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Callan watched the confrontation, inhaling slowly, deeply, trying to figure out the emotions or the cause for her behavior.
“And you’re a paranoid scientist with nothing better to do than chase shadows,” Jonas grunted. “You’re irrational lately, Ely. Have you had yourself tested?” He flicked her a disgusted look.
“You have to do something about him.” Ely surged to her feet as Callan leaned back against his desk and watched the entire scene with a sense of disbelief.
“Sit down, Ely,” he ordered her.
“I will not sit here and listen to his insults,” she bit out. “He’s protecting Mercury for some game he’s playing and I’ve had enough of it. I want that Breed confined and tested. I demand it.”
“You demand it?” He straightened slowly. “By what right do you demand anything?”
He watched the scientist closely now. Her features were flushed, her eyes bright as anger coursed through her.
“I’ll take my findings to the Ruling Cabinet if you refuse to listen to me,” she snarled back in his face.
She was defying him; not just defying him but deliberately challenging him.
“Will you now?” He looked around the room. “We have three of the Ruling Cabinet here now, disagreeing with your suggestions. What makes you think for a second that you can get the vote you need to even consider your demands?”
Her fists clenched at her side; rage was burning inside her, and that was unlike Ely. Ely was cool, calm. She didn’t become enraged and never had she suggested anything so vile as confining a Breed.
“You’re no better than the Council then,” she yelled. “At least they had the good sense to confine him and find a treatment for him. You will only allow him to destroy himself and the Breed community in the process.”
They were a
ll staring at her in shock.
Callan gave himself a second, then another. Then before he could control himself, he was in her face, his canines flashing in a furious snarl as she plopped back in her chair, paling.
Callan braced his hands on the arms of that chair, leaning close to her, his eyes holding hers, enforcing his authority over her, feeling the strength of the animal inside him rising to the fore.
He was pride leader. It was his decisions that led his community, and damn her to hell, but she would submit to those decisions. He stared down at her, waited until her gaze shifted from his to his shoulder in respect, and the smell of her fear overcame the smell of her arrogance.
“Would you care to repeat to me the insult that just left your lips?” he asked her, the hard rasp of the animal fury coursing through his voice.
Her gaze flickered, lowered, as she breathed roughly.
“I apologize,” she whispered. “I had no right to say that.” Her eyes lifted again, and he saw the fear and the concern in her gaze as she stared at his shoulder once again. “Callan, I’m frightened for Mercury, and for that woman. He’s dangerous and you won’t listen to me because he’s your friend. I understand that. But you have to do something.”
“Jonas.” Callan kept his gaze on Ely’s eyes, boring into them, enforcing his strength, enforcing his command. “Did you order her to keep this information from me?”
“I did, Pride Leader.” Jonas was smarter than the scientist; he kept his voice level, calm.
Callan moved back, watching as Ely’s eyes lowered, her hands folded tightly in her lap, her posture calmer now.
“Why?” He turned on the director.
In terms of power within the hierarchy of the Breed Ruling Cabinet, Jonas was but a step below him. If push came to shove, the other man could possibly enforce certain areas of strength, but Jonas understood the battle they were fighting. Sometimes.
“I disagree with her assessment,” Jonas stated calmly, confidently, though he cast Ely another confused look.
“You’ve seen the tests?” Callan asked him.
“I’ve seen the test results. I compared those results to the security video of Mercury and Ms. Rodriquez, as well as the video from the lab the day Ely tricked that blood from his arm. She deliberately antagonized him, then took the blood. Results from the blood taken moments earlier showed none of the feral hormone. It was only in the blood she took while accusing him of raping his woman that it showed up.”
“She’s not his mate,” Ely snapped. “I’ve run all the tests, Jonas. There’s no possibility of it.”
Callan turned, and before he could halt it, a hiss of male fury passed his lips. Animal to animal, Breed to Breed, that sound had the power to shock them both, because it was one Callan never used. It was a warning of strength and power, and the line she was crossing.
