Not how he wanted to spend his morning either.
If she hadn't been too sore, he would definitely have taken her again, as many times as he could get her, but at the least he would have run her a hot bubble bath, let her relax, and ease any pain she had between her legs. This urge to take care of rather than just protect was new to him, but he’d liked the idea of washing every inch of her perfect body just as much as having sex with her.
But all of that had been ruined now.
“No, darlin’,” he said gently as he crossed the kitchen to grasp her wrist and tug her hand away from the wounds she was forced to wear for crimes she didn't commit. “Not about those. It’s the warehouse. Someone called in a tip that a former employee was disgruntled and blew the place up.”
Her brows knit together in confusion. “Then who did I supposedly kill?”
“There was a mercenary there, after the bounty on Cassandra,” Steel explained, and Whitney nodded.
“Yeah, she told me. Dragon did too. Apparently, she found out there was also a contract out for Rose. Both women were to be delivered alive to Dr. Gardner,” Whitney said.
“Right, and when we split, the explosion occurred,” Thunder added, making Whitney wince.
“I'm sorry, I really didn't know anyone was in there. I should have checked, but I was scared and desperate to get away, I'd already been there too long and?—”
Crushing his lips to hers to stop her rambling, Blade kept the kiss a lot more PG than he would have if they’d been alone. “We know, and we believe you,” he assured her when he pulled back. Although she nodded, she didn't look convinced
“When we found the room empty and went after them, Cassandra had been able to get away, running off into the forest. We followed, and when Dragon saw the man on top of Cassandra, he lost it and killed him,” Lion explained.
“So they think I killed him?” Whitney asked.
“From what they’re saying, the body was found inside and died in the explosion,” Voodoo said with an eyeroll. There was no way the damage Dragon had inflicted matched that scenario.
“There were sirens coming when we left,” Steel told her. “So we’re assuming that Dr. Gardner has a contact at the police department. That’s the only way the reports wouldn't match the scene.”
“And he’s saying it was me?” Whitney asked.
“You're no longer wiped out,” Steel informed her. “When we got your name, you didn't show up anywhere on any database, just like you said you wouldn't. But now you do. Everything. Everywhere. You’ve been working for From Nature since you were sixteen, and before that, they have you down as doing a range of internships with various pharmaceutical companies.”
“I never did any internships,” Whitney said, voice strained. “I went straight from graduating college at ten to being sold to Dr. Gardner.”
“We know that, darlin’,” he soothed, sweeping a hand up and down her spine as he kept her tucked against his chest.
“They’re setting me up,” she whispered.
“They are,” he agreed.
“But Ididset the explosives. So Iamguilty.”
“Of blowing up a building you thought was empty,” Lion reminded her. “Not of killing anyone. And don’t even start in on what he told you you're responsible for,” the man warned when Whitney opened her mouth. “Because not a single one of us thinks that you are responsible for a single death. From what you said, and from what Blade got out of one of the guards, the reason the drugs keep killing people is because Dr. Gardner keeps messing with them.”
The words coming from someone other than him seemed to do more good, and Whitney relaxed a little against him.
While he wanted to be the one to soothe and comfort her, Blade understood that Whitney knew he had some feelings for her, even if she didn't understand the magnitude of them—he didn't either—so someone else saying it meant it had more weight.
“Why are they setting me up?” Whitney asked.
“Trying to draw you into a trap,” Dragon replied. Growled would be a more appropriate word. Seemed that after almostkilling her, the man had now completely accepted his role as protector and didn't like someone messing with their little genius.
“A trap?” Whitney asked.
“A warrant for your arrest means that as soon as you're found and taken into custody, whoever was paid off will hand you over to Dr. Gardner,” he explained.
“And likely wipe out your existence all over again,” Steel added. “You’ll go back to being invisible, another news story will come along, and people will forget all about the woman who supposedly killed someone when she blew up a lab. With no one to ask questions about where you are and what happened to you, Dr. Gardner is free to do whatever he wants with you.”
He didn't need enhanced hearing to hear Whitney’s gulp, and she began to shiver against him.
