The contradictions were often disconcerting because he couldn’t ignore them, and emotions were something he’d learned to ignore as a child.
With Mica, he found it impossible to ignore anything she forced him to feel. Especially the arousal.
“I remember the first time I saw you,” he whispered against her ear as he felt her trembling beneath him, the scent of pain growing stronger as it wafted from her. “Do you remember, Amaya?” Night rain. She reminded him of the dark peace, the gentle touch of a summer rain at night.
“I was fifteen.” Stress filled her voice, pain tightened it. “They were calling Cassie names.”
Some of the younger Breeds, those who had been rescued from the labs while still in their teens. They had dared to stand before Cassie and call her a freak when they detected the slightest hint of her Coyote genetics.
They had made Cassie cry before they even realized who she was. They’d known only the scent of her, Wolf and Coyote mixed. And at that time, Coyote had been a hated scent.
“You pushed in front of her and blacked Josiah’s eye.” He closed his eyes tight as he fought against a wild, impulsive need to tell the men following them to go to hell and lift his weight from her immediately.
“Josiah deserved it.” Her voice was tighter, a hint of a sob, the scent of tears ripping at him.
“Josiah deserved it,” he agreed before turning his head. “Cougar, dammit, tell me we’re in safe territory.”
“They’re still on our fucking asses and that body heat sensor is still active,” Cougar snarled back. “Five more minutes, Nav. She’s not dying, it just fucking hurts.”
The scent of her pain was affecting Cougar as well. The other Breed was hard-core, cold to the pit of his soul where males, human or Breed, were concerned. But he hadn’t quite learned that women were just as strong, and a hell of a lot more dangerous in some cases than any man could ever hope to be.
Women were Cougar’s weakness. Mica was Navarro’s. And it made no sense. She wasn’t his mate. He’d pushed that limit, tested her response to him; he’d kissed her, and still, the mating hormone hadn’t risen inside him.
“Navarro please . . .” she whispered again, her breathing shallow, the scent of her tears destroying him. “I can’t breathe.”
The soft heat of an ember that indicated her pain was now beginning to glow brighter, threatening to blossom to a full flame.
“Three more minutes,” Cougar assured him, his voice tighter. “Bastards are still on our asses.”
“I’m going to kill them,” Navarro promised. “Find out who it is, Cougar. They’re dead.”
Mica whimpered beneath him.
Son of a bitch, he hated hurting her.
“We’re coming up on the hotel,” Cougar stated. “Once we turn in, we should be home free.”
“Just hurry the fuck up!” It was Mica’s voice, vibrating with pain now, thick with tears but heavy with anger.
“I thought you said she was sweet and shy, Nav,” Cougar snorted then. “She sounds like a brat to me.”
“I see a black eye in his future too.” Clenched teeth, feminine ire and that damned pain.
“I know how to duck,” Cougar assured her. “I always was better at that than Josiah was.”
“But Josiah also knows how to keep his mouth shut now. A lesson you need to learn,” Navarro stated warningly, a flare of jealousy he couldn’t have expected rising inside him at the flirtatiousness in Cougar’s voice.
He shot a glare toward the other Breed and found himself biting off a growl.
“If he doesn’t hurry, I’m going to kick his ass,” Mica promised painfully.
Navarro wanted to grin at the irritation in her voice, and he would have, if he hadn’t known it was caused by pain.
She didn’t make idle threats. He’d seen her go nose to nose with Breeds before, and they didn’t always back down simply because she was protected by Dash Sinclair.
“Here we go,” Cougar murmured.
As he made the turn, Navarro was suddenly thankful Mica was on her stomach, not on her back. If she had been on her back, staring up at him, he wondered if he could have withstood the temptation of her kiss, despite her pain.
She made him hot. She made his dick damned hard, and she made him feel, whether he wanted to or not. He couldn’t help it. No matter how he fought it, she made him as hungry as a damned rabid Wolf and as off balance as a human teenager after his first love.
“We’re clear.” The relief in Cougar’s voice had Navarro realizing the tension that had been tightening inside him.
Navarro shifted back quickly, his hands moving to her back, one easing against her side to check for injury.
Her clothes were sodden, chilled against her flesh, but he could feel the heat of her beneath the clothing, indicating a deep, painful bruise.
There was no scent of broken bones, of blood or internal bleeding. Just her pain, and the wounding of the flesh clear to the bone. The knowledge of the pain she must be feeling had an effect on him that he couldn’t have anticipated. Regret that seared him, and a fury toward her attacker that assured his death if Navarro ever learned his identity.
“The elevator goes straight to the penthouse suite,” Cougar informed them as Navarro clenched his jaw and helped Mica sit up in the seat.
Gripping her ribs, she eased up with his help, her golden green eyes almost the color of a Breed’s. Almost. That gold was sparse, like small flakes of glitter that peeked in and out of the soft green.
“Let’s go.” The moment the SUV pulled up to the underground elevator, Navarro was out of the vehicle, moving around quickly to throw Mica’s door open and help her from the seat.
“I can walk. I’m just not in the mood to have your heavy ass laying all over me.” She almost slapped at his hands as she glared up at him while moving gingerly from the backseat.
He almost winced at the biting tone. He’d learned young, though, to never back down, no matter the strength of his adversary.
Ignoring her glare, he gripped her arm and steered her quickly to the elevator as he pulled the electronic key card from the inner pocket of his coat.
Sliding it into the security strip, Navarro glanced around quickly, his gaze narrowed, his senses on high alert as the door slid open.
“He man,” she muttered as he pushed her gently inside the small cubicle.
“Brat.” Affection rose inside him as he chose the penthouse suite from the digital menu.
“Jonas went all out, I see.” A delicate, feminine sound of ire was sniffed from her delicate little nose. “And all for little ole me.”
Glancing down at her from the corner of his eyes, he wondered exactly how to diffuse the temper he could feel brewing. He hadn’t been trained in this particular combat situation. The war of the sexes wasn’t exactly on the list of training assignments the Genetics Council scientists and military advisors had approved.
“All for you,” he finally agreed. “Once we realized a team had been sent to capture you, your team was ordered to bring you in. Unfortunately, they had already been identified by the men sent for you. They took your team out before the Coyote tried to grab you. Cougar and I were here on another assignment when the distress signal went out and we came to help.”
They had been there to meet with someone Jonas had been searching high and low for. Years of investigative work had gone into locating this particular scientist. The moment Navarro had caught the call on the comm link that Mica’s team had been hit, he’d left the assignment immediately.
He could still hear Jonas screaming through the link and Lawe and Rule’s amused laughter as he and Cougar sped away to the heart of the city.
“I had a team?” She sounded faintly surprised.
“Of course you had a team,” he informed her as the elevator slid to a smooth, soundless stop. “You’ve always had one, Mica. Since the day Cassie declared you were her best friend and informed her father that her ‘fairy’ said she needed you, you’ve had a team covering you.”