"I don't understand. Why would they create children in a laboratory and then have me watch them if I'm their biological mother? Why not just tell me? I love them as if they're mine, but when you said Ginger looked like me, I have to admit, I had a few suspicions over the last year, but then I just..." She broke off, reaching for the needle in her arm. "I have to get up."
She had to do something. Anything. Not lie here like a lump while the world around her shifted yet again. She was tired of being exhausted and afraid. She needed to find some kind of balance, and nothing was making sense. Nothing at all. She could only blame her sluggish mind on the snake venom and her own raging hormones. Wyatt Fontenot was messing with her mind. He had to be.
He moved fast, pinning her hand, preventing her from removing the needle. At the touch of his hand on her bare skin, little tongues of fire flickered over her. The breath hissed out of her and her gaze jumped to his face.
"Don' be touchin' that, honey."
"Don't tell me what to do," she snapped, and felt childish for lashing out at him when it was only because she was beginning to panic.
"Get used to it. I'm like that. Bossy. I like things my way. Right now, the number one priority is to get those children out of that prison. To do that, I need you to be one hundred percent healthy. I know they're mine. I believe you're their biological mother, but I know they're mine and I'm not leavin' them there. You're goin' with me to get them."
She stared into his eyes, her heart beating fast. Even being a dominating jerk he was horribly handsome. She really detested that she was so drawn to him. If she wasn't, she could be in complete control of him in two seconds flat, but she didn't dare go that route with him. She would lose. She knew she could seduce him, that wouldn't be a problem, but she would lose. "You think I'm setting you up for them, don't you?"
"It crossed my mind. If you are, know this: I have three brothers and some powerful friends. They'll hunt you down, and eventually they'll find you and they'll kill you if you're a part of this and something happens to me. It won' matter how fast you are, or how lethal you can be. They'll get the job done."
"A part of what?" Pepper struggled not to cry, forcing back the burning tears. She didn't so much as whimper. Her lips didn't even tremble. She struggled to understand what he was conveying to her. She was intelligent. She was quick. But she just wasn't getting this. "Are you saying those three babies who have been through hell already are being used for some purpose? That they were given termination orders to draw you into this?"
She searched his face, trying to get past the masculine perfection and her attraction to him to see if he really believed what he said.
"Whitney knows our family. He knows we know just about everythin' happenin' in the bayou. The moment those men touched Grand-mere, he knew one of us would be comin' to read those men from the good book. Almost three weeks ago, I was in a firefight and was shot. We were ambushed, called to a location on a rescue mission that wasn't that at all. It was a setup. They attacked us, and our chopper went down. We had to fight our way out of there."
"Where were you?" The thought of him in a firefight, his helicopter going down left her weak. Shocked. Frightened.
"That doesn't matter. The point of this is, I was wounded and had leave comin'. Nonny suddenly contacted me and told me what happened to her."
"So you think because you were wounded and Nonny happened to call you home that this is some scheme, an elaborate setup. Do you have any idea what it would take to orchestrate something this complicated? To make all the pieces come together?" Pepper said. "Now you're just being paranoid."
It would take a brilliant man who loved games. Games like chess where people are being used as pawns.
She heard it. Or she thought it. She didn't know what came first, but his hand was still burning a brand through her skin straight to her bones, and all of a sudden his stupid conspiracy theory was actually beginning to make sense and that scared her all the more.
"Really?" Wyatt straightened up, taking a step back from the bed to lean against the wall. "Not when you think about it. He used my sperm and I suspect your eggs and enhanced them in vitro. They were planted in surrogates there in France where they had you in their little laboratory. He gave the babies to you to ensure a bond. He knew your maternal instincts would kick in and that, because you're highly intelligent, you might even figure it out."
"But I didn't," Pepper denied.
