“I know.” Kayden hunched his shoulders. “But I can’t let him walk away. Not only because he killed my parents, but he’s still running a laboratory that uses Pantera blood.”
Without warning, Xavier reached into his front pocket to pull out a slender phone.
“I can take care of the laboratory,” the male said, tapping in a quick message.
“Who are you texting?” Kayden demanded.
“Raphael.” Xavier’s lips twisted. “He insisted on coming. I think he was hoping he would have the opportunity to shed the blood of our enemies.”
Ah. Relief jolted through Kayden. He was worried that the bastards working in the clinic would escape before he could get them rounded up.
Kayden pulled out his own phone, locating the GPS coordinates of the Cruise Clinic. He turned the screen so Xavier could see it.
“This is the location.”
Xavier nodded, tapping in the numbers and sending them to Raphael.
“Done.”
“Fine.” Kayden lowered his phone. “I still need to get my hands on Joshua Ford.”
“What happens when you do?” Xavier asked, clearly accepting there was no point in trying to argue.
“I don’t know for sure.” Kayden shrugged. His emotions were too raw for him to be able to say for certain how he would react when he at last caught sight of the man who’d murdered his parents. “But I have to face him.”
Xavier released a harsh sigh. “I get it, Kayden. I really do,” he said. “I’ll go with you.”
“No,” Kayden swiftly refused. “I need someone to stay here with Bianca.”
“I’ll have Lex keep an eye on her,” Xavier countered. “I intend to make sure that you aren’t walking into a trap.” He held up his phone. “Text me the coordinates of the meeting.”
“You’re a bossy bastard,” Kayden muttered.
Xavier flashed a smile. “It’s part of my charm.”
“Says who?”
“My mate.”
Kayden would have disputed the claim if he hadn’t seen Xavier with his mate, Amalie. The two were goofy for one another. It was obvious in each soft glance and lingering touch.
They had the sort of connection that Kayden had always envied. The sort of connection that he hoped he could have with Bianca.
Lifting his phone, Kayden typed in the meeting place and sent it to his alpha.
“There,” he muttered.
Xavier nodded. “What time is your meeting?”
Kayden glanced at his watch. Five thirty. “In less than an hour.”
“I’ll go scout the area,” Xavier said, pocketing his phone.
Kayden reached out to lay his hand on his friend’s shoulder. “Be careful no one sees you. I don’t want to spook away my prey.”
Heat sizzled through the air as Xavier glared at him in disbelief.
“I’d castrate you for that insult if I didn’t know you’re under a lot of stress,” he growled, heading out of the office with long strides.
Kayden watched the male leave with a shake of his head.
A lot of stress? Ha. He was drowning under the strain.
The sooner he was done with Joshua Ford, the better.
Following Xavier out of the office, he moved to enter the manager’s office, requesting Lex keep an eye on the penthouse suite in case Bianca woke up before he returned. Once assured that she wouldn’t be able to leave the hotel without someone keeping a watch on her, Kayden headed to the back parking lot.
Lost in his thoughts, he slid into his truck, absently noting the rich scent of honey that seemed to cling to the air.
Bianca’s musk had clearly imbedded in his skin, marking him as surely as the mating mark he intended to place on her. Just as soon as she agreed to spend the rest of eternity with him.
Starting the engine, Kayden pulled out of the lot and headed through the empty streets. He drove straight into the desert, heading toward Red Rock Canyon.
It was still dark when he arrived at the spot he’d demanded for the meeting, but dawn was beginning to brush the sky with hints of peach and deep lilac. He didn’t need light, however, to catch sight of the expensive car that was parked near a flat area a few feet off the lone road that looped through the rough terrain.
Grabbing a handgun from the glove box, he stepped out of the truck, leaving the door open in case he needed a quick getaway. Then, allowing his senses to spread outward, he moved to stand in front of the hood of the truck.
He caught the scent of a coyote on the hunt for a scrambling rabbit and a lizard buried in the ground at his feet. But there were no humans that he could detect nearby.
“Get out of the car,” he called out, hearing the buzz of an electric window being lowered a cautious inch.
“Where’s my daughter?” a male voice demanded.
Kayden glared at the smoky windshield of the car. He’d bet his left nut that it was bulletproof.
“She’s safe,” he said.
“This meeting is over,” the man said, his arrogant tone making Kayden’s fingers tighten on the gun.
“Excuse me?”
“Until I can see for myself that you haven’t harmed Bianca, I’m not speaking with you,” the man informed him.
Kayden didn’t bother with any melodramatic gestures like lifting his gun to point it at the car. Instead, he shrugged.
“Actually, I think you will,” he said.
“No, I won’t,” the man snapped.
Kayden rolled his eyes. Trust a human to think because he was in a locked car with bulletproof glass that he was safe. Clearly he had no idea that Kayden could rip off the door with minimum effort.
“Then die,” he said, taking a step forward.
The scent of fear abruptly spiced the air. “I have two sharp-shooters with their sights trained on you,” Joshua bluffed. “One flash of my headlights and you’re dead.”
“You don’t scare me,” Kayden drawled.
