* * * * *

“Sherra?” The little voice and the soft knock at her door had Sherra stiffening in reaction as she recognized Cassie’s voice.

The door opened slowly and the little girl peeked in. Her face was somber, her long dark hair laying in thick curls down her back as she stepped into the bedroom.

“Who’s watching you today, Cassie?” Sherra asked curiously.

“I don’t know, Sherra.” The little girl was confused. “I woke up and no one was there. Someone is always there when I wake up.”

Sherra stared at the little girl with a frown. Cassie still wore her gown and robe and clutched her teddy

bear like a lifeline.

“I’m scared, Sherra,” she whispered. “My fairy said to come up here. She seems kinda worried.” The little girl moved closer as though in need of comfort or protection. Sherra grabbed her communications link from the dresser and pulled it on over her head as she switched it to the main channel. She knew Taber, Callan, Kane and Dawn were with the Lawrences, but they wouldn’t have left the little girl without a guard.

“Who has house duty?” she snapped into the link.

No one answered.

“Cassie, did you see anyone when you came up here?” Sherra asked her quietly, moving to the French doors and peeking past the curtains to the yard outside.

“No.” Cassie was holding her teddy bear closer now. “I didn’t see anyone, Sherra.”

“Do you know how to hide, Cassie?” Sherra asked her, feeling the familiar rise of danger edging up her spine.

Cassie’s eyes widened in sudden fear. Her lower lip trembled. “I want my momma,” she suddenly whispered, a breath of sound that showed the little girl knew well the dangers that could be moving outside their room. “Momma doesn’t leave me alone.”

Shit. No one was moving outside. Where the hell were the guards?

“Okay.” Sherra turned back to the little girl. “Do you know how to be quiet? No matter what?”

Cassie nodded fiercely.

“I want you to stay right behind me, Cassie. And don’t say a word. Don’t make a sound unless I tell you to. We’re going to go to Merinus’ room. Okay?”

Cassie nodded quickly.

Moving to the door, Sherra pulled the gun free of her holster and peeked out carefully. All the doors were closed, the guard normally on duty at the end of the hall absent. Damn. Damn. She glanced behind her at the kid. She was pale, trembling and moving with damned near every shift of Sherra’s body.

“Okay, nice and quiet,” Sherra whispered as she eased the door open. She stepped out into the hallway, checked it quickly then pulled Cassie from the bedroom and moved stealthily for the second wing of the upstairs bedrooms where Callan and Merinus’ suite was located. Pausing at the turn in the hall, she flattened Cassie against the wall then checked it as well. No one. Fuck. Where the hell were they?

Moving carefully down the carpeted hall, her senses razor-sharp, she moved for Merinus’ room. She was no more than three doors from it when the new scent slammed into her head. Alien. Foreign. Waiting

on them.

She stopped. There were two doors between her and Merinus’ room and one of them could possibly be opened just enough to allow anyone hiding in the room to see her pass by. Sherra moved for the door beside her. Turning the knob she eased it open and pressed Cassie inside before following her. Closing it just as silently, she indicated silence to the little girl as she moved to the wide window on the other side of the room.

Looking out, she breathed a sigh of relief as she caught sight of two guards moving along the perimeters of the house grounds. Opening the curtains wide she slowly lifted the window, praying she wasn’t giving her position away to the enemy two doors down.

She was within a second of gaining their attention when she saw them go down. First one, then the other. Her eyes widened. No sound was made, but within a second they had fallen, dead or unconscious, she wasn’t certain.

Fuck. Fuck. Looking around frantically she dragged Cassie to the closet on the other side of the room.

“You stay here.” She pushed the tearful child into the small room. “I mean it, Cassie. No one will know but me where you are hidden. You don’t move. Do you hear me?”

She kept her lips at Cassie’s ear, her heart breaking as the little girl shook and shuddered, though she nodded her head quickly.

“Stay,” she ordered her again before backing away and closing the door slowly. Whoever was waiting in the room up the hall had somehow managed to take out the communications link and/or the communications personnel and was quietly waiting. For what?

She moved back to the door and opened it slowly, peering down the hall but seeing nothing that would immediately raise her suspicions. She stepped from the room, flattening herself against the wall, weapon held ready, watching intently.

A second later Merinus’ doorknob turned. Aiming her weapon, Sherra watched coldly as it opened and the other woman stood framed in the doorway, shock widening her eyes at the gun Sherra had leveled at her. Just as quickly, the door closed, then locked.

Smart. Sherra smiled with cold determination. At least the other woman was safe. That was all that mattered. She could almost feel the waves of fury pouring from the other room now. Whoever was in there had seen Merinus’ escape back into her room as well.

A second later three loud reports sounded from Merinus’ room. The gunshots were a clear signal to any Breed within hearing distance. The bastard might have taken out the guards in the house, and those on the grounds, but there was no way he could have gotten them all. She heard a curse, soft, filled with menace, and aimed her gun at the approximate height to severely wound rather than kill. There was only two ways out of that room, the window or the door. But she wasn’t expecting what stepped from the room.

Roni came first, closely followed by the chauffeur/nurse who had come in with the Lawrences several

days before. There was a smug victorious smile on the man’s face as he held the gun to Roni’s temple and kept her carefully in front of him.