"Yes, you did. You know you did. You suspected they were yours, and you let yourself love them because you couldn' help yourself. You played right into his hands, not that any normal person could have resisted three innocent babies. He waits for the right moment, and believe me, Dr. Peter Whitney is a master at creatin' right moments."
"I told you, he was there only a couple of times. It was Dr. Thomas Braden who was in charge of the laboratory there in France." She didn't want any of it to be true. If it was true... she was in far more trouble than she could ever handle alone. How could she possibly keep her daughters safe from such a madman?
"It doesn' matter who was in charge. Whitney can' possibly be in ten places at the same time. He has to have men who run the various laboratories for him. Others have to conduct the experiments. He has a network now, a large one, but it's Whitney at the helm, and this is classic Whitney."
"What is this?" Pepper demanded, feeling like her head might explode. She raised both hands and covered her ears as if that could drown him out. "Because I still don't understand."
She didn't want to understand. If she understood the actual scope of the forces against her, she might give up and she had three little girls depending on her. She felt terrified and exposed. Vulnerable. Never ever show that to the enemy. That had been drilled into her.
"Sugar." Wyatt caught both her wrists in a gentle but unbreakable grip and pulled her fists to his chest.
Sugar. That was all he said. It was the way he said it. Soft. Whispery. Into her. Sugar. Who would ever want to be called sugar? It was bad enough that her name was Pepper. But Sugar? She couldn't believe she melted inside when he said it, but she did.
"You always forget to breathe, baby. This is just a fact. Nothin' huge goin' on here. Nothin' we can' figure out together and beat. A little over four months ago I received orders to go to Afghanistan. It was my third tour, so I didn't think anythin' about it. We're usually sent into the hottest zones because we're enhanced. We always run the night rescues. The last one resulted in taking heavy fire. No one should have known we were comin'. No one. We knew they had to have been tipped off."
She was horrified. The thing was, she didn't know if she was horrified at the thought of Whitney betraying soldiers that way, or by her reaction to the thought of Wyatt in such danger. Her entire body rebelled at the idea, and what did that mean? If he kept holding her hands against his chest, they were both going to be in trouble. Snakebite, IV and gunshot wound aside.
She licked her lips and forced herself to try to carry on a conversation while subtly pulling at her wrists. "This Whitney would work against the United States for the enemy? Do you really think he has the power to know your orders and to get word to the enemy that you were in the vicinity?"
Wyatt acted like he didn't even notice she was in a small struggle with him for possession of her hands. She sighed and gave up, curling her fingers into his shirt. Into that heated rock wall. She felt the definition of his muscles behind the thin material and it did things to her body she hadn't expected.
Wyatt smiled down at her, a cocky, masculine grin that might have meant he knew he wasn't only curling her fingers but also her toes.
"Absolutely he does. He's still workin' for the government, or some covert branch of it. We can' uncover who has his back. We chop off one head and two more seem to grow. I was wounded. Several of us were, and around that time, probably the moment Whitney heard we were safe and back in the States, he issued a termination order on the babies so you'd grab them and escape. The timin' is just too coincidental f
or me to stomach. He brought you here, created a reason for you to escape and a reason for me to come home."
She closed her eyes briefly. He was making sense. She was so screwed. How could she fight alone against a man who could set up an ambush of a rescue helicopter in Afghanistan? The thought was absolutely, utterly, terrifying.
"How could he know your grandmother would go out to harvest plants at the precise time the sirens went off?"
"Why did they go off? Were you spotted?"
She shook her head. "I heard the sirens and rushed to the laboratory hoping the other two babies had made their escape. I wanted to help them."
"So all he did was wait for Grand-mere to go to the swamp to harvest and then he set off the alarms. His idiot guards did the rest for him, and she called me just like she knew he would. The question is, why did he do this? Is there a trap inside that laboratory waitin' for me?"
His thumb slid over the pulse beating rapidly in her wrist. The brush alone sent her pulse rate up and blood rushing through her body. If he thought to check if she was lying that way, he would never get an accurate reading.
