"No. Not through the biochemical anyway. My body seems to be a magnet for the biochemical. When you touch me, or put your mouth on me, my body draws it away from yours. I seem to absorb it. I'm addicted to how you transfer it to me, but not the biochemical itself. That's why I can stay in control."
He kept his gaze on her face, watching her process the information. "Babe? Look at me. I want to see your eyes when I tell you this. I want you to hear in my voice and see it on my face that I'm being brutally honest."
She nodded, her eyes meeting his.
"No other man can do that for you. There's me for you. That's it. That's your option. You can't get that anywhere else. Do you hear what I'm sayin'?"
"Yes, Wyatt. I don't know why you would think I'd want another man. I'm not attracted to anyone else."
"Maybe if you'd get off the fuckin' fence, Pepper, and give me your word you'll stay, I can get a handle on my own shit. I despise bein' jealous of my friends when you're close to them. If I knew for certain you weren't goin' to walk out at the first fight we have, first disagreement, I could relax around the boys a little easier."
She stood up, tossing the washcloth into the sink and coming straight over to him. When she moved, it was sheer poetry. His heart tripped and gave a little stammer. His greedy cock stirred. She put her arms around his neck, curling her fingers into his hair, leaning in close to him, rubbing like a cat.
"I'm sorry, Wyatt. I don't want another man, only you."
She hesitated just for a moment. He could feel her brace herself, but she continued to look up at him. He knew whatever she said to him would really matter.
"I don't want you to be with me for my body. For sex. I want my man to love me the way men love their wives. I don't even know what it is, or how to do it myself, but I want it. Not for the children and not for sex."
He tucked her hair gently behind her ear and smiled down at her, his heart turning over. "I want you for myself, Pepper, for all the reasons I gave you. I thought I loved one woman some time ago and I realized what a mistake she was. She was all wrong for me. The thing is, what I feel for you is a million times more than I ever felt for her and we haven't even begun yet."
He felt her relax into him. Her gaze didn't waver. "I'll commit to you fully. I'll be your wife and live in your home and burn with you as often as you want me. Because that's what I want. I'll take care of our children and have a dozen more if you really want them. I can't promise I won't be scared and do silly things, but I'll do my best to come to you first before I panic. It has nothing whatsoever to do with your ability to take away that horrible clawing need and everything to do with the man you are."
He found himself grinning, pulling her close again, his hands sliding down the slope of her back to her rounded buttocks. "You just put your scent all over me on purpose, didn't you?"
He massaged his fingers into her firm muscles, deliberately pushing her mound against his thigh. "There are goin' to be days, babe, when I make certain you're wantin' me and I'm goin' to make you wait so you'll come screamin' for me five or six times. I may even go for a record."
She laughed and pushed at his chest. "We have to plan how we're going to break our children out of that horrible place. So don't get me going until we know they're safe."
"I'll do my best," he promised and dropped his arms, allowing her to escape.
She dressed with efficiency, but it didn't matter. Every movement was sensual. She was a living monument to the female body. He waited for her and inspected her carefully, making certain there were no marks showing on her skin where others could see. Making certain he kissed her several times. He even smoothed the tangles from her hair with a brush and handed her the clip she wore to pull it back.
"You ready?" He held out his hand.
She threaded her fingers through his, smiling up at him. He liked how relaxed she looked after having sex with him. They walked back to the kitchen together. Nonny was already outside, sitting in the rocking chair, holding Ginger. Clearly the boys had been a little too loud and had woken her up. Nonny glanced at their joined hands through the window and nodded her head, sending Wyatt a pleased smile.
"You two good?" Trap greeted, glancing at Wyatt and then turning his cool gaze onto Pepper as they entered the room. He was standing at the kitchen table looking down at several large blueprints.
"We're good," Wyatt said.
"I'm sorry about before," Pepper said. "You talked about the babies the same way Braden talked about them. As if they aren't human."
She kept her gaze steady on his, no remorse, even a challenge. Wyatt reached out and caught her hand in a warning hold. She didn't relent, didn't stop focusing on Trap.
