Tapping the electronic pen against the side of the e-pad, Anya bit her lip and considered that information. Over the years, she’d dealt with several administrators of various labs and facilities.
If she wasn’t mistaken, the facilities in the Middle East had been training surgical and scientific personnel from those Breeds that showed a predisposition to medical knowledge, rather than killing them, as many other facilities did. Coyotes were bred to kill, not to save lives, even those of their own kind. A predisposition to such talents, the Council had feared, was also a disposition toward mercy. That wasn’t what they wanted or needed in this species.
She made a note to check into that before going to Del-Rey with this information. They could use any medical personnel that could be acquired, or even kidnapped at this point.
“Coya, the pack leaders have all promised a full report on their team areas, duties and complaints within the next seventy-two.” Ashley turned to her from where she’d stood, her back turned, talking to the pack leaders via the internal base link. “They’re so cute, have I mentioned that?”
“I think you might have.” Anya grinned at Emma, who was rolling her eyes.
“Has med tech sent their report on Del-Rey’s condition?” She turned to Sharone who was working frantically on her PDA.
“His condition is stable and healing,” Sharone told her. “Brim reported he’s sleeping like the dead and promises you his team report once he can leave the alpha and resume his regular duties.”
Ashley snorted. “She’s supposed to be in there watching over him, not covering Base while Brim sits on his tush and does her job. Cute though it may be.” She waggled her brows.
“Emma, make a note to watch the dye that goes in Ashley’s hair the next time she bleaches it,”
Anya ordered. “I think it’s beginning to hamper cognitive abilities.”
Ashley snapped her teeth at Anya playfully before going back to work.
“She’s right,” Sharone hissed furiously, her voice low. “You’re supposed to be gathering reports and watching out for the alpha at this point. This makes us look bad.”
Anya clenched her teeth. “I know what I’m supposed to be doing, Sharone,” she bit out. “He wanted Brim with him. I’m not going to go beg.”
“Who says beg?” Sharone told her. “Go in and be the coya. Damn, have we wasted our time all these months teaching you how to take over?”
Had they? Anya looked up from the e-pad and considered those options. She was aware of the Coyotes in command center sneaking her covert looks. She was well aware that this was Brim’s job now that he was on base, not hers. It was a job that needed doing though, and Brim was busy with her duties.
She was also aware of her own bodyguards watching her thoughtfully. They’d had enough belief in her that they had trained her even as she hadn’t realized she was being trained.
She tapped the e-pad closed and turned to glance around the command center.
“Let’s go!” She turned and moved from the electronic center and began making her way through the tunnels toward Del-Rey’s quarters.
She’d been putting this off. She hadn’t slept since the night before, and her own temper was fraying. She was out of sorts, frustrated, and there was a slow, simmering burn between her thighs from her inability not to remember exactly what she and Del-Rey had been doing before that ambush.
Her lips wrapped around the head of his cock, tasting the essence of his lust as it spilled between her lips, feeling him, taut and hard, growls rumbling in his throat as the arrogant alpha was replaced by the seducer.
Now, nearly eight hours after his return to Base, weariness was dragging at her and the need to see him was eating her alive. Even if he was just sleeping.
But he hadn’t asked for her. He hadn’t sent for her.
He was healing, she told herself. The healing process was exhausting for Coyotes, even more so than other Breeds.
As she turned into the alpha’s section of the base, she nodded at the security team she’d put in place. They were Del-Rey’s pack members and, she knew, more loyal to him alone than the others would be.
“Should we wait outside?” Ashley asked.
“Yes, you should,” Anya answered her. “I don’t need protection from your alpha.” At least, she hoped she wouldn’t. “As a matter of fact, the three of you can return to quarters while I’m here.
Get some damned sleep or something, Ash. You’re getting dark circles.”
“Those are fighting words, Coya,” she growled, though the playfulness still filled her tone.
“We’ll spar later.” Anya laid her palm against the palm plate that had been installed, and waited to see if she would be accepted.
She wasn’t. She closed her eyes against the pain.
A second later the door opened and Brim stepped back, his gaze remote as she entered the room.
She slapped the e-pad into his hand.
She could almost feel his disapproval that she was there; the fact that if he had the authority, he might even order her out.
“You’ll find my notes, unencrypted, there,” she told him. “You’re needed in Command and Security. While you’re there, have a talk with your pack leaders about cooperation in areas you share before you need to knock some heads together.”
He stared back at her silently.
“The packs have been cooperating fine,” he said coolly. “They’re working together when they were never meant to do so. I consider that a rather amazing occurrence on a good day.”
She stared back at him with the same measured look. “They’re not working together well enough then. It’s your job to see to this, and you haven’t.”
“I have been rather busy.” The mockery slipped free then. “I’m Del-Rey’s bodyguard and part of the team now assigned to the Bureau. It’s rather hard to be in two places at once and to see to my duties in Command and Security as well as be bodyguard and general overseer.”
“You should have assigned someone in your place,” she retorted calmly.
“I did so,” he informed her, his voice clipped. “Things have worked well enough.”
“Well enough isn’t working anymore,” she told him. “And you are not needed as general overseer. I think I can handle that well enough.”
“Coya, this isn’t a place to play games,” he said quietly. “You can’t walk in and take your place for a few days, then run screaming when things begin to get out of control for you where the heat is concerned. Let this be until Del-Rey awakens and he can decide how we’ll handle it.”
“My place is here,” she gritted out. “Yours is in Command and Security now that you’re on base.
Are we understood?”
She wasn’t going to argue over who belonged where. She belonged here, and she would be here.
Her decision had been made; mating heat or not, as arrogant as all of them could be, it was time to finish this, one way or the other.
“Completely, Coya.” He inclined his head slowly, though his expression never changed. “I’ll collect my PDA and get to where I belong then.”
“Have you slept?” She propped her hands on her waist as he started to turn from her.
“For several hours,” he admitted. “There’s a sleep chair in the office that I made use of.”
He took her e-pad and held it in one hand with his PDA and stared back at her. “When he wakes up after healing, he’s a prick. I don’t want to hear you crying later if you end up with your feelings hurt or, worse yet, you find yourself back in his bed.”
Coyotes didn’t beat around the bush, she had to give them credit for that.
“Agreed.” She nodded sharply. “I’ve left notes where I need to be updated if you don’t mind. My PDA code is notated in there so you can send it straight to me.”