Lion's Heat (11 page)

No one ever accused the Breeds of failing to use intimidation to get their way.

"Pawn the damned meeting off on him," Jonas ordered.

"No." Rachel turned back to the file despite the sudden jump of her heart as she made the denial. It was never, ever easy to challenge Jonas Wyatt.

"I know a volcano hungry for a sacrifice," he muttered behind her. "You'd make the perfect candidate."

"Hungry volcanoes only accept virgin maidens," she informed him tartly. "That leaves me out of the running."

She almost grinned at the disgruntled growl that sounded behind her.

"Fine. Pack a bag. You're going with me."

Rachel froze.

She turned to him slowly once again, her fingers still poised on the keys of the electronic display board.

"Excuse me?"

Jonas moved closer, the lean, powerful shift of muscle holding her gaze even as she fought it. Hell, fighting it was becoming harder each day.

"I said, pack a bag. You'll be going with me. For the meeting as well as that insane embassy party you scheduled for me. Afraid to have me at home, mate?"

She swallowed tightly. Actually, she was. She wanted him out of the cabin, at least for a single night--long enough to rebuild the defenses she could feel weakening against him, despite his arrogance.

"I can't leave Amber . . ."

He snorted at that. "Merinus was taking Amber tonight anyway. Did you think Callan wouldn't inform me of that? What did you think you were going to do, Rachel? Get rid of me so you could rid yourself of the desire plaguing you?"

Actually, that had been her plan.

Her lips thinned mutinously. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Do you think I don't know about those very intimate toys that you picked up when you went shopping with Merinus last week? For God's sake. Those Breed guards on your ass don't take their eyes off you, Rachel, no matter what you think."

Mortification flamed in her face.

She'd been so certain she had managed to slip her purchases past the guards who had trailed after her and Merinus as they shopped several days previously. After all, she hadn't even bought the items herself. She'd convinced the sales clerk to take care of everything and then slip her the bag.

"Let me guess." His voice dropped to a husky, sexy croon as he flattened his hands on the top of her desk and leaned forward. "While the cat's away, the mouse thinks she's going to play?"

"That was the general idea," she gritted out. "So go away so I can play in peace."

She had no doubt in her mind that those ultra-sensitive ears of his would pick up the sound of a vibrator.

"Forget it." He straightened with a snap, his silver eyes like dark flames raging in his face as he glared down at her. "Now pack. You're going with me."

"I will not." Rachel came to her feet now, anger churning inside her at the complete arrogance of the order. "I am not required at either the meeting or that insane party being held for the ambassador to Switzerland. He's a jerk."

"Yet you thought I wouldn't mind attending?" he asked with carefully banked sarcasm. "How kind of you, Rachel. Pack a bag before I pack it for you."

Hadn't Merinus said something about Breed males enjoying spoiling and giving in to their mates?

"Come on, Jonas," she tried another tactic. A sweet smile. She batted her lashes at him. "You don't really need me there, do you? You know I hate these parties. You've always let me out of them before."

Amazing.

She watched his expression, and for the briefest second, she thought she was actually going to get away with it.

"You know," his voice dropped, became harder, "I'm certain that sweet little act would work if you were actually sharing my bed. But since you aren't"--he flashed those wicked incisors at the sides of his mouth--"pack that fucking bag."

Rachel flinched. She hadn't heard him curse like that in all the time she had worked for him. Her eyes widened as he turned on his heel and stalked from the office, the door slamming hard enough that her gaze shot to the room where Amber was sleeping, fully expecting to hear her disgruntled cries.

She slept on.

Breathing out hard, Rachel turned back to the door he'd just about slammed from its hinges.

Now, was that a Feline hissy fit or what?

Did she dare not pack to accompany him?

She grimaced. Hell, she had a feeling if she didn't pack, he would do just as he threatened and pack for her. Then he'd likely throw her over his shoulder and cart her to the heli-jet like a damned war prize or something.

Now wasn't that just what she
didn't
need: Jonas in a snit.

It looked like it was going to be a while before she was allowed to play with her new toys after all.

Jonas stalked from the cabin, his control shot, and he fully admitted if he had stayed in that office so much as a heartbeat longer, then he was going to jerk her from her chair and kiss those pretty lips like the hungry Lion he was turning into.

The glands beneath his tongue were swollen to capacity now. They throbbed like a son of a bitch and the taste of cinnamon and cloves filled his mouth like a particularly forbidden sweet.

Sweet Lord have mercy, she was making him crazy.

Jumping into the Raider he kept parked in the driveway, he signaled to the two hidden members of Ghost Team that he was riding out, started the vehicle and backed out of the smooth parking area.

It was time he had a talk with Merinus. The meddling she had done in his life was becoming dangerous. He was poised on a razor's edge here and it was going to begin affecting his job.

Even Brim Stone, the Coyote Breed he'd elected to cover for him in D.C., was becoming frustrated with Jonas's lack of tact, which was worse than normal.

According to Brim, he was like a Lion with a sore paw, and if someone didn't dig out the splinter, then he was going to do it himself, with a knife.

Jonas had dared him.

It was never a smart thing to dare a Coyote. God knew most of them didn't have the power to turn away from a dare. They were fucking insane like that.

Pulling the Raider into the circular drive in front of the estate house, Jonas jumped from the vehicle and strode quickly up the marble steps to the double doors.

