He had no doubt of that and that wasn’t his bitch. Simply put, he had no desire to share her time or her attention with the rest of the packs as a whole.
He was selfish that way, he admitted. Coyotes were bred to selfishness though, he assured himself; he had a reasonable excuse.
He was forming another protest when she began soaping, washing her body quickly, suds rolling over silken flesh, shimmering against her skin and holding his attention more surely than a weapon in his face would have.
Damn her. She had him tongue-tied. He’d be damned if he knew how to put his foot down here and settle the area of what her duties could or couldn’t be. Cuddling other Coyotes, even impersonally, wasn’t going to be one of her duties.
Unfortunately, before he managed to get a grip on his tongue or his wayward lusts, she was wrapping a thick towel around her and the soft peel sounded, announcing someone at the door.
“That’s Ashley.” She peeked around his shoulder to the monitor that looked out into the hall. “Get in the shower; she doesn’t need to see your manly ass. She’s ditzy enough. I don’t need her getting worse.”
He frowned back at her. Again. What did his ass have to do with Ashley’s often apparent lack of common sense? Shaking his head, he moved into the shower though, determined to get a handle on his lusts so he could get a handle on his mate. He was starting to get the feeling that if he didn’t do it quickly, there might be no hope for it.
Anya gritted her teeth as she jerked the door open and pulled Ashley into the bedroom with a firm yank. Eyes wide, her lips open in a surprised little moue, the other woman stared back at Anya in confusion as she shoved an e-pad at her. “Just need you to sign at the X, Coya.”
“He hasn’t read the tabloid stories about that great and wonderful love affair we’ve had. Just exactly how much did the three of you pay those papers to plant those stories anyway?”
Ashley looked everywhere but at Anya for long seconds before pursing her lips and shuffling her feet. “Didn’t have to pay them a damned thing,” she muttered. “They just about orgasm when you give them dish. How did you know?”
“You might be subtle, but I’ve had a lot of years to figure the three of you out; I’m not stupid,” she sniffed.
Ashley nodded slowly before peeking toward the shower. “Been a while since I’ve seen the alpha’s bare ass. Can I sneak a peek? It’s probably my birthday. It would make a great present.”
Anya’s eyes narrowed.
“Oookay,” Ashley drawled as she shoved her hands into the back pockets of her jeans and rolled on the heels of the boots she wore. “So we heading to Haven in a bit?”
“In a bit,” Anya ground out as she stalked to the bed and tossed the clothes on it.
She dried off quickly before pulling on panties and bra.
She quickly dressed in the snug black pants and gray sweater before sitting down and pulling on thin socks and shoving her feet into the black dressy boots.
“Hey, boss man.” Ashley’s voice piped up with amused appreciation. “Damn, look at those chest hairs. Damn sexy. Turn around and flash me some buns.”
Anya’s head whipped around to see her mate, striding from the shower room with nothing but a towel tucked at his waist.
“Watch the bleach in the hair dye, Ash.” He grinned. “Maybe you should see Doc Armani. I think the animal genetics are recessing in favor of the human where you’re concerned.”
Ashley rolled her eyes. “You’re just being mean to me, that’s all,” she griped good-naturedly before turning to Anya. “Sharone, Emma and I will be in the community room if you need us.” She turned to go.
“No, you won’t.” Anya stopped her. “You’re going to collect your co-conspirators and get the rest of the day’s reports together for me. I’ll go over them while Del-Rey and I are at Haven. Send them to my PDA and be ready to go whenever your alpha decides we’re leaving.”
“Perhaps your coya can tell you when we’re leaving,” Del-Rey said evenly. “She seems to have everything else planned out in her day.”
“She’s good like that. We taught her well, huh?” Ashley winked back at him before turning to Anya once again. “I’m on the run then, Coya. Files to PDA, prep for adventure in Haven. I wonder if Styx will try to pinch Emma’s ass again. It’s always fun watching her try to kick his bad ass.”
Ashley turned and made a quick exit as Del-Rey growled low and warningly. The steel door slammed behind her, electronic locks engaging as Anya turned back to Del-Rey slowly.
