sister demanded, tears bright and th

reatening to fall from her eyes as the Coyote behind her, Loki, stood with his back to the wall, his head lowered as he apparently stared at the tips of his dusty, worn boots.

For a second, she could swear she had met him before his arrival in Window Rock two months before. Something about his shaggy, dark blond hair kept tugging at her memory before she was forced to focus her attention on her sister instead.

“It’s a long story, Kandy,” she muttered, swiping her fingers through her unbound hair, and glanced back at Flint.

She wanted to hear what he was saying, but her sister refused to wait.

“Then start talking.” Younger, but by no means less determined, her sister stared back at her furiously, the tears in her eyes threatening to fall at any minute.

“He knows.” She nodded to Loki. “That’s why he distracted you and held you back when you arrived with Mom and Dad. Isn’t it, Loki? You already suspected what they were going to do. Why didn’t you tell Kandy before she warned me that they were here?”

He looked up at her through the generous length of gold-tipped lashes, his features impassive, his dark gray eyes flat and deliberately cool.

“How was I supposed to know, Gypsy? I intended to take Kandy out to lunch when your parents arrived with her, concerned about the rumors that Rule had kidnapped you from that bar. They had already requested the meeting with Jonas after they were called and assured of your safety. Assured you would contact them later. They wouldn’t wait for Kandy and me to talk a minute; they didn’t even acknowledge that she had stopped to speak to me. They just stalked to the elevators and demanded to see the director,” he told her quietly, his eyes shifting with such a slight movement to the Breeds behind her that she doubted they even knew he’d done so. When they came back to her, there was a warning in them before he then allowed the shift to move in Kandy’s direction.

The message was clear. Drop the subject or Kandy could become involved as well.

He’d deliberately delayed Kandy, there was no doubt about it, just in case her parents were stupid enough to pull the same stunt they had pulled the last time they had arrived at the hotel to speak with Jonas.

“Gypsy.” Flint drew her attention as he stepped from his position against the far wall, his gaze solemn as she felt her throat tighten apprehensively.