She pushed against Dash’s chest, wiping at the tears on her face, fighting for control. He wouldn’t let her go. He held her to him, knowing she wanted to run, to hide not just from Grange and the truth, but from him as well.

He had claimed her. He had already informed her of that fact. He wouldn’t let her go. She remembered Callan Lyons’ interviews. His fierce protectiveness of his wife, Merinus. The determination to see her safe at all costs. His eyes had blazed when he spoke of her and she had seen a man who would kill to save his woman. As Dash had done. He had killed to protect her and Cassie. How many more would he be forced to kill now? The thought of that, the danger to not just her child but to Dash as well, was destroying her.

Chapter Thirteen

“Let me go.” She pushed against his chest again as Mike and Serena left the room. “I have to check on Cassie. Please, Dash. I have to check on her.”

He let her go slowly as she fought to dry her face, to stem the tears still rolling from her eyes. She

couldn’t go in there like this. Cassie would wake up. She always knew when her mother was upset, when she was crying…

God, let her be asleep. She rushed to the room, somehow knowing Cassie was awake. She was. Sitting up in the bed, her own face wet with tears as she clutched the teddy bear Dash had bought her at the diner. Her frail shoulders were shaking with her tears as she rocked to and fro. Silent, heartbreaking sobs that destroyed Elizabeth. How much had her daughter heard?

“Cassie?” Elizabeth realized she was shaking, trembling from head to foot as her daughter raised her head, shame and fear contorting her little face.

“I’m not bad, Momma,” she whispered desperately. “I swear, Momma. I swear, I’m not an animal. I’m not.”

“Oh God.” She felt faint, in shock, seeing the truth in her daughter’s eyes as she huddled so miserably on the bed.

Elizabeth rushed to her, pulling her into her arms, feeling her daughter’s thin little arms wrap around her as sobs shook her body.

She couldn’t breathe. Elizabeth fought the dizziness wrapping around her as she rocked the little girl, fighting the hysteria edging into her mind as Cassie’s panicked voice echoed around her.

“I’m sorry,” she was screaming against her mother’s breast. “Momma, please. I’m sorry.”

“Cassie.” She fought her own tears as she pulled her daughter back, staring into the little face, seeing so much pain, so much realization of the cruelties of the world. “Why are you sorry, baby? Cassie, you haven’t done anything wrong.”

“He said you won’t love me.” Cassie was shaking so hard her teeth rattled. “Said I was an animal. Said I needed to be penned. That you wouldn’t want an animal. And you don’t like puppies. Or even cats. And he said you wouldn’t want me.”

Cassie’s hands were clawing at her neck as Elizabeth stared down at her in such overwhelming shock she feared she was losing her mind. Cassie was screaming, crying, so hysterical Elizabeth knew she would make herself sick soon.

“Enough.” Elizabeth shook her firmly. “Cassidy Paige Colder. That is enough.”

She used the voice Cassie called the ‘no chocolate’ voice. Firm, chastising, guaranteed to grab her daughter’s attention.

Cassie’s eyes widened, the tears still flowed, sobs still tore from her chest but she wasn’t screaming, wasn’t terrifying Elizabeth with her complete hysteria.

“Cassidy. Why are you crying?” She fought the need to cuddle her baby, to rock her, but she saw the complete shock filling her child’s eyes and knew Cassie would never hear the gentle words. Cassie blinked. “I’m an animal, Momma.” The pain in her voice was hard to hear.

“Is Tanner Williams an animal, Cassidy Paige? Callan Lyons? Are they animals?”

Cassie’s breath hitched. “Is that little baby Callan’s wife is having an animal, Cassie?” she questioned her daughter fiercely. “Is this how you see them? Those men and women who fought for their lives and their hearts, so perfectly beautiful. Are they animals?”

Cassie stared up at her in surprise. “No, Momma.” She shook her head fiercely.

“Have I said they are animals, Cassie?” she snapped fiercely. “Haven’t I always cheered for them right along with you? What makes you think I would believe you are an animal? Young lady, you are very close to losing chocolate for a month.”

Cassie’s mouth gaped open, her eyes widening as Elizabeth stared down at her with a mother’s righteous anger.

“Maybe two months,” Elizabeth amended. “Because if you know anything in this world, you should have known how much I love you, Cassie.” Her voice broke then, tears filling her eyes, clogging her throat as she stared down at the vulnerable, almost broken child. Dear God, she could kill Dane herself for what he had done to Cassie.

“He said I was an animal.” She shook her head slowly, the tears finally easing.

“No, Cassie.” She gripped the girl’s face, staring down at her with an inner rage that seared her soul.

“You are my baby. And whoever your natural father is, wherever he is, I can only thank him for giving me a child as precious, as smart and as loving as you are. Do you understand me, Cassie? Do you hear what I’m saying?”

Cassie blinked up at her. In a second the little girl was in her arms, clinging tightly to her neck, a hard, desperate kiss plastered to her cheek.

“I love you, Momma,” she whispered at her ear. “I love you.”

“I love you, Cassie.” She could rock her baby now. Could hold her in her arms and cuddle her, comfort her.

Elizabeth closed her eyes, fighting her own screams, her own sobs, as she held her daughter tightly to her breast. She pressed her lips to Cassie’s head, sheltered her in her arms and prayed to God that they could find a way, some way, to protect her now.

