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Yet they continued to ask for more and nothing, not even friendship or loyalty, was offered in return and the isolation facing her only enraged her.
“You blame Graeme for what saved you?” Ashley questioned her in disbelief. The conclusion the Breed female drew from the agony lancing through Cat’s soul shouldn’t have been a surprise.
It wasn’t a surprise, she assured herself.
Lifting her hand to rub at her temple and the headache brewing there, she tried to tell herself it didn’t matter. The Martinez household had been far better than the research center, but then, homelessness would have been better than that hell.
She’d stayed, though, because she knew Raymond would carry out the threat to contact the Genetics Council and tell them exactly where she was and who she was. If she’d been taken, then Honor and Judd would have been found and captured as well. Gideon would have come for her. And the Council would have been waiting for him. She couldn’t bear the thought of it.
“I blame Graeme for a lot of things, Ashley,” she admitted painfully. “Things that are none of your business. Don’t worry—unfortunately for me, I’m just as stupid as the rest of you, it seems, because I’d protect his identity with my last breath. But I don’t have to like it, and I don’t have to deal with his friends while I’m doing it.”
Turning, she all but ran from the kitchen. She didn’t care if Ashley stayed or if she left. It didn’t matter. Years of searching for him, of waiting for him, of silently spilling blood to save those who would turn on her now gouged another jagged scar on her soul.
And here, she hadn’t thought there was room for more scars. Or more pain. She’d believed she’d hurt as much as she could ever hurt for the losses she’d suffered.
She was wrong. And she realized she was more alone than she’d ever imagined she could be.
• CHAPTER 12 •
Intuition. The mating bond.
Graeme wasn’t sure what had caused the sudden certainty that Cat needed him. It was strong enough, though, to make him abruptly leave the meeting with Jonas and Lobo and race to her. He arrived just in time to hear, to feel, the blinding pain and betrayal ripping through her as she informed Ashley of the life she’d lived to protect him.
Stepping silently into the kitchen as she raced from it, he faced Ashley and the regret that filled her. A regret she hadn’t allowed to stand in her way.
This little Coyote female was about as easy to predict as Cat, because he hadn’t anticipated whatever had happened here.
She turned slowly to face him as he stood in the arched entrance to the dining room. Crossing his arms, he leaned against the door frame, watching her silently, forcing back the furious growls that threatened to rumble from his chest.
Brushing back the multihued strands of blond hair that escaped her braid, she sighed heavily, her gaze resigned as she face
d him.
“She’s upset with me now.” That was a bit of an understatement.
“What did you do, Ashley?” The warning in his voice was one he didn’t attempt to hold back.
Perfectly arched brows snapped into a frown. “Jonas is convinced she’s the way to learning your location. I only informed her how displeased your friends would be to learn that was true.”
“Son of a bitch. Ashley . . . !” Straightening from the door frame, Graeme bit off a vicious growl. “You’re supposed to be her friend as well.”
“I am her friend.” Defiance waged in her expression and her stance as her hands went to her hips and her chin lifted as her gray eyes darkened and narrowed. “Only a friend would test her anger in such a way and force her to see how that anger colors her life.”
The Russian accent thickened and, despite her declaration, he saw the flash of indecision in her eyes.
“Maybe you should think about that definition of friendship.” Stemming the hard rumble of his displeasure was impossible.
“Why should I think about it? Her anger is nearly hatred, Graeme. Should Jonas learn who you are . . .”
“There’s no doubt that will happen, Ashley,” he snarled back. Hell, maybe he was keeping too many secrets from too many people, especially where Jonas we concerned. It could be time for a meeting. “And it will be none of her doing, it will be mine. Stay out of this fight.”
“I hate felines,” she snapped furiously, glaring at him. “All of you are far too stubborn and you make no damned sense. Just as she makes no sense.” She growled then. “She does not even yell. She just closes herself up inside. How does she think she will ever survive mating with one like you?” One hand flipped out toward him as a feminine sneer of disgust curled at her lips. “I would have shot you by now.”
Graeme didn’t bother arguing with her or defending himself. A snap of his teeth and a hard rumble of command had her turning tail and vacating the house quickly, though. And why that worked he still wasn’t certain. Because she knew damned good and well he would never risk the combined forces of feline, Wolf and Coyote Breeds should he dare to actually turn her over his knee and tan her little ass. Something her alpha should have already taken care of to curb her recklessness.
Moving quickly through the house to Cat’s bedroom, he found her standing at the wide balcony doors, arms crossed over her breasts, as she stared out past the walled property.
“And how did I know you would be here?” The anger that filled her voice was a cover. Graeme could sense the pain that roiled like a gathering storm through her small body. “Why don’t you leave too? I don’t want you here.”
