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How a man, or a Breed, could hate one and love another of the same genetic mutation, she didn’t understand.
She didn’t intend to spend much time trying to make sense of it either. She had other problems, much larger problems. One in particular, a big, muscled Bengal Breed posing as a Lion and determined to destroy her.
If only she could make herself just as determined to destroy him.
• • •
“I don’t like allowing her to leave like this.” Terran watched the pickup until it was out of sight.
The anger in his voice matched that of his scent, the tinge of regret and sorrow filling the early evening air.
“I know,” Cullen assured him. “These are decisions she has to make alone, Terran, we’ve always known that.”
“Not like this,” the Navajo argued. “It doesn’t matter if Claire still protects her or not. I accepted her as my niece the night she took Claire’s identity. Whether or not Claire’s spirit survives to shield her has nothing to do with it.”
“Graeme and Orrin are the ones you should be arguing with,” Cullen sighed, pushing his fingers through his hair as he blew out a hard breath. “They decided this was how it had to be, not me.”
The old Navajo had guided Cat this far, Cullen could do nothing but trust in Orrin’s visions now and pray Cat survived the coming realizations she had to face. As for Graeme, there were complications there that Cullen had no desire to consider at the moment.
“That brother of yours is a menace to Breeds and humans alike,” Terran muttered. “And I don’t trust him. He should have come to her, faced her . . .”
“There is nothing on the face of this earth that will stand between him and Cat.” Cullen turned to face the other man fully now, staring at him intently, willing him to understand, to know, that Graeme would never tolerate it for an instant. “Do as Orrin instructed. Let Cat face what’s to come. Encouraging her to hide from who and what she is now, could get her killed.”
It could get all of them killed. And life might not be exactly what he’d envisioned sometimes, but he still had things to do, dying before he completed those tasks wasn’t something he wanted to face.
“She’s been deserted all her life, Cullen,” Terran snapped, the scent of his anger growing. “Even by him. And by God following suit with everyone else in her damned life doesn’t sit well with me.”
Turning Terran stomped back into the house, leaving Cullen to turn and stare into the desert, the weight of Terran’s words weighing on his shoulders. Because he was right. They’d all deserted her in one form or the other, to save her. But in ensuring her physical survival, what had they done to her heart?
• CHAPTER 2 •
“Your Cat is in the guesthouse and settling in, according to Khi.” Lobo Reever stepped into the large cavern accessed by the steps leading from the estate house above and paused as Graeme lifted his head and stared back at him over the top of the computer monitor he’d been staring at. The Wolf Breed appeared just as supremely confident and detached as ever, but Graeme knew the façade for what it was now. Lobo Reever was anything but detached. Supremely confident, most certainly, that was a Breed trait if nothing else was. Excessively arrogant, he had that in spades, but once again, that too was a Breed trait. Hidden beneath the layers of carefully honed Breed instincts and strength was a storm brewing closer to the surface by the day though.
As for his stepdaughter, Khi, she was a catalyst that could end up destroying both Reever brothers. For now though, she was controlling her anger. Partially because Graeme kept her distracted by allowing her to participate in some of his less complicated little games. She seemed to enjoy them a little too much, but at least this way she had something to keep her far-too-quick little mind busy.
At the moment, the Reever family’s eccentricities were the least of his worries. One little cat’s safety and realizations were pretty much consuming his time.
“Martinez made contact with a high-level member of the Senate Breed Appropriations Committee several days ago,” he informed Lobo. “I finally cracked the encryption on the number he was using and managed to identify his contact. I’d like to send one of your men to shadow him.”
Lobo’s brow lifted slowly. “A senator?” the Wolf Breed wasn’t surprised, merely interested in the information.
Graeme nodded shortly. “His name hasn’t been mentioned in relation to the Council, nor has he or his family been associated with any of the suspected members of the remaining organization. Until this, he was above suspicion. Within hours after the call several suspected Council commanders began moving though and rumors of an escaped experiment began filtering through targeted lines of communication. Martinez has revealed her identity.”
The bastard would die. Graeme couldn’t strike just yet, not while Martinez was being watched so closely b
y the Bureau of Breed Affairs enforcers, but they had to blink eventually. When they did, the bastard would pay for his betrayal.
“Send Rush.” Lobo nodded “He’s good in the shadows. Send Rath along as well, for backup. They work well together in these situations.”
“That was my thought as well,” Graeme assured him as he shut down the program he was working on and rose from his chair. “I’ll notify them immediately so they can head out.”
He was aware of Lobo watching him closely, the intense, dark green of his gaze somber and hinting at questions Graeme knew he was in no mood to answer.
“Do you know what you’re doing, Graeme?” Lobo asked quietly then. “She could end up hating you.”
No, she wouldn’t hate him. Kill him, perhaps, rage for years most likely, but it wasn’t possible for Cat to hate him. She was too much a part of him, just as he was too much a part of her. That didn’t mean he didn’t have doubts. Doubts the Wolf Breed didn’t need to know about.
“Do you know what you’re doing?” Graeme asked him rather than answering the question. The game the other Breed was involved in at the moment was every bit as complicated and dangerous as the one Graeme was in.