It didn’t matter that the Tolers were standing in the doorway. That Dash was watching them with hungry eyes. All that mattered now was Cassie. Her protection. Her safety. And Elizabeth knew that only Dash could assure it.

She raised her eyes to him, fighting her tears, knowing Cassie could never handle seeing her mother fall now. But Elizabeth knew she was damned close to doing just that. She was shaking on the inside, lightheaded, weak. Dear God, what were they going to do now?

Mike and his wife slowly left the room as Dash neared the bed, his eyes bleak and filled with pain as he stared down at Elizabeth.

“Cassie.” He sat down beside her. “You were eavesdropping, weren’t you?”

Cassie tensed in her mother’s arms, then nodded hesitantly.

“You heard what I am then, didn’t you?” he asked her softly. Once again, Cassie nodded.

“When I was very young, Cassie, not much older than you, I escaped the labs and I ran as far and as hard from that place as I could. Because I knew I wasn’t an animal. I knew I deserved to live and to be free. Just as you do. You are a perfect, beautiful little girl. As beautiful as your momma is. But you have to believe that. Remember? You told me that in a letter. If you believe, then it’s as real as sunshine. Do you remember that, Cassie?”

“Momma told me that.” She hiccupped against Elizabeth’s chest.

“And does your momma lie to you, Cassie?” He touched her hair softly; at the same time Elizabeth felt his arm steal around her shoulders.

He was heat and strength. God, she needed that strength right now.

“Momma never lies,” Cassie finally sighed.

“No, she doesn’t.” He pulled them both into his arms, holding them, protecting them. “And neither will I, Cassie. Ever. Now I need you to tell me exactly what happened that night. Until I know what happened, I can’t protect you and your momma fully. You have to tell me everything.”

Elizabeth knew when he said the words that she wouldn’t be able to handle Cassie’s remembrances of that night. She was right. But she stayed silent, fighting to escape within herself, to pull that mantle of distance around her shoulders that would keep her strong for her daughter. Dane had owed Grange a frightening amount of money. When the other man arrived at the house, Dane had been waiting. He had already informed Cassie of her parentage, had raged at her, telling her over and over what a little animal she was, how she needed to be caged, penned up like the other animals in the world. That her mother could never want her now. Never love her. Didn’t Cassie know how her mother refused to let her have a pet? He had told her cruelly. How did she think her mother would feel when she learned Cassie was nothing more than all the animals she had denied over the years?

Cassie had been crying when Grange showed up for his money. It was then Dane offered him something much more valuable. A Breed child. Conceived naturally, and without the genetic faults that kept the other Breeds from conceiving children. Trainable. Breedable. To convince the other man, he had ripped Cassie’s gown from her, showing him the genetic marker. The same marker notated in the Top Secret files Martaine had given him years before.

Grange had been ecstatic. But he had been smart enough to know Dane could never get away with selling his daughter. He had told Cassie to watch. To see how very easy it was to kill a man. That it would be the first of many lessons she would soon learn. In front of her eyes he had killed her father. Cassie cried as she told them what happened, and Elizabeth didn’t stop her. The sobs were heartbreaking, cleansing. Finally, Cassie was being allowed to face the truth of that night, as was Elizabeth.

When she finished, Elizabeth rocked her, hummed a lullaby to her and didn’t protest as Dash sat, holding them both. Finally, the little girl slipped into an exhausted sleep in her mother’s arms. Elizabeth laid her back in the bed and smoothed the dark curls away from her face with trembling fingers.

“I’ll wake up soon,” she whispered hoarsely. “I’ll wake up in my house, in my bed and realize it’s all been a horrible nightmare.”

Dash sighed behind her as he rose from the bed. “When you do, wake me up as well,” he sighed. “Then find an explanation for me being in that bed beside you. Because I won’t let you go, Elizabeth. Not now. Not ever.”

She stared down at her daughter, unable to turn and look at him.

“What do I do?” she asked him, fighting the feeling of helplessness suddenly overtaking her. “Tell me what to do, Dash. How do I protect her now?”

“You can’t, Elizabeth.” His voice was hard, cold. “But I can. And I will. Now lie down and try to rest. We’ll plan this out tomorrow. And I promise you, Cassie will be protected.”

Chapter Fourteen

Tomorrow came too soon. Elizabeth sat hollow-eyed and quiet in the study as Dash and Mike Toler faced her. The plans he had made, without her approval, were insane. Somehow, as night had turned to dawn, she had known this was coming. She had listened to Cassie’s soft little puppy sounds as she slept, and had known Dash would take her baby away from her.

It didn’t matter that she knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that he wanted only to protect her. It didn’t matter that she knew protection would come with a price. All she knew was that the culmination of two years of fighting, fleeing and hiding had ended with this.

She sat on the worn couch and faced the two men, her hands tucked between her knees, feeling disjointed, disassociated from the world around her. Her baby, the child she had raised, had been no more than an experiment to others. She had been used and her daughter had been used, horribly. A little girl had been forced to grow up too soon. To see the horror of a life she should have never known. And now, they wanted to separate her from her mother.

“No.” She kept her voice quiet, reasonable. Dash didn’t look surprised. He shouldn’t be surprised, she thought. He should have known she would never agree. He should have come up with another plan.