Bengal's Quest

  s you and it endangers him. The only protection either of you will have is me.”

  Oh, she could see where this was going now and the futility of what he wanted was almost amusing. Did he really think she would hand Graeme over to him so easily? Did he really believe he could control Graeme so easily?

  “Jonas, you don’t want to ever capture him.” She sighed. “You don’t want to ever attempt to force anything from him.” The painful regret that filled her, she didn’t even attempt to hide. “Don’t you know by now, he’ll give you whatever he can give. But you capture him and he will kill you. You and everyone who stands in the way of his escape.”

  Graeme would never allow himself to be imprisoned again. That creature that rose from all the inner rage amassed inside him would create a trail of blood unlike anything Jonas had ever seen before.

  “He’s not Superman, Cat,” he informed her gently. “He can’t leap tall buildings or deflect bullets. He’s just a Breed, albeit a very intelligent Breed.”

  Cat shook her head and leaned forward slowly. “You are wrong, Jonas,” she whispered painfully. “You are so very wrong. No, he’s not Superman. He can’t leap tall buildings. He can’t deflect bullets. But he can sense what lies in wait in that building. He can sense the bullet being fired and avoid it. He can see past every mental shield you put up against him into the very spirit of who and what you are. And if you stand in his way, then he’ll use every iota of information he has against you. Whatever Dr. Foster created when he created Gideon, the serum he was given in that research center amplified every human and Breed strength he possessed while wiping out any weakness you could possibly detect. And all that saves the world is that somehow, someway, he managed to retain enough compassion to keep the evil of humanity from overtaking him.”

  “Cat, do you really believe that bullshit?” Curious disbelief filled his expression. “Gideon is not a super-Breed.”

  “Leave him alone, Jonas.” She would beg him for this if she had to, though it would do no good. “He left two Jackals living for you to interrogate and somehow convinced one to actually cooperate with you . . .”

  “According to Kiel, it was you that did that,” Jonas retorted. “You control the monster, he claims.”

  “Breed perception amazes me sometimes,” she pointed out bitterly. “I don’t control him. No one, nothing in this world, can control the creature he’s become. But you can exist without capturing him. You can benefit from his freedom.” She leaned forward imploringly, holding her hands out to him in supplication. “Jonas, the incredible, frightening intelligence he possesses can only aid the Breeds. Stop hunting him. For God’s sake, give him some peace, if only for a short time.”

  If they pushed him, if they continued to come after her, be it Council or Jonas, then Graeme would never completely control whatever it was inside him that obliterated every vestige of mercy he might still possess.

  “You fear him, Cat,” he pointed out. “With good reason.”

  “I don’t fear him. What do I have to fear? He may threaten to kill me. He may hate me with every fiber of his being, or love me to the bottom of his soul, who the hell knows. But he would never harm me. What I fear is what you’ll do to him if you continue to push him.”

  “You saved the Jackals and Martinez last night. He would have murdered them . . .”

  He simply didn’t know the Breed he was dealing with, despite Graeme’s attempts to show him.

  “He would have executed them,” she corrected him. “Like you execute those you consider past redemption in some remote volcano. Or like you put down an animal with rabies. He has never murdered anyone or anything.”

  Jonas nodded, but as he did so, the access he’d given her to his inner emotions slammed shut.

  “Why did you follow me here, Jonas?” she asked him, this time with a genuine need to understand why he was there. “Did you really think I knew anything that would help you capture him? Or that I’d tell you if I did?”

  Wry humor flashed briefly in his gaze. “Rachel felt that if I approached you without my ‘normal arrogant attitude’”—he grimaced in distaste, pulling an unwilling little laugh from her—“perhaps you’d be willing to help rather than hinder my search for him. I’ll have to be certain to tell her how well that worked.” The mockery in his expression was more self-depreciating than confrontational.

  “How horrible it must be to have the weight of so many lives resting on your shoulders,” she said softly, drawing a surprised look from him. “To know every step you take, every decision you make, affects every Breed in the world, every unique and exceptional soul you fight to save. And with each Breed lost, I bet you feel as though you personally failed.”

