• CHAPTER 8 •

Dog pulled his boots on his feet the next morning, tracking the hours before dawn and the update he was awaiting on the evacuation of his people. His gaze touched his sleeping mate when he sensed the Breed that entered the suite through the living room. Rubbing wearily at the back of his neck, he rose from the chair and strode to the bedroom door. Opening it silently, he stepped from the room before securing the door once again and facing the Breed.

Hell, he didn’t need this right now. At least there were no longer guards on duty outside the room, though he expected more to show up soon. He hoped their replacements were a bit more polite. The next time, he might not be so nice himself.

“What do you want?” he growled, wondering why in the hell the director of Breed Affairs thought this was a good time to invade Cassie’s suite.

“We need to talk.” Jonas’s voice remained low. “But not here. Across the hall if you have a minute.”

Dog narrowed his gaze on the director. He liked to think he knew Jonas pretty well by now. The man was as deceptive and as calculating as any Coyote ever born, despite the fact that he was a Lion.

Jonas opened the door leading to the hall and tilted his head toward it. Following the other man from the residential suite, across the hall to another, matching suite, Dog forced himself to restrain an impatient growl.

Closing the door behind them, Jonas moved past him to the bar on the other side of the room, where he poured himself a drink. Considering the lateness of the hour, the fact that Jonas was drinking was an indication of his irritation level.

“Fuck, you picked a hell of a time to pull this shit. I wish to hell you’d warned me.” The other Breed turned back to him, his silver eyes flashing in anger as he tossed back his drink.

His mate’s apparent openness with Jonas could become a potential problem if she ever learned the truth of who and what her new mate truly represented.

“We’ve discussed this,” he reminded the other Breed as he moved to the bar himself and accepted the drink Jonas handed him.

“Dammit, Dog,” Jonas cursed, flashing him a look of brooding anger and frustration. “This situation is going to hell fast. When she came to work in this office, we ran hormonal tests with the Breeds she’d be working with. Those tests matched her to another Breed. All the initial mating signs were present—”

“She has no other mate.” Training, years of control, every emotion, every possible chance of giving himself away, nearly failed him.

The creature he was in the darkest core of his soul gathered itself, filled with fury, with territorial possessiveness, threatened to break free, to emerge in a way Dog knew he could never pull back.

Jonas’s look was intent, almost confused, as he stared back at him, as though he were trying to figure out a puzzle he’d never seen. This wasn’t a game to Jonas. Dog knew he wasn’t lying, because it was the reason he’d staked his claim as he had, before that son of a bitch he’d scented on his mate could make a claim.

“Those tests say otherwise. And the Coyote she matched with was aware of the possibility. I can’t say he won’t do as he’s threatened and test the possibility that he could change the outcome.” Jonas grimaced, rubbing at his neck wearily. “Son of a bitch. We don’t need this right now.”

“She was eighteen when I first realized she was my mate. And I would have waited until the time was more convenient had you not pushed that bastard at her.” A growl slipped into his voice then, something that rarely happened. “Whatever fucked-up anomaly allowed his scent to cling to her was a false attempted mating. Let him attempt to challenge me and he’ll die.”

Rhyzan Brannigan. The son of a bitch Coyote Jonas had chosen as his assistant in the Federal Bureau of Breed Affairs. Dog had no doubt that was the Coyote she’d tested compatible to. The very fact that his scent had dared to cling to Cassie after they’d danced together several weeks before had ensured that Dog came for her, that he claimed her.

“You can’t ignore the possibility, especially if Rhyzan takes the matter before the Breed Tribunal. And your habit of associating with the Genetics Council, openly working with them at times, won’t endear your counterobjection to the Cabinet. Cassie will verify this.” He glared at Dog as though a crime had been committed. “She knows the Breed statutes better than anyone alive. Rhyzan can demand further testing, and if those tests show the compatibility is still present, despite your mating, he can force you to stand aside and force her to allow him a chance to convince her to test a mating with him instead.”

Jonas stalked from the bar to his desk, shaking his head before a furious growl left his throat.

“Then he’ll die.” Dog shrugged, feeling a shift in his senses, in his awareness of the darkness he carried within him. “Rhyzan doesn’t want to make that mistake. Cassie’s mine. I won’t let her go.”

He wasn’t some damned alpha leader forced to allow a separation from his mate because of Cassie’s arguments on behalf of the human mate. Cassie wasn’t a human with no awareness of Mating Heat or her Breed physiology. And Brannigan would know the rage he was tempting if he made such a move.

