• EPILOGUE •

Ahh threads, Graeme thought as he read the message sent to his tablet. More samples would arrive within the hour, another Coyote Breed Mating, more questions. He loved the questions. Along with his mate, it was all that kept his sane.

It seemed for a while the Breed scientists were focusing on the Coyote Breeds, believing the anomalies of the Mating Heat within that species held the answers they were looking for, and that two former Russian scientists had found a key with the vaccinations they’d invented over two decades before. The vaccinations were interesting, as were the Coyote anomalies. The Wolf Breeds, though—now they were interesting. Their inability to conceive even within Mating Heat was becoming rather a problem for the females.

At least, it had been. The scientists were searching in the wrong direction, but to be certain, he needed a Wolf Breed mating, now didn’t he? Wolf and human. Preferably an Alpha male. And wasn’t it just fortuitous that he knew just such a couple, he thought with innate satisfaction. A Mating long overdue.

Not that this one would be easy. A more stubborn female he’d only met once. His own mate was of course more stubborn, but he liked to think he had the best in all things, now didn’t he? But this female, she would give his own mate a run for the stubborn money.

The sound of the door opening at the top of the circular metal stairs had him pausing. The scent of anger, hurt, stubborn will, and determined pride mixed with that of emerging Mating Heat. Rather like the scent drifting from the connecting cavern. He had to cover a smile. He wondered if this young woman had the slightest suspicion of the determined Wolf that would die before he ever truly released her?

Ensuring his expression was suitably filled with sadness and regret, he watched as Khileen Langer moved down the stairs. Long sunlit red hair was pulled back into a neat little braid, exposing her worried expression and the delicate lines of her face. Dressed in jeans, boots and a tank top he’d dared his own mate to wear, she moved down the stairs, the roiling emotions she felt touching his very narrow vein of compassion.

“I’m here,” she announced quietly as she took the last step. “I need to hurry, though, I have an appointment in town with Cassie Sinclair. For some reason she’s decided I should be in her wedding party.” And she was genuinely confused over that, it seemed.

Lifting the syringe he had laid close by several hours before, he watched as she turned her shoulder to him. Her profile was downcast, something too thoughtful, too somber reflecting in it.

Pushing the pressure syringe to her shoulder he injected the hormonal treatment to still the effects of Mating Heat then stepped back.

“That’s the last injection, Khi,” he told her quietly. “I’m sorry, but your system can’t handle much more.”

He was a very effective liar, sadly.

Poor Khi. The time for running was now at an end.

 • • • 

Khileen Langer stared at the Bengal Breed, certain she couldn’t have heard him correctly. It wasn’t possible. He had to be wrong.

Graeme Parker was like Dr. Jekyll, Mr. Hyde and the Einstein of Breed genetics and mating bullshit all rolled into one. He knew his shit backward and forward. It wasn’t possible that he wouldn’t have an answer to this.

“I’m sorry, Khi.” He stared back at her, somber, compassion reflecting his expression. “There’s simply no way to go any further with the serum. The Mating Heat is simply adjusting to it too quickly. If I keep messing with your system in this way then it could kill you.”

“Could kill me.” She latched onto the words desperately. “You’re not certain, though.”

A grimace tightened his face and he shook his head at the objection.

“Kill you, paralyze you, it could make the Heat worse, it could cause severe internal bleeding or all of the above,” he growled out, flashing her an irritated look. “I’ve run all the probables and those probables say that another increase in the strength of the injections to be highly ill advised. You’re going to have to face this now. There’s no delaying it any longer.”

She could feel herself shaking. Fear, desperation, grief. Emotions she’d been holding onto for the past two years were beginning to race through her, threatening to escape all hope of control. She was shaking her head, staring at Graeme pleadingly, certain he had to be wrong.

“Graeme, please … ” she whispered.

“Khi, this has gone too far and for too long,” he said with quiet firmness. “You and Lobo need to figure this out … ”

“No. No.” Her hand sliced through the air as rage slipped the tether she’d kept on it.