  He looked away from her. She doubted Jonas rarely gave anyone a chance to see an unwilling emotion, let alone sense the depth of pain he felt at the thought of any failures.

  “You and Gideon are the same,” she whispered, sensing rather than seeing the tension that suddenly filled him. “The exception is that you perceive the intelligence he possesses as a failure of your own as well. If you can capture Gideon, then you could capture all the secrets he possesses and all the knowledge he has or will have.”

  Arrogance, confidence and denial filled the features that turned back to her.

  “I see him as that rabid animal you spoke of earlier,” he stated with cool detachment, rising to his feet to stare down at her. “One that has some value, though, when compared to the risk he poses, not enough to allow him to continue waging a war that could easily become a weapon used against the Breeds. The world wants justice, Cat, not vengeance.”

  “Nor protection? Or truth?” She shook her head firmly. “You’re wrong, Jonas. Even as a child, long before I arrived in that research center, he was tortured. That serum nearly destroyed him. He survived because that intelligence enabled him to see how to use the serum to make him stronger, smarter, rather than killing him as it did so many others. And you want to lock him up for it?” She rose to her feet now, staring up at him fiercely. “No, that’s not why you want to lock him up. You want to lock him up to use him. To steal that intelligence and strength.” Now she was pointing one shaking finger at him. “You’re no different from the Council in that regard and if I did know where he was, what he was doing or where he would strike next, I’d die before I told you or anyone else determined to carve another chasm into that Breed’s soul.”

  It enraged her. It broke her heart.

  “He’ll never be at peace, Cat,” he snapped. “He’s fucking crazy.”

  “Maybe he should have just hid it better, like you do,” she cried out hoarsely. “Like every other Breed in existence does. Because not a single damned one that I’ve met is completely sane. You want to use him, Jonas. At least be fucking honorable enough to admit it.”

  Jerking her pack from the sandy ground, she pulled it over her shoulders furiously. “I may have been done with his crazy ass the night he rescued me and Judd from being euthanized, as they called it, but I’ll be damned, there’s not many Breeds I haven’t been done with at one time or another since. And I’m definitely done with you, Director. You should have stayed with the Council. At least they would have agreed with your asinine methods.”

  “Cat.” The demand in his voice had her pausing to glance back at him. “Has he told you what happened when he was recaptured? What they did to him during the time Dr. Bennett held him?”

  “Are you going to tell me?”

  She’d wondered, she’d ached to ask, but she knew he wouldn’t tell her. Just as he’d never told her what they did to him when Dr. Bennett had reinstated the gene therapy on him after Dr. Foster’s disappearance.

  “Ask him first,” Jonas suggested. “If he won’t tell you, then come find me. I’ll tell you, with no strings attached, what created the monster you faced last night and why you can’t trust him with your life any more than I can trust him with Amber’s.”

  “More games?” She sneered in disgust. “You k
now, Jonas, I’d find you far more palatable if you would stop attempting to manipulate me and simply accept that getting what you want through me simply isn’t going to happen.”

  With that, she launched herself from the protection of the boulders and began her return back to the house.

  No matter how hard she tried, there was simply no peace to be found.

  • • •

  “Well now, that went well.” Rule moved from the side of the stone tower, thoughtful amusement creasing his expression as he too watched Cat run back to the house Lobo Reever was letting her use.

  What did Reever owe Gideon that he was willing to risk breaking the agreement he had with the Bureau of Breed Affairs to protect him?

  Jonas had no doubt he’d figure it out, just as he’d figure out exactly what Rule Breaker, his new division director and one of his closest friends, owed that insane bag of Bengal genetics as well.

  “No, actually, that did not go well. But I had no delusions it would.” He sighed, striving to be as honest with Rule as he’d always been.

  After all, in the years they’d fought together this was the only instance he’d found where he couldn’t entirely trust Rule. For some reason, whatever the Breed knew about Gideon or his whereabouts, he refused to divulge.

  Jonas could understand that. There were a lot of secrets Rule and his brother would probably kill him for keeping if they were aware of it. It was an exchange, he thought wearily. Not an exchange he liked, but even if Rule revealed his knowledge, Jonas knew he’d never reveal his own secrets until he had no other choice.