“Dog, your pride and stubbornness aside, you are not a member of the legitimate Breed community as far as anyone else knows, and until we have your people free, we can’t disclose it. You aren’t an alpha; you aren’t aligned with an alpha. You have no rights where Breed Law is concerned. The only reason you’re not in chains at the moment is because of Breed Law’s statutes to the effect that no matter your crimes in the past, the fact that your mate is innocent of those crimes gives you another chance.”

Dog’s eyes narrowed on Jonas. “My mate.”

“Doesn’t matter.” Jonas sighed, leaning against his desk as he crossed his arms over his chest and the warning in his gaze deepened. “If push comes to shove, support will go to Rhyzan. And Cassie’s upset enough that you tricked her into this mating …”

“Bullshit, Jonas. No one tricks Cassie.” Dog snorted. “She made a deal. She knew I was a Coyote. She knew the risks and she was warned of the risks. She simply thought she could control it.”

But hadn’t he thought the same?

“And if she thinks she can control a mating with Rhyzan instead?” Jonas tilted his head, watching him closely.

“Then blood will spill,” Dog promised him. “Rhyzan’s blood. Now, if you don’t mind, I think I’ll return to Cassie …”

“The moment your mating became known, Cassie lost her place in the Bureau,” Jonas said as Dog turned to leave. “Unless you align yourself with the Breed community immediately and take a stand against the Council, she’ll have to leave the security of the suite and this Bureau.”

Cassie had lost her place within the Bureau

Dog froze at that information. He knew she’d been locked out of her phone and tablet but he’d been unaware it was this extreme. Or perhaps he just hadn’t considered what the electronic wipes had meant.

“Does she know this?” he asked.

Jonas nodded sharply. “Just as she knows she’ll have to leave. I told you, Cassie understands Breed Law better than any of us. She knows what the mating means. For God’s sake, let me go to the alphas at least and reveal what you’ve been doing.”

Dog shook his head firmly. “It’s too soon, Jonas. Far too soon. I want my people out first and I want the information they’ve gathered.”

Now he knew the reason for the tears his mate was holding locked inside her, and the pain tearing her apart.

“She’ll lose her life as she knows it unless you come in, Dog,” Jonas warned him. “And she won’t thank you for keeping this secret from her. I know Cassie. She may not forgive you.”

Unless he came in.

Unless he revealed his secrets and gave up the battle he’d fought for so many damned years. Too many years.

“You are a risk to the security of this Bureau as far as the alphas are concerned, the agents as well as any sensitive information we hold. If it were anyone but Cassie, she wouldn’t have been allowed to stay this long. But this is Cassie. For her, they’ve given me twenty-four hours to fix this; then she’ll have to leave.”

Protecting her wouldn’t be a problem. Revealing any loyalties to the Breed community, even the smallest sign that he wasn’t Council loyal, would unravel every fucking deception he’d worked to build for far too many years, though.

Could he protect her without that tie? Could he, Mutt and Mongrel protect her without the backing of the Breed community and the resources she could call upon until he had his own people in place?

“The alphas may fear you’re willing to risk her life or even turn her over to the Council. According to those I’ve spoken to, they’d be willing to give Rhyzan a chance to test a possible mating for that reason alone,” Jonas warned him.

Dog lifted his lip in a subtle sneer at the director’s suggestion. He’d worked with Jonas over the years; he knew the Breed’s complete dedication to the Breed community. Jonas was a man whose word one could trust, one that tested the temper, but one Dog knew would stand by a bargain.

Jonas wouldn’t reveal his secrets, not unless Cassie’s safety within the Breed community itself was threatened. He wanted that information as badly as Dog did, but Cassie was close to him. She was important to him. But Dog couldn’t risk his people yet. They had to have time to get out. It was something he couldn’t yet reveal.

And there wasn’t a chance in hell he was giving away his mate either.

“Jonas, you don’t want to push me where Cassie’s concerned. Not you, Rhyzan or her parents. Attempt to take what’s mine, and the hell I’ll rain down on you will be apocalyptic.”

He could do it. He’d hate to do it. It would make a few enemies for damned sure, but he’d do it to keep Cassie.

He met the silver gaze locked on him, let the Lion sense his own determination and the truth of his word. Jonas liked to think he knew everything, everyone’s secrets, everyone’s inner core. When it came to him, though, the other man didn’t know shit.

A frown edged Jonas’s brow then, the strange silver gaze deepening as the primal animal he harbored peeked out. No doubt, claws were pricking at the tips of his fingers as the animal rose close to the skin.

Dog let a grin tip his lips. As a Breed, Jonas was one of the more powerful ones, but as a Coyote, Dog had an edge on him.

