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The need was like a steadily growing flame working over her nerve endings, building in her sex. The need, not just to fuck, but to rub against him, to have his arms around her, to stroke him and pet him, had her entire body heating like an inferno.
She forced herself to lower her gaze back to the transmission Jonas had loaded onto the computer. It was definitely coded, though the code was much shorter, more hurried. Ria rubbed at her forehead as she pulled up other transmissions from the night before and worked those alongside it.
There had been a pattern, until this one. The culprit leaking information had found a system that had managed to keep itself from detection by snagging outgoing transmissions already in the works, attaching the code and then freeing them to their destinations.
Each transmission had gone to a subsidiary of either Engalls Pharmaceuticals or Brandenmore Research. The majority of them went to a subsidiary company on the research arm, and one fairly popular within Sanctuary for ordering innocuous supplies such as aspirin. Breeds were prone to mild headaches as the seasons changed, and they used aspirin in vast quantities.
There was also an order for another headache medicine, though. One a bit stronger. Ria frowned, tracking the orders and the transmissions attached to them as she moved them through the ghost drive.
In the past year the orders for the drug had grown, and were all being delivered to the same Breed. Dr. Ely Morrey.
As she shifted in more files, frowning over the findings, a heavy knock landed on the door.
“It’s Jonas,” Mercury told her quietly as he unlocked the door and allowed the other Breed to enter the room.
Mercury moved to the side of her desk as she glanced at him suspiciously. Did he think Jonas was going to turn rabid and attack or something?
Nearly shaking her head, she lifted her gaze to Jonas as the door closed and locked behind them. At the faint click, Ria’s eyes shot to the lock.
“Ely’s called the Ruling Cabinet together,” Jonas announced. “An emergency session. They’re convening day after tomorrow.”
“She’s going to demand Mercury’s confinement?” Ria knew that was the reason behind the emergency session.
Jonas nodded, his hard, arrogant expression tightening further.
“She’s already begun calling the cabinet members, who in turn are calling Callan. She’s not going to get the support she needs, but she could manage to force the tests for feral displacement and mating heat.”
“What about the blood you took yesterday?” Mercury asked, drawing Ria’s surprised gaze.
“What blood?” she asked.
Jonas’s gaze met hers. “After you left yes
terday, Mercury submitted a sample of his blood for feral displacement and mating heat. Which means we’re going to need a sample of yours.”
“For Dr. Morrey to screw with?” She stared back at him in disbelief. “I really don’t think so, Jonas.”
Jonas glanced at Mercury again, his expression questioning. At Mercury’s slightest nod, Jonas turned back to her.
“We do have another scientist.”
Ria smiled knowingly as she leaned back in her chair and stared at him mockingly. “You have Jeffery Amburg, don’t you, Jonas?”
Jonas crossed his arms over his chest and turned his gaze to Mercury.
“Do you trust him to do the tests?” he asked.
Mercury shrugged. “He’s a murdering bastard, but nothing matters to him but the tests and the results. He’s a scientist, Jonas. The worse sort. But he’ll follow through on whatever he finds.”
Jeffery Amburg, Ria knew, had been one of the scientists assigned to Mercury’s lab. He’d also been the scientist that helped develop the drug to control the feral displacement when Mercury had gone insane with rage at the news of Alaiya’s death. He had also been the scientist researching the hormone that showed up in Mercury, which was known to be the precursor to mating heat.
She was surprised by the hard pinch of pain that brought to her chest. She should have grown accustomed to the situation as it stood by now.
“He doesn’t touch her.” Mercury jerked his head toward Ria. “A Breed can take the blood and saliva samples. Nothing more.”
Jonas’s jaw clenched.
“Wouldn’t that be my decision, Mercury?” Not that she wanted those tests, but the arrogance in his voice raised the hairs at the back of her neck in both primal warning and irritation.