  “What now?” Rule questioned as though only curiosity was the reason for the question.

  “I’ll tell Rachel she was wrong.” He shrugged. “That girl knows where Gideon’s hiding. She knows far more than she’ll willingly give anyone, even someone she trusts.”

  But she was still Gideon’s weakness. Threaten Cat and he’d come out and play. It wasn’t a move Jonas was willing to make quite yet, though. For now, there was information to collect.

  For one, the role Reever played in all this. For another, the role Rule was taking in the intricate game playing out between Gideon and Jonas. And third, the fact that he knew Reever’s stepdaughter was somehow involved as well. The list he’d acquired of Gideon’s ties in the Breed community was surprising.

  Gideon had a very well-hidden, though very powerful, group of individuals willing to help him, and Jonas wanted to know how one completely insane, violently vicious Breed had managed it. It was a trick Jonas needed to figure out in order to reveal everyone involved in this little conspiracy.

  “Have you found the recessed Breed, Judd, yet?” Jonas asked as they moved around the tower to the Dragoon they’d driven out just before Cat left for her run.

  “I don’t even have a list of suspects, Jonas.” Rule wasn’t happy with that either. He was actually pretty frustrated over the fact, if his senses were correct, Jonas mused.

  “I want a list of suspects by the week’s end,” Jonas ordered. “This can’t continue.”

  “I’m not one of your enforcers,” Rule batted back.

  Jonas noted that the level of confidence the Breed had acquired had become a serious problem lately. Not that Jonas intended to do anything about it. Not that he could do anything if he tried. At least, not a lot.

  “Then have one of your enforcers take care of it,” Jonas snapped back at him. “This is a Western Division problem, Rule. You’re the division director. So fucking take care of it. And take care of it by week’s end.”

  Swinging into the Dragoon, he glared through the windshield, biting back a furious curse. Protecting Gideon was a laudable cause, and he would have helped at any other time. But protecting him wasn’t an option now.

  “Where to now? Back to her house?” Rule asked as he slid into the driver’s seat.

  Forcing himself to appear relaxed, he turned to Rule slowly.

  “A hypothetical question,” he stated. “In my place, what would you do if you knew one seemingly unique Breed wasn’t so unique? That something had only triggered what you suspect other Breeds had been coded with? Breeds whose triggers could be far more sensitive?”

  Rule stared back at him impassively for long moments before answering the question.

  “The same thing humans do when they realize some psychopath’s triggers are far more sensitive than others. Or some sociopaths are so intelligent that they may never be found,” he finally said with a sigh. “We’re not just Breeds, Jonas. We’re part human, part animal and something in between that can’t be defined. Each day we’re free is a gift. When that gift is taken we may well need the monsters to ensure our survival.”

  “So we allow Gideon free rein?” he asked, knowing that wasn’t possible.

  “My take?” Rule asked. “Or is that a rhetorical question?”

  Sometimes this Breed was far too smart for his own good as well. Of course, that was why Jonas had maneuvered him into the position of division director.

  “Your take.” Jonas nodded.

  “None of us have free rein.” Turning from him, Rule activated the Dragoon as Jonas narrowed his gaze on him, waiting. He knew more was coming.

  “Free rein is the same fairy tale, where Gideon’s concerned, as free will and freedom are mirages where the Breeds are concerned,” Rule bit out, obviously not pleased with the conclusions he’d come to on the subject of freedom. “If I were in your place, I’d give him the mirage of freedom, though. The same fairy tale we give ourselves. It creates a debt, a favor owed. He’s given the lie that he can live his life and make his own decisions, and he gives us the lie that we have his loyalty. Then when it all goes to hell and we find public opinion our enemy rather than our strength, we call in our favors and give the monsters the truth of free rein. It may be all that saves some of us at that point.”

  The Dragoon shot from parked to full speed in a matter of seconds, racing across the desert as the Breed behind the controls watched the terrain with a hard, almost bleak expression. One Jonas studied with narrowed eyes as he let the visions of all that surrounded this Breed filter through his senses.