“Twelve hours, Dog,” Jonas reminded him when Dog said nothing more. “Or allow me to discuss this with the alphas on the Cabinet and reveal the work you’ve been doing. Think beyond yourself on this. Think about Cassie.”

“I’ll be sure to ask my little mate how that’s done,” he drawled. “Seems to me she’s spent too much time thinking about a bunch of dumb-ass Breeds who are all too willing to toss her out when she does something that displeases them. Maybe she can give me some pointers there.”

A hard growl rumbled from Jonas’s chest, one similar to Dog’s when he was getting ready to kick insubordinate ass.

He gave a low, mocking chuckle. “Don’t make that mistake, Director. You don’t want to go head-to-head with me without backup. You don’t like my opinions? I really don’t give a fuck, because I think yours are bullshit as well. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I think I’ll head out for breakfast for my mate.”

And to make plans.

Where the fuck was Dane Vanderale when he needed him?

Dressed in a soft black lounging set and matching slippers, Cassie stood in the center of her sitting room and faced not just her father, but also the assistant director of the Federal Bureau of Breed Affairs, Rhyzan Brannigan. Her father she’d actually expected at some point that morning, just not this early. And damned sure not with the Coyote Rhyzan.

“Why do I feel ambushed?” she asked her father as she faced him and Rhyzan. “And where’s Mom?”

“Your mother’s with Kenzi. She finally agreed to talk to her,” her father told her, his voice gentle as he moved to the couch. “I wanted to see you now rather than waiting till later this afternoon and asked Rhyzan to bring me up.”

Yeah, that one really made sense. Her father knew exactly where her suite was and he knew how to get there. He didn’t need Rhyzan.

“Kenzi’s doing well, then? Can I see her?” She was dying to see her sister.

So many years of sensing that connection, uncertain what it was, who it was, only to learn she had a twin, had left her with a hunger to see the other woman.

“Kenzi’s still upset,” her father answered as he took the chair next to her, his gaze somber.

Cassie nodded at that as she sat next to him, clasping her hands in her lap. “Yes. I imagine she is.”

She glanced at Rhyzan as he pulled the other wingback chair from its position against the wall and parked it on the other side of her, far too close for comfort. She suddenly felt hemmed in.

“How long have you known about Kenzi?” her father asked her, drawing her attention back. “Why didn’t you tell your mother and me?”

She blinked at him in surprise. “You think I’ve known about her?” Her chest clenched painfully. “But I didn’t, Dad. Not until hours before she was found in the desert. I contacted Dog as soon as I knew and asked him to make certain she was safe.”

Her father thought she’d betray her own sister and leave her in danger?

“Cassie,” he whispered painfully. “You know Dog’s a Council Coyote. You contacted him and met with him. Do you have any idea how dangerous that was?”

She could feel her heart racing now, an ominous warning beginning to tingle through her. Rather than allowing them to sense so much as a hint of her uncertainty, she met their gazes with cool calm as she restrained any emotion that might slip free.

“As a consultant for the Bureau, I can’t be penalized for making contact with any Council associate in my effort to protect or rescue any Breed, whether Council or under Breed protection,” she reminded him as well as Rhyzan. “I had very little time to do what had to be done.”

“Cassie, do you think I’d lead you into admitting something that would hurt you?” her father chastised her gently. “Rhyzan isn’t here to censure you for anything you may or may not have done where Breed Law is concerned.”

She watched her father, hating the fact that she felt she should guard herself against him. She kept Rhyzan in her periphery, her senses protesting this meeting, warning her to get away from it. Escape wasn’t nearly so easy, though.

“I was merely reminding you I know the boundaries within my job. I’m not a child any longer and I’ve been working for the Bureau for quite some time,” she pointed out.

“And per your discussion with Jonas, you’ve been in contact with the Council Breed, Dog, for several years as well, haven’t you?” Rhyzan questioned her, his tone interrogating.

“Why is he here?” she asked her father, barely restraining her anger now. Her father might not be trying to set her up, but she wasn’t so certain about the Coyote.

She had no idea what the hell was going on here, but she knew she didn’t like it. She felt pinned by their gazes, judged. For a moment she had to force herself to hold back the displeased rumble of sound that rose to her throat and tightened it warningly. The instincts and shifting power she could feel far too close to the surface now were proving impossible to push back.

“Cassie, sweetheart.” Her father grimaced, glanced at Rhyzan, then turned his gaze back to hers. “Did you know you and Rhyzan were tested compatible to Mating Heat?”

She wanted to escape. The need to jump and run was nearly overwhelming, but the way her father and Rhyzan were positioned, she’d never get past them.

Where the hell was her mate when she needed him?

