by Lora Leigh
It was his presence she had sensed all those years ago, she realized. Hidden from sight but pushing her all the same. He was the reason she had agreed to those deals over the years, trusting Dog when logic told her it was insane. Because he was there, assuring her that Dog could be trusted.
You knew. I didn’t have to tell you. Though sometimes, I admit, I may have whispered assurances to the creature inside you. Your animal listens far better than you when it comes to my boy. He tilted his head as Dog shifted in his sleep, his hold tightening around her.
He survived, he whispered, once again somber. A boy, no more than ten. Alone. And until you, he never forgot he was alone. With you, he found hope.
And he’d given her hope. But her heart ached for the spirit who stood watching over his grown son even as he must have watched over him as a boy.
You should accept your animal, girl. It’s not truly Wolf, not truly Coyote, but a being as unique as your creation. It’s one creature, instinctive, accepting as no other could ever be. To survive, you must accept it as it accepted you, he warned her, taking his eyes from Dog only long enough to level a demanding look her way.
I named him Cainis, I called him Cain, the spirit told her, turning back to his son. I didn’t know how to be a father, but as I held my son and watched my mate die, I knew that small being was all that mattered. And as I died, unable to reach him, I couldn’t leave him. I’d sworn.
She felt a tear slip down her cheek, hurting for this Breed and for his loss, as well as Dog’s.
Now his mate has found him, and mine’s calling to me, he told her, his expression gentling as Dog’s hand gripped hers, holding it to his heart.
The spirit turned his gaze to her, his expression hardening then. Warn him, Cassie. Before you leave this place, warn him. His enemy knows him for who he is, for what he is now. The princess consorts with the enemy, it’s whispered, and Cain’s image has reached him … The voice trailed off, and fury flashed in eyes nearly black as the image wavered.
She could see him talking, his lips moving, his gaze fierce as he faded from sight, leaving only his regret and his fear for his son behind.
“Cassie?” Dog whispered her name, his voice scratchy, his hand stroking her arm as she realized she’d jerked upright, staring at the image as it faded, trying to read lips that she couldn’t see clearly to begin with. “What do you see, baby?”
Her head jerked around, staring down at him, and she realized she was shaking, trembling in reaction.
“Cainis, he called you Cain,” she whispered, her voice strangled as she fought to breathe. “It’s said the princess consorts with the enemy, and your image has reached him. He knows. He knows who and what you are …”
Fear tightened in her chest, a cold sweat breaking out across her flesh as Dog jerked upright and pulled the quilt around her before dragging her to the warmth of his chest.
She was so cold. Brutally cold. Ice flowed through her veins and she swore she could feel death breathing over her shoulder.
“It’s okay. Shhh. It’s okay, Cassie.” Dog kissed his mate’s brow and tried to warm her as he drew her back to lie against his chest. “It’s okay. Let me get you warm.”
It took long minutes to calm her breathing, to warm her, to convince her to just lie against him. It took even longer for her to drift back into a restless sleep. And all he could do was stare into the dark, the hairs at the back of his neck stiff with warning.
Cainis, though the spelling was different it meant the same thing. Dog. But his father had called him Cain. He barely remembered the father who’d raised him, who’d trained him to survive in a harsh wilderness. But he’d always remembered the warnings. If he was ever caught, his name was Cainis. He was created in Red Lab Three, but it was destroyed the year of his creation and he was rescued by a nurse who had since died. Always remember his enemy was Major. His mother was an angel. The warnings were always clear, repeated to him daily, and he’d repeated them back.
Until the day the man he called father hadn’t returned to the wilderness.
Cain. His father had called him Cain, but he was to never, ever allow the shortened version of his name to be known. If he was ever asked his name, he was Cainis. He was Dog. He was to beware of Major, and his mother was an angel.
He still carried the picture of his mother that his father had kept in the cabin. Blond, eyes a pretty blue, she’d stood tall, close to five-seven, and she’d stared up at her human mate dressed in military fatigues and glaring at the camera as though it were the enemy.
That picture was tucked in his pack, hidden in a slit he’d cut in the leather.
And the only way she could have known any of this was if the ghost of one of his parents had come to her.
It would have been his father, he decided, remembering the somber, taciturn man who had raised him. He hadn’t been one to give hugs; he’d avoided them. But he’d often found ways for Dog to have a reason to laugh. At some point, Dog had realized his childish laughter eased the pain he sensed coming from his father.
Fuck.
It was said the princess consorted with the enemy and his image had reached him . Because of him , his parents were dead. Someone he knew only as Major. And this faceless, unknown threat now knew who and what he was. He was a hybrid, born of a Breed mother, a human father. And now someone knew. And they would know he’d mated another hybrid.
Goddamn.
• CHAPTER 11 •
Cassie watched Dog warily the next day. As she worked on the tablet he’d provided her, using a back door in the Bureau’s files to get into the Articles of Mating Law, she was always aware of him.
Even her animal instincts were wary, rising inside her, aware of every move, every word he said as he, Mutt and Mongrel kept up on the search Rhyzan was conducting for them.
