Mercury's War by Lora Leigh Read Free Book Online Page A

lips were a bit thin, but well sculpted and sexier than they should have been. His nose was long, with a flattened bridge more prominent than most Breeds’.
        Long, thick, brown-, black- and russet-streaked hair fell to his shoulders. Unlike Callan Lyons, with his golden brown hair and handsome features, Mercury seemed to epitomize the Breeds. A lion walking within a man’s body. She could clearly see the primal, feral qualities that she knew he fought to keep subverted. As though he could hide what he was, especially to himself.
        She let the file she was reading cover her hand as it lay over the memory card slot into which she had inserted a “ghost” chip, one of the new, specially enhanced memory chips that would be undetectable to the Breed systems.
        It slid free into her hand and tucked nicely into the sleeve of her blouse. The electronic messages and orders she had been investigating were contained on the chip, with more on several other chips she had slipped out of the office over the weeks.
        It appeared that Sanctuary had more to worry about than even Dane had imagined, if what she was learning were true.
        “I’m ready to go home.” She slapped the file closed and stood from the chair.
        She couldn’t keep her mind on the file or the job she had gone there to do. She was too aware of him, too aware of the sensuality steadily rising between them.
        “I’ll let Jonas know we’re leaving.” He nodded as he flipped the mic of the communications unit down from the side of his face.
        “We aren’t leaving. I am.” She walked back to the desk that held the files she had pulled to go through. “I don’t need an escort.”
        “That’s not what I was told,” he informed her before turning his conversation to the link. “Jonas, we’re ready to head back to the house.” He listened for a moment before replying. “My bag is in the Jeep. I’ll keep in contact from there.”
        Ria propped her hands on her hips as she stared back at him. “Exactly what do you mean by that?”
        His eyes narrowed on her. “There was another attempt to breach the perimeter of Sanctuary’s boundaries on the east side of the mountain. Your cabin sits there. Since you’re outside the boundaries of Sanctuary, you’re at risk.”
        “So?”
        He restrained his smile. “So, from now on you have a guard inside the house, namely me, as well as one outside whenever you aren’t at Sanctuary. We can’t risk your kidnapping or death, Ria.”
        “Namely you?” Oh no, that was not going to work. No way, no how. “You’ll have to tell Mr. Wyatt I’ve refused your charming company. You can sit outside with your buddy.”
        “That scared you can’t resist me?” His brow arched, and there was an arrogant confidence to the curl of his lips.
        “Excuse me?” He couldn’t mean what she thought he did.
        “You heard me,” he said. “Are you that afraid you can’t handle your own response to me, that you’d put your life in danger?”
        Now that was a dare. She hated dares. A dare had landed her there to begin with.
        “I would have no problems resisting you, Mr. Warrant,” she snapped, her voice cold despite the heat traveling through her body. “This has nothing to do with you, and everything to do with privacy. I like living alone.”
        He crossed his arms over his chest, his broad, powerful chest, and stared down at her with a frown.
        “We aren’t willing to risk your life for the sake of your privacy,” he informed her. “You can accept the conditions or we’ll be forced to call Vanderale Industries and inform them of the danger and your lack of cooperation. We were assured you would cooperate with the protective measures we set in place.”
        Dammit. She was going to kill her boss. If Sanctuary complained, it wouldn’t just go through her own department,