Trap blinked. "I did?"
"Yep." It was Malichai who answered. "Like they were little rats in a lab just waiting for you to come along and study them." There was the smallest bite to his tone, as if, like Pepper, he hadn't liked what Trap had said earlier about studying the babies.
Trap shoved his hand through his hair. "Pepper, I don't think like that. Wyatt's family to me. That means those kids are family. If you're his choice, you are. That's the way it works with me. I can't help the way I am. My mind solves problems, and I don't think how to word something when my brain is running a hundred miles an hour."
"That's true," Malichai agreed. "He's like a processor running at top speed."
"And he's clueless when it comes to social skills," Draden added.
Trap scowled at them. "The point I'm trying to make is, I would never experiment on babies or children. I just wouldn't do it. But I'll find a way for the girls to live as normal a life as possible. When I'm being insensitive, kick me in the shins or something. Eventually I'll figure it out, but know I'd never use those babies."
There was no way to miss the sincerity in Trap's tone.
Pepper nodded. "Thanks for explaining, Trap. I know you didn't have to. Unfortunately you triggered the mama tiger in me."
"Um, no, darlin'," Wyatt corrected with a small grin. "That would be the mama snake."
Pepper laughed softly with the others, just as he'd wanted her to do. She turned her attention to the blueprints, the smile fading as she bent closer to look them over. Immediately the team surrounded the table.
"These blueprints are all wrong, Trap," Pepper said. "The first floor is probably the closest to what this looks like, but the rest of it..." She trailed off, shaking her head. "The outside follows the blueprints, but the inside, not so much," she continued.
"Can you fix them, babe?" Wyatt asked.
Pepper nodded. "I studied the place, I can give you pretty good details. Why don't you go put Ginger back to bed? She's getting used to you doing that, and I'll sketch the floor plans and put in all the changes. I should be done by the time you get back."
Wyatt had been putting Ginger down at night, hoping she would get used to him. He liked holding her in his arms and rocking her while he gave her a bottle of warm milk and looked down at her little face. Love had taken hold sometime around the first or second time he'd done it.
Nonny handed him the baby as soon as he stepped outside with the bottle and a blanket to wrap her in. He was grateful the bayou was rarely cold. Ginger had trouble holding on to her body heat. She lifted her face for his kiss and snuggled right into him when he dropped into the chair beside his grandmother.
"That's my girl," he whispered to the baby. "She's so beautiful, isn't she, Nonny, just like her mama."
Ginger didn't like to hold the bottle. She liked him to hold it for her as she cuddled against his warmth, the blanket snug around her.
"She's beautiful," Nonny agreed. "Looks just like you when you were a babe. Glad you finally figured out what you needed in a woman, boy. Joy didn' belong here. She would never have made you happy. That one in there" - she indicated the kitchen - "she's the kind that will stand by you."
"Yeah, I kind of figured that out." He watched in awe as Ginger's little fingers wrapped around his index finger.
"Pepper is a woman of great courage. She fought for them even when she knew if she did those people in that lab would probably kill her. She braved the swamp with a child in tow. Tha's a woman who will stand with you through anythin'. She'll walk through fire to get to those she loves. She'll sacrifice anythin', even her own happiness, to protect them."
"There might be a reason for our attraction to one another..."
She leaned over and shook her head. "I spent a lot of time with Flame when she was so sick with the cancer. She talked, some in her sleep, and some when she thought she was goin' to die. I know all about Whitney and how he pairs his soldiers."
"Nonny, you can' talk about that."
She laughed. "I don' expect he's got him a listenin' device planted somewhere in my home and if I talk to you about this he'll send someone blastin' at me with a gun. I'm old, Wyatt, and I'm not afraid of very much. Life is to be lived. It doesn't really matter the how and why of things. It matters how you choose to live. I taught you to live life large. Tha's all, Wyatt. Love when you can. Laugh. Sing. And take care of your family and friends and then your community. It's not always easy, but it's good and at the end of it all, you'll be satisfied."
