email.
He could assume the betrayal came from Kane, or from one of his own. Which was more likely to want
to see him and Merinus captured or dead?
“Kane wouldn’t betray me, Callan,” she told him quietly.
There was no anger in her tone, no doubt. She trusted her brother implicitly.
“How can you be so certain, Merinus?” He sighed roughly. “The attack came hours after your call to
him.”
“I know because I know Kane.” She shook her head, moving further into the room.
She went to the couch near him, sat down and regarded him solemnly.
“Kane went ape shit when Dad showed him the box your mother had sent to him on her death,” she
revealed. “I don’t know why, but I know he was hurt. Hurt and angry, but not at you. He spent months
gathering evidence, working to reveal the Council members. He has a list from your shoulder to your
elbow and a stack of proof against them that would terrify you.”
Callan narrowed his eyes on her.
“Why didn’t you tell me this before?” he asked her.
“I tried to tell you, but you never wanted to hear it.” She rolled her eyes at his abrupt question. “I told
you we had everything taken care of. Did you think I would lie to you?”
“The hell if I knew what to think then, or now,” he grunted, shutting down the email program and pacing
the floor. “I know we’ve been betrayed by someone close to us, and accusing your brother is a hell of a
lot easier than the alternative.” Better than believing that one of his own would do it.
He couldn’t get the thought out of his head that one of his own had betrayed him, or the memory of that
scent in the caves, lingering on the flesh of the soldier.
“Who is the alternative?” Merinus asked him carefully. “Callan, Kane didn’t know we had mated, or
whatever this is. He wasn’t even certain we were having sex. He suspected it, but he didn’t know it was
anything deeper.”
“He would have known.” Callan frowned. He knew Kane had at least suspected that his sister was too
emotionally involved with her lover to leave. The Council would have suspected the rest based on that.
Merinus sighed. “Maybe he would have, but he wouldn’t have betrayed me or you. He’s put too much
into this, taken too many risks himself.”
“Why?” Callan snapped. “Why would he do this, just for a story? He didn’t need anything more than the
proof Maria had to run it.”
Merinus bit her lip thoughtfully.
“I don’t know why,” she finally admitted. “All I know is that he did. And I know he’s been very upset
since this came about, almost obsessed with it. He wouldn’t betray you, not just because of the risk to
myself, but because of whatever is driving him as well.”
Callan growled low in his throat.
“That is such a sexy sound.” He turned in surprise at the aroused amusement in her voice.
She was watching him, her body relaxed for a change, her head tilted thoughtfully.
“What is?” he asked her carefully.
“That growl in your voice,” she said, watching him with heavy lidded desire. “It makes me shiver, makes
my body want to rub over all yours.”
Her heat wasn’t upon her yet. He smelled the air carefully. The scent of warm, willing woman was there,
but not the desperate lust he was used to smelling when she wanted him. Callan watched her carefully,
seeing nothing in her expression that would indicate that the chemically induced needs were riding her.
There was no smell of it on the air, no desperation or tense muscles showing that would hint at her need.
There was something elusive, though. Like the faintest fragrance of spring. He admitted to being more
than a little confused now.
“Why are you looking at me like that?” She pushed her fingers through her hair, attempting to restore it
to order. She still looked sexy and tousled though, warm and beckoning.
“You want me.” He was more than a little amazed by that fact.
“Well, duh,” she gave him a look that suggested she was beginning to suspect his intelligence. “Just figure
that one out, Sherlock?”
Callan frowned.
“Woman, you are a snide creature.” He allowed the rumble in his chest to echo in his voice.
Her face flushed, but her expression showed her knowledge that he was tempting her.
“I’m a bitch.” She was clearly laughing at him. “Ask Kane, he’ll tell you.”
The mention of her brother sobered him. He tucked his hands in the pockets of his jeans and paced to
the window that he kept covered with heavy curtains. He didn’t look out, there was no need to. There