She could see the hopes and the fears that filled him at that moment. He stared at her, everything he was, everything he dreamed, reflected in the brilliance of his eyes. His brows lowered, his expression becoming intent, fierce. Then he lowered his head, his body bending further until he could place his lips where his hands had been.

Roni gasped as her fingers gripped his shoulders, his arms going around her, holding her close as he pressed his face into her lower stomach. He was so strong and sure in her arms, bending to her, his attention on the child he knew was forming within her.

“I love you, Roni.” The words could only barely be heard but they nearly stopped her heart with emotion. “Know that. For years I have longed for you. Loved you. You complete me…”

He didn’t give her time to answer him. No time to accept the emotion he whispered against her flesh. He rose quickly to his feet and stalked away from her. No kiss. No touch. No chance for her to reject what he had given her. As though she could ever reject him.

Roni lowered her head as she fought her tears, fought her own steadily rising emotions. No matter how much she feared the consequences, she loved him. Had always loved him. But damn if he wasn’t too stubborn for words.

Chapter Thirty-Three

“Did you think you could hide from me forever, girlie?”Reginald’s voice was a serrated intrusion into the peaceful atmosphere of the mansion’s living room.

Roni knew she should have expectedReginald to do something stupid. He had never been the smartest man she had ever known but she hadn’t expected him to be one of the dumbest either. Actually, she hadn’t thought he would be inventive enough to slip past the Feline Breeds on guard while Taber was out of the house, but he did.

One minute she was alone in the living room watching the arrival of several wounded Breed males outside, the next second she was jerked around roughly to face the father she had always loathed.

“What are you doing here?” She jerked away from him, her eyes going to the open door of the room.

“Do you think someone won’t know you’re here,Reginald?”

The look in his eyes made her stomach pitch in nervous awareness of the danger he could represent.

“Doesn’t matter if they do find out,” he sneered angrily. “I’m just here visiting my little girl. Or did you forget you had a father?”

“Every chance I get,” she snapped back. “What the hell are you up to here? Don’t you have any more sense than to piss these men off, Reggie?”

His smile was terrifying. Confident, assured, stretching lewdly across his face as his blue eyes glittered with malice.

“What have you done, Reggie?” Roni could feel the last thread of hope she ever possessed where her father was concerned snap.

“Listen to me, Roni, they aren’t natural. They aren’t human,” he hissed with a fanatical fervor that terrified her. “I know he put that mark on you. All I need is for you to leave with me. Just for a little while, girl, and let my friends have some blood work. Just some little tests, that’s all.”

“You can’t be serious.” She shook her head slowly, edging away from him, suddenly more terrified of him than anything else she had ever faced in her life. “I’m not going anywhere with you. If this is why you came here, then you may as well give it up now.”

He frowned, a dark, sinister lowering of his brow that had her heart rate picking up nervously. He had never looked at her like that. She had never seen such hatred, such utter contempt in another human’s eyes before. And she had never imagined it would be directed at her.

“You will come with me, Roni,” he snapped, watching her with a feral intensity that bordered on the insane. “There’s no telling what he’s planted in your belly while you’ve been in his bed. Do you think I’m going to allow the world to know a kid of mine is a dirty animal fucker?”

She flinched at the disgust, the terrible fury in his voice.

“You’re insane,” she whispered. “They have as much right to live as anyone else,Reginald. More so.”

“Oh, spare me your pretty little speeches,” he spat contemptuously. “Tell me, girl, how long have you been fucking the bastard anyway? Was that why he threatened to kill me if I let any of my friends around you? Wanted his pussy all to himself, did he?”

Roni backed up as he edged closer to her. She could feel the hatred, black and vile, pouring from him.

“I won’t answer that,” she snapped, refusing to allow her fear of him to show.

“How old were you when he first found you, anyway, hiding like a snot-nosed brat in those hills? Ten?

Eleven? Was he fucking you then, Roni? Is that why you followed after him every chance you got?”

She shook her head desperately, wondering where the hell the men who were supposed to be in the house were.

“I won’t qualify that with an answer.” She fought to put as much space between them as possible. “Not everyone has the perversions your friends do, Reggie.”

“If I had known that was your fascination for him, I’d have given it to you myself,” he sneered. “I could have used a little excitement in my bed after that stupid bitch mother of yours died…”

“Stop.” Roni shook her head desperately. “Leave Mom out of this, Reggie.”

Her frail, weary mother. Roni trembled at the memory of her. She rarely allowed herself to remember her mother. The memories were bleak, painful. Margery Andrews had been too delicate, too gentle, for the lifeReginald had dragged her into.

“Leave Mom out of this,” he mocked her cruelly. “Fine, we’ll leave dear old Mom out of it. Get your ass out the door and in my car so we can take our little trip.”

“Why?” The couch was between them, but her way to the open doorway was still blocked. “Do you really think I’m stupid enough to go with you? To let you or anyone you know touch me, Reggie? It’s not going to happen.”

“How ‘bout a trade then?” He paused, watching her intently, his expression triumphant.

