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Orrin’s deliberately arrogant claim filled the air with anger. With Wyatt’s anger.
“But she isn’t yours, is she? No matter how much she claims to be. When do the lies stop?” His hands smacked on the table as he leaned forward, the sight of blood-tipped claws now protruding from the tips of his fingers an assurance that the primal genetics he possessed were rising hard and fast inside him. “Do you take me for a fool? Do you imagine I don’t for a second know who and what you are?”
He stared at her, knowledge and demand burning his gaze. He was her genetic superior, that gaze seemed to remind her. She would submit. She would follow his lead. She would . . . tell him to go to hell if he kept trying to intimidate her in such a way.
“I take you for a bastard!”
Before she could restrain the urge, the tigress that resided inside, normally silent and well hidden, slipped its leash. Her own claws emerged before her hands slapped to the table as well. She could feel the markings at the sides of her face shadowing her flesh, feel the incisors at the sides of her mouth dropping lower, feel the animal infused in her genetics merging with the human.
Shock filled the room. Satisfaction filled Wyatt’s gaze. Did he truly believe he’d maneuvered her so easily? That she hadn’t considered the consequences to what she had just done.
“You are an unregistered Breed female,” Jonas snarled, his voice a lash of icy dominance. “You will do as you’re told by the only alpha claiming you.”
The only alpha claiming her? He was as insane as he believed the Bengal he was chasing to be.
Thankfully, being claimed didn’t count if she didn’t want it to.
Lobo eased to his feet, though not in fear, not even wariness. Sharp interest definitely, and a hint of concern for her, not of her.
“You are no alpha of mine, Director,” she assured him, her tone sharp, melodic, rather than rough as many males’ voices were when their animals slipped free. “That scent of demand, that look of furious command, has no effect on me. My alpha marked me years ago and no other will usurp his place no matter how hard they may try.”
She had accepted her alpha freely when the tigress inside her first showed itself. The mark of that acceptance, not just by her but by the animal inside her couldn’t be wiped away, no matter how she’d already attempted to erase it.
“An alpha who wants you dead.” The reminder was given with a baring of sharp incisors and a flash of fury.
Well, he really didn’t have to throw that one in her face, now did he? Not that she believed Graeme wanted her dead, but it was the impression he’d given others searching for her. She didn’t consider that nice of him either.
“Is that what you believe?” She let a low, amused hint of laughter free. “Trust me, Director, if my alpha wanted me dead, then dead I would have been the night he found me when he first got here. You roused the monster, Director, in your search for me and Honor. Now you’ve found us. But believe me, he found us first, and nothing you do, no plans you make, no matter how deep you bury me, will keep him from me.”
She’d always known that, always accepted it. There was no hiding from the Breed that had, in essence, created her when he’d developed the genetic serum that saved her life.
“Do you think he intends to allow you to remain alive? Have you fooled yourself into believing he actually felt anything for you when you were a child?” He sneered back at her as she straightened, glanced at her claw-tipped fingers and slowly retracted the sharp extensions until her seemingly perfect manicure was in place once again.
Blood still dripped from the director’s claws to the table. Two perfect scarlet teardrops.
Lifting her gaze to him, she clenched her teeth, forced her incisors back and with a low, deep breath, restrained the genetics that surged free at his demand.
It was an ability she was rather proud of. In past years she’d learned how to push that part of her so deep that even Breeds couldn’t smell the mutation of her DNA or she could call it forward until the scent of the Bengal Tigress all but overwhelmed the scent of her humanity.
There wasn’t a Breed in the room that could sense the Bengal female that had faced them moments before, it was so completely recessed now. Though, it was becoming harder and harder to achieve that little trick with each passing month.
Muttered curses met the phenomenon, though Jonas remained silent, glaring at her, the scent of strength and demand still trying to exert itself over her. Alphas were marked by their ability to lead and their strength. Those two qualities had a way of merging into a particular scent that could encourage other strong-willed Breeds to follow, or force those of lesser will to do so. Cat wasn’t a Breed he could force until she wanted to allow him to believe such a thing.
She really wasn’t in the mood to play that game though.
“I think it really doesn’t matter,” she assured him. “I’m not hiding any longer. I’ve suffered for the cure those bastards injected in my veins only days after my birth. I suffered, as did Honor, Judd and Gideon. I won’t suffer further by trying to hide from my fate. One doesn’t hide from Gideon, Director. That only pisses him off, didn’t you know that? You face him, spit in his face and pray you’ve amused him enough that he has mercy when he finally gets around to killing you.”
“Can you get any more overdramatic?” he sneered, glaring at her. “You have no alpha. That places you under my protection as well as my command. You are unregistered, without the protection and registration an alpha or pride affords you. You do not have the choice of denying any alpha’s claim.”
She shook her head slowly. “I’m a Bengal tigress, Director. Even in the wild no lion would dare try to intimidate such a creature. I’m no submissive to your demands. I suggest we call this one a draw.”
“A good idea,” Lobo injected, obviously not in the least pleased with the director’s attempts to force his will. “If the alpha mark even I sense within her isn’t enough to encourage you to heed her wishes, Jonas, then I’ll back it with my own standing as an alpha and that of my pack. She doesn’t stand alone against her enemies, or your deliberate attempts to force her into accepting your arbitrary decisions.”
Jonas’s sneer only deepened as he shot the Wolf Breed a glare. “Your agreement with the Breed Tribunal and the Bureau of Breed Affairs doesn’t extend to countermanding any decisions I make, Wolf,” he informed Lobo with cold distain. “This isn’t your fight.”
“There’s no fight involved,” Cat injected, finished with the damned male posturing and the pissing contest in which the two Breeds were becoming involved. “I make my own decisions. I neither want nor need a man to back them, whether he be Breed, human or something in between.” She shot both men an imperious look, determined to make her point clear. “I am fully capable of making decisions on my own, without all your manly, Breed arrogance if you don’t mind.”
Jonas turned back to her slowly, the look he turned on her one known to shrivel confidence in Breeds far stronger than she was. Thankfully, the genetics that would have forced her compliance with such a look were so deeply buried that only a hint of trepidation spoiled the mocking arch of her brow in return.