As long as there was hope, she’d been able to keep the anger at bay. As long as there was a chance she’d been able to take each day with some semblance of control.

“Khi, the waiting is killing you and its killing Lobo. You have to settle this with your mate,” he told her, not for the first time.

“No.” She shook her head again. “Tiberius will be back … ”

“With his mate,” he broke in on her words, staring down at her gently, regretfully. “Tiberius has mated, Khi. He’s returning to the estate with his mate to take his place as Lobo’s second-in-command. Your mother’s death has been confirmed, Tiberius is mated. Lobo won’t hold back any longer.”

She stepped back, feeling as though she’d taken a blow. Breath catching, she barely restrained a cry of disbelief, certain she couldn’t have heard the Breed correctly. She couldn’t have, it wasn’t possible.

“Despite your claims of hatred for him, Lobo seems to have found himself unable to tell you this. And I’ll warn you now, you’re pushing him too far. He’s your mate. An Alpha Wolf who has restrained himself to give you time to adjust to what you know is the truth. It’s time to begin adjusting to it,” Graeme’s tone hardened, his eyes taking on that freaky, scary look she always pretended didn’t bother her.

“Then I’ll leave … ”

A bark of laughter met the claim. “And do what, girl? Once the Mating Heat begins burning inside you do you think you can hide it? And it will burn, Khi. You’ve delayed it to the point that once it kicks in every Breed for a mile or farther will sense it. If you don’t allow the mating before this happens then you’ll drive Lobo crazy with it. You don’t want that,” the warning was another she’d heard before.

She knew what he believed would happen, how the Heat would snap alive inside her once the hormone he was injecting her with lost all effectiveness.

“I don’t want him,” she snapped, the anger pushing past her control. “For God’s sake, Graeme, he was my step-father.”

He grunted at that. “You know that marriage was one of convenience only … ”

“He was still married to her.” She was almost shaking with fury now. “It doesn’t matter if she’s alive, if she’s dead or somewhere fucking in between.”

Jessica Langer Reever. She’d ensured the death of her first husband, attempted to kill her Breed husband, as well as her only child. She was pure evil. She had no heart. She had no soul.

“Doesn’t matter, Khi,” he sighed heavily, shaking his head as he began shutting down the various machines he’d used to run her blood samples that evening. “Married or not, whether his wife was dead or alive, that’s your mate. You know it, he knows it. And the time to face it has come.”

She couldn’t face it. She couldn’t allow it to happen. The woman he’d married wasn’t just any woman, it was her mother. And it didn’t matter what Graeme believed—she knew, knew that Lobo had had sex with that conniving bitch. She’d known it since the week after her sixteenth birthday when she’d walked into her mother’s bedroom and caught them.

She swallowed tightly, hatred and disgust welling inside her at the memory. Naked, their bodies sheened with sweat, Lobo’s powerful muscles flexing, his hips driving between Jessica Langer’s thighs as he buried himself inside her. The memory of it enraged her, burned inside her like acid and ate at her in ways she couldn’t explain.

She was fighting to breathe, to keep from screaming at the injustice of the position she found herself in. She couldn’t accept it, she couldn’t bear it. Besides, it wasn’t Lobo she loved but Tiberius. Tiberius who had mated. Who was returning to the estate with the woman he loved. And that was all her fault. If he hadn’t left, if he had loved her, then she wouldn’t have to face mating a Breed she hated.

“Khi, you need to talk to Lobo,” Graeme advised her then. “Don’t keep pushing him. Don’t keep challenging him.”

“There has to be a way to stop this.” There had to be.

But he was only shaking his head. “I’ve done everything I can do, ran every test I can think of. There’s no way to stop it.”

“So I should just accept it?” She sneered, feeling a shudder race through her body. “I should run upstairs and spread my legs for that bastard and let him steal my goddamned choice from me?”

