“Damn, Wyatt’s getting pissed.” The alpha pride leader stepped closer to the window. They couldn’t see Wyatt’s face, only Coley’s and his was filled with terror now.
“So, are you ready to answer my questions, Mr. Coley?” Jonas’s voice was cool, unfazed as the bartender began to shake in reaction.
Coley’s gaze jerked down to the table and he seemed to pale further. “That’s not possible,” he wheezed at whatever he was looking at.
“Look at me, Mr. Coley.”
Coley’s gaze jerked back to the Bureau director’s face.
“Very good. You will stay on topic, or I’ll make certain the next time I slice you that it goes to the bone, perhaps takes an eye. That’s not a pleasant experience for the victim, and it’s rather messy when I have to do it. I’d prefer not to have to resort to those means. Now, are you willing to give me the information I asked for?”
Coley swallowed tightly. “They said kill the girl. She was that Coyote’s wife or something. Kill her and the Coyotes would start dropping out of that base. We might even be able to get a few back to the Council. I was supposed to have help. There were supposed to be six of us. We were to kill the women first as we made our way out of the ballroom. As many as we could, paying special attention to high-ranking wives or lovers. Kill them, they said, and you break the Breeds’
backs. That’s all I know.”
“Who was your contact?”
Coley shuddered. “I got a kid.” He lifted his eyes, his gaze tortured now.
“Why should I care about your kid?” Jonas asked coldly.
“She’s only thirteen.” He swallowed tightly. “I know things they didn’t know I know. I heard about Breeds. You don’t hurt kids, no matter what. You protect my kid, and I’ll give you information I know you don’t have.”
“Such as?” Jonas asked him.
“The names of the city council members here and in Virginia near Sanctuary who are involved in a plan to take out the Breed leaders. And I got more. I got names of Breeds helping them.” He was still staring at Jonas in horror. “God, man, stop doing that shit, please. I’ll give you what you want, but you gotta protect my kid. I just do this for the money. That’s all. Just for my little girl.
I’ll give it to you.”
Anya stared into the room in horror. Her gaze flipped from the scene below to the cold, hard gazes of the Breeds watching as well.
“Gentlemen?” Callan Lyons turned to the others questioningly.
“His daughter is handicapped. Blind,” Dash stated. “Thirteen years old.”
“Call Wyatt back here,” Wolfe said. “I suggest we send out a team, collect the girl and then requestion Coley. He’s asked for asylum for his daughter of his own free will. Let’s see what we can get.”
They turned to Del-Rey.
“It’s your decision to make, Del-Rey,” Wolfe told him. “The hit was primarily against your coya.”
He stared into the room as Anya watched him, knowing exactly what his decision would be. That knowledge was frightening; she knew, even before he spoke, the stance he would take.
“The child is the most innocent in this whole mess,” he growled. “I’d like Brim on the team that goes after her. I’d suggest a team of enforcers only, fully sanctioned to retrieve the child at all costs. She’ll be watched. They know we have the bartender; they may have already taken the child themselves to assure his silence.”
Callan activated the speaker into the room. “Retrieval of minor child approved and sanctioned,”
he stated. “You have the full assurance of each alpha leader that her safety will be our top priority, Mr. Coley. As long as you cooperate.” Callan winced at the last sentence, and the expression on each alpha’s face assured Anya that no matter what Coley did, that child would never know anything but safety.
Children were the focal point of every Breed Anya had ever talked to. It didn’t matter if it was a rare Breed child or a human child on the street. Breeds were always aware when a child was around and they were always protective of them.
Coley nodded as Jonas handed him a handkerchief. “For your face,” the director stated, though Anya glimpsed the blood on his nails. “We’ll get a doctor in here to look at those scratches. We wouldn’t want your daughter frightened for you when she sees you.”
Coley sniffed, almost in derision. “She’s blind. She can’t see them.”
There were snorts from the alphas, contempt filling the sounds.
“Poor little girl,” Jonas sighed. “She has a father that likely doesn’t realize the talents she possesses. Why do you care if she’s protected, Coley?”
Coley stared back at him in confusion. “Blind doesn’t mean I don’t love her,” he stated harshly.
“She’s just a little scrap of a thing. You guys, you’re at war with the world and you know it.
You’re adults. I don’t want her hurt in it. She seems to think you bastards are cool or some shit.”
Too bad the father didn’t follow the daughter’s instincts, Anya thought as she shifted in her chair, aware of a slow, building heat in her stomach, as well as the mass confusion that was filling her mind.
How had she known what Del-Rey’s response would be? No one could have blamed him for wanting blood rather than to pledge his protection to a child whose father had targeted his mate and himself. Coyotes were sometimes more logical, less emotional than the other Breeds. They could be colder, less feeling. But Del-Rey’s voice had deepened with his thoughts on the child’s protection.
She clenched her teeth and rose to her feet as Del-Rey moved to counter her, standing as well and watching her with hooded black eyes.
He could smell the arousal, she knew. As it bloomed inside her, he would know that. A part of her was freaked out over that. Completely terrified that no emotion, no feeling, no hint of what she was doing or thinking could be hidden from him.
“Ladies’ room.” She swallowed tightly. “Should I meet you somewhere?”
“I’ll await you here,” he finally told her softly. “We’ll return to Base soon.”
Anya nodded before slipping quickly from the dark room.
In the hall, Sharone, Emma and Ashley surrounded her, their expressions concerned as they watched her.
“Wow, that heat stuff is bad again, huh?” Ashley stated.
“Shut up, Ash,” Emma hissed.
“Well hell, it’s not like she didn’t know it was going to happen when she refused that last shot,”
Ashley retorted. “I mean, she’s not going to, like, go to the tribunal again.”
Silence followed Anya then.
“Will she?” Ashley finally whispered, almost horrified as Anya lifted her hand in a signal for the bodyguards to remain outside as she pushed into the ladies’ room and moved to the sinks.
She turned on the cold water, stuck her wrists under the stream of water and laid her head against the cool mirror.
She’d tried to ignore the heat building in her. She should have had a few more hours before it became this bad. Before her breasts swelled, her nipples becoming so sensitive that her bra was painful. Her clit was so swollen, so engorged, it was touching the silk of her panties. Each move she made was agony now.
Part of her was cold, chilled to the bone and aching for Del-Rey to wrap his arms around her, and another part of her refused to ask, to beg for what she needed. She had made the first move. She had ignored Sofia’s insults to begin with, then she had made the first move and initiated that sexual adventure they had taken. She was forcing back her pride and trying her damnedest to make up for the past months, but it wasn’t easy.
And while that ice collected, she also burned. It was terrifying. Hot and cold at the same time.
No, not just hot and cold. Icy and blazing. It was affecting her ability to think, to hold on to her composure and restrain herself.