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Brim shrugged at the glare he directed to him. “I’ve decided it really wasn’t personal. Nor was it the fear for your brothers’ lives that caused you to deny those few of us still living.”
“And you decided this based on what?” Del-Rey could feel the fury building inside him, tearing through him.
Brim’s lips twisted into a cold smile. “You’ve just rejected your coya, Alpha Leader. Any man that could do that doesn’t have a soul. He doesn’t have brothers, nor does he have sisters. I think I’ll simply count myself lucky you have enough honor that you didn’t drown those of your bloodline while we were still pups.”
With that, Brim opened the door and left the room, closing it slowly behind him, a second before Del-Rey’s snarl of fury echoed through the room.
Fuck them. Fuck them all. He had a soul. A soul that cringed in horror at the memories, a soul that writhed and bled at the bottom of his guts at the thought of everything he had lost over the years. A soul that wept for everything he couldn’t have.
/> Because having meant losing. And God help them all if he lost his coya.
Anya sat down at her computer hours later, weariness tugging at her as she pulled up the keyboard and activated the hologram monitor.
One email. Private and encrypted.
She pulled it up, noted the date and time of the meeting, confirmed, and then deleted it. She covered her face with her hands as she rested her elbows on the desk and forced back her tears, as well as the need beginning to burn inside her.
She’d received her copy of Brim’s memo that morning before going to the kitchen. She felt as lost now as she had then. She felt as though spring had been canceled. As though the warmth she had so looked forward to had been snatched away from her forever.
“Coya?” Her office door opened and Sharone, Emma and Ashley stepped inside.
Anya swallowed tightly as she lowered her hands and stared at the women who were the same as sisters to her. They had been reassigned by their pack leaders. She had received that particular memo as she moved from the kitchen back to her rooms.
“Don’t,” she whispered, shaking her head. “You can’t use that title any longer, Sharone.”
“You have to do something,” Sharone demanded fiercely. “Do you think a lack of title is going to save your life? He can’t be as insane as to believe that.”
Anya shook her head. “You’ve been reassigned. You still have your scheduled off hours by my request. We’ll have our last girls’ day out in one week. We’ll make a party of it,” she told them. “Dr. Armani and hopefully Lupina Gunnar will be joining us as well. Be prepared for that.”
Sharone’s eyes widened as the meaning behind Anya’s words became clear.
Ashley slouched against a wall while Emma sat on the couch, her head down as she stared at the floor of the small office.
“And after that?” Sharone asked. “We can’t leave you undefended. Anya, the Breeds that came out of Russia with us are incensed. They’re muttering about leaving the alliance the alphas have built. This is the worst insult he could have dealt you.”
Anya shook her head. No, the worst insult he had dealt her was when he convinced her to come to him, charming her, seducing her with his lies. She was his coya. She was his life. She reaffirmed that he had a soul.
“Coya,” Ashley whispered, her voice heavy. “What he’s done is wrong.”
Anya held her hand up slowly. “Please. Tell the others it’s my wish they remain with the alliance. They pledged their loyalty to Del-Rey under certain rules. That I be his coya wasn’t one of those rules. They can’t afford to break their word in this world, Sharone.” She shook her head and had to swallow back her tears. “Please. Report to your pack leaders as they asked. I’ll be fine here.”
Ashley moved. She jerked the door open and slammed it closed with a strength that had Anya flinching. Emma rose from her seat and left more slowly, her hands shoved in the pockets of her jeans as Sharone stared back at Anya with a pain-laden expression.
“Tell him,” Sharone said softly. “If you’re harmed, he’s made enemies, Anya. More than he could ever imagine.”
Sharone turned and left the room as Anya felt her breath hitch. She was going to miss them. They were more than friends, and they had always been together. Since she was a little girl and had first found the cells where the five Coyote females were being held.
She, the princess of the Chernov facilities even at age five, had twisted the scientists and doctors around her little finger until the girls she wanted to play with were given partial freedom. They had then formed a bond that had never been broken.
They had never been separated, until now.
“Anya?”
She stiffened at the sound of Del-Rey’s voice at her side. She turned her head, staring at him, seeing the heaviness in his expression, a heaviness reflected in her heart.
“You would have hurt me less had you used that knife you held at my throat in Russia,” she said, breathing out roughly.
“I’m a Coyote,” he said, his voice low. “The most hated and feared of the Breeds, across the world. My coya will live in constant danger. If the world perceives that she is no more than my lover, if the other Breeds perceive that she holds only my body, then she’s safe. If I make a mistake and allow a traitor into our midst here at Base, then you’re safer.”