The two Coyotes he so often fought with sensed something within him too. They would look between her and Dog, their expressions sometimes thoughtful, sometimes confused.
She put up with it until evening fell and she finished downloading the files she needed and double-checking to see if there was anything else she had missed.
She’d wanted to sneak into her sister’s file, check on Kenzi’s debriefing and see what information she had, how she felt about the family she hadn’t known existed, but she didn’t dare slip into that particular database. If Jonas caught her in the Breed Law database, he’d recognize the back door she’d used and ignore it. Rhyzan wouldn’t do the same with his personal files.
Finishing up her work, she shut the tablet down, refreshed her coffee and finished the stew she’d made earlier for dinner. Once she washed the dishes, she walked to the wide doorway separating the living area and watched the three Breeds silently for long moments as they went over maps and discussed the progress of the escape Dog’s people had made.
She remained silent, simply watching her mate. His expression was closed, and she could feel the tension emanating from him, growing tighter the longer she stood watching him.
“There’s nothing else we can do, for now,” he announced, rising from the chair and closing his own tablet as Mutt and Mongrel glanced at him.
They rose slowly to their feet, their gazes sliding her way, those same thoughtful, considering looks on their faces.
“We’ll just, uhh, go check things outside.” Mongrel cleared his throat as Mutt gave an energetic nod.
The two hurried to the door leading to the garage and closed it quickly behind them.
“Everyone made it out okay?” she asked, tucking her hands into the pockets of the loose casual pants she wore and propping one sock-covered foot atop the other as she leaned against the door frame.
“We’re a few hours behind in terms of information.” He pushed his fingers through his hair in irritation before he paced past her and went to the coffeepot. “There have been several lags in reports, though, so everything should be fine.”
But he was worried. The disconnect from the real-time reports made him
edgier than he was to begin with.
Turning, she watched as he filled his coffee cup, his back to her.
“Are we going to keep ignoring it?” she asked him, crossing her arms over her breasts and holding back the knowledge that Dog was now just as wary of her as everyone else was.
As a child, she hadn’t always been as careful as she should have been in regards to the Breeds who were followed by spirits or by the images of their own inner demons. That had begun the dislike that many of the Wolf Breeds felt for her. Generally, though, Coyote Breeds had always thought it was kinda cool, as one had expressed. It was nice to know he wasn’t alone.
“Now’s not the time to discuss it.” He kept his back to her and sipped at his coffee. “Later.”
“Okay.” She breathed in slowly. “Would you at least tell me who Major is?”
He shook his head. “Fuck if I know, and I’ve been trying to figure it out since I was ten. I guess we’ll know soon enough, won’t we?”
“If we could go over anything you remembered together, maybe we could figure it out—”
“I said not now, goddammit,” he snapped, his voice low, filled with fury. “Just not now, Cassie.”
Her lips parted, anger surging through her, to slap back at him for the sharp tone of voice.
“Well, love, didn’t you go and pick a surly bastard to mate?” The South African accent was tinged with amusement and affection as Dane Vanderale stepped into the room behind them.
Cassie swung around, facing the Breed who most of the world believed was no more than a Breed benefactor and philanthropist. They had no idea about the Breed crouched and ready to spring forward inside him.
Hybrids were so far a mystery to the scientists. Their genetics rarely came forward until their teens, and it seemed the animal and human senses they possessed were far more integrated than those of Breeds created by scientists.
Tossing Dog a small pack he carried as Dog stepped past her, Dane strode to the bar, poured himself a drink, then turned back to them. She caught the faint scent that reached her from the box, which indicated it held the slim cigars he provided certain Breeds.
Dane himself was a master of control, but along with the scent of the cigars was one of pure, unmatched fury barely contained.
Dressed in gray silk slacks and a white long-sleeved shirt, the sleeves of which were rolled back to his elbows, he looked less like a hybrid Breed and more like the businessman he portrayed himself to be. That is, if one overlooked the shaggy hair the color of desert sand and didn’t detect the animal lurking behind those emerald green eyes. Eyes he usually toned down with colored contacts.
Cassie narrowed her gaze on the hybrid, seeing far more than the mockery, easygoing charm and latent danger that she always picked up. For the first time since she’d known him, Dane was almost close to losing control of that inner animal he harbored.
“The parents, mine that is, are joining Callan and Jonas in Window Rock, by the way.” He lifted his glass in a silent toast to Cassie. “Dash and Callan have both called the Leo, requesting he and Mother assist you in this. It appears your father may have attempted to kill Rhyzan when he filed that petition after your disappearance.” He lifted the drink to his lips. “Don’t bloody well fuckin’ blame him.”
Dane tossed back the drink, then slapped the glass to the bar and refilled it.
“Is Dad okay?” Cassie breathed out wearily, watching the hybrid as he sipped at his drink now. She was surprised, she was under the impression her father would approve of Rhyzan’s actions.
“In excellent condition.” His grin was hard. “I believe they may have had to pull him off Rhyzan, though. I heard he tried to beat him to death. Near succeeded too. Bastard’s nose is slightly out of line, and I hear there may be a canine he’s in danger of losing due to the blows your father got in.”
