“Confident of my ability to help you, if you’ll let me. ” He stared back at her, his expression suddenly serious, almost sad. “But you would have to believe in me first, wouldn’t you?”
“I don’t need your help. ” Her fingers trailed up his arm as he leaned back in the chair, his eyes drifting closed as she came around him, her fingers caressing up the shirt-covered shoulders to his neck as the beat of her heart threatened to strangle her and tears suddenly dampened her eyes.
She lowered her head to his neck, placing a heated kiss to his pulse as she slid the knife from her waistband. Her hand shook as a tear fell from her eye.
She had to do it. Her tongue tasted his neck as she shuddered, gripping the hilt desperately as her hand lowered to her side.
He would be okay. Breeds healed amazingly fast. She wasn’t going to kill him. She knew where to strike. Her father had taught her how to maim and how to kill. She could do it. Easy.
She fought to breathe, bringing the knife up further as he sat relaxed in front of her, his arms on the table. The perfect position. The knife would slide in just under his ribs, missing the spleen.
He would be disabled until she could bind his hands and then the wound. He would live.
Do it, she screamed out at herself. Now.
Her hand trembled.
Her breath hitched as a sob filled her throat.
This was her only choice. She had to escape, and he had already proved he wasn’t going to just let her go.
“Do it, Scheme,” he whispered gently. “Hurry, pretty girl, before you lose your nerve. ”
He knew. She would have frozen if a shudder hadn’t shaken her body and the sob hadn’t escaped her throat.
“It’s easy. ” His voice was amazingly tender. “The knife you chose is perfect. If you keep hesitating, I’m going to get impatient. ”
“You son of a bitch,” she screamed, jerking back before she threw the knife, the tears finally falling as she stumbled back from him, watching as his head lowered and shook slowly.
He rose from the table lazily, turning to her, his expression somber, filled with sadness.
“It’s not so easy to kill when your hand holds the weapon, is it?” he asked, his tone so understanding that holding back the tears was impossible. “If you want to convince me that you’re a killer, that you’ve cold-bloodedly worked with your father all these years, then you’re going to have to do better than that. ”
Another sob broke free as he moved toward her, staring at her with eyes so gentle, so filled with emotion that she felt something inside her soul rip open—a wound so intense, so destructive that it weakened her knees and left her on the floor, crying.
“You have to let me go,” she cried. “Let me out of here, Tanner, please. ” If he didn’t, she was going to lose her strength; she wouldn’t be able to hold back the need to trust him much longer.
Let him think it was claustrophobia; she could handle that. The truth could get her killed, could get her returned that much faster to her father, and the death that awaited her there wouldn’t be easy.
“Come here. ” He knelt in front of her, lifting her, holding her close to him as he moved her to the couch. “Right here. ” He sat her down, then opened the laptop he was working on. “Look at this, Scheme. ”
The screen flared to life, six small windows glowing on it.
“This is the area around my cabin, several miles from here. ” He pointed out four of the screens. “What do you see?”
The screens were thermoactive, showing bodies moving, weapons held ready.
“Those are Council soldiers, looking for me,” he told her. “They’ve been watching the cabin for days, hoping to find you. Reports are coming in from Sanctuary that several transmissions have left our communications base, concerning you and the assignments that have gone out from Sanctuary. Your father wants you bad enough to make his spy work overtime to find out if the Breed community is searching for you, or if they have you. ”
“So why are they here?”
“Because every Breed in Sanctuary knew I was gunning for you. His spy would have known. His spy would have informed him that I’m missing from the compound. Very few people know I’m on vacation right now. If you walk out of here, he’ll find you. He’ll kill you. Trust me. I can save you. ”
She stared at the computer, fighting the need, fighting the words on her lips that would reveal everything.
“He hired your ex-lover to kill you, Scheme. He murdered your child before it ever had a chance at life. Do you really want to die too?” he said gently.
She shook her head desperately. She was trying to protect herself. Oh God, she wanted to trust him. She needed to trust him, and she knew she couldn’t.