“What?” He was insane. Roni could only blink at him in astonishment that he could even consider she would trade her own soul for anything he had.

“A trade,” he repeated softly. “You come with me, Roni, and let the boys do their tests, and I’ll tell you why your momma fought so hard to stay hidden on that mountain. I’ll tell you why she let me use her however I wanted to and however my buddies wanted to. I’ll tell you, girl, who your father really is.”

Time seemed to stand still for Roni. She watchedReginald with a sense of fascinated horror, and yet a grain of thankfulness. A thankfulness that went so deep it nearly made her knees weak.

“You’re not my father.”

“I can see that just breaks your heart,” he snapped dangerously. “What, you think you’re too good to be my girl?”

“I think a snake would be too good to be a child of yours, but that’s just my opinion.” She needed to distract him, to get him to shift position just enough for her to sprint over the couch and run for the door. As long as he faced her from the other side, though, she was trapped. “So tell me, Reggie, why would I care who my father is? He can’t be too important or you would have sold the information already.”

“Would I?” He cackled. God, he actually cackled like some old crone. Weren’t crones women?

“Course you would, Reggie.” She kept her voice soothing, hoping to keep him from becoming too insistent on grabbing her. She could see the intent creeping into his expression, his body bunching in preparation.

“Naw, I wouldn’t tell you this, Roni. Not for all the land in Texas, little girl. Not without a reason.

‘Cause it would have meant my own life. But I’ll tell you now, if you come with me nice and peaceful like.” Calculating and feral, his gaze reminded her of a rabid dog she had once seen. She couldn’t let him get her out of the house. If she did, his advantage would be that much greater.

“I’m not leaving with you,” she told him carefully, moving farther back, watching him, knowing he had to be insane. “And Taber won’t let you take me,Reginald. You won’t be able to leave the estate with me. You should leave, while you can.”

His eyes narrowed. “Your stinking little cat is too busy to worry about you, little girl. And I won’t take no for an answer.”

He jumped for her then. Roni knew she would have only a second to evade him, only the slimmest chance to dart past him and run for the door. When his hand swiped for her hair she moved. Any time Reginald became furious with her he would grab her hair first. Hold her in place for whatever punishment he deemed necessary.

She felt his fingers brush by her head as she sprinted over the couch, screaming Taber’s name. Where the hell was everyone, anyway?

“Bitch.” She almost made it. She was clearing the couch when he caught her ankle, jerking her back with enough force to take her breath as she fought to turn her body, to shield her abdomen and the fragile life growing there.

She bounced against the cushions, kicking out with her other foot as he fought to retain his grip on her. There was no breath left to scream for help. She needed her strength, her wits about her, to try to escape. If no one had heard her screams, then no one was close enough to help her. She kicked for his groin and missed, but the force she landed on his thigh had him stumbling back. She jumped and rolled over the couch, her ankle an agonizing ache from the harsh twist he had given it. Stumbling, she bolted for the door, screaming out Taber’s name again as she heardReginald curse viciously behind her.

“I said you’re going with me.” He caught her hair again, this time delivering a sharp blow to the side of her head that left her dazed and crumpling to the floor from the pain.

“Taber,” she tried to cry out his name again, to warn him, to warn someone. But darkness was closer around her, sweeping through her mind, and she knew she only imagined the bloodthirsty animal’s roar that echoed in her head.

Chapter Thirty-Four

Rage washed over Taber in violent, nearly suffocating waves as he heard Roni’s frantic screams echoing through the house. Merinus had come running for him and Callan when she had first seenReginald sneaking into the mansion, terrified of his intent.

He had been coming through the backyard when he first heard her screams. He entered the living room in time to see the bastard, fist closed, strike her temple in a blow that sent her to the floor. There was no question of mercy. No question of reining in the rage tearing through him. His roar echoed through the room as he threw himself at the other man, desperate to alleviate the threat to his woman. Reginald was faster and in better condition than Taber had anticipated. They rolled across the floor, the older man grunting as he slugged Taber in the ribs with enough force to nearly take his breath and knock

him back for a second.

But the animal he had kept carefully leashed all the years of his adult life was free now. There would be no escape, no mercy for the man who had dared to threaten all Taber held dear. He was aware, only absently, of the men now moving into the room. Roni was pulled to safety as Callan barked out an order to one of the others to find the doctor.

“She’s alive, Taber,” Callan called out as Taber faced off withReginald. “Let it go. Let the men take him.”

Taber’s throttled roar hadReginald paling as he stumbled backward. He rushed the older man. His fist connected with the side ofReginald’s head, blood spraying as flesh tore. He jerked him from the floor as he fell, shaking him remorselessly as the older man’s eyes bulged from his head.

“You kill me and you know what happens,”Reginald wheezed as he managed to tear himself from Taber’s grip. “It will be all over the news, boy. Everyone will know.”

“Ask me if I care,” Taber growled, pacing after him as he backed away. Reginald’s mouth worked desperately. “I didn’t hurt her.”