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“And I know it doesn’t matter.” He’d had enough.
Cabal stepped forward, gripped her arm and pulled her toward the elevators. “We’ll talk about this upstairs.”
“The hell we will.” Jerking her arm out of his grasp, she stared up at him, waves of fury beginning to pour from her now. “What else have you been keeping from me, Cabal? How many other lies have you told?”
“More than you want to keep track of,” he bit out in self-disgust. “Do you want a fucking list?”
He pushed her gently into the elevator, blocked the exit and stared down at her implacably as the doors slid
shut behind them.
“Locking me up again, Cabal?” she sneered at him.
He couldn’t blame her for her fury. She had every right to it. As Jonas had said, this was a secret he shouldn’t have kept from her, but neither had she needed to know. Until this assignment. Until the mission that Cabal had no doubt would require that he kill Watts again. This time for good.
“You would only slip out,” he growled. “You can’t stay in place, can you, Cassa?”
“Go to hell!” she yelled furiously, her face flushing a becoming pink. “I’m not some weak-kneed little bitch you can order around. Not anymore.”
“So instead of fighting me for anything, you go to Dog?” he snapped out, the anger beginning to burn in him as well. “To a Coyote, Cassa?”
“At least he was willing to tell me the truth.”
“Perhaps I would have been willing if you had dared to fight for it,” he accused her roughly.
“Fight for it? I should fight for it?” She looked like she was ready to shoot him. “Why should I fight for a respect that you should have given me willingly? For God’s sake, Cabal. You should have let me stand at your side without having to fight you for it, simply because I was your mate. You should have wanted me there.”
He stared back at her in silent shock, seeing in her gaze the betrayal she felt, and for the first time understanding why Cassa had never fought him for respect and acknowledgment when she had never hesitated to go head-to-head with other Breeds.
It had bothered him, he admitted that now. It was something he hadn’t wanted to admit before. Just as he hadn’t wanted to see what it was doing to her. He wanted to protect her. He had wanted her to demand her rights from him as he had seen her do with others she went up against. He had wanted her to challenge him. He hadn’t realized until this moment how she had been challenging him. Daring him to be a true mate. Daring him to be her equal.
As Cabal struggled to make sense of the mistakes he had made, the elevator came to a stop with a muted little ping and the doors slid open on Cassa’s floor.
The hall wasn’t empty. Waiting for them were Jonas, Lawe, Rule and Mordecai. And they didn’t look happy.
“We have a situation,” Jonas stated, his tone cold, implacable. “We need you for this.”
Cabal clenched his teeth together furiously as he turned to Cassa.
“Like hell.” She pushed in front of him. “I know Breed Law and don’t think I won’t use it.” She stared back at Jonas. “Where he goes, I go.” She shot Cabal a hard, angry look. “It looks like the only way to get the truth out of him at this point.”
Jonas’s brows lifted in surprise as the other members of the team stared back at Cabal in shock.
Cabal kept his expression carefully blank, though he didn’t doubt the arousal pouring through him was clearly detected. Mating heat was surging through his system, pumping in his veins. She was taking her place. She wasn’t asking for it. A part of him was exultant, another part was terrified. He couldn’t protect her if she was in the line of fire. But she was also proving that protection wasn’t what she wanted.
Was this what he had been pushing for all along? he wondered. A mate who would fight to stand beside him rather than behind him?
It didn’t matter, and he wasn’t questioning it at the moment. Later, they would discuss this. Just as they would discuss her penchant for getting information from Dog rather than her mate. If she needed information, then she could damned well challenge him for it.
“Very well.” Jonas shot Cabal a warning look. “We’ll take the elevator to the top floor. The meeting room is set up there.”
The same meeting room Cabal had been headed to when Mordecai had waylaid him in the upper hallway to inform him that Cassa was meeting with Dog.
A meeting Mordecai had set up to repay a debt he owed to Cassa. Cabal understood the repayment, just as he appreciated the loyalty the Coyote had shown in informing her mate of that meeting.
He had accepted certain facts the second Mordecai had informed him that Cassa was meeting with Dog. First and foremost was his own mistake in not working with her. He had thought he could quell that independent nature enough to allow him to protect her. He’d been wrong about that, he admitted it.
Breed society was much different from that of human society. Respect wasn’t given, it was taken. She had earned the respect of every Breed she had worked with but had held back with him. She had expected that respect to be given. She had demanded it in her own way; he had just been too dense to understand. And now it was hers.
