Cross Breed (Breeds 23)
He could still feel her wild fury beating inside his soul. He’d thought it would dull as the drive lengthened, but he could still feel it. Her tears, her screams. If the agony lancing through him didn’t abate, then he wouldn’t be able to contain it long enough to reach his prey.
He could have let it go.
That was what he told himself when the Breeds he’d found in Cassie’s former suite had told him about their search for the Major and this man. The emissary, they called him. Their search of the emissary’s computer files had revealed the information on Dog and Cassie, his surveillance of them sent to the Major.
Find the Major, the Wolf Breeds in Cassie’s suite told him, contact them and they’d move in and take custody of him.
Yeah, he’d agreed to it. He’d contacted this puny-assed human and made all the right moves, and when he’d been told to walk away from his mate if he wanted his legacy, Dog had walked away.
Because of the danger to his mate.
Because the information the Wolf Breeds had downloaded and shown him had detailed the risk of the hell they could be drawn into if he didn’t take care of the threat.
And in taking care of it, he’d be subject to Breed Law.
He’d lose his mate, no matter the choice he made.
Through the long, tedious limo ride, the even longer flight, he remained silent. He let the memories of Cassie wash over him, sustain him.
The scent of her, spice and a hint of sugar. Her kiss breathed against his lips … her rage.
Her rage beat inside his soul, mixing with his own, until he was certain madness lay in the next second.
Enduring it would kill him long before Breed Law managed to do so.
• CHAPTER 19 •
SENATOR RYDER’S ESTATE
ARLINGTON, VIRGINIA
The mansion was brightly lit, well-guarded, and inside it was her mate. Cassie narrowed her eyes on it, her gaze tracking, searching.
A pristine lawn stretched before her, with few areas for concealment. Landscape lighting was positioned to dispel the heaviest of the shadows, but at three in the morning, the human guards patrolling the estate wouldn’t be at their best. That is, unless the motion sensors were set off or the electronic security staff were diligent.
Three two-man teams patrolled the outside of the house, along with the dogs that paced at their sides. The dogs didn’t worry her overmuch. They were well trained, alert, but she’d already touched their senses, soothed them, assured them only friends were invading their territory that night.
Now she just had to find her mate.
He was in the house; she knew that for certain. She could feel him waiting. Was he waiting for her? Did he sense the enraged, betrayed fury getting ready to descend on him?
“Don’t use your eyes
,” Graeme hissed, the mangled feline sound reaching her from where she crouched atop the wall surrounding the estate, hidden by the heavy branches of a locust tree. “Use your senses. Your mate is the reason that creature that strains inside you exists. Mate to mate. You’ll find him if you let it have its way.”
Mate to mate.
She was going to skin her mate out and take his hide home. She’d hang it on her wall and die of grief.
A hard slap at the back of her head nearly knocked her from her perch. The scrape of sharp claws against her scalp accompanied the less-than-gentle tap. Before she could twist and defend herself, she found herself with a face full of Primal Bengal. Stripes, sharp canines and all.
“Close your eyes,” he hissed, now crouched at her side. “He’s a part of you. Find him.”
She closed her eyes, sensing the value of whatever he had to teach her, needing it. The closer they’d gotten to the estate of Aaron C. Ryder, the more the rage had built inside her.
It connected them.
The wild near insanity of that fury was all that bound them. She’d given herself to him, heart, soul. But in the long hours after he’d driven away, she’d realized he hadn’t given himself.