He actually had the nerve to roll his eyes at her.

“That temper of yours is gonna get you in trouble, girl,” he grunted. “And lying to yourself isn’t going to help you either. Grow up. You’re not sixteen any longer and Tiberius never was a good stand-in for Lobo. Admit why you want to hate him and deal with why you don’t.”

Her lips thinned.

He thought he knew so much. Him and Lobo both. They thought they knew so much more about her than she knew herself.

“Go to hell,” she snarled, turning on her heel and stomping to the curved staircase that led from the underground caverns where Graeme kept his mad scientist lab to the house above it.

She’d be damned if she’d give into any of them so easily, especially that bastard Wolf, Lobo. He sickened her. Enraged her. He’d married a woman to ensure he could establish his pack and ignored everything else. He’d ignored her bruises, he’d ignored her disappearances, and he’d ignored every pleading look she’d given him to make it stop. He’d ignored it for his pack. And she’d ignore him and his damned Heat now. And she’d find a way to make him pay for it.

 • • • 

Lobo stepped from the connecting cavern as the door leading into the main house slammed above them with enough force to echo into the underground rooms.

Sliding his hands into the pockets of his slacks he looked up, stared at the door, and sighed heavily. God help him. If he could change any of this he would, for her. If he could have ensured a mating between her and Tiberius, it would have destroyed him, but he would have done so. For her.

“Oh, stop feeling so damned sorry for her,” Graeme growled, disgust filling his voice. “If you and Tiberius would stop allowing that girl to bury her head in the sand and hide from the truth, then you’d all be far happier.”

Would they, Lobo wondered, still staring at the stairs, the scent of his mate in his nostrils, her need increasing his, reminding him why he stayed as far away from her as possible.

“She’s so very young,” he sighed.

And he felt so very old sometimes.

“Ten years?” Graeme snorted. “Keep burying your own head in the sand, Lobo, and someone’s gonna knock you in the ass. You may even cause Khi more pain than she’s already known. That might piss me off.”

And of course pissing off Graeme just worried the hell out of him, Lobo thought mockingly.

“You lied to her,” he pointed out to the Bengal. “Multiple times.”

Graeme shrugged. “Tiberius may well mate before he returns, and as for the hormonal serum, there are some anomalies showing up in her that I want to study before she receives more. I believe it could be detrimental for the injections to continue.”

“What sort of anomalies?” Lobo tensed, staring back at Graeme suspiciously.

The Bengal frowned almost as though confused. “I’m still studying the anomalies,” he murmured, his expression turning strangely thoughtful. “I do know the hormonal serum is reacting oddly on the Mating Heat hormones in her system, though she’s likely not realized it yet.”

And what exactly did that mean?

“Reacting oddly in what way? Is she okay?” For a Breed who had never known fear, what he felt was strangely similar to the descriptions he’d heard.

“Oh, it won’t affect her health.” Graeme waved the thought away. “The projections I’ve been running aren’t conclusive yet. I’ll let you know as soon as they are.”

Mad fucking scientist, Lobo thought in disgust. Some days, Graeme seemed to have the answers to any Breed genetic or physiological problem that could arise. Then, on odd days, he could be amazingly reticent.

“Graeme, what’s going on?” Lobo could feel a suspicion that went beyond the surface now. Something the Bengal wasn’t saying, but should be.

“As I said, I’m not yet certain,” Graeme reminded him. “I will be certain to let you know, though.”

Lobo felt his jaw tense, frustration rising inside him. As though he needed more frustration.

“How long does she have?” he asked then, glancing up the stairs once again. “Before the Heat kicks in?”

Graeme paused, the green of his eyes darkening over the gold as his lashes narrowed.

“Twenty-four to seventy-two hours,” he said, his expression becoming a bit brooding. “No more than seventy-two definitely.” He finally nodded.

Seventy-two hours. Not nearly long enough to find a way to make her understand when she refused to discuss more than the time of day with him. Not nearly long enough …