"You know I'm a rescuer." He sighed. He hadn't ever voiced the one concern nagging at him. He was certain of Pepper. He wasn't going to give her up, even if what he was doing was playing the knight in shining armor. "This feeling I have for her, it could be wrapped up in my need to rescue someone."
Nonny smiled at him. "Or you have it all wrong, boy, and she's the one rescuin' you. It's possible you need her every bit as much as she needs you. Let things be, Wyatt. Don' question them so much and just let things happen."
He smiled down at the baby's face and lifted her little fingers to his mouth. "Actually, Nonny, it's important to me that you like Pepper. I've never felt more alive, or more content and passionate in my life. I know what's comin', the battle to get the children back, but I know we're goin' to succeed. I'm lookin' forward to every morning the moment I open my eyes. I look forward to nighttime. She's the one. I know she is. If I find somethin' different when we get to the laboratory..."
Nonny held up her hand. "Don', Wyatt, don' even say it. She's loyal to those she cares about. She isn' about to betray you, no matter what your friends think."
"Trap's a good man, Nonny. He's different, but he's a good man."
"I'm a good judge of character, Wyatt. I see him. He's a driven man and his mind won' let him rest. It's good he has such good friends."
"He's goin' to help me work on an antivenom so that anyone around the children will be safe. I don' want anythin' to happen to you or anyone else. Flame isn' goin' to stay away once she knows we've got them here, and I have to know I can keep her safe."
"I have no doubts you'll both do what it takes to keep everyone safe, Wyatt. I don' worry about such things because I know you do."
Her gaze dropped to the baby in his arms. Her face softened and for a moment he thought he caught the sheen of tears. He didn't blame her. Sometimes when he looked at his little girl, he felt a little like crying himself. She was a beautiful, intelligent child and far too sober. All of them were working hard to make her relax and laugh. To be a child.
"I'm grateful we have them, Wyatt. I need them."
His heart clenched. Nonny didn't say things like that. She seemed invincible. Ageless. He was aware of her hair, white now with age, and the laugh lines around her eyes. She moved slower, but she still felt powerful. He couldn't imagine losing her.
He swallowed down emotion. Nonny wouldn't appreciate him plying her with questions on her health. "Then I'm glad we have them." He glanced down at Ginger's little face, the sweep of her lashes. He smiled at the baby. "I need them too. All of them."
Ginger reacted by pushing the bottle away. It was mostly empty anyway. She nodded her head vigorously. She was eager to see her sisters again.
"We'll bring them home, sweetheart," he whispered to his daughter. "I'll need your help once they're here. You can show them everythin' and help us teach them they're safe."
Ginger wrapped her arms around his neck and hugged him close. He looked over her head to his grandmother.
"I don' know if I ever told you how grateful I am to you. My childhood was happy, Nonny, thanks to you. I loved growin' up here. I always knew I could count on you. I always felt safe and loved. I want that for my children. And for Pepper. She never had that either. My daughters don' know what havin' someone like you in their lives is like. My heart aches for them." He wouldn't have said that to anyone but his grandmother.
"Mine too, Wyatt, but you'll sort it out, and we'll make it right," Nonny assured.
Chapter 14
Standing in the doorway of the kitchen, Wyatt closed his eyes and simply savored the sound of Pepper's voice as she explained things quietly to the team. Soft. Sultry. Ultrafeminine. She had a way of speaking that got inside a man and just refused to leave him alone. He loved the sound of her voice and her perfect little ass that her jeans clung so lovingly to as she bent over the kitchen table to point to various things on the blueprints.
The team surrounded the table and they were good-sized men. Pepper looked tiny beside them. Small and feminine. The thing in him he despised, the mindless black jealousy, stretched and clawed in the pit of his belly. For the first time he realized the unworthy trait was fed by his cat DNA. His woman was always close to the heat cycle and he naturally wanted to protect what was his.