Chapter 6
Wyatt looked around the table at the two men and his grandmother, the people who would be most affected, other than Pepper, with his decision to try to get the other two babies out of the laboratory. Ginger sat in the hand-carved high chair that had been his, the only thing left of his grandfather's, before the man had passed away leaving his wife to care for the four young boys alone.
"I'm lucky to have all of you," he said. "But we have to be realistic. Ginger, honey, I'm goin' to talk in front of you, and hope you can understand most of what I say."
"Wait." Pepper staggered into the room, her skin covered in tiny beads of sweat. "I'm not going to miss this."
She carried the bag of fluids with her. Clearly she'd been to the bathroom already. She'd tried to tidy herself up, but she looked as if she might fall over any moment. Wyatt had felt her determination, and several bursts of pain, but he hadn't realized she'd gotten out of bed - and he should have. She just didn't seem to give off the GhostWalker energy - or she was very adept at shielding herself.
He was immediately aware of her. Of everything about her. And he knew both Ezekiel and Malichai were as well. It was impossible not to notice how her clothes clung to every curve, how her skin looked petal soft and her beautiful eyes held pain she was desperately trying to cover up. She looked small and fragile, very vulnerable, and his every instinct rose to protect her.
Before either of the other two men could go to her aid, he was on his feet, gliding to her with purposeful steps, his body language not so subtly warning the others off. He swept his arm around her waist possessively, pulling her into his body, taking most of her weight. She trembled. Her eyes met his. The impact hit him with a low, wicked punch.
This isn' a good idea, he whispered softly into her mind. His grin said he didn't give a damn whether it was or not, he was glad to have her there pressed close to him.
I know. I'm sorry, but I need to hear.
He acknowledged to himself that he would have been the same. Whether or not the children were hers biologically, she'd been their only mother and she loved them. She had the right to hear what he had to say.
"Zeke, would you mind gettin' a more comfortable chair from the parlor? Stick it in the corner there where I can hang this bag for her." He didn't take his gaze from hers. He let her see he was devouring her. Savoring. Keeping her.
She blinked rapidly and glanced down to his arm, rubbing her hand over the tattoos there.
If Ginger doesn' understand and wants to, sign for her as best you can. I want her to know I want her here and so does Nonny.
Pepper scowled at him with a quick shake of her head. You can't take her away from me. That's not right.
Who said I was? Pipe down for a minute and think logically. You can' handle all three of them alone as they're growin' and you know it, nor can you run with three babies in tow. Seriously, woman, you're enough to make a man crazy. I'm keepin' them and I'm keepin' you.
But...
You're in my world now, babe. Go with the flow.
He lowered her into the chair, fussed over the bag of fluids and examined the catheter in her arm. He knew he was touching her skin because he had to feel it against his own, not because he was being any kind of healer. He should have felt guilty, but all he felt were the sensations pouring into his mind and body. Whatever she was, he felt as if she had been made for him.
His ridiculous infatuation with Joy had been so childish, a teenager's dream and later, a knight in shining armor rushing to the rescue. He hadn't seen her for what she was. Joy had wanted money, a handsome husband and the bright lights of the city. She wanted a glamorous singing career, and there was nothing at all wrong with that. Unfortunately she still looked to a man to get her out of the bayou, even after all that had happened to her. She didn't believe Wyatt was that man - and she'd been right.
Joy didn't need or want him. She didn't see him for who he was or love him for it. He had known love growing up and he wanted a woman who would stand with him through anything. Anything at all. Even protecting three little vipers from anything or anyone who would harm them.
That woman was sitting in a chair, snake bit, shot, muscles still cramping painfully and yet determined as hell to listen in on how they were going to rescue her children. And she had a knife. He knew because he felt it right there at her waist when he pulled her close to him.
Reluctantly he went back to his chair, aware Ezekiel and Malichai both were grinning from ear to ear. He preferred their knowing grins to their drooling over his woman.
