Cross Breed (Breeds 23)

She tried to make herself keep going, but this was Jonas.

“What?” Tilting her head, she waited.

“Did you really think that would work with an alpha of Rule’s strength, honey?” he asked her gently.

“He knows,” she snapped, hearing the odd sound of her voice, a melodic, haunting tone she’d have to consider later. “If he can lie to me, then he deserves whatever I can throw at him.” She turned back to all of them, her head lifted, glaring back at them. “I do not accept that Separation nor do I acknowledge his disavowal,” she informed them, stabbing her finger in the direction of the incriminating paper still lying on the dark wood desk. “I will find my mate, with or without your help.”

She was aware of her father watching her with narrowed eyes, his gaze thoughtful, intent.

“I can’t tell you where he’s at, and you knew that before you asked,” Rule growled, trying to reassert the hold he would have had over her before she lost the anchor in her little world.

Her mate.

“I would have told you.” There was only that agonizing pain, a feral rage beating at her brain, and the betrayal. “I wouldn’t pull this bullshit on you, Rule, not after all these years. I would tell you.”

Respect begot respect. If he could disrespect her and lie to her, then she could call him on it. He might be stronger physically, but she wasn’t weaker, no matter what they wanted to believe.

“What are you going to do?” It was her father who asked the question, still thoughtful, watching her, gauging what he could sense inside her.

He was her father, and she loved him, but he wasn’t her alpha any longer. He was her father.

“I’m going to kill him,” she stated, aware of the surprise rippling through the room. “I’m going to find him, I’ll find out why he did this, and if I don’t like his excuses, then I’ll kill him.”

Jonas rubbed at the back of his neck; Del Rey’s head turned, his gaze going to Callan and Wolfe in surprised reaction. Callan could only shake his head as Wolfe watched her carefully.

Her father nodded slowly. “Want some help?”

“Dash, no,” her mother gasped. “She can’t.”

“She’ll do it with or without our help,” he stated, his gaze still locked with his daughter’s, sensing the emerging strength, the depth of instinct she finally allowed free. “Let me watch your back, Cassie.”

He could feel her searching for any hint of deception and let his lips quirk knowingly. “Have I ever lied to you? Deceived you?”

“No.” Those blue eyes were blazing, like iridescent gems glowing with the pain trapped inside her. But what had each man in that room entranced was the way the blue was beginning to spread through the whites of her eyes. “Do you know where he is?”

He shook his head. “But I might know someone who does.”

“Dash …” Elizabeth whispered his name, her hand tightening on his arm. “No …”

“It’s time, Elizabeth,” he whispered, dropping a quick kiss to her parted lips before following his daughter as she opened the door and left the room.

Dog had warned him months ago that his daughter was far more than he ever guessed, and Dash hadn’t believed him even though he’d sensed something trying to break free inside her for years. What he was sensing now, though, he couldn’t believe.

There had never been an alpha female but in title only. The mate of an alpha, though not physically or instinctively stronger than the males, commanded in her alpha’s stead. It was a hierarchy thing, a part of nature. But he’d never heard of anything like what he sensed radiating from his daughter. She wasn’t just alpha, she was what Jonas called Primal. A breed whose geneti

cs went beyond human or animal. A creature spawned by determined strength, rage, and called free in only the most extreme circumstance. But once called free, forever a part of the Breed that carried it.

“Weapon up,” he told her as they moved down the hall. “I’ll meet you in the lobby.”

She swung around, her gaze piercing.

Dash grabbed her arm, snarled in her face, and grabbed her attention. He was still her father, and if this was the path she was going to walk, then she’d better learn fast how to stay on it.

“You’re strong, little girl,” he acknowledged caustically. “But you have a hell of a lot to learn and your mate’s not here to begin your education. Consider me a stand-in tutor. And you better believe I know a hell of a lot more about this game than you do. Accept it, and by God start learning now.”

She didn’t drop her gaze in submission but gave a quick nod in return, and he sensed the enraged creature inside her stepping back enough that his own instincts weren’t bristling with the unconscious challenge.

“Now, you weapon up. I’ll meet you in the lobby in half an hour,” he informed her again. “And be ready, Cassie. You challenge the Breed we’re going to meet, and he’ll rip you apart. And there won’t be a chance in hell I can stop it.”