Coyote's Mate (6 page)

“Even if that contact threatened your family?” Alpha Lyons asked her then. “Ms. Kobrin, by contacting your family, you put them in the position that the Genetics Council has proof that they can be used against you. Their prime objective at this point is to capture Breed mates. Could your father be used to draw you from Haven? Would you give your life for your family?”

Her lips trembled. She stared at Cassandra. She hadn’t considered that. The Council rarely struck out at humans any longer, because the propaganda against them was so strong.

Cassandra stared back at her in sympathy.

“No,” she finally whispered. “I didn’t know this.”

“Yet you were sent Alpha Delgado’s statement, explaining his reasons and his actions, which he gave this tribunal,” Callan further stated. “Did you read that statement?”

She shook her head. She hadn’t read it. She didn’t want to read it or hear his reasons why.

“It wouldn’t have made a difference,” she finally told them clearly. “He lied to me, countless times. He destroyed my trust in him, and he knew for six years that he would do it. I don’t trust him, Alpha Lyons. Don’t doubt that this petition of separation is sincere. I promise you. It is.”

“Ms. Kobrin.” Wolfe Gunnar, alpha of the Wolf packs, spoke then. “Are you in love with him?”

She jerked in surprise at the question. “My emotions shouldn’t come into this, Alpha Gunnar.”

Did she love him? Until she ached with it. Was she going to allow him to control her body and her life because of it? Not in this lifetime.

Wolfe stared back at her for long moments before nodding his head slowly. “Perhaps you’re right,” he finally agreed.

“Perhaps that’s a question we should ask Alpha Delgado,” Cassandra suggested then, turning her head to Del-Rey as Anya held her breath in fear. She knew the answer. “Alpha Delgado, are you in love with Ms. Kobrin?”

Del-Rey stared back at her broodingly. “I can’t say I’m in love with her,” he finally stated. “I’m a soldier, Ms. Sinclair, not a damned poet. I claimed her. As proven, she’s my mate. Nothing else should come into this.”

Anya lowered her head and stared at her hands, hope dwindling inside her no more than seconds after it had burned through her soul. If he had said yes, would she have followed through with this petition? She knew she wouldn’t have. She couldn’t have denied him if he had sworn he loved her, even though she knew his word wasn’t worth the signature he had scrawled on his statements.

“I see,” Cassandra said heavily, her head lifting to stare back at the women on the tribunal. “And we wonder at such a young woman’s need to be separated from the man who only
claims
her,”

she sighed.

“Ms. Sinclair, may I ask a question?” Del-Rey asked, his voice as lazy as his slouched position in his chair.

“Of course, Alpha Delgado,” Cassandra said with a hint of surprise.

“We have several mated males on this tribunal. Alpha Lyons, Alpha Gunnar, Enforcer Jacob Arlington, and Enforcer Aiden Chance. Tell me, gentlemen, were you in love with your mates when the mating heat claimed you?”

Each man grimaced heavily. “Maybe we just weren’t aware it was love,” Alpha Lyons finally said with some amusement as he glanced at his wife beside him. “But have no doubt, Alpha Delgado, we learned quick enough.”

“Who is to say that I couldn’t learn as well?” Del-Rey shrugged then. “Being a Coyote doesn’t make me stupid, merely less willing to recognize emotion, I believe. By separating herself from me, my mate is stealing that chance from both of us.”

“He’s very clever with words,” Cassandra murmured under her breath.

“He is at that,” Anya said sadly. “He’s very good at twisting words.”

“I also noticed that Ms. Kobrin was decidedly less honest in her answer to that same question,”

Del-Rey pointed out then.

“Ms. Kobrin has the right to request that her emotions not be questioned,” Cassandra argued.

“Mating heat and the proven psychological effects are clear bases that she not be questioned regarding emotions that she may not be clear on at this moment.”

Del-Rey’s lips quirked mockingly, his black eyes gleamed in knowledge as Anya lifted her head and stared back at him.

“If I hadn’t wounded her family and made it look like a clear attempt to harm them, then they’d be dead,” he stated then. “The Council would have killed them and I knew it. But, I will admit, even without that risk, they would have felt my wrath. They endangered her from childhood to the moment I kidnapped her. Their lack of concern for her well-being would have been punished.

