Tied With a Bow

just made them better fighters, but better manipulators and leaders as well.
    As a commander, Rule excelled where he had been restless and therefore rather testy as an enforcer.
    His brother on the other hand was a strategist unlike any Malachi had come up against, other than Jonas Wyatt.
    Dressed and ready to face the family she was unaware had returned to the hotel, Malachi stepped back to the bedroom and watched her as she lay dozing in the bed.
    She had cried when she had told him of her mother’s death on her seventh birthday. Holding her had been all he could do to ease the pain she had felt that long ago summer.
    She had related some of her adventures. Her trips to England and to Rome, to Greece and to Japan. He knew about her first puppy, the kitty that had run away when Isabelle was ten, the changes in her brother, Linclon, after he had returned from the army wounded several years ago and the trials and tribulations of her younger sister, Chelsea.
    He knew Liza was her dearest friend, and he knew when she mentioned the fact that they lived together, there had been a hint of carefully hidden pain and fear.
    Though Isabelle didn’t want to return to the house, not once had she asked him to protect her nor had she revealed the reason for that fear.
    If Terran Martinez and his family didn’t have the answers he needed today, then he would confront both Chelsea and Liza. They were already wary of him, though clearly not frightened. He had a feeling both girls would be willing to talk, especially once he explained the hazards to every living human involved in the cover-up should someone strike out at his mate.
    Dressing in a gray silk suit, white fine cotton shirt and blue and gray striped tie, Malachi slipped his feet into expensive leather shoes and returned to the bedroom.
    Isabelle was still dozing. Her eyes were closed, her senses relaxed. Sleep almost had her again.
    Moving to the bed, he kissed the top of her head gently before straightening and leaving the room.
    The sooner he completed the meeting, the sooner he could return to his mate and learn more of the details of her life, the little quirks that made her unique and enjoy the sense of humor that never failed to draw a smile from his lips.
    Leaving the room he checked the door quickly before stepping across the hall to the room that had once been Isabelle’s and was now Ashley and Emma Truing’s.
    On each side, Isabelle’s sister Chelsea and her friend Liza were still registered. The two girls had come to the room the night before after Isabelle had called them. They had been as outraged over the lies that had been told to Isabelle’s father as Isabelle was.
    Turning up the hall he moved quickly to the small meeting room the hotel had set up for the Breed visit. Rule had sent a text earlier that the Martinez family was on their way for the meeting. However, the chief had warned him that Terran had no intentions of revealing the identity of the individual who had called.
    Perhaps he didn’t. Perhaps he wouldn’t. But Malachi would make damned certain he knew the risks to his daughter and the consequences should Isabelle be hurt because of his refusal to speak.
    Sliding the key card into the lock, Malachi stepped into the room, then came to a slow, wary stop. The Martinez men weren’t the only ones who were awaiting him.
    Rule stood to the side of the room watching silently as Isabelle’s friend Liza dried her tears and Chelsea hung her head, staring at the floor somberly.
    There was more going on here than whatever information Terran was hiding.
    “Mr. Morgan.” Terran rose to his feet, his expression more heavily lined than it had been the evening before, his dark eyes filled with sorrow. “I hope you will pardon my transgressions yesterday. I beg your forgiveness as I will be pleading with my daughter for hers after this meeting.”
    Malachi lifted a brow curiously as he glanced over at Rule. The other Breed shrugged with a discomforted shift of his shoulders. The formal politeness of the apology and the pain that flowed from Terran was thick enough to cause Malachi’s hackles to rise.
    “Chelsea?” He looked over at the younger girl. “Is everything okay, little sister?”
    Her shoulders jerked, her breathing hitched as a sob nearly escaped. Placing her hand over her lips as she lifted the other in a gesture to stop, she turned her back on him.
    Malachi could smell the tears.
    The evening before, he’d noticed both girls had acted