"I could get her a blanket so you could tuck that around her," Malichai offered. He hastily bent his head toward his plate when Nonny fixed him with a stern eye, but he didn't bother to hide his grin.
Wyatt might have risen to the bait, but his grandmother looked as if she'd had enough, and Pepper looked as if she might faint from the pain. He found her pain actually made him feel sick, so he pushed his plate away from him and leaned back in his chair.
"We're goin' to get the children out. I know I'm their father. Nonny knows it too. I can feel it. They took somethin' from me without my consent, and now I've got three little ones to look after. I take bein' a father very seriously."
Ginger's eyes were wide. She looked from him to Pepper and signed frantically. He waited while Pepper did her best to explain to a baby genius just how such a thing could be true.
"There will be some problems and we're goin' to have to prepare for them. We'll need to have things ready for them before they get here. We'll also need better security before we tip our hand and go after them. Pepper thinks they're safe for the moment, but they're babies and they have to be terrified. I want to beef this place up fast."
Ezekiel nodded. "We'll need a few others to get the work done. We'll need weapons and bunkers and a safe room."
"We have to childproof the house," Nonny added practically.
"They're good at escaping," Pepper said.
There was instant silence in the room. Wyatt glanced uneasily at his friends. Ezekiel sat up straighter, his gaze leaping to Pepper's face at the sound of her voice. That soft, silken glide that moved under a man's skin. Malichai looked shell-shocked.
"Darlin'." Wyatt pinned her with his dark gaze. "Don' talk. I'm lettin' you stay because you got the right to hear, but don' waste your energy or you'll find your pretty little butt right back in bed. You hearin' me?"
Her eyelashes fluttered. Her lips parted in protest but no sound emerged. He was fairly certain it was because she was too outraged to speak so he sent her another, much more charming smile.
I don't understand you.
She sounded so lost he wanted to pull her into his arms and hold her close to him. I know, sugar, but right now you don' have to. You just have to concentrate on gettin' better. I want to know you understand and you'll just relax right there. You got somethin' to say, say it
private to me.
Pepper moistened her lips with the tip of her tongue, and Malichai groaned. Wyatt set his teeth to keep from swearing.
You're killin' me, baby. Just don' move. Don' speak. You're still not able to block your voice and I don' want to have to kill a friend. So don' open your mouth unless it's askin' me to kiss you. You hearin' me? Say it. To me. You're hearin' me.
Pepper swallowed hard, glanced at Malichai and Ezekiel. Color crept up her pale skin into her cheeks. She nodded.
Say. It. To. Me. He bit the command out, enunciating each word.
Her gaze flicked back to him. I'm hearing you.
"If they're good at escapin', we'll have to make certain they understand the danger. Pepper, right now, is the only one they trust. Ginger" - he smiled at his daughter - "you can help us with this. When we bring your sisters home, you have to help us make them understand they'll still be in danger, but not from us. Can you do that?"
Ginger looked to Pepper, who signed to the baby. Wyatt was fascinated by the expression on Pepper's face as she looked at the little girl. Her eyes, a strange, deep almost purple, had gone soft and warm. The diamond burst bled into the purple, giving off a look of radiant love. He'd seen women look at their children with love, but there was something intense and focused, as if the child was everything to her.
He touched her mind very gently, wanting to feel what she felt for the child. All encompassing. Real. He went soft inside. How could he not? Pepper didn't have a family until the babies were given to her. She'd known nothing about children, but like any good soldier on a mission, she had researched as much as she could to be the best she could without practical experience.
And she loved. She knew how to love. Little vipers. Little tiny lethal baby vipers who bit her and made her suffer. She loved them anyway.
Hell, woman. You belong in the bayou. Right here.
Pepper glanced at him again, her dark midnight eyes meeting his. His body stirred, went rock hard. He was grateful the table was large.