The primal snarl that came from Tanner’s chest caused Scheme to flinch and Jonas to stare behind her with a suddenly wary expression.
“Leave,” Tanner ordered him then. “I’ll deal with you later. Right now, I’ll deal with my mate. ”
Jonas stared back at Tanner for long moments before nodding shortly. With a brief flick of his hand, the room began to clear and Tanner was releasing her, jerking his arms from around her and stalking to the other side of the room.
She had known this was coming. He was furious; she could feel the waves of anger ricocheting around her and sparking a defensive reaction inside her soul.
“You couldn’t tell me. ” He swiped his fingers through his long hair as he turned back to her, his eyes glowing with anger, his expression suddenly hard, savage. “You would have let David be kidnapped and the first Leo murdered before you told me. ”
Scheme shook her head as she swallowed tightly.
“I tried to tell you this morning, before you left me with Cabal. I was going to tell you everything. ”
His jaw clenched.
“And before then? Why didn’t you tell me when I first kidnapped you? When I couldn’t decide if I was going to fuck you or kill you?” His voice rose perceptively; the fury building inside him was frightening to watch.
“Father’s spy,” she said faintly, knowing what she was about to say would only add fuel to the anger. “I don’t know who he is. All I know is that he holds a position of trust within the main pride. Your profile fit the spy’s. ”
His expression went blank. No emotion. It wasn’t cold; it wasn’t furious. It was just without emotion, period.
“You thought I could betray my family?”
“I didn’t know you, Tanner,” she cried. “All I knew were your files and the public persona you project to the world. The information I’ve managed to find on the Breed working within Sanctuary coincides perfectly with your training and your escape from the labs. I was too scared to trust you simply because you wanted to fuck me. ”
He shook his head slowly. “You knew better. ”
“And I thought I knew better than to believe Chaz would help abort my baby. ” Her fists clenched as pain tore ragged wounds into her soul. “I couldn’t risk it. Not then. You have to understand that. ”
She could see the struggle in his face now, the fight to accept her distrust, to understand how she had held back.
Would she have understood? She knew the betrayals he would have felt in his position, the personal sense of failure. But it would have been personal. Emotional.
“I tried to be logical,” she said faintly. “I did my best to protect them. ”
“As you’ve done your best to protect the Breeds for eight years?” He growled. “How would your death have served us, Scheme? It would have served us no more than remaining silent now. You could have spoken up. You could have told me about the plan to kidnap my nephew. ”
“And risked having it changed? Risked something going wrong or the timetable moving up?” She yelled back, frowning as arousal began to pound inside her with the same force as her anger. “I couldn’t risk his life or anyone else’s because of my stupid need to be touched by you. ”
She snapped her teeth shut with those last words, whirling around as she held the sheet close to her body and strained to hear something in the silence behind her.
“I made that mistake once,” she finally whispered. “I needed. Needed to be held. Needed to be loved. I needed—and because I needed, my child died. I wasn’t about to risk someone else’s child because of that need. ”
She turned back to him slowly, meeting the predatory gaze that seemed sharper, more savage than before as she continued. “I was going to tell you before you left earlier, but you didn’t want to listen. You didn’t want to hear any more than you wanted to admit that I belonged to you. You gave me to another man. ”
And that sliced deep. It hurt in ways she was still reeling from.
“I came back,” he bit out harshly.
“You were willing to give me to another man. ”
“To save your damned life I would give my own soul away. ” The fury was free once again.
Tanner stalked across the room, jerking her to him before she could avoid him, pulling her against his chest, the erection beneath his jeans pressing hard into her abdomen as he glowered down at her.
“I risked everything to bring you here. To hold you. To find a way to save your life, and you were working with Jonas all along,” he snarled.
“I tried to tell you I would be safe,” she protested against the anger she could see glittering in his eyes. “I tried to do what was right, Tanner. Just what was right. That was all I was trying to do. ”