“Do you ever get tired of his machinations?”
Rule snorted. “Don’t we all. If it weren’t for the fact that killing him would only cause more problems, I would kill him myself.”
It was a regular refrain from damned near every Breed that came in contact with the director.
Rule tilted his head then as he stared back at Lawe questioningly. “Why are you here?”
“Because Jonas is playing games with us,” Lawe growled. “He knows she’s my mate, Rule.”
Rule nodded sharply. “It would be hard to miss. She carried your scent when I first met her. I wondered if you would tell me when it happened and why you walked away from her.”
The curiosity in his twin’s gaze was impossible to miss. Lawe had been ignoring it for months, and didn’t intend to explain it now either.
“I haven’t mated her.” Lawe’s teeth clenched at the speculation in his brother’s eyes. “Jonas sent you to try to push me to it.”
Rule’s lips thinned. He didn’t like Jonas’s games any more than anyone else, but Lawe could see something more swirling in his brother’s gaze. Something that had him tensing at the possibility that his brother could become a problem where Diane was concerned, just as Jonas was becoming one.
“No mating huh?” Rule asked softly. “Tell me, Lawe, what do you think of Jonas and Ely’s position that if a Breed doesn’t claim his mate, then a genetic relation, or brother, may have that chance?”
Lawe’s nostrils flared with his attempt to hold back the instinctive anger that shot through his system because of the question.
Jonas and the Breed specialist, Dr. Ely Morrey, seemed to be under the impression that if a female wasn’t physically mated, then the first stage of mating heat made her vulnerable to other males.
That first stage, when the minute quantities of the hormone appear on the fine hairs covering a Breed’s body, or when something as simple as a brush of his lips to her flesh could infect her with enough of the hormone to activate her ability to become a mate. That combined with an emotional response, Ely had hypothesized, could allow her to mate another Breed.
Lawe had no idea if it had ever happened in the past, but he’d be damned if he’d allow Rule and Diane to prove it.
“Don’t go there, Rule,” Lawe warned him softly. “I don’t think your horoscope declared today to be a good day to die.”
Rule reached back and rubbed at his neck as he gave a heavy sigh.
“Jonas wants you out of this,” Rule said as he dropped his arm back to his side. “I agree with him. You don’t want her, you don’t want the mating and I understand why. That doesn’t mean she should be left vulnerable to any Breed looking to complete it. A Breed perhaps unable or unwilling to utilize her strengths.”
“Use them you mean?” Lawe questioned with icy disdain. “Don’t sugarcoat it, Rule. We both know Jonas doesn’t want to lose her and her team. He knows I’ll pull her off active duty the second I can.”
Rule shrugged. “She’s a hell of a warrior. You’ll destroy her if you do that, Lawe. On the other hand, I think I could handle it.”
Lawe couldn’t help but laugh, though the sound held little amusement. “Go find your own woman. This one’s off-limits to every other Breed with the mistaken intention to even attempt such a thing.”
“But you’re not claiming her,” Rule pointed out softly. “You know, Lawe, we’re brothers. Identical twins, despite the differences in our looks. I don’t want to love a woman to the point it marks my soul. If you don’t want your mate, give me that chance. I’d take care of her.”
Was he serious?
Lawe stared back at Rule and once again was struck by the strange chill that had entered his brother’s eyes in the past months. There was the chance that his brother was entirely serious.
“Why don’t you just run on home while I consider your request?” Lawe grunted though he felt that dark-animal corner of his being awakening and attempting to overtake his humanity.
Rule’s lips quirked. “While you’re considering it, I’ll just step in here and get things started, why don’t I?” Despite the amusement, there was an edge of warning in Rule’s tone.
The snarl that curled Lawe’s lips and flashed his canines was the first indication that the animal genetics were slipping the leash he kept on them.
Rule didn’t back down. His brow lifted instead as he crossed his arms over his chest and stared at Lawe. “You don’t do that often,” he pointed out coolly. “You’re letting her get to you.”
“No, you and Jonas are getting to me,” Lawe growled. “What the hell makes you think you can force a mating? Even Cabal told us he’d had no attraction for his twin, Tanner’s, mate. What makes you think it would be different for you? Hell, what makes Jonas and Ely believe such a thing could even be considered?”
“Because they were created differently, Lawe. We’re actually twins. Fraternal perhaps, but still the genetics are stronger than Tanner and Cabal’s, and we share a bond they didn’t. It’s worth finding out if those genetics would allow me to claim the woman you don’t want. Besides, it’s information Dr. Morrey may be able to use in the future if my ability to be her mate is possible.”
Lawe almost shook his head, hoping to force a level of belief into his senses. To actually accept that his brother would consider such a thing.
“You would take what’s mine?” Lawe asked, unwilling to admit to the confusion.
“You’re not claiming her, Lawe,” Rule growled. It was a low, rumbling sound that hinted at the same internal anger Lawe was feeling. “You don’t want her. I don’t want a mate that could destroy me. It seems a fair enough exchange to me.”
“You don’t want her either. Not as she deserves. So what the hell makes you think it would be worth the fight I’ll give you? Get the hell out of here, Rule.” There wasn’t a chance he was going to let his brother around his mate. “Get out of here before I do something we’ll both regret.”
His brother started to turn and move up the hall toward Diane’s room. Lawe could see his intent, feel it, and he wasn’t having it.
He was moving even before he was aware of the impulse. For that brief moment of time the animal inside him rose up and acted before he could rein it in.
Rule was against the wall as Lawe pressed his forearm tight and hard into his brother’s throat. The Breeds standing guard farther up the hall stepped forward then deliberately restrained themselves from moving from their posts.
The VIPs they guarded were more important than their feline curiosity or instincts concerning the violence rising between the two brothers. But they still watched curiously and Lawe was still very much aware of them.
“No!” he said with a snarl in his brother’s face. “Don’t destroy the bond we’ve had since our birth, Rule. Back the fuck off.”
Rule’s lips curled in amusement despite the powerful arm Lawe had pressed into his throat.
The mocking amusement he’d had moments before returned to his gaze. “The scent you put on her can be washed away eventually,” Rule warned him. “It’s not strong enough to do anything but cause a Breed to pause and then assure him she’s Breed compatible. If I don’t take my chance, then another Breed will. Which would you prefer, Lawe? That another mate her or that one you know will protect her with his life has her?”
“Another Breed won’t get the warning you’re getting. I’ll fucking kill him. Stay the hell away from her or I’ll make damned sure you wish you had.”
Before the animal raging through his senses could strike out and harm the brother he had pledged to protect, Lawe jerked back before stabbing his finger on the elevator control panel.
The ping of the elevator sounded before the door slid open.
“For both our sakes,” Lawe stated quietly with much more restraint than he actually felt.