“Brim should be here any minute,” she told him. “He’s been waiting for you to wake up.”
“And will he have any reports for me?” Del-Rey asked her silkily.
“Most definitely,” she promised. “And I should know, because I put most of them together. If you have any questions though, I’m sure he can answer them.”
She watched as he dropped the towel and had to swallow tightly at the sight of his erection. Heaven help her, she wanted him again. She could feel the muscles between her thighs flexing, her panties dampening.
He looked back at her from beneath his lashes, his tongue touching his full lower lips, wicked lust filling his expression as he moved toward her.
“You dressed too fast.” His voice deepened, his body tensed.
Anya shook her head, feeling her breathing escalate. She was still tender and she was heating up for him again.
“Um, I think . . .” She was saved from saying more when the security alert chimed again. “I think that’s Brim. He has reports. And stuff.” She backed to the door as he stilled, watching her with that predatory look of hunger. “Maybe you should get dressed.” The security alert chimed again as the monitor showed Brim’s impatient features. “Look, he’s in a hurry.”
Del-Rey’s rumbled growl of discontent raced up her spine as he moved to the small dresser and yanked free a pair of white underwear before pulling them on. Jeans came next before he padded to the door, watching her intently, his gaze never leaving her until he opened the door.
Anya slid back to the side of the room and breathed out roughly as Brim stepped into the short hall.
“She’s taking over. She’s got the pack leaders panting under her thumb, and I’ll be damned if she’s not setting up quarters for the Coyotes heading here. She’s even suggested hiring a damned cook, Del-Rey.”
Anya bit her lip as she glanced over at her mate and smiled brightly.
She peeked her head around the edge of the wall and waved at Brim. “She’s still here too.”
He stopped in his tracks. He looked from Del-Rey to Anya, inhaled and shook his head wearily. “Hell, she even smells like you now. How the hell am I supposed to be on guard for her?”
“Why would you have to be on guard for me?” She opened her eyes innocently and stared from him to Del-Rey. “You’re on guard for a threat, Brim, not a friend.” She sighed with false hurt. “And here I thought we could be friends.”
Brim looked at Del-Rey with curious pity as he jerked his head toward Anya. “What did you do, let her use Ashley’s hair dye?”
Del-Rey’s lips twitched, and Anya’s flattened as her eyes narrowed back at the two men. “Remind me not to do you two any more favors,” she muttered.
“I’ll make a note to do that daily,” Brim growled before turning back to Del-Rey. “We need to talk. Alone.”
And Anya felt her heart sink. Here it was. The end. She hadn’t stepped on anyone’s toes but Brim’s apparently, and he was second-in-command. He had the right to object to anything she had done. To cut her out of any meeting. To reduce her back to no more than caretaker when he and the alpha were absent.
“Alone doesn’t work now, Brim.”
Anya stared back at Del-Rey, shocked. “She’s not just a mate; she’s my coya. One whose responsibilities and duties will be discussed as time allows. Until then, she’ll be present for all meetings. She can’t make the decisions she needs to make should both of us be incapacitated for an extended length
of time if she doesn’t understand the decisions that need to be made.”
He held his hand out to her. Such a simple gesture, but one that had her eyes dampening as she moved to him and laid her palm against his. She was his coya. He had made her status clear, and by accepting his hand, she accepted the position. And the man.
It was a step, she told herself. One step among many.
CHAPTER 16
Anya sat silently and watched through the two-way mirror into the interview room where the bartender was being questioned. His name was Ron Coley and he had been hired out of Dallas, Texas, for the party that had been meant to turn into a massacre. He didn’t know who had hired him, just that he was to provide a distraction while the intended target was murdered by another member of the party. He’d had her picture, her name, nothing else.
“Who hired the staff for the party?” Del-Rey asked the Wolves’ alpha leader, Wolfe Gunnar.
“A catering service out of Boulder,” Wolfe murmured. “We screened the employees. He was listed as contract labor but his name and picture didn’t raise any red flags.”
Anya continued to watch as Jonas Wyatt, head of the Bureau of Breed Affairs, continued the, so far, civil interrogation.
