The heli-jets were spilling the Leo’s security force, hard-eyed, hard-trained, vicious Breeds with only one purpose in life, except for the few who were mated. The protection of the Leo and his family.
Thirty Breed security personnel arranged themselves in close-quarter protection before the Leo stepped out. And as always, Dane stood in awe of the power his father presented as he stepped into view.
His tawny mane of hair was darker in some places, streaks of black and red thrown in as he had grown older. It blew back from an imposing face whose strong bones and angles weren’t for appearances only. The Leo was strong, he was imposing. He stood six-four, and the bone and muscle density in his body had made him nearly impossible to kill.
In comparison, the small, dark-haired woman that stepped from the heli-jet was incredibly fragile. Dane’s mother was still a quiet beauty. With her shoulder-length brunette hair and gentle eyes, she ran the Vanderale pride with strength and feminine softness.
Keeping her close to his powerful body, the Leo turned and reach into the jet, accepting two small bundles swaddled in ultralight, ultrastrong bulletproof carriers.
Dane lowered his head at that point. His parents had raced to Ria’s rescue, their infant twins secured in their arms, aware of the price of detection should they ever be revealed as who and what they were.
They had lost children before. Twin boys in infancy, murdered in an attack by Coyote Breeds that had managed to learn the location Leo and Elizabeth had been protecting their babes in.
His mother had nearly died in that attack, as had the Leo. Leo still carried the scars of the repeated rifle blasts to his chest, back and thighs as he covered his mate and children. And still the bullets had torn through his body, pierced his mate and his children before his then much smaller security force could rush to the rescue.
Years ago, Dane thought, wiping his hands over his face. So many years ago. Nearly a century. It had taken five decades before Elizabeth’s body and the mating heat could again produce eggs the Breed sperm could fertilize. And Dane was born. Now, after another fifty years, his parents were still in prime physical condition, and twins had once again been born.
Heavily armed, the security force surrounded Leo, Elizabeth and the babes and rushed them to Dane’s waiting limo, as the security force that had arrived with Dane finally arrived with vehicles to transport the Leo’s security force to the property Dane had rented for the winter.
Or until they could clear out Sanctuary. He would much prefer to have his sisters and his mother protected within Sanctuary’s walls.
“Dane.” The Leo neared as Dane opened the door to the car. His mother reached up and touched his face as he bent to her, and he felt her quick kiss to his cheek before she entered the vehicle and the babes were passed to her.
“Son.” Leo embraced him.
His father always embraced him, as though it had been years since he had seen him rather than a matter of a few weeks. “How’s our girl doing?”
Leo moved into the limo, followed by Dane and two of the Breed personnel, their eyes and faces savagely hard.
Two others piled in the front with Rye as the others rushed to the waiting Hummers that had pulled around the limo.
“They know she’s hybrid.” He met his father’s gaze worriedly. “We need tests done quickly, on the heat, Mercury’s feral displacement and a Breed known as Alaiya, lab number six oh point three seven, lab designation Alpha Three.”
Leo frowned. “She was thought to be a mate to Mercury,” he stated, his mind as quick, as competent as any computer running. “She was lost in a mission when she was fifteen, her and her trainer presumed dead.”
Dane nodded. “She arrived at the Bureau of Breed Affairs six months ago and turned herself in to Jonas. He ran the required tests on her and Mercury; they came back showing no sign of mating anomalies or possibilities, so he never informed Mercury she was alive. She showed up at Sanctuary the other night, claiming Mercury as her mate. According to tests conducted on Mercury’s blood last night, as well as hers, mating heat is showing in her and it matches Mercury’s.”
“But Mercury mated Ria,” Elizabeth injected. “I ran her tests myself before sending Sanctuary the blood and saliva that I cut the Breed genetics from. My tests were conclusive, Dane; there was indeed the viability of mating heat. Breeds mate only once.”
Ria’s hybrid status was the reason Sanctuary had been given altered samples of her blood.
“But Mercury showed mating signs before Alaiya’s disappearance,” Leo mused.
Elizabeth shook her head as she opened the protective carriers to allow the girls more freedom of movement as well as to keep them from getting too warm. “I warned you both, his tests from those labs were not conclusive. Mating signs and the hormone showing up independent of physical contact cannot be relied upon. The scientists’ tests weren’t advanced at that time, and they had no idea what they were dealing with where mating heat was concerned.”
“Ely’s testing can’t be trusted either.” Dane sighed. “I suspect she’s been comprised somehow. She’s currently restricted to her quarters, and according to the human, Jackal, she’s irate and suffering extreme agitation. I received a report from Ria, via Callan’s personal network, as she used the secured program to track those transmissions, that there’s a possibility Ely’s being drugged with something similar to the drug used on Mercury in those labs.” He named the medical designation of the drug and Elizabeth frowned.
“Undetectable by Breed senses until the subject has been well compromised,” she murmured before turning to Leo. “It’s a powerful mind-altering drug, especially where Breeds with certain weaknesses are concerned. I’ll need equipment. Put one of our American contacts on alert for my requirements. This has to end here, Leo. We can’t allow them to suffer like this. The right equipment, the knowledge I’ve gained…”
“Could destroy the Vanderale family, Mother,” Dane urged her gently. “Think about this carefully. If you place yourself at Sanctuary’s disposal, word is going to leak. Just as mating heat and the aging decrease has leaked.”
Elizabeth stared down at her sleeping daughters. She brushed the back of her fingers against the nearest child’s cheek before lifting her gaze to Leo.
“We’ve lost children,” she whispered. “What will we do, Leo, if David is lost, Callan’s child and heir? Callan is our son too. Not bred just from the semen the labs stole from you, but bred from both of us. Can we excuse ourselves, that our own safety was paramount?”
“If I must.” Dane’s father was harder, often more logical, and definitely less willing to take certain chances. But Dane knew what was coming anyway. “But in this, Elizabeth, I’m starting to agree with you. I don’t want Sanctuary to suffer as we did. Perhaps, if Callan and Jonas, Dane and I can hammer out some agreements while we’re here, then we’ll see how much more we can accomplish.”
“I want to be in Sanctuary first thing in the morning,” she told her husband and son. “The girls will go with us; the compound is more secure than the house, especially with our force protecting them.”
“Mother, Sanctuary is a time bomb right now,” Dane said and groaned.
“We were invited to attend the pre-Thanksgiving celebration,” Elizabeth reminded him. “What we do in private while visiting with the Lyons family is another matter.”
“And when Vanderale suddenly donates advanced medical and research equipment?” he asked her. “Journalists are going to go crazy.”
“There are ways to ensure silence,” Leo told him. “I’ll deal with this, Dane. You coordinate security and help Ria find out what the hell is going on here. I want this taken care of, then I want a team of our own Breeds in place. Permanently, Dane.”