  The one that set his mind most at ease, though, was the Lion clothed in armor, claws tipped in steel, blue eyes savage and filled with death.

  That creature would always be contained, always controlled, until, as Rule said, the world went to hell where the Breeds were concerned.

  It was the first time Jonas had sensed that part of this Breed, and he suspected it was that part of him that had convinced Rule to betray a decade of loyalty to Jonas, for one Breed’s mirage of freedom.

  Gideon had realized what lurked inside Rule.

  The trigger, Jonas thought wearily. All it took was the right trigger, and that “something in between”—that part that Rule had identified that all Breeds had inside them—was the something Jonas feared the most.

  Because he had a feeling the triggers were far more sensitive in many Breeds than anyone knew.

  • • •

  Reporters. They were camped at the front gate like vultures perched and waiting for prey to die. Or to catch a glimpse of her.

  She should have expected it—the minute news broke of Raymond’s arrest and the charges being filed against him, one of which would have been attempted murder of the woman everyone believed was his daughter, Claire Martinez.

  Would the truth come out that she wasn’t Claire?

  There weren’t many who knew. Those who did wouldn’t want the truth told any more than she wanted it told right now.

  By the time she slipped back into the house and moved upstairs to check the property outside the walls, there were vans on each side of the grounds just outside the eight-foot walls.

  Standing in the guest room and peeping through the lace curtains, she realized more than just reporters were out there. Across the narrow two-lane county road sat a familiar Dragoon. As she watched, a pretty, blond head popped up on the other side and Ashley was waving her hand madly, a
teasing smile on her lips. No doubt she knew Cat was watching.

  A second later the journalists had turned and were snapping pictures by the dozens as Ashley seemed to be actually posing for them. Until someone jerked her rather rudely back into the Dragoon.

  What the hell . . .

  Not even a heartbeat later, the encrypted sat phone Jonas had given her months before vibrated demandingly. Somehow, she pretty much knew who it was.

  “Ashley, why didn’t you just call me to begin with?” Cat answered the summons in amazement. “You didn’t have to wait to catch my attention.”

  “Oh, I was waving at the paparazzi.” The Russian drawl was pure lazy charm. “I bet they put my picture on the front pages again, Cat. See what a wonderful friend I make? Never fear, I’ll save you from them.”

  Ashley was a nut.

  For a while Cat had wondered if the Coyote female would ever bounce back from the bullet she’d taken to the chest and the near death experience that resulted. She’d died twice on the operating table. The second time the surgeons had nearly given up hope of bringing her back.

  “I’m sure I appreciate it,” Cat assured her. “But does your alpha?”

  “Oh, Del Rey was called back to the hotel. He left Brim Stone to babysit. He’s still spoiling me and allowing me to be a bad girl.” Ashley drew the words out, her accent heavier, and Cat could practically see her winking before blowing Brim a kiss while she twirled her artificially highlighted blond tresses.

  One of these days, Del Rey was going to lock her up for the sanity of the free world. She spread laughter and craziness wherever she went, if the potential for it existed.

  “So, would you like my company for a minute?” Ashley asked brightly. “I thought I would saunter over to the very charming reporters, flash a little teeth—you know, my incisors were sharpened and polished to a wonderful sheen yesterday—then I could just hop over that little wall of yours and make them all feel like lazy little bums because they can’t quite make that jump.”

  Oh, she so wanted to see that.

  “Go ahead,” Ashley suggested. “You want to dare me so bad, don’t you, Cat?”

  Never dare a Coyote. Cat almost laughed at the saying. Ashley begged to be dared. It was one of her favorite hobbies.

  “Okay, Ashley, I dare you. But you can’t hurt the reporters. Knee another one in the groin and you forfeit the hot chocolate I’m making.”

  “Ooh, I get hot chocolate, Brim,” she told the alpha’s second in command teasingly. “And she did dare me.”

  One day, Brim was going to put the pretty, flirtatious little Breed over his knee and paddle her ass.

  “Fix my chocolate, Cat. I’m on my way.”

