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“Once the mating heat stills, Tanner, we need to do a CAT on her ovaries and fallopian tubes. She has the same concentrations of an unknown hormone in her system that Sherra showed when her body was repairing the tubal. We need to check on that. ” Ely’s voice was still soft, compassionate.
A child. Her body could be preparing to conceive. It most likely was preparing to conceive. Many of the hormones associated with Breed mating heat hadn’t been completely identified. The research into it was slower due to the extreme need to keep the facts of the heat hidden from the world.
God help him, another attack like this, during pregnancy, would be disastrous. He couldn’t let it happen again. But God help him if he knew how to stop it.
Shaking his head, he looked around the small medical room. On the other side of a curtain was Jolian Brandeau. She hadn’t survived the surge of electricity Tamber had slammed into her brain with the tazer. She had died instantly, no doubt as Tamber had intended.
Cabal was behind the curtain with her, and the scent of his regret and pain washed over Tanner. They hadn’t trusted Scheme where the girl was concerned, and now they would all pay for that. Cabal more so than others, Tanner suspected. They had all known Jolian fancied herself in love with Cabal. She was pathetically shy around him, yet the scent of her pleasure when he was near was like summer itself. But the smell of deception that centered around her had always thrown them off. The deception was the love she believed she had kept secret.
Ely’s gaze followed Tanner’s to that curtain, grief twisting her expression as she turned back to him.
“She was a good kid,” she whispered.
“Yes. ” Tanner breathed out roughly. “She was a good kid. Take care of Cabal for me, Doc. ”
Ely looked at him in surprise. “He’ll be fine, Tanner. The two of you have your mate—”
“Scheme isn’t Cabal’s mate,” he revealed, staring down at the woman he loved beyond life. “She’s mine. Just completely, all mine. ”
Ely blinked at him in shock. “We can smell the scent on him, Tanner,” she suddenly whispered. “Is it possible—” She looked back to the curtain. “Dear God. Was she his mate?”
Tanner shook his head. “It wasn’t her, Ely. And it’s not Scheme. ”
“Then what?”
“Twins. ” Tanner’s smile was sad. “He was almost Scheme’s mate. Trust me, that’s a hell of a place to be. It’s hell, period. Now, help me get her to our room. I need to hold my mate. ”
Cabal heard the door close, felt the absence of others and slowly sat down beside the cot that held Jolian’s pale, lifeless form. The vibrancy, hope and shy quest for happiness that had always bloomed in her face was gone now. It now held frozen regret, as though she had known the moment she felt that shock hit her head that she would never awaken again.
I wouldn’t hurt your mate, Cabal, she had told him tearfully as he interrogated her the day before. Don’t you know, I would die for your mate. I would give my life to make certain you never suffered again.
Or would you destroy her out of jealousy? he had questioned her coldly, then watched as a tear trailed down her cheek.
But I’m not jealous. Her voice had been rough, aching with longing. Envious maybe, but not jealous. Your happiness is too important for me to ever feel jealousy—
His throat tightened now as he reached out, his fingertips smoothing back a lock of silky black hair from her forehead.
“I’m sorry, Joley,” he whispered, using the name he had given her rather than the name she had chosen. “I’m so sorry. ”
And there he sat, his soul aching with the sudden knowledge that now he was truly alone. Tanner had Scheme, and for a while he had entertained the idea of giving little Jolian a few weeks, maybe a few months in his bed. She was soft. Sweet. And she loved him.
The selfishness of that thought slammed into his head now. She had loved him. He knew she had loved him, and he had waited, waited to see if Tanner’s mate was his as well. Waited because he knew Jolian wasn’t a woman that would ever take to the sexual antics he and Tanner played. Waited to see if his own future was connected to Tanner’s, and if not, then
he had Jolian.
And now he no longer had Jolian. He no longer had anyone.
CHAPTER 31
ONE WEEK LATER
Scheme stared in silence at the image on the television screen, her heart aching with regret and a sense of things that had never been. Jonas had offered to let her be a part of the team paired with government authorities sent to arrest her father for crimes against Breed Law, multiple charges of murder against non-Breeds and charges of conspiracy to incite civil unrest.
Cassa Hawkins had been chosen to cover the arrest and been given an exclusive interview with Jonas, Tanner and Scheme on the charges.
One of Cassa’s questions to her had been about closure. Would she receive any closure with her father’s certain conviction and death sentence for the charges against him? Closure, Scheme had realized, had come with her mating with Tanner and her acceptance in Sanctuary. There was no need for closure with a man who had never truly been a father. There was only a sense of sadness, of relief. The monster had been conquered.
“I love you, Princess. ” Cyrus Tallant looked tearfully into the camera after he was charged. “Always remember I loved you. ”
