Rule Breaker (Breeds 20)

At first, it had just pissed him off that his twin would desert him. But once he’d realized why Rule was doing it, it had made more sense. Hell, he didn’t want Rule sensing the pleasure Diane gave him any more than Rule wanted to sense it.

The link was still there when they needed it, so he didn’t worry as much about it. Especially when he was able to slip back into that link without Rule’s awareness of it, just to make certain his brother was doing okay.

For a week or so, he’d worried. Then one night Lawe sensed Rule’s instincts pacing, growling. Realizing his brother slept, Lawe had shifted through the impressions his brother’s animal senses had been telegraphing, almost as though asking for advice.

Lawe had seen the woman, felt the animal’s need for her, his brother’s denial of her, and he’d grinned.

Animal sense to animal sense, Lawe had sent back the impression of Rule accepting it, no matter his denial of it. But had his brother’s animal, his subconscious, somehow known Rule would have actually run?

Breeds were far more than just human with a few added features. They were both human and animal,

and not always in equal measure. The face of the human might greet each day, but many times, Lawe knew, even for him, it was the animal that was aware as they slept, waiting for trouble, watching the human’s back.

Sometimes, in those Breeds with the stronger genetics, it was almost as though the human and the animal simply shared the same body. He’d often sensed that in Rule. Despite his brother’s control, his denials to the contrary, it was often the animal senses that guided him.

What if the man had suddenly sensed what the animal was trying to hide from him?

He grinned at that.

God, to have been a fly on the wall. Gypsy probably thought his brother was fucking crazy. Or would, once she’d gotten over the pain.

And maybe, he thought, he could have helped, should have done more. But Rule had gotten himself into this mess and he was going to get himself out of it. If he was too stubborn to accept that his animal would never have accepted a mate who was too weak to be the woman he needed, then he’d just have to suffer until he realized the truth.

Or until Lawe decided he’d suffered enough and felt sorry for him.

He’d wait till morning, Lawe decided. Then he’d decide if his brother deserved the help.

CHAPTER 15

“Going somewhere, Breaker?”

Rule paused outside the hotel lobby, his gaze narrowing as a whiff of cigar smoke reached his nose and Dane Vanderale stepped from the shadows of the hotel.

Mockery filled the hybrid’s expression, but his eyes were cold, hard. Like frozen emeralds.

“I’m busy, Junior,” Rule sneered, almost hoping the bastard would give him the fight he was itching for since he’d stepped from the bathroom and realized Gypsy had run.

Dane leaned against the side of the hotel, holding the thin, aromatic little cigar loosely between his fingers.

“I’m almost tempted to give you what you’re looking for, cub. You’re a dumb little fucker, aren’t you? I didn’t expect that of you.” His gaze never wavered.

Rule gave a harsh snort of laughter. “Dumb little fucker, am I?” he asked the other Breed mockingly. “You’re really itching for a fight tonight, aren’t you? Too bad, I’m not in the mood to give you what you’re after.”

“No more than you were able to give your pretty little mate what she was after,” Dane tsked as Rule suddenly froze in disbelief.

“And you called me a dumb little fucker?” he growled, feeling, feeling, something wild and animalistic rising too close to the surface of his skin as fury began to boil in his blood. “She’s not . . .”

What the fuck?

The words he would have bitten out in fury were locked inside him, a snarl emerging instead as though a part of him refused to allow him to utter the words.

It wasn’t a part of him. Animal instincts—the animal that resided just beneath the skin was suddenly enraged. With him.

Dane laughed.

A low, savagely cruel sound that had the hair at Rule’s nape prickling in warning.

“Do you know, Rule, I’ve sensed your mark on that girl since she was no more than fifteen years old. As I stood at her brother’s casket, mere feet from her, the scent of the animal that paces inside you marked her, even then.”