  Cat really wanted to watch the fun, but she was terrified of being called as a witness for Ashley again when she “accidently” maimed another reporter. No way in hell was she watching. What she didn’t know, she didn’t have to give a statement about.

  She would make the chocolate and let Ashley tell her all about it.

  Brim could give the statements.

  • CHAPTER 11 •

  No reporters were harmed in the spectacular display Ashley gave them.

  Of course Cat couldn’t help but turn back to watch the show. Ashley was simply far too entertaining.

  As she said, a flash of her canines, God only knows what she said to them, then a lithe little jump and she was crouched on the edge of the adobe wall eight feet from the ground while cameras flashed. No doubt, she would definitely be on the front page of nearly every newspaper and website, in the nation.

  “You’re crazy, Ashley,” she declared when the little blond Coyote female strolled into the kitchen, a pleased smile curving her lips as laughter lit her soft gray eyes.

  Cat placed two cups of hot chocolate on the table set within an alcove surrounded by windows.

  “I’m a Coyote,” Ashley declared with a careless shrug.

  Sliding into a chair, the Breed female propped one leather-clad foot on the upholstered chair seat, leaned back and eyed the steaming chocolate avariciously.

  “Drink the chocolate,” Cat laughed, taking a seat across from her. “And tell me what’s going on.”

  A little pout pursed Ashley’s lips. “I can’t visit a friend?”

  Cat lifted the cup of chocolate and sipped at it before setting it on the table once again and staring back at the other woman as she did the same.

  A Breed’s enjoyment of chocolate was simply astounding. The look on the Coyote Breed’s face one of complete bliss. The sweet was to Breeds what some drugs were to humans.

  Nothing more was said until the hot chocolate was consumed to the last drop, then Ashley sat back and stared at her, her expression more somber.

  “Breeds are a strange lot, yes?” she asked softly, a hint of resignation touching her accented voice.

  “I prefer the word ‘unique.’” It sounded much better to Cat’s ears.

  “It is much the same.” Ashley sighed. Leaning forward, she propped her chin on her palm and watched Cat with an intensity that was strangely disconcerting. “You have mated that crazy Bengal, have you not?” A quirky little grin touched her lips. “I knew he was no Lion.” A little wrinkle of her nose followed the statement. “That scent was a little too perfect to suit me.”

  Cat merely stared back at her, refusing to comment either way.

  “Now, Jonas,” Ashley continued, “for all his intuitive powers, is so focused on one single-minded goal that he does not see what is right in front of his face. A Breed who is just as deceptive and just as intuitive as he is. They would make a frightening team, would they not?”

  “Ashley, what the hell are you talking about?” Cat would be damned if she would allow this impish woman-child face Ashley put on to trick her into admitting anything.

  She’d seen Ashley fool far too many people and silently acknowledged the young Coyote’s ability to endear the trust of the most hardened Breed antagonists.

  Ashley didn’t even blink. “I know who Graeme Parker is, Cat. We both do. He is simply very lucky Jonas is too focused on Gideon to see what others, those who have gotten to know him so well, can see.”

  “And what do you think you see?” Cat scoffed.

  “What you so obviously do not,” Ashley countered. “A Breed tortured by things he refuses to talk about. One whose dedication to one surly Bengal female may well bring him to his knees. I would be displeased to find Graeme on his knees.” Those gray eyes flashed with a warning, one most would find worrisome.

  Cat didn’t find it worrisome, she found it irritating.

  “Graeme is very good at taking care of himself,” she assured Ashley.

  Rising to her feet and collecting the empty cups, Cat turned and carried them to the sink. When she turned back to the other girl, Ashley was merely watching her, studying her.

  “He has made many friends while he has been here,” Ashley pointed out. “Friends who would stand against even Jonas, as much as we would hate that. Or his mate, as much as he would hate that. Don’t make enemies of the small group who have ensured his safety. We would not appreciate that.”

  Cat wanted to laugh but she was terribly afraid it would sound more like a sob.

  “Why don’t you leave, Ashley,” she suggested softly. “This has been amusing, but I have things to do.”

  Graeme had been here a year, she had known Ashley for nearly five years, yet it was Cat receiving the warning rather than Graeme.