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The foster family that she had been staying with had been forced to contact Dane. She had destroyed the pretty bedroom Dane had had decorated for her. She had smashed toys, ripped stuffed animals, and when that hadn’t eased the hard knot of fury, she had tried to escape by running.
From that moment, once sanity had returned, Ria had fought to make certain it never happened again. And now she could feel that core—older, more mature, but knotted in rage at the thought of losing what she had claimed with her soul.
Mercury had made his choice. If he asked her for release, she would open her hands and let him go, though it would kill her inside. But this woman didn’t have a chance of taking anything from her.
She let her gaze meet Alaiya’s as Mercury moved beside her and Jonas moved up on the other side. As though protecting her. She didn’t need their protection and she let Alaiya know it.
She held the Breed female’s eyes, poured all that anger, frustration and determination into the look she gave her, and had the satisfaction of watching the other woman’s eyes flicker.
Oh no, this battle wasn’t going to be that easy. Ria knew it, and now Alaiya would know it as well.
“Jonas.” Alaiya’s lips suddenly curled. “I just received the results from the blood workup.”
“Later, Alaiya,” Jonas ordered as they moved to pass her.
“No, Jonas. Not later.” Her voice stopped them all.
Jonas snarled back at her in anger. “You overstep your bounds, enforcer.”
Alaiya smiled. “According to Breed Law, I’m establishing them. The mating hormone is in my blood workup, Jonas. And it matches Mercury’s.” She straightened from the walk, slid forward and stared back at Mercury with feral possessiveness. “He’s my mate.”
Ria felt herself shatter inside. But rather than the storm of last night, she felt a furious, burning core rage inside her instead.
“Breeds have only one mate,” she stated through numbed lips as Mercury gripped her arm, pulling her forward.
“Exactly,” Alaiya drawled. “And we matched.”
“And we mated,” she retorted coldly, watching as Alaiya’s gaze suddenly narrowed. “You can smell it. You can sense it, can’t you, Alaiya?”
The other woman’s lips thinned as Mercury’s rumbling growl became louder.
“Touch him, and you’ll deal with me.”
To that, Alaiya’s lips curled in satisfaction. “Oh, I think I can take you, little mouse.” Her laughter slid from her throat. “No contest.”
“And I think, dear, if you attempted it, I might have to kill you myself.” Dane stepped into the doorway at the same moment Mercury jerked Ria back and snarled in Alaiya’s face.
“Remember my warning, Alaiya?” he snapped, his voice cold.
“Breed Law . . .”
“Don’t you throw Breed Law at me.” His voice was a powerful, dangerous rumble of violence. “Remember the warning. Heed it. Or you’ll suffer the consequences.”
“And I don’t need either one of you to stand before me.” Ria pushed by Mercury, coming back to his side, anger riding the arousal, like lava spewing its wrath from a volcano. “Let her find out for herself what she’s dealing with. On her own terms.”
“So confident,” Alaiya sneered.
“So malicious,” Ria retorted coldly. “There’s nothing for you here. No matter your belief.”
She let Mercury draw her away then. Not that
she could have prevented him; he was all but dragging her through the hallway, passing Dane, heading for Callan’s office, as anger washed off him in waves.
“This is fucking insane,” he bit out as they pushed into Callan’s office. “Get this taken care of before I lose patience entirely.”
“Oh yes, let’s not tempt your patience.” She jerked her arm from his grip and cast him a furious look. “Especially considering the fact I’ve gone and lost mine period.”
The door jerked open and slammed behind Dane as he stalked in. Within seconds he was in Mercury’s face.