“What about other employees?” Del-Rey asked. “Have they been detained or questioned?”
Wolfe gave a shake of his head. “Jonas has surveillance in place on the employees, but they were dismissed after formal questioning. Law enforcement in Boulder as well as in town are demanding answers to his detainment and inclusion in the interrogation. They were denied.”
Breed Law gave the Breeds autonomy in matters of security and enforcement, to a point. Jonas’s arrival made the detainment official; his questioning of the bartender was merely a formality. Notice of punishment, whether it was death or imprisonment, would go before the Bureau tribunal once he had his recommendations completed. That tribunal was twelve members, drawn from the four separate committees that made up the ruling body of the Breeds’ society.
“Jonas isn’t going to get the information we need here,” Del-Rey murmured as they continued to watch. “The city council was in on this, Wolfe.”
“We know that.” Wolfe nodded as Dash Sinclair sat at his other side, eyes narrowed on the interrogation.
From where Anya sat at the side of the small room, she could see each man’s expression. The alpha leader of the Felines had remained silent, but his gray eyes glittered with wrath as he watched.
“Don’t imagine this will be overlooked, Del-Rey,” Dash spoke up then, his voice cold as he watched the interrogation. “Your coya is no less important than the lupina or the prima. We won’t let this go.”
Anya stared at the Wolf Breed, father to the incredible young woman who had argued for Anya’s separation from her mate. Cassandra Sinclair’s father was strong, but that strength was tempered with compassion, though she could sense inside him an awareness that, sometimes, blood had to be spilled.
“We’re going to have to deal with the town before we go much further,” Del-Rey stated. “Raines is running unchecked. In the past days we’ve pulled in enough information on each man to fry them all. My soldiers have found evidence of the drug we’re tracking in Raines’s house as well as four other city council members’ homes. The Coyote Cabinet is convening tonight to prepare a proposal on how to deal with this matter.”
Wolfe glanced over at Anya. “I hear your coya ordered that move while you were healing. None of us considered the women’s bags and wraps that were left there, and the fact that the council members in on this may have stolen those items knowing no one would be there to collect them. It was an ingenious plan.”
Anya’s gaze focused on Del-Rey. Male pride was a tenuous thing; she should have thought of that before having any military plan proposed. As Brim had told her while Del-Rey slept, she should have waited, presented it to the alpha then to the cabinet rather than ordering one of the soldiers to prepare the proposal.
Del-Rey’s lips twitched in amusement as he glanced at her. “She ran Base with the same dedication and commitment that Hope and Faith showed her was her due as they overlooked Haven. I have you to thank for approving the time Hope gave her.”
Anya sniffed at that. Damned manipulating Wolves and Coyotes. A woman didn’t have a chance against them. They even taught their women how to scheme and manipulate. It should be illegal.
She turned her gaze back to the interrogation, barely restraining a yawn as Jonas Wyatt, the badass of the Bureau of Breed Affairs, asked the bartender again who his contact was and how he received his assignments.
“Man, look, I told you,” the bartender sneered. “I ain’t no damned Breed assassin, and if I was, I wouldn’t get caught.”
“You stink of blood, Mr. Coley,” Jonas drawled. “I have your file; I know you better than you know yourself now. You’re one of those disposable little peons. But even peons have information, and you will tell me what I want to know.”
“Or what, you’ll snarl and growl at me?” Ron leaned forward, his arms braced on the table as his pitted face screwed into lines of disgust. “Or you gonna bite me?”
Anya barely saw the blurred movement of Wyatt’s arm. But a second later, claw marks, deep and bloody, swiped down the bartender’s face, and he squealed like a gutted pig and jumped back as far as the chains would allow.
He stared into the two-way mirror, seeing the blood dripping down his face now, the marks that extended over his eye, then below the eye and down the cheek to his jaw.
Anya had never seen anything like it.
“Damn, Wyatt’s getting pissed.” The alpha pride leader stepped closer to the window. They couldn’t see Wyatt’s face, only Coley’s and his was filled with terror now.