“Very lucky,” he grunted. “But not quite good enough.”

He faced Sherra with malicious contempt.

“So where’s the kid? She wasn’t in her room or with her guard.”

Sherra kept her expression cold and her gun ready. “If I knew, I wouldn’t tell you.”

His beady eyes glittered with fury. “Drop the gun or I’ll kill her.”

Sherra shook her head as she allowed a mocking smile to curl her lips. “No way. And if you kill her, you’ll fall in the next second.”

He wasn’t nervous. He was cold, calculating. He had Roni by the hair, a tenuous grip at best, his gun at her temple. Sherra’s eyes met Roni’s. She could see the resignation in the other woman’s eyes. Somehow he had taken out their men. Sherra wasn’t certain how he could have managed to do it, but he had.

“Well, we could consider it a standoff.” He smiled slowly, like a viper preparing to strike. “You think that warning is going to get help here in time? I made sure your boys were out for several more hours. The best.” He grunted sarcastically. “They were easy, Sherra.”

Sherra shrugged lightly. “Seems you forgot about me, though. I’m not so easy.”

Her gaze met Roni’s. The other woman moved her eyes up to indicate the hand holding her hair, then quickly looked to the floor. God, could she pull it off? She did it again, frantically. Up, then down. Was she going to drop?

Sherra angled her weapon at Roni’s head. If the other woman didn’t move fast enough… She swallowed tightly.

Suddenly, Roni dropped. His gun went off the same second Sherra’s did. The bullet dropped the wouldbe assassin immediately as she ran to him, kicking the gun aside before dropping beside Roni.

“Bastard!” Roni came up like a demon, lips curled back, fury lighting her eyes as she kicked the fallen would-be assassin.

Merinus’ door flew open at the same time feet pounded on the stairs and male voices began to scream out in fury. It was chaos.

Kane, Callan, Taber, more than a dozen Feline guards and Seth Lawrence rushed into the hallway.

“Are you happy now, Mr. Lawrence?” Sherra snarled in his face as Taber rushed for his wife. “Was it worth it?”

He stared down at the chauffeur, his gaze somber, filled with misery before it went to his sister. Regret flickered in his eyes.

“No, Miss Callahan, it wasn’t.” But he didn’t take his eyes off his sister.

“Sherra, you didn’t kill him,” Kane said in surprise as he stood up from the fallen body. “Flesh wound.”

“Not yet,” she snapped as she turned back to him. “I want to know who hired him first. Then I’ll kill him.” She stared back at Kane with brutal fury. “This time, Breed Law will be enforced.”

She turned and marched back to the room where Cassie awaited her. Pulling the closet door open she knelt in front of the sobbing girl, her heart clenching. Cassie didn’t make a sound, but her shoulders were shaking violently as she held her teddy bear close to her.

“Come on, Cassie. It’s all over now,” Sherra whispered as she picked her up.

“I want my momma.” The heartrending sobs came then. “I want my momma now. Now. If you don’t get my momma I’m gonna bite all of you. I will. I will…” She buried her head in Sherra’s shoulder, her arms wrapping tightly around her as her sobs tore through the room. Sherra turned back to Kane, tears filling her own eyes as he watched her with quiet pain.

“Come here, Cassie.” Callan moved to Sherra’s side, his wife staying close beside him as he eased the little girl from his sister’s arms.

She went easily, and though her tears didn’t abate, neither did her demands for her momma. Kane lifted Sherra in his arms and only then did she realize that she was shaking, hard shudders of reaction, fury and fear quaking through her.

Sherra wrapped her arms around his shoulders, burying her face against his neck as she let the tears free. She cried for the past, the betrayals, the losses, the child they had never known. The bitterness flowed from her in deep, gulping sobs as she held onto him. Her support, her heart.

Chapter Sixteen

The Terrible Tylers converged on the property within hours. Six brothers, along with their father, John Tyler, and their uncle, Senator Samuel Tyler. It was pandemonium and Sherra completely understood why Merinus was always so reluctant to have them all at the estate at the same time. The next morning, after her required visit to see Doc Martin, Sherra understood why. They were hardheaded, stubborn and opinionated. Every one of them had their own idea of how things should be handled and every discussion turned into a war of words. But they all loved Merinus, and they were all determined they were now there for the duration to be certain she was protected.

“This isn’t good, Sherra,” Tanner commented from beside her as they both stood in the doorway of the spacious formal dining room and watched the debates rage with a sense of growing horror. “They’ll end up killing each other.”

Sherra snorted absently. “It could save us the trouble.”

Tanner chuckled at that, the amusement in the sound causing her lips to curve as well.

“Watch how they hover over Merinus and Roni.” He nodded to the group of men, including Callan and Taber.

Merinus looked as though she were in mortal pain as she attempted to come to her feet. Immediately, at least half a dozen of the men jumped to help her. Thinking they were otherwise occupied, Roni attempted to escape. They weren’t having that, either. For the time being, the two women were trapped in the middle of testosterone protective hell. Thankfully, Kane had listened when Sherra had bared her teeth and snarled that she would kill the first man who attempted to “protect” her.

“Those poor women,” she breathed out roughly.