A Breed guard opened the door for him. Jonas expected to come face-to-face with part of the Pride family, but instead came to a stop at the sight of Cassandra Sinclair as she sat at the bottom of the staircase, staring up at him.

The eerie blue of her eyes could be disconcerting, to Breed as well as human. Her innocent face was somber, the long, heavy curls of her hair flowing around her like a thick, black cape.

Dressed in jeans, a light sweater and sneakers, there was still no way to pass this particular Breed off as anything but what she was. A very preternatural woman-child.

"How is your mate?" Cassie propped her arms on her knees before laying her cheek against them and staring up at him inquisitively.

This was the same young woman that the year previously had stood in front of the Breed tribunal and argued, quite successfully, that the female mate of the Coyote leader had the right to deny her mate. That she could indeed live apart from him, as long as she submitted to close protective supervision. That Breed Law had no right to interfere in free will and a woman's right to choose, and that the Coyote leader, Del Rey Delgado, had unfairly and with deception mated the woman against her free will.

All of that might well be true, Jonas had argued. But the Coyote leader had rights as well. It was he who would have to know when his mate suffered. It was the male who would have to bear the burden as well as the guilt should anything happen to her once she left his care.

The Breed tribunal hadn't heeded his arguments. Hell no. Instead, they had stood fast and followed the very skillfully presented argument this child had presented.

At nineteen, most Breeds were considered so fully grown that the majority of them had been killing for more than four years. Breed children were sent for their first kill between the ages of ten and fifteen.

Cassie, barely nineteen, had yet to take a life. And with her mix of Coyote and Wolf DNA, she might possibly be more dangerous than any of them.

Because Cassie sometimes saw ghosts, and because she often knew things she should never know.

"You're worried," she stated as she watched him too closely with those odd blue eyes. "What's wrong, Jonas?"

Unfortunately for him, Cassie was one of the few people he was fond of. She had practically been raised in Sanctuary. Her Wolf Breed stepfather had come to the Felines for help while trying to save her and her mother's lives. Because of that initial call for help, Cassie was now a part of them.

"I rarely worry, Cassie," he assured her with a slight grin as he took a seat next to her on the stairs. "Let's just say this hasn't been one of my better days."

"Because your mate is still denying you?" Playful humor glinted in her gaze as her lips quirked with a charming smile.

"Because my mate is a stubborn woman," he argued.

Cassie leaned back to rest against the step behind her. "Perhaps it's not stubbornness so much as it is fear," she stated then. "You would be a very hard man to walk into a mating with, I think."

"Ah, Cass, I thought you loved me." He chuckled.

She didn't smile back. Instead, she turned and gazed thoughtfully at the door for a long moment before turning back to him.

"Do you ever hate your life, Jonas?" she asked.

"No." He shook his head decisively. "I don't hate my life at all, Cassie. Though sometimes I must admit I hate those who attempt to destroy the life I and those like us have the right to live."

She nodded slowly again. "That's why you fight so hard for us. It's why some of us love you so much that we would do anything to see you happy and to see that you never regret your life."

Jonas frowned back at her. "Okay kid, you were waiting here for a reason. What was it?"

She nibbled at her lip for a moment as she considered her next words.

"Many Breeds don't like me. Do you know that, Jonas?"

He reached out and mussed the top of her hair a bit. "I love you, squirt."

The gesture didn't bring the usual smile from Cassie.

"I frighten them," she said softly. "I'm not one of them, yet I am. I know things I shouldn't. And they fear what I could mean to their lives. Do you fear what I could mean to your life, Jonas?"

He tilted his head and stared back at her with a sense of understanding. Cassie wanted to feel accepted, and sometimes, that was the last thing she felt.

"You don't frighten me in the least, Cass. Though sometimes, I am afraid for you."

She nodded. Sometimes, Cassie seemed to be a magnet for trouble, even more than she would normally be.

"Do you trust me, Jonas?"

And here was the kicker. "I trust you, Cass." He sighed. He did, though he didn't always follow the advice she gave him.

"Then don't berate Merinus for what was my fault," she warned him softly. "I told her a friend would call Kane, and that friend would be in dire need as well as important to all that we are."

"Enough, Cass." He laid his finger gently against her lips, amazed that there was no discomfort in that light touch. Mates normally found it entirely distasteful to touch anyone, in any way, of the opposite sex during the first stages of mating heat. "I know where this is going. It doesn't matter why Rachel came to me, or who played a part in it. I berate Merinus or she thinks she can make a habit of poking her nose in my business. It's that simple."

Cassie shook her head. "Nothing is ever so simple." She sighed. "No ill will come of berating her, but as you said, she will give a second thought to her actions for a while." Cassie stood slowly to her feet. "And really, Jonas, you don't want her to do that."

She didn't say anything more.

Turning, she ran up the stairs, leaving him to watch after her. He shook his head in resignation. He'd be damned if he couldn't have drained some of the frustration eating him alive if he could have tested his wits against Merinus's rapidly growing will.

Cassie paused at the top of the stairs, turned and frowned curiously. "Jonas?"

"Yeah, brat?" He rose to his feet and stared up at her with a patient scowl.

"Why did you tell Rachel she thought that while the cat was away the mouse would play?"

He didn't answer.

Stifling his curse, he turned on his heel, jerked open the door and raced to the Raider.

Damn her. He wouldn't allow it. He had no relief. There was no way to still the lust tearing at his guts and no way to ease the hunger eating at his soul. He would be damned if he would allow it.