he had carried her back to their room after the exhausting release in the office. just to sleep, he had assured himself. they hadn't left the room except to eat the rest of the day. the drowsiness fled his brain at kane's abrupt announcement. "i'm on my way," he said quietly as he moved from the bed. "how close are they?"

"too fucking close. i have men securing the outside of the house. you and callan take care of the inside. there are still too many holes we haven't managed to plug yet. i'll keep you updated."

"fuck," taber cursed as he jerked his jeans from the floor and rushed for the weapons he kept in the large walk-in closet in the bathroom. roni was only steps behind him.

"this is turning into a bad habit," she muttered as she pulled on a pair of sweat pants and a loose t-shirt he threw her. merinus was going to run out of clothes soon if she didn't manage to get her own.

"stay in the room. dawn will be up here in a minute to stay with you," he ordered her softly. "keep the curtains closed and stay away from the balcony doors. you'll be safe here. i don't want to chance moving you through the house right now. dawn knows what she's doing, baby. just scream if you need me."

he handed her the pistol he had taken from her the night before and extra clips before jerking the automatic rifle from the gun rack mounted on the wall.

"i shoot first and scream later. remember?" she pulled her sneakers on and laced them quickly before following him into the room.

he moved carefully, his body tense, poised for action. roni didn't speak, just followed his lead as he moved through the bedroom, paused at the door that led to the sitting room and stared into it intently.

"you'll be safe here." he turned, his lips pressing into hers for a hard quick kiss before he moved for the door. "lock the door behind me and don't let anyone in, roni. no one but me. do you understand?"

she gazed up at him intently. "i understand. no one but you."

"good girl." his voice was seductively approving. she frowned at her own reaction to it. "lock the door now."

he opened it slowly, moving with a smooth, graceful slide of his body that drove home the fact that he had lived his entire life enmeshed in danger. he was so used to it that he unconsciously moved with care, no matter where he was or what he was doing.

he slipped through the door, then held it open as the small, silent figure of his sister entered the room.

glancing at her one last time, taber closed the panel gently behind him. roni turned the lock quickly, then slid the steel deadbolt into place. they locked their bedrooms here tighter than some people did their homes. she laid her head against the thick panel of wood and fought her tears at the thought. she couldn't hear anything or anyone outside the door. she knew the heavy carpeting would have muffled most things, but she also knew the number of men who slept in the house just for safety's sake. the breeds weren't taking any chances with their leader's wife and the mother of the pride's first child. all precautions were taken to protect merinus and roni from any threat.

"he'll be fine." dawn daniel's voice was a soft, gentle sound, almost purring as she spoke behind roni. roni drew in a deep breath, pushing herself away from the door as she turned to face the other woman. taber had told her that dawn was a cougar breed, her dna mixed with that of the reclusive, graceful mountain cats. she looked like she should have been from a tabby cat, though. she was slender, almost fragile. several inches shorter than roni, and despite the fact she was at least several years older than roni, she looked like a teenager. a very young teenager, until you saw the automatic rifle slung across her shoulder that she carried like an extension of herself, or looked into her haunted eyes.

dawn shifted uncomfortably as roni gazed at her through the dim light that barely filtered from the other room. shoulder length, thick, tawny brown hair barely brushed the other girl's shoulders as it framed a small, heart-shaped face.

"thank you for staying with me," roni said softly, moving to the couch, trying to still the nervous shaking of her hands. she laid the gun on the cushion beside her as she curled up in the corner, watching the other woman.

dawn followed suit, though she took the chair opposite her, propping the rifle against her knee as she watched roni with shy curiosity.

"taber's one of our best fighters," she said in that soft, melodic voice. "he won't let anyone get up here. and if they did, i wouldn't let them past the door."

a thread of steel ran beneath the last statement. there was barely enough light to see by, but roni glimpsed the flash of rage in her eyes.

roni hadn't had a chance to really talk to dawn, or any of the other family members she had known in sandy hook. not that anyone could really have claimed to know dawn. she was rarely seen in the small town, and when she was, she rarely talked. there was something too silent, too heartbreaking, in the quiet features of her face. as though she carried a cloak of nightmares about her at all times.

"the estate here is gorgeous," roni finally said, desperate to keep the other woman talking. she needed to concentrate on something other than the possible dangers taber would face outside. "how did you find it?"

a mocking little smile played about the lush fullness of dawn's lips. "the estate was given to us, actually, along with a nice little lump sum of money to help aid the other breeds being found in various locations. several of the council members were high-ranking heads of our government." her voice sang with an earthy, haunting quality.

"how many are there so far?" roni asked her curiously.

"so far, we have nearly a hundred feline breeds on site working to secure our place in society in washington. more come in monthly..." her voice trailed off, as though the thought of those coming in struck a chord of resounding pain within her soul.

