Cross Breed (Breeds 23)

“Well, love, didn’t you go and pick a surly bastard to mate?” The South African accent was tinged with amusement and affection as Dane Vanderale stepped into the room behind them.

Cassie swung around, facing the Breed who most of the world believed was no more than a Breed benefactor and philanthropist. They had no idea about the Breed crouched and ready to spring forward inside him.

Hybrids were so far a mystery to the scientists. Their genetics rarely came forward until their teens, and it seemed the animal and human senses they possessed were far more integrated than those of Breeds created by scientists.

Tossing Dog a small pack he carried as Dog stepped past her, Dane strode to the bar, poured himself a drink, then turned back to them. She caught the faint scent that reached her from the box, which indicated it held the slim cigars he provided certain Breeds.

Dane himself was a master of control, but along with the scent of the cigars was one of pure, unmatched fury barely contained.

Dressed in gray silk slacks and a white long-sleeved shirt, the sleeves of which were rolled back to his elbows, he looked less like a hybrid Breed and more like the businessman he portrayed himself to be. That is, if one overlooked the shaggy hair the color of desert sand and didn’t detect the animal lurking behind those emerald green eyes. Eyes he usually toned down with colored contacts.

Cassie narrowed her gaze on the hybrid, seeing far more than the mockery, easygoing charm and latent danger that she always picked up. For the first time since she’d known him, Dane was almost close to losing control of that inner animal he harbored.

“The parents, mine that is, are joining Callan and Jonas in Window Rock, by the way.” He lifted his glass in a silent toast to Cassie. “Dash and Callan have both called the Leo, requesting he and Mother assist you in this. It appears your father may have attempted to kill Rhyzan when he filed that petition after your disappearance.” He lifted the drink to his lips. “Don’t bloody well fuckin’ blame him.”

Dane tossed back the drink, then slapped the glass to the bar and refilled it.

“Is Dad okay?” Cassie breathed out wearily, watching the hybrid as he sipped at his drink now. She was surprised, she was under the impression her father would approve of Rhyzan’s actions.

“In excellent condition.” His grin was hard. “I believe they may have had to pull him off Rhyzan, though. I heard he tried to beat him to death. Near succeeded too. Bastard’s nose is slightly out of line, and I hear there may be a canine he’s in danger of losing due to the blows your father got in.”

This was a mess.

“Why did Dad and Callan ask Leo for help?” Cassie shook her head then.

“Mother’s research in Mating Heat,” Dane pointed out. “And it appears Rhyzan is being rather an ass in regard to rescinding the Petition for Reconsideration, despite your father’s insistence. Father, along with Seth Lawrence, who’s arrived with his mate, by the way, is attempting to get to the bottom of Rhyzan’s stubbornness. Mother’s going to run the tests herself. As she stated, in all her decades of work with Mating Heat, she’s never seen a Breed acquire two mates.”

Two mates.

Rhyzan wasn’t her mate and she knew it, but their tests had shown a compatibility …

“Oh God,” she whispered, turning back to Dane in shock. “Kenzi. If he’s Kenzi’s mate, then it would make sense that I showed a compatibility but no true mating.”

Dog’s irritated growl had her wanting to roll her eyes.

Dane inclined his head, unsurprised. “That was Mother’s thought as well. But Rhyzan should be aware of that. He’s been with Kenzi quite a bit, debriefing her. Which begs the question, why is he holding firm in wanting you and your mate separated before the mating mutation completes within you and Dog?”

Rhyzan was playing a game, and Cassie knew it, Jonas knew it, but what that game was she couldn’t guess. It made no sense that even with compatibility he’d attempt something like this. He had pride in surplus. He’d never admit that another Breed, especially a Council Coyote, had taken his potential mate. Or that he’d allowed it.

“It won’t matter once I locate him.” Dog’s smile was a Grim Reaper’s curve as he turned back to Dane. “What’s the status on my people?” The fact that he was furious wasn’t hidden. “I lost the connection with the team hours ago.”

Dane stared at the floor, that rage beginning to burn inside him once again.

“We lost one,” Dane finally said, sighing wearily as Dog snarled furiously. “One of the children. And perhaps one of my Lions as well. The wounds as he tried to protect the boy with his own body are pretty severe. We were forced to go dark just before that when we realized they’d found a way to track us. We found out just before the attack that they’d managed to slip a nano-tracker on one of the vehicles as we passed the gates.”

Cassie sat down slowly in the chair behind her and stared at Dane in shock. What was he talking about? Children?

“There were children?” Dog hadn’t told her there were children. He’d only said his people had to get out of a mission they were involved in before his status as a spy was revealed.

Dane nodded heavily. “Most of them were children. That was the information Dog and his teams have been working on within the Council ranks. The location of several dozen Breed children. Some still babes …”

“They’re still doing it?” Horror filled her voice.

They were still creating Breeds?

“Do you really believe they’ll stop?” Dane asked gently despite the fury pulsing beneath his voice. “They’re always certain the answer to whatever they’re seeking will come with the next one they create. Though what they’re seeking we’re not exactly certain of anymore. But they have come up with an interesting way of destroying the Breeds they’ve created now.”

She turned to Dog, disbelief pouring through her, tightening her throat and chest.