"Jonas." She stopped him as he gripped the doorknob.
"Yeah, Ely?" He was certain he didn't want to hear whatever she was getting ready to say to him. There were times when she was a little too honest.
"Kiss her."
Jonas clenched his teeth at the overwhelming urge to do just that. He'd nearly taken the choice out of her hands earlier. The only thing that had saved her was the fact that he had managed to keep her back to him.
And still, he'd nearly kissed her. When her head had lifted back, when she had watched him taste the sweetness of her pussy, he'd almost taken her lips and spilled the hormone into a kiss that he knew would have burned them both alive.
"Let me know what you find out after you've finished with the tests." He opened the door.
"You're going to let her destroy you," she stated, her voice painfully low. "If she does that, Jonas, then she will destroy all of us."
Jonas shook his head. "No one is indispensible, Ely, even me. I've ensured that."
"You think you have," she said, her voice trembling. "But you haven't, Jonas. What you do, no one else can."
He almost laughed at the statement. "Ely, every Breed alive can manipulate and calculate until hell freezes over. Brim, Del Rey, Callan, Wolfe, any of them could do what I do and not cause nearly as much trouble doing it. You're just prejudiced because I don't let you sit around and feel sorry for yourself when others do."
He teased her. He refused to let her sink into despair of the lapse she'd had when the drugs spreading through her system had eroded her judgment.
Ely was a fragile little thing, despite her facade of strength. She had seen too much in the labs at too young an age, had been forced to harm too many Breeds while there. She lived with the nightmares of those years, and now she lived with the nightmare of nearly being forced to do it again.
"No, you don't allow me to feel sorry for myself," she agreed quietly. "But I should stand aside and watch you allow this woman to destroy you. Would you do the same, I wonder, if the tables were turned?"
He pursed his lips and stared back at her for long moments before saying, "I've been allowing it, little cat. Do you think I haven't figured out who your mate is, and that you know it as well?"
She blanched, her brown eyes skittering away from him as fear flashed across her face.
"Do something about it soon," he warned her.
"As you are?" she shot back, anger filling her voice now.
"I think I'd try a different venue there if I were you," he retorted as he left the office. "A far different one. Kiss him. I really don't think he'd object."
Closing the door behind him, he moved through the hall, back to the flight of stairs that led to the main level of the house.
He was trying to force himself to leave Sanctuary. Leaving was the best thing he could do for Rachel. If he didn't get the hell away from her, then he was going to end up taking this decision out of her hands.
"Jonas." Mordecai met him in the hall as he reached the main level, his expression hard. Several Enforcers followed him.
"What now?" he growled, sensing the trouble that was sure to follow.
"You have a problem."
It wasn't "we," as in the Breeds had a problem; it was "he," as in shit was about to hit the fan.
"And that problem is?" He propped his hands on his hips and regarded the Enforcers with a frown.
"Devon Marshal," Mordecai sneered. "He claims he's the father of Rachel's child. He's at the gates with his lawyer as well as a county official. They have papers signed by a judge out of D.C. demanding Amber be relinquished to Child Protective Services until the matter of custody can be resolved. The papers state Amber's safety is in danger due to Breed carelessness." Mordecai slapped the file into Jonas's hands. "I don't know about you, but I say we shoot the fuckers, bury the bodies an
d deny they were ever here. Because trust me, you don't want to turn that baby over to him."
Jonas stilled.
He was aware of the Enforcers backing away, even Mordecai, and glancing at each other as though uncertain about even their own safety.
Jonas grinned. He knew it must have been a frightening sight; the scent of nervousness began to pour from the three Enforcers, who watched him with varying expressions of concern.