"i'm sorry." roni didn't know what to say.

a gentle smile crossed dawn's lips, filled her expression. "don't be sorry, roni. we are alive and isn't that what matters?" it was obvious that dawn asked herself that question often. what was it about her? roni had never understood the quiet aura that always surrounded the other woman. she had seen the men of the county when they were around her. rough, hard-edged men suddenly softened, their smiles gentling. men who would have often made lewd advances to any woman as beautiful as dawn had cast their eyes to the floor, shame marking their expressions. her looks weren't so unusually striking as to stop traffic. she was slender, delicate, with thick silken hair and large brown eyes that always seemed so haunted. and perhaps that was it, roni thought. her eyes seemed to tell a tale that dawn never whispered.

"everyone looks at me like that." dawn shook her head in apparent confusion as roni watched her. roni sighed deeply. "i'm sorry. you seem...so sad. i guess before i never realized why."

"and you do now?" there was no insult intended in her voice, just weary acceptance.

"i don't think so." roni shook her head slowly. "i think it's more than the situation, more than your entrance into society. how old were you when callan brought you out of the labs?"

and there was the answer. her eyes flashed. nightmare, memory and terror.

"i was fifteen. sherra was eighteen. that was more than ten years ago. it seems only yesterday sometimes." she shook her head, a weary smile crossing her face. "they made us tell them about the labs during the senate hearings and the closed trials of some of the council members. sherra cried." her voice dropped. "like she did in the labs, before callan took us out. she has never cried like that since our escape. callan picked her up out of the witness stand and carried her out of the proceedings. it was weeks before she could awaken without screaming."

"what about you?" roni asked her gently.

dawn shook her head, lowering it before giving her a soft, broken smile. "i just don't sleep, roni. not for long and not very deeply. what's the point when the monsters can take you again and again and again?" she shuddered and came to her feet, her head tilting, her eyes suddenly narrowing as the gun fell naturally into her grasp.

"what...?"

"shhh," dawn hissed softly. "listen."

she heard it then. a scratch, a scrape at the balcony doors. her eyes widened in horror as she grabbed the pistol, moving along the wall, careful to stay as far to the side of the glass doors as possible.

dawn moved like a shadow then. she jerked the comm. link down from its position on the back of her head, adjusting the mic as she listened intently. the scratching came again, followed by a careful shuffle of the doors.

"alpha one. we have a breech." dawn's voice was so soft roni barely heard it as the other woman moved to her, covering her as she motioned to the bedroom.

keeping her weapon at her shoulder, roni moved quietly around the room, her breath nearly strangling her as she fought to keep the fear to a manageable level.

she got as far as the bedroom door and stopped. the slow slide of the balcony door had her eyes flying to dawn in alarm.

"fuck. get up here!" dawn's voice was soft as she spoke into the comm. link, carrying no further than roni as the other woman motioned to her and they headed quickly to the bedroom door. "we're evac. we're evac." she slid the locks free, opening the door as she checked outside quickly before moving from the room.

roni followed quickly, her finger caressing the trigger of the gun as she held it ready, checking behind them often, fighting to hear above the pounding of her heart. the hallway was dark, silent, as they moved quickly along the corridor.

"we're heading to merinus' room, taber. get up here. they're on our asses now." dawn opened another door and they moved through it as a sudden curse echoed from the open door of roni and taber's room.

dawn locked the door with a silent movement and turned back to the room. merinus and sherra were waiting, both armed, both watching the darkness from the side of the balcony doors that room held as well.

but merinus and callan's room wasn't a suite. it was one large bedroom and completely open except for the attached bathroom.

"they're moving toward us," sherra hissed into her own mic as she and merinus moved into the center of the room. "they know the location of the bedrooms and we're sitting ducks. goddammit, kane, get me some help up here."

"taber and callan are on their way," dawn reported as they all moved quickly for the only shelter left to them.

the bathroom was as large as taber's, but still, it afforded few places that could be used to stop a bullet. roni placed herself in front of merinus instinctively. dawn and sherra pressed them back, though, shielding them from anyone who would attempt to come through the doorway. priorities, roni thought sadly.

sherra and dawn considered themselves expendable in the place of the only two mates to the brothers they had fought beside for so many years. just as roni considered herself expendable against the life of the child merinus carried. and yet, they were all pawns as well, because someone knew the breeds'

weaknesses and they had found a way to strike.

chapter twenty-six

taber had promised roni she would be safe. he had told her to lock the door. not to leave the room. no one would get to her. the acrid taste of failure coated his mouth. he had been wrong. he entered the back of the house at a low crouch, his rifle held ready as he swept through the kitchen then stood aside to allow the other half-dozen men who followed him entrance. his blood pumped with the demand that he rush upstairs, that he blow the bastards to hell and back, but he knew the risk to roni would only be greater.

kane's men were moving on the balconies to trap the bastards. now taber and his men would move up the stairs to catch them on this end. rage burned low in his gut, making it a fight to maintain control and proceed, as he knew he had to.