Lawe's Justice - Lora Leigh [57]
The soft sizzle of the box powering up the laser rifles were easily detectable to most Breeds if they were within a certain distance. But even easier for them to discern were the two tiny pin lights at the side of the box. Those pin lights could be seen from miles away by a Breed’s sensitive eyes.
This weapon, though, with its dull steel and the shaded glass of the scope, was all but undetectable to Breeds or humans.
Until it was fired.
This weapon, unlike the laser-powered variety, was loud enough to alert even the densest of the human population that violence was being committed.
It couldn’t be powered back to wound rather than kill or to burn rather than pierce. It couldn’t be deflected by the reflector glass or comparable material. There were few things that could stand between a man and a bullet.
Or a woman and a bullet.
At the moment, the woman in question was sitting comfortably in the chair she had moved to the side of the bed, directly in front of the window. The curtains were open and gave him a clear line of fire as she propped slender, jean-clad legs on the low table in front of her. Scuffed boots looked worn and comfortable, as did the faded jeans and the sleeveless, snug camisole she wore.
And she was staring straight back at him, her gaze meeting his in the scope of the rifle, daring him to fire.
Gideon had to smile.
He was almost becoming fond of this woman after the past three months.
She had a backbone, a daring no other adversary he’d known possessed. She was bold, confrontational, and mysterious. And she was damned intelligent.
Intelligent enough to know she was being followed and cunning enough that she had almost lost him more than once. Gideon had never come so close to losing prey as he had this woman since he’d begun following her.
She was a damned fine adversary, and he had no doubt she would make some worthy man a damned fine lover.
If she survived the little game they were playing at the moment.
He almost envied the man that would share her bed. No doubt it would be the Breed whose scent he’d detected on her clothes when he slipped into her bedroom earlier.
That Breed would have a woman most men could only dream of having. A woman that would be his partner. She was one who would go into battle with him, soothe his soul, mend his wounds, and drive him crazy in bed once the danger was over.
She couldn’t cook worth a damn, he’d heard one of her men say, but she commanded four powerful, territorial, less-than-courteous bastards who lived for war. Three of them followed her willingly, loyally.
The one who wasn’t completely loyal still lived because Gideon had only managed to identify him in the past twenty-four hours. If he were still traveling with her, then Gideon would have already killed him. This woman deserved more than the traitor who had sold her to her uncle’s enemies, she deserved more than the supposedly careless accidents used as attempts to get rid of her. Someone wanted her out of the game. They wanted to keep her from aiding her sister’s mate in protecting her sister and her sister’s child. According to the rumors swirling, now that she was so firmly aligned with the Breeds, someone wanted to ensure that if Colt Broen ever resurfaced there would be no one he could reach out to for assistance.
Someone was very frightened of the combination Diane Broen and her uncle represented. So frightened that once they realized she either didn’t know where he or the Leo’s home base was located, or was strong enough to keep her secrets, decided they were better off with her dead.
Alive, she represented a threat. A threat someone wasn’t willing to take.
Gideon doubted she realized how often three of those men stood between her and laser fire. If any of them were there now, he had no doubt they would be standing between her and his rifle. As her uncle and her ex-lover had tried to stand between her and the enemies that followed. And they had paid for their efforts in blood.
She was alone now. She had left her men behind,