Growling at the stupidity of saving her bubble ass, he flipped off the lights on the SUV and made the turn on the graveled road that led into the cliffs below.
He needed to get her to shelter. She had awakened only once during the drive from D. C. to eastern Kentucky, enough to assure him that she wasn’t in any real danger from the tranquilizer he had pumped into her.
Getting her into the hidden caverns was imperative. He had everything he needed to protect her there. And there he would get the answers he needed. She would know who the spy was in Sanctuary; no doubt this was how General Tallant was aware of every move made at the Breed base. That meant Scheme must know the spy as well.
Damn, her daddy had named her right. If reports could be believed, and Tanner was beginning to doubt those reports, then Scheme was personally responsible for several of the attacks made against Sanctuary.
She plotted. She planned. She schemed. She was the Schemer. Except he was starting to suspect that rather than scheming for her father, she may well have been scheming against him.
CHAPTER 4
She wasn’t dead. It was the first thing Scheme could think with any certainty. She was breathing. For now anyway.
There was no confusion, despite the grogginess. She knew exactly what had happened right until the moment Tanner’s arm had gone around her neck and darkness had washed over her.
Funny, she had been certain he was going to kill her. She had seen death in his hard, suddenly brutal gold eyes, and felt it pulsing in the air around her as he moved from the bathroom.
Her hand moved to her neck, feeling the slight soreness where something had pinched her. She had a feeling she was royally fucked in a way she didn’t want to be. But what didn’t kill you made you stronger, right?
Bullshit.
Well, at least she wasn’t buried. She could feel the sense of space around her, a blanket lying over her, clear, clean air moving into her lungs rather than the feeling of dwindling oxygen. That would have sucked.
“You can open your eyes. I know you’re awake. ”
Her eyes flew open, and it took every ounce of control she possessed to stare back at Tanner with even a modicum of control.
Yep, she was screwed. Not in a good way. Not even in a decent way. She was royally FUBAR, as her father’s second in command like to say. Fucked Up Beyond All Repair.
The man standing at the end of her bed wasn’t the suave, charming, sophisticated public relations liaison to the Breeds. Oh no. This was the animal the Council had created. Savage, intense, dangerous.
And she was now at his mercy.
Lucky her.
Her gaze shifted from the dark fury in his eyes. She couldn’t bear to hold it, to see the accusation in his gaze, the judgment. Not that she could ever expect anything else. She’d worked hard over the years to gain the Breeds’ total hatred, and she had succeeded. It made her job easier. Her life less complicated. It was just harder to see the truth in his eyes now, rather than the playful desire.
Her gaze touched on stone walls, stone floors. The bed she lay in was made of heavy wood with thick posters. Above, heavy material spanned the connected posters before draping to the floor. It was old-fashioned, almost medieval in design. Wildly romantic. There wasn’t a chance in hell the man staring at her from the end of it had had anything to do with its design.
There was a large overstuffed couch and several chairs at the other end of what appeared to be a large cave. An old-fashioned cast-iron stove sat not far from the sitting area, along with a circular table and four chairs. Cabinets were overhead and along the stone walls. Several metal pipes ran along the ceiling before disappearing into the stone walls, conduits of some sort. There was a television, stereo system, a small shelf of books, CDs and DVDs. All the comforts of home. Surrounded by stone.
“Where am I?” She had a feeling she really didn’t want to know the answer.
“Safe. For the moment. ” Powerful arms crossed over his chest as he stared back at her, his eyes cold.
“For the moment?”
A heavy black brow quirked mockingly.
Scheme resisted the urge to swallow against the fear that tightened her throat. She could do this, she assured herself. He might be a rogue Bre
ed for the moment, but eventually he would have to check in, right?
“May I have some water?” She licked her dry lips, fighting the fear and nausea as she had so many other times in the past. She faked it.
“For a price. ”
“It would appear I’m most likely rather penniless at the moment. ” She sighed. “Father has a habit of canceling credit cards and bank accounts on those he has assassinated. ”