That was the decision behind my actions, right or wrong. If I knew then what I know now, would I have done it? I have to say yes,” he continued. “I claimed her and I claimed all right to exact vengeance in her name. Her tender emotions and lack of understanding of men of war clearly show that she had no idea how little her welfare was considered by those she loved.” With that, he leaned forward. “She wants a petition of separation. Very well. She has it. I’ll be damned if I’ll take a mate or a woman who claims that the bonds between us are no more than rape.” He turned to Jonas at his side. “Director Wyatt, I accept your offer as enforcer with the Bureau on the condition that while I’m risking my ass for her freedom, again, that she be required to stay at Base and oversee the Coyote Breeds that look to her for support. Those men and women we took out of there will need time to acclimate and she’s a guiding force they look to.”

Jonas’s brows arched. “How long do you believe this acclimation is needed?” he asked. “I’m certain Ms. Kobrin would like a set timeline. She seems rather talented in the area of setting boundaries.”

“One year,” Del-Rey stated. “She’ll receive advance notice of my returns to oversee the military and financial concerns of the packs between missions. You stated you needed more men for the swift strikes being made against facilities and enemy groups.” He grinned. “Looks like I’m your man.”

“Those are dangerous assignments,” Jonas growled as Anya stared at him in shock. “Mates don’t take those missions.”

Del-Rey gave a hard, cold laugh as he rose to his feet. “Looks like I’m no longer a mate, Director Wyatt. I’m just the poor bastard with the hard-on.”

With that, he moved from the table, stalking past the table Anya sat at, his imposing features savage, tight with anger, as he stalked to the wide double doors, lifted his hands and slammed through them.

The crash of metal against metal as the doors bounced into the walls had her flinching violently as she stared at his back.

“He’s crazy,” she whispered.

Cassandra snorted. “Yeah. That’s a Coyote for you. We’ve never accused them of being sane.”

“Can he do this?” she asked. “He accepted mate status. This is supposed be against the rules or something, isn’t it?”

Cassandra stared back at her archly. “Or something,” she sighed. “Oh well, look on the bright side, maybe he won’t be back very often.”

She grabbed Cassandra’s arm, glaring at her furiously. “He could be killed.”

“We could all be killed, Anya,” Cassandra told her, her voice cool now. “We’re Breeds. We weren’t meant to be free, remember? We’re all at risk. He’s just accepting a risk other mated males are forced to relinquish. The order of separation changes those rules. He can do whatever the hell he wants to now.”

Even risk his life. Anya turned back and let her gaze find Sharone’s. Her friend was torn, she could tell. Torn between pack loyalty and friendship. Then, Sharone’s expression cleared and a little smile touched her lips as she stared back at Anya. One of triumph. One Anya understood even less than she understood Del-Rey’s decision to leave.

CHAPTER 3

EIGHT MONTHS LATER

Del-Rey stared out at the night as the heli-jet neared Haven. The sky was clear; stars studded the midnight expanse and a full moon shone down on the land with vibrant golden rays.

Forests ringed the nearly two hundred acres of valley that the Wolf Breeds now commanded, a far cry from the less than a dozen acres they had held before. Federal land had been granted to them as yet more government officials within the U.S. had been proven to be part of the Genetics Council’s lower ranks. Top secret files obtained from select agencies had shown an influx of money through those channels as well as weapons and military trainers.

Two hundred acres of Uncompahgre National Forest, so far, had been deeded to the Wolf Breeds, with another five hundred acres expected to be ceded to them within the next year.

The valley the Wolf Breeds claimed as home was within full sight of the cliff peak that the Coyote Breeds had invaded a little over eight months before. That single mountain had been given to the Coyotes due to the fact that it represented a threat to the valley below and hadn’t been in the original land given to Haven. It was a home Del-Rey was now determined to return to.

He’d just finished an investigation into Engalls Pharmaceuticals and a division of that company, Brandenmore Research. The two companies were working covertly on a drug that would control a Breed’s free will. The investigation had taken longer than he had originally believed it would.

He hadn’t been back to Base in over two months.

He hadn’t smelled his mate in two months. He’d had too much time to think and too damned much time to regret. And he was sick of being away from Base, being away from his mate.