“So, are you ready to answer my questions, Mr. Coley?” Jonas’s voice was cool, unfazed as the bartender began to shake in reaction.
Coley’s gaze jerked down to the table and he seemed to pale further. “That’s not possible,” he wheezed at whatever he was looking at.
“Look at me, Mr. Coley.”
Coley’s gaze jerked back to the Bureau director’s face.
“Very good. You will stay on topic, or I’ll make certain the next time I slice you that it goes to the bone, perhaps takes an eye. That’s not a pleasant experience for the victim, and it’s rather messy when I have to do it. I’d prefer not to have to resort to those means. Now, are you willing to give me the information I asked for?”
Coley swallowed tightly. “They said kill the girl. She was that Coyote’s wife or something. Kill her and the Coyotes would start dropping out of that base. We might even be able to get a few back to the Council. I was supposed to have help. There were supposed to be six of us. We were to kill the women first as we made our way out of the ballroom. As many as we could, paying special attention to high-ranking wives or lovers. Kill them, they said, and you break the Breeds’ backs. That’s all I know.”
“Who was your contact?”
Coley shuddered. “I got a kid.” He lifted his eyes, his gaze tortured now.
“Why should I care about your kid?” Jonas asked coldly.
“She’s only thirteen.” He swallowed tightly. “I know things they didn’t know I know. I heard about Breeds. You don’t hurt kids, no matter what. You protect my kid, and I’ll give you information I know you don’t have.”
“Such as?” Jonas asked him.
“The names of the city council members here and in Virginia near Sanctuary who are involved in a plan to take out the Breed leaders. And I got more. I got names of Breeds helping them.” He was still staring at Jonas in horror. “God, man, stop doing that shit, please. I’ll give you what you want, but you gotta protect my kid. I just do this for the money. That’s all. Just for my little girl. I’ll give it to you.”
Anya stared into the room in horror. Her gaze flipped from the scene below to the cold, hard gazes of the Breeds watching as well.
“Gentlemen?” Callan Lyons turned to the others
questioningly.
“His daughter is handicapped. Blind,” Dash stated. “Thirteen years old.”
“Call Wyatt back here,” Wolfe said. “I suggest we send out a team, collect the girl and then requestion Coley. He’s asked for asylum for his daughter of his own free will. Let’s see what we can get.”
They turned to Del-Rey.
“It’s your decision to make, Del-Rey,” Wolfe told him. “The hit was primarily against your coya.”
He stared into the room as Anya watched him, knowing exactly what his decision would be. That knowledge was frightening; she knew, even before he spoke, the stance he would take.
“The child is the most innocent in this whole mess,” he growled. “I’d like Brim on the team that goes after her. I’d suggest a team of enforcers only, fully sanctioned to retrieve the child at all costs. She’ll be watched. They know we have the bartender; they may have already taken the child themselves to assure his silence.”
Callan activated the speaker into the room. “Retrieval of minor child approved and sanctioned,” he stated. “You have the full assurance of each alpha leader that her safety will be our top priority, Mr. Coley. As long as you cooperate.” Callan winced at the last sentence, and the expression on each alpha’s face assured Anya that no matter what Coley did, that child would never know anything but safety.
Children were the focal point of every Breed Anya had ever talked to. It didn’t matter if it was a rare Breed child or a human child on the street. Breeds were always aware when a child was around and they were always protective of them.
Coley nodded as Jonas handed him a handkerchief. “For your face,” the director stated, though Anya glimpsed the blood on his nails. “We’ll get a doctor in here to look at those scratches. We wouldn’t want your daughter frightened for you when she sees you.”
Coley sniffed, almost in derision. “She’s blind. She can’t see them.”
There were snorts from the alphas, contempt filling the sounds.
“Poor little girl,” Jonas sighed. “She has a father that likely doesn’t realize the talents she possesses. Why do you care if she’s protected, Coley?”
Coley stared back at him in confusion. “Blind doesn’t mean I don’t love her,” he stated harshly. “She’s just a little scrap of a thing. You guys, you’re at war with the world and you know it. You’re adults. I don’t want her hurt in it. She seems to think you bastards are cool or some shit.”
