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Why hadn’t he seen the clues?
Straightening from the position he had taken against the wall, Lawe moved to leave the room and check on his too-independent mate.
He hadn’t even taken that first step when a hard, demanding knock sounded on the door and the scent of Jonas’s mate reach his senses.
Lawe’s gaze moved to Jonas as a sudden knowledge flooded his system. Animal genetics surged to the forefront of his senses as he bit back a growl and forced himself to remain in place.
A Breed Enforcer moved to the door and opened it quickly. Rachel Wyatt swept into the room in a cloud of heated anger and resentment as she moved to her mate, the director of the Bureau of Breed Affairs.
Jonas turned to the door as the delicate figure of his mate entered the room.
Jonas’s mated wife was lovely, compassionate and intelligent. With her quiet femininity and iron-strong will, she was the perfect counter for his icy, sharp-edged son. There was little Jonas managed to pull over on her, yet there was also little that she wouldn’t forgive him.
Long, dark brown hair was pulled atop her head in a classic twist, thin-framed glasses perched on her nose as her gaze locked on her husband’s. Her expression was tight, her lips thin and the scent of her anger drifted through the room like the scent of hot, rich sugar.
“Rachel?” The question in Jonas’s tone, gently voiced and curious still had the power to surprise those who had only known the hard lash of his tongue before he found his mate.
As though the animal inside Jonas, always pacing restlessly, furiously, had suddenly found solace and a sudden, overwhelming peace. That peace descended over Jonas as his wife moved to him and took the hand he reached out to her.
“What have the two of you done to my sister?” she asked him, her voice low, her tone accusing and distressed as she stared up at her husband.
“Nothing as of yet,” Jonas assured her as Lawe ignored the look of retaliation in the director’s eyes. “Though I’m certain Lawe has a few things in mind.”
Rachel gave a brief, less-than-feminine snort to the statement. “I rather doubt he’s going to get the chance to do anything. Whatever you said to her last night, she packed and left before dawn this morning. I’ve missed my sister, Jonas, and you allowed him to run her off as though she were some criminal with no rights and no ability to choose her own fate. Since when was the decision made that a suspected mate should become a prisoner?”
She wasn’t pleased. And her displeasure was centered more on him than on her mate, Lawe knew as he felt his own fury beginning to tighten through his system. The pain that pulsed and burned inside her reached out to slice at each man in the room, and to remind him of his basic responsibilities to his mate.
That of her happiness.
Lawe could feel the condemnation in each glance directed his way.
Then, Jonas turned and glared momentarily at Lawe for having the temerity to do anything to displease Diane and, in effect, displease her sister as well.
“The hell she has.” Lawe fought to hold back the growl rumbling in his chest.
He knew he should never have left her alone. The night before, something had warned him not to take his eyes off her. Not to trust her. But he had never imagined she would dare attempt to leave without backup. Without her men. Especially after her capture and near death not so long ago.
Ignoring the looks Jonas and the others cast his way, Lawe quickly began trying to figure out which way she was heading and why.
The girl, Honor Roberts, no doubt, he thought furiously. Diane had no intention of letting it go or of allowing anyone else to take over the completion of that mission. Jonas could feel a growl building in his throat at the low rumble of anger that left Lawe’s throat. As though he refused to believe Diane Broen would dare to leave without his permission. Even Jonas had expected this move, yet Lawe had done nothing to stop it.
The Breed was too certain of himself, too assured of his hold over Diane despite the lack of mating between them. It amazed Jonas. Where had his friend, the man he considered more intuitive than any other, disappeared?
“The hell she definitely has.” Rachel crossed her arms over her breasts and turned to Lawe with narrowed, angry eyes. “I just talked to her a few hours ago, Lawe. Even I was unaware she was leaving until she slipped into my room to tell me. I watched her shimmy down the metal gutter twenty stories down as the sun rose, because it was easier to slip away from the goon squad you put on her. What did you do? Pull the big brave Breed act on her again?” She didn’t bother to hide the sarcasm in her voice. “Didn’t I warn you that you were going to frighten her away?” Unshed tears rasped her voice now and glittered in her eyes. “You can’t chain her. You can’t force her to be some timid little pet. You’re going to get her killed by forcing her to focus more on her fight for freedom than on protecting herself.”
“She’s going to get herself killed because of her own damned stubbornness,” Lawe all but snarled as Jonas attempted to hide his wince.
That wasn’t the response that should have come out of his mouth.
Rachel’s brows lifted in derisive, angry surprise. “So she should just play the helpless little female for you like your other conquests do and let you go out and play all by yourself then?” A sharp laugh left her lips. “Really, Lawe, I thought you were smarter than that. Just because you gave up active military status for bureaucratic bullshit and the logistical planning you love, doesn’t give you the right to imprison her.”
Lawe glared back at her.
Jonas wondered if he should commiserate with his soon-to-be assistant director or kick his ass. He saw the way Lawe was staring at her, his eyes glittering with fury, and the look had a warning growl vibrating in Jonas’s throat.
“Keep trying to protect her, Lawe,” Rachel said painfully. “All you’ll do is keep her running. And each time she runs she’ll become harder to find and more determined to suffer the heat alone rather than attempt to make it work with you. She’s worked too hard to give up her independence or to allow any man, especially
a Breed, to control her. You’ll only make her hate you.”