“Where do you think we’re headed next?” Brim smothered a yawn as the pilot contacted Haven’s base and neared their airspace.

“We’re not going back out,” Del-Rey stated, his gaze still narrowed on the night sky.

Brim’s silence lasted a little too long.

“You promised the tribunal a year,” Brim reminded him quietly.

“I know what I said,” he growled. “We’ll go fuck off at the beach for a few weeks here and there.

Hell, take the girls to fucking Disneyland or some shit. I’ve had it, Brim. This is bullshit. My mate runs my fucking base better than I do, and on top of it”—he turned to his second-in-command and bodyguard—“did you read that fucking report Sharone finally got around to sending to us? This is a disaster waiting to happen.”

He was going to start sweating again. Hell, when he’d read the original report, he swore his hands had shook. His mate was too damned brave, courageous and daring, and those female bodyguards he had allowed her were just as damned bad.

He ran his hand over his face and shook his head. Eight months. A man could do a lot of thinking, conniving and planning in eight months. When it came right down to it though, he knew when he’d reached his limit. Del-Rey’s limit had been reached.

“Should be easy enough to put another team on Engalls and Brandenmore with our information,”

Brim stated. “All we need is the proof now.”

“Proof better come soon,” Del-Rey snarled.

Brandenmore and Engalls, CEOs of the two companies they were investigating, had nearly been the cause of several Breeds’ deaths as well as a librarian in Virginia who had overhead their plot.

Being forced to release them to gain information had left a bad taste in Del-Rey’s mouth.

Information had come in. Information that would save a young woman’s life, and enough medical knowledge to prepare a fail-safe in case another Breed was infected with the drug. But damn if he hadn’t wanted to kill the bastards still walking the streets. Smug, superior, Phillip Brandenmore and Horace Engalls were the worst that humanity could produce. And they called Breeds animals, he snorted silently.

The black heli-jet came in, full stealth, and settled on the landing pad above the two-story welcome entrance at the gates of the Wolf Breed compound, Haven. The doors slid open silently, and figures, tall, dark and silent, stepped from the craft and moved with lethal precision to the steps that led down to the side of the building and the entrance door.

Del-Rey and his team didn’t make a sound as they entered the secured building, moved through the security protocols, then entered the enclosed Wolf Breed compound through a lower door.

“Alpha Leader Delgado, we have a vehicle awaiting you and your men.” A Wolf Breed escort stepped forward in the low light that surrounded the outside of the structure. “Alpha Leader Gunnar and the Wolf Breed Cabinet have assembled as per your request.”

Del-Rey gave a sharp nod. He motioned two of his men with him, the other two he gave a silent signal to return to their own base within the cliffs that rose high above the peaceful valley.

With him was Brimstone and another member of his team who was also part of his security as alpha: Cavalier, the Breed Anya had helped him to rescue before the main facility rescue.

She had never understood why he took only a few at a time. It had been imperative to weed out the spies, to show her that often those she trusted would betray her. And when it came to his packs, he wanted the assurance of loyalty. Cavalier had information he needed and a view into the facility that even Anya and Sharone wouldn’t have known to make note of.

The drive to the pack headquarters in the center of the compound wasn’t a long one. The valley was nearly two hundred acres of pristine grassland and rising, centuries-old cotton-woods, pines and oak. They sheltered the cabins and buildings within, and deep beneath the base of the mountains that rose above them was a command center rivaled only by the Felines or the American government itself.

It took time, though, to clear Security in the main building of the headquarters. An elevator ride took them down to the bowels of the base, and then they had another drive through steel and cement to the once abandoned military base that the Wolf Breeds had been given access to.

Over the past seven years since Haven had been established, the majority of work had gone into this defense and operational base. Above them, the serene valley reflected a love of nature, privacy and established camaraderie, if one overlooked the armed guards hidden in the mountains and the sheltering branches of the trees.

Below was the heart and soul of Haven’s security, and it ran like a well-oiled machine.

“The cabinet is waiting in meeting room three on the third level,” the Wolf Breed guard said and nodded to them as they entered an elevator. “Dash Sinclair and his family arrived just ahead of you.”