For a moment, meeting Rhyzan’s gaze, she wished she had her knife rather than her mate, though.

“Don’t do this,” she whispered, turning back to her father and meeting his gaze. “Please, Dad. Don’t do this.”

“Cassie, listen to me.” He leaned forward intently. “Dog is a Council Coyote. You can lie to your mother, but not to me. I know this isn’t what you want.”

“Stop,” she demanded. “Before this goes any further, before something’s said that can’t be taken back. Just stop.”

“There could be an anomaly that would allow a mating with Rhyzan instead,” he told her somberly.

“And why wasn’t I told this before?” She glared at Rhyzan, then her father. “Why didn’t you tell me when the tests were done? Like you were supposed to?”

He breathed out heavily, the sound rife with regret. “I wanted to be certain. I was waiting for the tests to be completed with the unmated Wolf Breeds. I wanted to be sure there wasn’t a match to your Wolf genetics before I told you.”

He hadn’t wanted her to mate with a Coyote. The words were unsaid, but there all the same. Just as Dog had said, the fact that she was a Cross Breed had been deliberately left unsaid for so many years that sometimes she wondered if anyone but her even remembered. Evidently, her father had remembered.

“But now that there’s no time left, you can tell me about Rhyzan? Any Coyote’s better than the one I chose, right?” she demanded.

Surprise glittered in her father’s brown eyes before they narrowed reprovingly. “You know better than that, Cassie.”

“The point is moot anyway.” Anger and hurt raged inside her as she shot Rhyzan a glare. “Any other test doesn’t matter. I have a mate now.”

“Not necessarily,” Rhyzan contradicted, his voice holding a vein of satisfaction that only pissed her off further. “You know Breed Law, Cassie. Possible anomalies were built into the Mating Laws. One of those possibilities was—”

“A Reconsideration?” she exclaimed in disbelief. “Are you insane?”

A Petition for Reconsideration stated that if another Breed tested as a match to a mated Breed or human, then that Breed could petition the Breed Cabinet to separate the two mates and give the possible mate a chance to convince the one his tests were compatible with that he or she would be the better choice if they proved compatible.

“Insanity isn’t one of my genetic anomalies.” Rhyzan grinned as though amused. “But I’m entirely serious. I want a chance to see if the tests were correct and we could be mates.”

“I have a mate,” she snapped.

“Cassie, Dog will get you killed. Or worse. He’s a known Council Coyote. He could turn you over to them … ,” her father protested.

“He’s not insane,” she sneered. “He knows they’d take him as well and he’d suffer the same fate. He hasn’t survived in that world by being stupid, Father.”

Everything inside her was screaming out in denial, in pain. She could see her father’s disappointment and it was killing her. He hadn’t told her Rhyzan could be her mate because he wanted to see if she could mate a Wolf instead. Anything other than a Coyote.

“Cassie.” Rhyzan drew her gaze back to him. “Wouldn’t you prefer a mate with honor—”

“How many times do I have to reject one of your advances? For God’s sake, Rhyzan. Whenever I’ve been in your company I can feel your contempt and distrust. Why would I want you for a mate?” She jumped to her feet, smothered between the combined disappointment and disapproval of her father and Jonas’s assistant director.

God, Rhyzan’s arrogance had made her crazy even before she’d mated with Dog. He was damned fine to look at it, and she would even have considered sleeping with him once or twice if his contempt hadn’t been a complete turnoff, but whenever she thought of anyone as a potential mate, the memory of the mysterious contact that had fascinated her for years interfered.

Her father and Rhyzan rose to their feet as she rushed between them. Where the hell was her mate? He was supposed to be here, he was supposed to keep this from happening, at least until she could handle the hormones raging through her.

“You have yet to reject me,” Rhyzan stated with his ever-present confident prickishness.

She shot him a furious glance. “You’re damned good to look at Rhyzan, but that’s about it. And if you had gotten that little sneer on your face one more time when someone was overheard calling me the psychic Breed, then I would have had to smack it off your face.”

It wasn’t just the sneer; it was the feeling that the thought of her former abilities was seen in contempt. He saw her with an edge of contempt.

“Cassie, my formal Petition for Reconsideration will be sent electronically to the Breed Cabinet at first light. I won’t allow that bastard to take my mate.” Ice filled his voice, his gaze.

That was it. He was cold. The Breed had an ice cube for a heart and she didn’t think she’d enjoy frostbite.

“Have you forgotten who you’re fucking with, asshole?” she snarled, ignoring her father as she faced a Breed she was beginning to see as the enemy now. “I’ll twist your petition in so many damned directions so fast, you’ll get whiplash.”