He heard the rough sound of an indrawn breath. This meeting wasn’t going as Joshua Ford had hoped.
Good.
“You’re willing to have your brains splattered across the desert?” He once again tried to bluff.
On the point of rushing forward to yank open the door, Kayden froze as the scent of honey swirled on the breeze. Then, while his brain tried to process the knowledge that the sweetness couldn’t just be lingering on his skin, there was the sound of movement as Bianca crawled out of the cargo container he kept in the back of his truck.
“Don’t,” she pleaded, jumping onto the sandy ground and moving to stand beside Kayden. “I’m here.”
“Shit.” A blast of fury exploded through Kayden. How had he been so stupid? Not even the fact he was distracted should have allowed him to dismiss her scent when he was getting into his truck. She must have suspected that he was planning to meet her father and snuck out of the room and hidden herself in the cargo container. Now she’d put herself in danger. “Bianca, get in the truck.”
“No.” She sent him a terrified glance. “I won’t let my father hurt you.”
His heart twisted. Christ. She’d risked herself because she was worried about him?
Reaching out, he intended to force her into the truck when there was the sound of a door opening and Joshua Ford stepped out of the car.
He was tall and lean, with hair that was perfectly combed and a gray suit that had no doubt been hand-tailored.
Kayden hated him on sight.
“Thank you, my dear,” the man said, lifting a handgun and pointing it in their direction. “You’ve saved me a great deal of trouble.”
Kayden was momentarily baffled. Not that the man had come armed, but that he would…
Realization hit a split second before Joshua pulled the trigger.
“No,” he growled, darting in front of Bianca in time to take two shots to the center of his chest.
* * * *
Bianca had always wondered how she would react to an emergency. She’d wanted to be
lieve that she would be cool and competent, just like her father.
Instead, she’d heard the gunshots and her mind had gone blank.
Thankfully, instinct kicked in as Kayden landed heavily against her. Wrapping her arms around his body, she used her surge of adrenaline to help drag him to the nearby truck, shoving him through the open door.
There was an echoing blast as her father took another shot, the bullet shattering the window in the door. Bianca gasped as the glass sliced through her cheek, but grimly pushing Kayden over, she climbed behind the steering wheel and shoved the gear into reverse. She slammed her foot on the gas, squealing the tires as she took off backward with a speed that had them bouncing over the dips and swells of the sandy ground.
Kayden groaned, and with a yank of the steering wheel that nearly tipped them over, Bianca turned the truck in a tight circle. Grinding the gearshift into drive, she punched the gas until they were traveling at a breakneck speed.
Dust streamed behind them, the tires bouncing as she headed toward the nearby hills. It was weird how flat the desert looked in pictures. In reality it was like driving over a massive washboard.
Glancing in the rearview mirror, she could see her father’s car in the distance. It wasn’t built with the same ability to dig through sand or climb over large rocks.
Thank God.
At last reaching the ridge of red sandstone hills, she darted between a natural archway and put the truck in park. It was still dark enough her father would have trouble knowing exactly where she’d gone. It seemed better to find a place to hide than to try and outrun him.
Turning in her seat, she watched as Kayden struggled to sit upright, his face pale.
She gasped, her eyes lowering to his shirt that had a hole ripped through the material and was coated in blood.
So much blood.
“Oh my God…Kayden.”
Chapter Seven
She watched in horror as Kayden slid in and out of consciousness. Nearly twenty minutes passed before he finally struggled to sit upright, clearly still weak from the blood loss.
“Kayden,” she breathed.
“It’s okay, princess,” he managed to rasp. “I’m already healing.”
She reached out only to pull her hand back. She was terrified that she might hurt him.
“I’m sorry,” she breathed.
His eyes glowed with a cognac fire in the darkness. “This isn’t your fault, princess. None of this is your fault.” He grimaced, giving a slow shake of his head. “I should have stayed at the hotel with you.”
She bit her lower lip. When she’d heard him leaving the hotel room, she’d been certain he was planning to finish whatever it was that had brought him to her home. Determined to discover the truth, she’d slipped out of the hotel and hidden in the truck.
She’d never dreamed that she was about to witness the man she hoped to spend the rest of her life with being shot in the chest.
And by her own father.
“Why were you meeting with my father in the middle of the desert?” she abruptly demanded.
He hesitated. Why was he so reluctant to tell her the truth?
“For years I thought that my parents had died in an airplane crash. Recently I discovered proof that was a lie,” he said, the words slow and slightly slurred.
She nodded, recalling his brief mention of his parents. “You said that humans killed them.”
“Your father.”
“I…” Her words failed as she realized that he was saying her father was somehow responsible for the death of his parents. “No,” she breathed. “You have to be mistaken.”
“It’s true, Bianca.” He reached to grab her hand. “They were taken captive by your father in San Francisco and held as prisoners in your father’s clinic.”
She shook her head, struggling to accept what he was telling her.
It seemed preposterous.
Her father could be cold and distant, and perhaps ruthless on occasion. But a killer?
Still, she’d watched with her own eyes as he’d deliberately shot Kayden, hadn’t she?