Realizing what was riding him helped, but didn't completely alleviate the problem. Still, he could see Trap and Draden were a little more accepting of his claim on her, but Wyatt wanted to make certain they knew he was serious. Ezekiel and Malichai knew, and they respected a certain distance from her that the others hadn't quite gotten yet. Trap, especially. Trap didn't pay the least attention to any kind of cues.
Wyatt stepped up behind Pepper, his body close to hers and leaned over her back, his head at her shoulder, arms on either side of her body so his hands could rest on the table. He caged her there between the table and his body. Taking up that position enabled him to box out the other men so they couldn't get close to her, which kept his crazy temper under control.
Just as she had to learn to keep her shield up - and he could see she was getting stronger every day - he had to learn to handle his own shit.
"Fill me in," he ordered, and moved the sweep of clipped hair off her neck so he could breathe against her much more intimately as he leaned down to look at the blueprints.
She turned her head to look at him over her shoulder. His heart stuttered and his cock jerked hard. There it was. The smile that was for him alone. "Did Ginger go down without a fight?"
He brushed a kiss on her mouth. "I told her we were bringin' her sisters home tomorrow night. She was very happy."
"I missed putting her to bed." There was regret in her voice.
"She knew you were plannin' out the rescue, sugar. She was okay with that." He brushed another kiss on her mouth, ignoring Trap's sigh. "I told her you'd be in later to kiss her good night."
She nodded and turned back to the blueprints. "The first level was built twelve feet from the ground, using very thick concrete," she said. "Apparently, that's where they built the crematorium and the holding cells for anyone they plan on killing. There are six cells on either side with four feet of cement in between the two sides. There is no way out once you're down in the cells, other than elevators. Each side has its own elevator."
"So basically, if the cells are flooded, no one gives a damn," Wyatt said. He felt his gut start a slow smolder. "Are you tellin' me the babies - our babies - are down in those cells alone? Is anyone else down there?"
The table trembled and for a moment the walls of the room contracted. Pepper glanced uneasily over her shoulder at him, nodding slowly. Her eyes held sorrow.
"I'm sorry, Wyatt, I tried to get them all out, but they were in separate cells and it took time to get them open."
"It's no
t your fault," he said tersely. She flinched. He felt the flinch right through skin and bones. Deliberately he stroked his hand down her back, and pressed closer to her, trying to surround her with comfort. "I'm not upset with you, babe. This isn't your fault. Whitney just makes me so damned mad. How could he do this to children and live with himself?"
"It isn't Whitney," she denied. "I'm telling you, Braden authorized our transfer to this place, brought us in by a private jet and then he issued the termination order a couple of weeks ago. Braden. Not Whitney."
"Braden works for Whitney," Wyatt said. "There's not a doubt in my mind."
Trap nodded. "Seriously, Pepper, we've known for a while that Whitney could never pull all these experiments off by himself. Even I have an assistant. He's got too many facilities. He has to have someone he trusts overlooking each laboratory, but Whitney definitely calls the shots."
"So is anyone else down in those cells right now?" Wyatt asked.
Pepper nodded. "A woman. They brought her in recently. They may have already terminated her. She was on the other side, not with the babies. Braden was definitely afraid of her. I don't think they were even feeding her. They wanted her weak before they tried to move her to the crematorium. At least, I kind of got that from bits and pieces I overheard. I never saw her. She was brought in right before the order was issued to terminate the children."
"How'd they bring her in?" Ezekiel asked.
"There's a large cargo elevator on the first floor. It's located right here." Pepper circled a spot toward the middle of the western wall. "It's huge. They drive trucks right in so the other guards don't ever see one of their throwaways."
"What other guards?" Draden interrupted.
"They have guards who protect the plastics plant. It's a working plant. They know it's a cover for a research facility with military contracts, but they never enter any part of the building other than where the plastic molds are manufactured," Pepper explained.
"So there is an actual product being produced on the second floor?" Ezekiel asked. "They'll have vents and air conduits as well as things like conveyor belts and plenty of equipment."
Pepper nodded. "On the second floor, yes, meaning if you count the actual first floor where they hold and terminate their prisoners."