Cross Breed (Breeds 23)

He went over the information carefully, in case the pages somehow disappeared in the bloodshed coming. It was quite interesting, surprising really. If he’d been in the mood to be surprised.

Tucking the pages back into the envelope, he secured the flap and handed them back to the soldier. Old Chet wasn’t expecting that. He took the envelope hesitantly, looking back at his boss as though asking for guidance.

“It’s yours.” Aaron watched him warily. “All of it will be yours in a year …” He trailed off as Dog shook his head.

“If your identity is turned over to them, you’ll never be safe,” Aaron threatened him.

“Oh, good old Chet will take care of that either way,” Dog drawled, the look he gave the soldier assuring him he knew exactly what he’d do. “Spies rarely keep such things to themselves. And he’s a good little Council bitch, aren’t you, Chet?”

The soldier straightened, his hand settling on the weapon he wore as Dog chuckled knowingly. “That can be discussed later.” He turned back to Aaron. “That’s not the information I want.”

He could sense a vibration in the air, silent but steady, danger moving steadily closer as Chet made up his mind to kill. Not yet. He wanted to survive the bloodshed, Dog sensed. But it would come soon.

“What more could you want?” Confusion flickered across Aaron’s expression.

“I want to know what makes a man put out the order to kill his own son.” Dog wanted proof. “What made you think that hunting him down like an animal and threatening his woman, murdering her, then going after his child, would work for you?”

“There was no order to kill.” Aaron labored to his feet, grief, anger, hatred, flooding him. “Carson was to be returned. He was supposed to come home.” He stalked across the room and slapped the drink to the bar before gripping the edge with both hands and shuddering. “He left them no choice. The Council gave the order if they couldn’t take him alive, to kill him.” He turned back to Dog, his face heavy with the weight of that loss. “He chose to die.”

Incomprehensible. Aaron C. Ryder couldn’t imagine how his son could choose to die rather than turning his son over and accepting that his father had been behind his mate’s murder.

“But you gave the order to kill Angel,” he guessed. “Didn’t you?”

The old man sighed heavily. “I gave the order. God forgive me.”

“He’s the only one that might,” Dog admitted, aware of Chet moving to protect his boss, the soldier next to the door tensing.

“You can’t do anything, Cain.” Aaron shook his head heavily. “I’m a United States senator. All you can do is request your Breed Law be enacted. Killing me is the same as suicide. Your own people will hunt you down.”

“They won’t have to.” Dog shrugged. “You don’t understand, Senator. I might have disavowed my mate to protect her from you and your fucking twelve, but that’s nothing more than paper. If it takes my life to ensure her safety, then I’ll give it. Gladly.”

He didn’t bother to pull the knife he had hidden. He wouldn’t need it when the time came. The two soldiers were tense, hands on their weapons, hard gazes tracking his every move.

“If he dies, she’ll die anyway.” The soldier who spoke from the door did so without anger, without warning. It was a statement, nothing more. “That order’s already out. The sniper who deactivated that window and took a bead on her was just a warning.”

“You?” Dog asked without looking at him.

“Not me,” he denied. “I don’t kill women. Not for no amount of money. And I don’t know who it was. But he’ll kill her.”

“You’d have to get past the ghosts that protect her first.” Dog snorted, aware of the few times even he had sensed something otherworldly following her. “How do you think she’s survived this long?”

Evidently, the good senator had heard the rumors of Cassie’s visions.

“Now, do you want to die for this bastard?” He slid a look to the soldier he’d actually regret killing. “You can walk out. No harm, no foul.”

“You can’t kill him, Dog,” the soldier said with a sigh. “I can’t let you do that.”

It wasn’t out of loyalty. The odd note in the soldier’s voice mixed with his regret.

Dog shrugged. “Doesn’t matter. I’m going to kill him.” He gave the senator a hard, cold smile. “For my mother. For ten years of grief my father suffered, for your betrayal. The danger you represent to my mate. I’m going to send you to hell, you son of a bitch.”

He was poised to jump for Chet first, trusting Mutt and Mongrel to ensure the other two represented no threat. Before he could reach for the bastard, a knife flew past his nose and buried itself in the soldier’s chest, piercing his heart.

He knew that knife. Right past his nose it flew; a breath closer and he’d have lost precious flesh.

“Are you crazy?” He whirled around just enough to catch the full impact of his mate’s fist as it slammed into his jaw, and all the wild rage in her snarl as she swept his feet out from under him.

His ass hit the floor, and as shock reverberated through his brain, she straddled his chest, another knife lying against his throat as he stared into the most mesmerizing sight of his life. Neon blue eyes, the color bleeding fully into the whites, witchy, otherworldly. There was a snarl on her lips and all those wild black curls flowed around him as she bent her head, glaring at him with furious outrage. And in that second, he felt her as he never had before. Her creature slammed into his senses as his tore aside the shields he’d had in place to protect the last of his soul.