Too bad the father didn’t follow the daughter’s instincts, Anya thought as she shifted in her chair, aware of a slow, building heat in her stomach, as well as the mass confusion that was filling her mind.
How had she known what Del-Rey’s response would be? No one could have blamed him for wanting blood rather than to pledge his protection to a child whose father had targeted his mate and himself. Coyotes were sometimes more logical, less emotional than the other Breeds. They could be colder, less feeling. But Del-Rey’s voice had deepened with his thoughts on the child’s protection.
She clenched her teeth and rose to her feet as Del-Rey moved to counter her, standing as well and watching her with hooded black eyes.
He could smell the arousal, she knew. As it bloomed inside her, he would know that. A part of her was freaked out over that. Completely terrified that no emotion, no feeling, no hint of what she was doing or thinking could be hidden from him.
“Ladies’ room.” She swallowed tightly. “Should I meet you somewhere?”
“I’ll await you here,” he finally told her softly. “We’ll return to Base soon.”
Anya nodded before slipping quickly from the dark room.
In the hall, Sharone, Emma and Ashley surrounded her, their expressions concerned as they watched her.
“Wow, that heat stuff is bad again, huh?” Ashley stated.
“Shut up, Ash,” Emma hissed.
“Well hell, it’s not like she didn’t know it was going to happen when she refused that last shot,” Ashley retorted. “I mean, she’s not going to, like, go to the tribunal again.”
Silence followed Anya then.
“Will she?” Ashley finally whispered, almost horrified as Anya lifted her hand in a signal for the bodyguards to remain outside as she pushed into the ladies’ room and moved to the sinks.
She turned on the cold water, stuck her wrists under the stream of water and laid her head against the cool mirror.
She’d tried to ignore the heat building in her. She should have had a few more hours before it became this bad. Before her breasts swelled, her nipples becoming so sensitive that her bra was painful. Her clit was so swollen, so engorged, it was touching the silk of her panties. Each move she made was agony now.
Part of her was cold, chilled to the bone and aching for Del-Rey to wrap his arms around her, and another part of her refused to ask, to beg for what she needed. She had made the first move. She had ignored Sofia’s insults to begin with, then she had made the first move and initiated that sexual adventure they had taken. She was forcing back her pride and trying her damnedest to make up for the past months, but it wasn’t easy.
And while that ice collected, she also burned. It was terrifying. Hot and cold at the same time. No, not just hot and cold. Icy and blazing. It was affecting her ability to think, to hold on to her composure and restrain herself.
Composure was everything. If she was going to take her place at Del-Rey’s side, then she had to prove she was competent and able to make decisions when needed. If she let the mating heat do this to her, then she was going to fail.
She almost whimpered at the thought. The way she felt right now, she couldn’t help him do anything but roll around in bed. What if they were attacked? What if Base was in danger? How could she do what she needed to do, and know Del-Rey had faith in her to do it while he and the other Coyote soldiers defended the inner caverns?
He wouldn’t be able to trust her. She would be a liability again. Something to fuck. That would be the extent of her worth to him, and she couldn’t bear that.
“Coya?”
She straightened quickly at the sound of Hope’s soft voice behind her. Dammit, she should have hidden herself before she gave into the ragged emotions filling her.
Straightening, she quickly shut off the water and pulled free several paper towels to dry her hands as she turned to face the other woman.
“Lupina.” She smiled back at her friend. “Do you ever feel strange as hell when someone actually calls you by your name?”
Hope’s lips tilted with charming amusement. “It’s according to the person. I’m Hope to many, but I’m also lupina.” She shrugged. “I’m the same person, no matter the name they use.”
“True.” Anya smiled as she inhaled slowly. “I’ll get out of here for you.” She headed for the door.
“I stopped in to talk to you.” Hope’s statement had her pausing.
“Why?”
“Brim informed our head of security, Jacob, that you were no longer on the hormone treatments, even those that still the more painful effects of the heat. You don’t have to suffer, Anya. The base hormonal therapy controls the pain and conception until you’re ready for it. What you were taking before controlled the