“Why?” she breathed, shivering with belated shock. “He’s a scientist.”
“That’s why,” Kayden said in grim tones. “I told you, Benson Enterprises has been using my people as private lab rats for years. Your father needed Pantera and he kidnapped my parents.” He was forced to pause, his hand clutched to his chest. “From what I could uncover, they were killed when they tried to escape the clinic.”
She continued to shake her head. “I can’t believe it.”
He gave her fingers a squeeze. “I know it’s hard, but it’s the truth.”
“So why…” Her words ended on a small gasp, her eyes widening as she was struck by a sudden realization. There was only one reason that Kayden would have taken her captive and then arranged to meet her father in such an isolated spot. “Oh, my God. You came here to kill my father.”
He gave a slow dip of his head. “Yes.”
Pain sliced through her. Now she understood why he’d been so reluctant to confess the truth.
“Did you intend to kill me too?”
“No.” Horrified shock rippled over his face that was tight with pain. “I would never hurt you.”
“You didn’t think shooting my father was going to hurt me?” she demanded.
“During my drive here I’d already decided that I would capture him instead,” he told her, a raw edge of regret in his voice. “I can’t let him walk free, princess. Not when he’s a danger to the Pantera. But I wasn’t going to put a bullet through his heart as I’d originally planned.”
She believed him.
Not just because she wanted to, but because there was something inside her that was convinced she would know if he was lying.
“Why did you change your mind?”
He leaned toward her, his eyes darkening as his cat prowled close to the surface.
He didn’t hesitate. “Because your happiness is more important than my revenge.”
The air was knocked from her lungs. All her life she felt as if she was a burden, more of a patient than a daughter.
Never once had she ever had anyone consider her happiness.
“Oh, Kayden,” she breathed, leaning forward to press a light kiss on his cheek. “And instead my father tried to kill you,” she said.
“Not me,” he said in low tones. “You.”
She jerked back, her eyes widening in confusion. She’d assumed that her father had sought to kill Kayden because he was trying to rescue her.
Now her brain struggled to absorb his words.
“What?”
“He wasn’t trying to shoot me,” he insisted, his expression bleak. “He was aiming at you.”
“He’s quite right, my dear,” a male voice drawled before her father was stepping from the shadows. “I was aiming at you.”
“Father,” she hissed, stiffening as she felt Kayden reach out to give her leg a warning squeeze.
She wasn’t exactly sure how her father had managed to find them. Perhaps he’d followed their tracks that had no doubt been left in the soft dirt. And right now it didn’t matter. Her only concern was to keep the older man talking until Kayden could finish healing. Licking her dry lips, she forced herself not to flinch as he stood next to the window he’d so recently shot out.
“Why would you want to hurt me?” she demanded in a voice that shook with a combination of fear and fury. “I’m your daughter.”
He shook his head, his expression unreadable. “Actually, you’re not.”
“I’m not?” Bianca stared at Joshua Ford, feeling as if she was looking at a stranger.
And in truth, she was.
It was obvious that her entire life had been a lie.
He shook his head. “My daughter died of cancer when she was just a baby.”
His daughter? She gave a faint shake of her head. “I don’t understand.” The understatement of the century.
“It was simp
le,” he drawled, his gaze flicking toward Kayden, who was leaning heavily against her shoulder, as if still weak from his injuries. She was praying that he was merely faking. If her father…no. If Joshua Ford had followed them, it wasn’t to tell her that he’d been lying to her for years. “My daughter, Bianca, was diagnosed not long after her birth. My wife wanted to use traditional treatments, but I’d heard of Benson Enterprises and the amazing research they were doing. I took Bianca and we traveled to the Cruise Clinic where I was given a full, private lab for my research to work on a cure.”
Any sympathy for his confession that his young daughter was sick was destroyed by his cold lack of emotion. He might as well have been speaking about a stranger, not his precious baby.
“A cure that used Pantera blood?” she demanded, recalling Kayden’s insistence that Joshua had kidnapped his parents.
“Of course.” Joshua shrugged, not seeming to hear Kayden’s low growl. Or to notice the anger that sizzled through the air. It was a stark reminder that he was human, while she was…different. “I gathered a half dozen of the animals, including you and your mother.”
“My mother?” Her breath felt as if it was being squeezed from her lungs. “She was Pantera?”
Another shrug. “Yes.”
“I don’t remember her,” she choked out. There’d always been a hole in her heart at the lack of a mother’s love.
He waved a dismissive hand. “You were an infant.”
A faint hope flared through her. “Where is she?” she demanded.
“Dead.” he said, his voice stripped of emotion. Or more likely, Joshua Ford didn’t possess emotions. He was a cold-hearted snake who used people like they were no more than pieces on a chessboard. “She was trying to protect you from becoming a part of my experiments and my guards became a little…overenthusiastic.”
A sound of pain was wrenched from her throat, but even as her hand reached toward the handgun that Kayden had hidden between them, she felt Kayden give her leg another squeeze.
A silent warning.
He clearly had a plan. Which meant she couldn’t shoot Joshua in the face.