constricted, and he still didn’t say a word. “You’ve been honest with me, and I thought you should know. Your brother told me to be the mate you deserve, but…” Oh, God, tears were welling up. I ground my teeth together forcing them back. “I’ll never be able to be what you need.”
I turned to get out of the shower, but he caught my wrist, pulling my attention back to him. “Don’t go.” He lifted my chin until our eyes met. “You think your ability to bear children is what makes you a worthy mate?” He shook his head slowly, water beading on his face. His hand slid from my chin to rest over my heart. “This. This is what makes you a worthy mate.”
The wall around my heart crumbled a little under his hand. I swallowed the lump of emotion in my throat. “You’ve never dreamed about having a family or teaching a boy to play catch?”
“I already have a family. A big one. And I can teach Malcolm to play catch. I was always better at it than his dad anyway.” A gentle smile tugged at the corner of his lips. “What I want is a mate with enough brains and backbone to put up with me.”
I stared into his eyes, searching for a trace of dishonesty, but Aren was an open book. And I caught myself wanting to believe him. This was a heavy thing to drop on him right after we made love. Maybe after he thought it over, after the blood returned to his brain, he’d want to reconsider his position. I guessed I would have to wait and see, but at least he had all the facts.
“Are we okay now?” The sound of his deep voice broke me out of my thoughts.
“I am.” I nodded slowly, drinking in the sight of his smile. “Better than okay.”
Tipping the shampoo in my hand, I squeezed a little into my other hand. There was a handsome naked man in the shower with me. I refused to let myself worry any more about something I couldn’t control. “Get down here so I can wash your hair.”
Bending his knees, he wrapped his arms around my waist, nuzzling my breasts as I lathered up his hair, massaging his scalp and enjoying the way he moaned against my skin. Knowing I made him happy empowered me. Until now, only my guns had ever given me that kind of confidence.
“Rinse.”
He straightened up and closed his eyes as he leaned back into the shower spray. I feasted on his naked body. The soapy water slid over his chiseled chest, down to his trim waist, and finally a little lower. I even allowed myself to look at his scarred ankle.
If not for that one injury, the man had the body of a god. And in spite of the wound I’d inflicted on him, he had my back anyway.
Amazing.
“Your turn.” His voice surprised me. “You sure you’re okay?”
I nodded and switched places with him. I closed my eyes and my knees got weak all over again when his strong fingers massaged my scalp and carefully slid back through my hair. His hands made their way lower, massaging my shoulders until my head lulled back to rest against his chest.
“That feels good,” I whispered.
He kissed my temple, his lips brushing my ear. “Rinse.”
Mmmm, that word had never sounded so sexy. I turned around, leaning back into the water as I rinsed the shampoo from my hair. When I opened my eyes again, his gaze was hungry, and my body responded.
“You are so beautiful.”
My face flushed with heat, and I reached out to run my finger along his strong jaw. “You make me feel that way.”
He shook his head. “You really are.” He started to smile. “And I’m not just saying that because you’re naked in the shower with me.”
I laughed and gave him a half-hearted wet swat. He picked me up and dipped me under the shower, kissing me when I squirmed. And again, he made me feel like a woman instead of a cop.
It felt damn good.
Once we were toweled dry, I fired up my laptop while Aren flipped on the news and checked his phone. I started downloading the files on Fonthill while the meteorologist told us about warm temperatures in the background.
Aren got up from the bed and brought his phone over with an email from Lana.
I glanced up at him, and he shrugged. “Before Lana met Adam, she supported herself as a freelance journalist. Research was one of her specialties.”
Knowing that, whatever she found was probably far from “nothing.”
I typed in the website from the email on Aren’s phone into my browser. Brightwood Academy for Girls. Nadya’s elementary school.
Dread ran cold fingers down my spine, and I struggled to keep my breath even. Nero couldn’t have anything to do with that school… They just couldn’t.
When the website loaded, I went straight to the donor page. I didn’t see anything that struck me as odd. It was a typical list of names, family trusts, and a few foundations for education.
Nothing seemed unusual to me.
But Lana wouldn’t have sent me the link unless she had found something.
I clicked on one of the education foundations and skimmed their site. Again, nothing suspicious jumped out. I was about to give up when I clicked the “Educational Research Grant” link. It took me to another generic-looking foundation page, but something in the corner of the website caught my eye.
The hair on the back of my neck started to rise. That was the same quote on Nero’s letterhead and on the cornerstone of the main facility building. It couldn’t be a coincidence.
Nero funded the school Nadya had attended for gifted kids. For psychics.
“Oh, shit.”
Aren sat up. “What’s wrong?”
I held my hair back from my face. “Nero is involved with Nadya’s old school.” I met his eyes. “Trolling for talent?”
“I know Nero’s been experimenting with psychic women, but using a school for girls to find females to experiment on for their breeding program? They’d have to wait too long for them to grow up.” He shook his head.
I stared at the quote again. “Maybe not.”
But in my gut, I knew.
Nero hadn’t wanted me. They wanted my sister.
I closed the laptop and got up on the bed. Aren lifted the remote to turn off the television but stopped when a familiar face stared back at us.
“That’s Fonthill.” He turned up the sound.
Aren turned off the television as the reporter changed topics. “Why would he attack a guy at a gas station?”
“Because he’s insane. The drug that altered his DNA is flawed. Eventually it brings out aggression and psychotic episodes until their brain finally bleeds out.” I got under the covers. “We’ve got to find him and stop him. And we need to get to St. Mary’s first thing tomorrow.”