She’d never cared much for Rhyzan, had never liked his lack of compassion or his hard-line approach to Breed Law. He was a Breed who saw everything in black and white. The rule book was all that mattered, not the law broken or the reasons why.

“You’re not the only one who knows Breed Law,” he stated, assurance settling over his expression.

She turned to her father, seeing the speculation in his gaze as he watched her now. Could he sense the chill invading her, she wondered? The fear?

“How dare you do this?” she snarled, seeing her father’s and Rhyzan’s start of surprise at the sound of her voice. “You come to this room, the scent of my mate marking it, as well as me, and dare to suggest you’re strong enough to replace it?” A sneer curled at her lips as she raked Rhyzan with a contemptuous glare. “And then to suggest you can force it? I’d slit your throat if you even tried and I’d get away with it.”

“Cassie,” her father whispered, pain contorting his face. “Dog will get you killed.”

The slamming of the suite’s door had them all swinging around.

Terror raced through her. If he’d been standing outside the door, he could have heard everything said. She hadn’t completely closed the door; she remembered that now. Some warning, some inset kernel of knowledge, had made her stop just shy of securing it.

And that may have been a very big mistake.

She watched in fascination as Dog stepped over to where he’d carelessly tossed his pack earlier. Not taking his eyes off them, he reached into the side, drew a slender cigar free and placed it between his lips, lit it.

The flame from the old-fashioned match cast his features into an eerie glow before he lowered it, shook the flame out and slowly blew out a cloud of fragrant tobacco smoke.

It took precious seconds to realize she was slowly shaking her head as she stared back at him, anger still raging like a storm inside her. This couldn’t happen. She couldn’t let blood be shed here. God help her, nothing could happen to her dad, and if Dog attacked Rhyzan, her father would feel honor bound to stand with the assistant director.

“Mate,” he drawled softly. “Come here.”

She’d taken a step toward him when her father’s hand touched her arm with but a whisper of discomfort, pulling her gaze to him.

“I love you, Cassie,” he said gently. “And I’ll do whatever necessary to protect you. Even from your mate.”

And he would. Whatever he felt he had to do.

Her head lifted as she forced back the sharp words that wanted to escape.

“I chose him,” she assured him firmly. “I contacted him. I asked him to be my lover, knowing he was a Coyote, knowing there was a chance that he was my mate.” She flashed Rhyzan a killing look. “If I had wanted anyone else, I could have chosen them instead.”

No bloodshed. No war. The only way to fight a Reconsideration was to stay firm, confident, and let no one suspect for even a second that he wasn’t the mate she would have chosen if she had known.

Turning, she moved across the room to Dog’s side, expecting him to make some show of ownership or dominance.

Instead, his hand merely settled at her back, warm, strangely comforting.

“Alpha Sinclair, I actually have some measure of respect for you,” he stated, his tone reasonably respectful. “Because of that, I assure you that getting my mate killed or captured is the last thing you need to fear. But make the mistake of attempting to use her love for you, and your disappointment in her choice, then that will change. I don’t think either of us wants to hurt Cassie in such a way.”

Her father’s expression didn’t change, but the animosity pouring from him seemed to thin, as though Dog’s response surprised him.

“As for you.” Dog turned to Rhyzan. “Get the hell out of here. The scent of your self-righteousness is pissing me off.”

Cassie was aware of her father watching, his expression bland, but he was analyzing every word, every undercurrent and emotion on the air, she knew. And he was amazingly perceptive.

“I’d like to see Kenzi soon.” She turned to her father.

“Your security is no longer active and Kenzi’s under Bureau protection,” Rhyzan stated, moving for the door. “As a matter of fact, you have twelve hours before you’ll be asked to leave if you insist on remaining with him.”

He left the room as Cassie fought to control the hard strike of pain she felt lance her chest.

That was her sister, and because she refused to consider an attempt to switch mates, he’d use Kenzi as a weapon?

She didn’t look at her father then. She wouldn’t beg, not Rhyzan and not her father. She wouldn’t put him in the position of having to hurt her because he couldn’t overrule Rhyzan.

“I’m sorry, baby,” he said softly as he drew to her side and lowered his head to kiss the top of hers. “I love you. If you need me, you have only to call. You know that.”

She nodded quickly. “I know. I love you too, Dad.”

Her heart was breaking. She could feel it shredding in her chest and fought to keep the pain buried, to keep the tears from filling her eyes.

He left the room, closing the door gently behind him as he did.

She stepped away from Dog, a strange, hollow chill moving through her as she headed for the bedroom. “I guess I better start packing. It appears we’re being evicted.”