Megans Mark (Breeds 6)

"Those boys stink," she muttered as she pushed herself farther into the cave and made room for Braden's larger body.

"Yes, they do at that. " Unfortunately, the distracting scent of the remnants of the Coyote Breeds' body odor was instantly overshadowed by the smell of manly heat that tempted the senses and made her erogenous zones wake up and howl. She clenched her thighs, feeling the wet proof of her attraction to him dampening the outer curves of her cunt.

And he wasn't exactly uninterested. She flushed as his gaze touched her; the heavy-lidded, sensual awareness moving over his expression was less than comforting.

Rather than staring at the hard body moving across from her, she moved

the light over the cave walls. The cave extended well back into the ridge, easily ten feet wide and perhaps twelve long, with several wide fissures opening into the wall and leading further back into the cliff.

"I had no idea the cliff houses were this large," she murmured, directing the beam of light to the widest fissure. It looked like a doorway opening into stone.

"That fissure leads to another inner cavern at the base of the cliff. I tracked them that far before I found the tunnel that led to the one they had trapped you inside. I don't believe they had explored far though; the tunnels are like a maze as you get deeper into the ridge. "

She glanced at him as he spoke, watching the confidence in the way he began to move about the cliff house.

"So what are we looking for? " She rose to her feet, the ceiling barely high enough to allow her to straighten.

Braden's shoulders were stooped, his head lowered as he glanced back at her.

"Jonas and his men didn't have time to go through the two upper caverns fully," he said. "I just want to be certain nothing was missed. "

"How did you manage to keep from getting lost in the tunnels?" The

thought of an inner maze within the stone was daunting, and she didn't care to attempt to search one.

"A good sense of direction. " Amusement laced his voice. "Don't worry; the tunnels shouldn't pose a problem. They wouldn't have left their vantage point to search them. They were waiting on you, and knew you weren't likely to use them. "

She inhaled roughly before moving to the opposite wall and shining the light closely on it. She didn't want to think about the Coyotes waiting on her, watching for her.

"These haven't been here long. " She ran her fingers over the stone, marveling at the forces that had created them. "The storms that washed out this gully were horrible. Before it was nothing more than a small chasm. Now it's almost a secret stone wonderland. I'll have to let the cavers' association know about these tunnels so they can explore and map them. "

It was imperative to get the proper GPS trackers within the tunnels and caves in case the unwary became lost within them.

"And another of nature's secrets becomes unraveled," Braden murmured.

"But lives are saved. " She shrugged at the faint condemnation.

"Especially the children who lose their way so easily. "

How many times had she done exactly that as a child? Too many to count. Her father, even now, told the hairraising stories of attempting to find her during the times she had disappeared into a cave or an unknown part of the desert.

"Some secrets were meant to stay hidden. " His voice was tight now, tense with a deep-seated anger as he investigated one of the ledges on the other side of the cave.

She assumed he meant the secrets the scientists had unraveled in creating the Breeds. From the news stories she had watched, she knew the controversy over Breed Rights was fueled by the Purists' beliefs that their animal DNA

disqualified them from the description of human. As though the human DNA had no significant value. It was insanity, the racism and prejudice that was growing against the Breeds. And though she could hear his anger, feel it distantly, it wasn't beating at her head, raw and painful. It was just there naturally. Allowing her to breathe and to function. The anomaly was comforting - confusing, but comforting.

"Nature does what she believes is right. " She leaned against the rock wall, staring at his broad back curiously.

"Do you think you would be here if you weren't considered a worthy life, Braden?' She tilted her head as he turned back to face her slowly.

His eyes were narrowed in the dim light that filled the cave, his expression pensive.

"I wouldn't fight for it daily if I didn't consider it worthy," he assured her, his lips quirking into a mocking smile before he turned back to whatever he had been investigating. "I just believe some things were not meant to be tampered with, Creation being but one of them. "

He was accepting of who he was, of what he was. But she heard the regret in his voice as well. Perhaps it was the world in general that disappointed him. As it did her.

She cleared her throat, nervous. "Sometimes tampering creates something beautiful," she finally whispered, staring back at him, licking her lips as his gaze flickered with surprise.