This was a mess.
“Why did Dad and Callan ask Leo for help?” Cassie shook her head then.
“Mother’s research in Mating Heat,” Dane pointed out. “And it appears Rhyzan is being rather an ass in regard to rescinding the Petition for Reconsideration, despite your father’s insistence. Father, along with Seth Lawrence, who’s arrived with his mate, by the way, is attempting to get to the bottom of Rhyzan’s stubbornness. Mother’s going to run the tests herself. As she stated, in all her decades of work with Mating Heat, she’s never seen a Breed acquire two mates.”
Two mates.
Rhyzan wasn’t her mate and she knew it, but their tests had shown a compatibility …
“Oh God,” she whispered, turning back to Dane in shock. “Kenzi. If he’s Kenzi’s mate, then it would make sense that I showed a compatibility but no true mating.”
Dog’s irritated growl had her wanting to roll her eyes.
Dane inclined his head, unsurprised. “That was Mother’s thought as well. But Rhyzan should be aware of that. He’s been with Kenzi quite a bit, debriefing her. Which begs the question, why is he holding firm in wanting you and your mate separated before the mating mutation completes within you and Dog?”
Rhyzan was playing a game, and Cassie knew it, Jonas knew it, but what that game was she couldn’t guess. It made no sense that even with compatibility he’d attempt something like this. He had pride in surplus. He’d never admit that another Breed, especially a Council Coyote, had taken his potential mate. Or that he’d allowed it.
“It won’t matter once I locate him.” Dog’s smile was a Grim Reaper’s curve as he turned back to Dane. “What’s the status on my people?” The fact that he was furious wasn’t hidden. “I lost the connection with the team hours ago.”
Dane stared at the floor, that rage beginning to burn inside him once again.
“We lost one,” Dane finally said, sighing wearily as Dog snarled furiously. “One of the children. And perhaps one of my Lions as well. The wounds as he tried to protect the boy with his own body are pretty severe. We were forced to go dark just before that when we realized they’d found a way to track us. We found out just before the attack that they’d managed to slip a nano-tracker on one of the vehicles as we passed the gates.”
Cassie sat down slowly in the chair behind her and stared at Dane in shock. What was he talking about? Children?
“There were children?” Dog hadn’t told her there were children. He’d only said his people had to get out of a mission they were involved in before his status as a spy was revealed.
Dane nodded heavily. “Most of them were children. That was the information Dog and his teams have been working on within the Council ranks. The location of several dozen Breed children. Some still babes …”
“They’re still doing it?” Horror filled her voice.
They were still creating Breeds?
“Do you really believe they’ll stop?” Dane asked gently despite the fury pulsing beneath his voice. “They’re always certain the answer to whatever they’re seeking will come with the next one they create. Though what they’re seeking we’re not exactly certain of anymore. But they have come up with an interesting way of destroying the Breeds they’ve created now.”
She turned to Dog, disbelief pouring through her, tightening her throat and chest.
“What is he talking about?” The grief she could sense pouring from Dog had her stomach clenching in dread.
“While the Breed rescues were deemed complete, we knew it wasn’t over.” Dog sighed, rubbing at the back of his neck as he moved to the bar and accepted the drink Dane poured for him. “Our first indication that there was a problem was when a young man showed up at Sanctuary about ten years ago. He said he’d learned a Breed child had been killed to provide the heart that he’d been given as a transplant when he was younger. As he began to mature, and the heart matured, his parents were killed in an effort to get to him and destroy him before anyone learned of the changes he was going through from that transplant.”
“He died of his injuries a few days later.” Dane grimaced. “Fucking brave as hell he was, but t
he wounds were too severe to save him.”
Children. A Breed child had been killed to provide a human child with a heart?
“What changes?” The horror creeping through her was destructive. The monsters that were still operating as men of science were going beyond the evil they’d originally begun with.
“Breed changes.” Dog finished his drink before pacing to the other side of the room. “He was beginning to show anomalies at the DNA level. It’s taken me years to find the right people in the right place or to get the right people in place and locate the labs holding the Breeds being used for the transplants. Amazing what a person will agree to in an effort to live. That kid’s parents knew a Breed child would die to supply that heart and they allowed it. Paid a small fortune for it.”
Cassie pressed one hand to her stomach, sick inside at the thought of the horrors Breed children had faced. What had happened to science that some of the world’s most intelligent minds were involved in this?
“We located the final lab several months ago, but access and the ability to infiltrate took a while. We finally managed to identify several scientists and techs willing to help us. We were preparing a plan when Kenzi was taken, just after Rhyzan stated his intent to Jonas to push the chance of a mating to you.”
And a child had been lost because Rhyzan had decided to force something that he would have sensed wasn’t a true mating. A compatibility showed up on many tests, but so far, the tests were highly unreliable when it came to an actual Heat rising between the Breeds tested.
“You’ll have your teams back within twenty-four hours,” Dane promised. “The children are being taken to the Leo’s estate; the lab techs who aided in their rescues are with them. Jonas is having the scientists who cooperated with us transferred to Sanctuary. Those who didn’t will be dealt with.”