Mercury's War

CHAPTER 24

Mercury watched his mate, and pride filled him as never before. Pride and challenge. His little mate was someone to be reckoned with, obviously.

As he watched her working with Callan, her third cup of coffee empty beside her, her cheeks flushed, her eyes burning with arousal, he couldn’t help but admire her strength. Her incredible tenacity. Any more than he could help the reaction her defiance and silence produced in him.

He had mated a Breed. A hybrid Breed. One with familial ties to the Leo, Dane, Jonas and Callan. A frightening thought.

Leo’s granddaughter. Why didn’t that surprise him?

“Look at the drug requisitions,” Ria was explaining to Callan, Kane and Jonas, turning the screen to allow them to see it more clearly. “Codeine, morphine and here, this little puppy.” She pointed to one of the longer names on the screen. “It’s similar to a hallucinogenic. Bad, bad news for overworked, overstressed Breeds. The effect it has on our brain processes is similar to that of the drug the Council created to restrain the feral displacement in Mercury. We have a Breed mind-control drug coming into Sanctuary in minute quantities, right under your noses.”

“And with no attempt to hide it,” Jonas bit out. “Ely wouldn’t drug us.”

“Ely’s being drugged, Jonas,” she stated clearly.

“One of us would have scented it,” Mercury pointed out then. “A few of the enforcers that guard the labs have the best sense of smell developed within the Council labs. Ely couldn’t be drugged.”

She shook her head. “It’s nearly undetectable. The drug has a hold on the Breed; it’s highly addictive to the brain, and it’s not detectable until the effects it produces are at full strength. She’s still fighting it. I don’t have the sense of smell a Breed has, so I can’t detect it at all.”

“What are your talents?” Callan asked smoothly.

“Exceptional night sight and an ability to break code and detect patterns. I’m a logistical expert with a high rating in mental procedures. As a hybrid, naturally born of a Breed and mated human, my genetics are virtually impossible to detect without a deep-level genetic screening because they’re recessed. Until mating heat. No hybrid can hide once mating heat begins. In my case, I needed the mating hormone Mercury produces to kick-start my hybrid genetics.”

“You say that as though there are enough hybrids to detect the phenomena,” Kane suggested. “How many are there?”

Her look was cool, composed; only her eyes burned.

“I’m a hybrid, you know that now. How many there are, where they could be or why they’re hybrid is none of your business.”

Kane’s brows arched. “But you’re Leo’s granddaughter. That means Dane is your father.”

“Or Callan or Jonas or any number of Breeds who were created using his sperm or any child born of mating with the Breeds who were created from them. You’re asking the wrong person questions.”

“Is Dane your father?” Callan growled. “Because if he is, then someone should point out parental responsibilities to him. You were in a series of foster families. The Vanderales didn’t raise you. Leo and Dane both neglected your safety.”

She rose from the desk and collected the external drive attached to it. “You have seventy-two hours to play with this program and find your traitor, Pride Leader Lyons. After that, it’s gone. Don’t bother trying to copy it, I created it. Trust me, I know my job. You don’t have the time to figure it out.”

“She’s Dane’s daughter,” Jonas snapped. “Only he’s that damned arrogant.”

She simply smiled calmly, but Mercury knew what the others didn’t. There was nothing calm about her.

“I’d prefer my status as hybrid remain a secret as long as possible. My Breed scent will become unmistakable before too much longer, but I’d prefer the true status of it remain between us,” she stated.

“She places a lot of trust in us,” Jonas growled.

“In you, Mr. Wyatt, I place about as much trust as I do in Dane. Both of you are going to end up strangling in your own webs one of these days.” She turned to Mercury. “Are we ready to leave?”

“More than.” He could feel the need pumping through him, adrenaline racing through his body, arousal tearing through his balls and hardening his cock further.

Every angle in her body was stiff with defiance. He could see it now, smell it. She had drunk her coffee against his advice. Caffiene only heightened mating-heat arousal. She had argued with Dane and pitted her wits against Kane and Callan’s questions. And the animal inside her had been drawn into the open, the heat of her arousal pulsing through her, refusing to allow its captivity by that incredible will of hers.

Her animal was stretching free, and he could feel it reaching for him.

The scratches on his back and shoulders made sense now. Only a female Breed scratched with such force. And the bite that throbbed on his shoulder. He should have known. The moment her teeth sank into his skin, he should have realized what he was dealing with.

He rose from his chair as she moved from behind the desk, her body sliding with sensual power; the new clothes, the female animal growing in power inside her, gave her a smooth, erotic glide that had him clenching his teeth at the covert looks she received from the other men.

There was no lust there. All were fully mated, with the exception of Jonas. But curiosity, awareness of her, was evident.

No wonder she had hid that inner core of herself for so long. One look at her now, and there was no mistaking the female animal lurking beneath her flesh.

“I should warn you, Alaiya is still lurking around,” Jonas stated.

Ria didn’t speak, but her eyes flared with possessiveness when she looked at Mercury. He stared back at her silently, daring her rather than reassuring her. If she wanted to claim him, he was hers to claim. But she would claim him before one more assurance passed his lips.

The crimson top she wore, the snug jeans and flat boots emphasized the shift of power inside her at that moment, and anticipation roared inside him.

“Alaiya doesn’t worry me.” She shrugged. And Mercury could tell she wasn’t lying. Alaiya didn’t worry her, but those mating tests sure as hell did.

“I’m ready.” She moved to him, hips swaying, tempting, her hair flowing around her, teasing him; tight, swollen breasts pressing against her top, making his hands itch.

His tongue pulsed with the mating hormone as he laid his hand at the small of her back and drew her to the door.

No one spoke behind them. They wouldn’t have been heard if they had. It was time to return to the cabin. It was time to see if the animal inside Ria was ready to fight for what was hers.

The private airfield Dane had acquired before arriving at Sanctuary was filled with activity. Three Vanderale heli-jets landed as Rye pulled the limo into the clearing.

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.”

Dane winced. “Jonas isn’t going to like that, Father.”

Leo grinned. All teeth, his amber brown eyes filling with amusement. “That young whelp. He’ll find out exactly how he came by those manipulative instincts of his. I’m not an old man, Dane, despite my age. I still know what the hell I’m doing here.”

That was true. Unfortunately, Callan and Sanctuary were becoming Leo’s weaknesses. And Elizabeth’s. Because Callan was one of the few children created using both their genetics. And he was a pride leader before his prime, just as Leo had been.

If Dane weren’t fully confident of his place within the hierarchy of his father’s pride, he might have been a shade jealous of his younger brother. Instead, he was very much worried. Unlike Dane, Callan hadn’t yet realized, not clear to the bone, exactly how deceptive other Breeds could be. Especially traitors.

“The Leo has landed,” Ria said softly as she pulled the small, slender sat phone she carried at her hip free of its holster and read the coded message. “He’ll be at Sanctuary in the morning.”

As would Elizabeth. Ria forced herself to remain relaxed, calm, as the limo pulled into the lane that led to the cabin. Tomorrow, tests would begin being given by someone she knew she could trust. Elizabeth knew more about mating heat and Breed physiology than any other scientist could possibly understand. She had lived through the mating, the various phases of heat, the conception and birth of two sets of twins and Dane. She had tested herself, experimented on herself, and when Leo began forming his own personal army to rescue the children he knew were being created with his sperm and the eggs stolen from Elizabeth before their escape from the labs, she’d had other Breeds and other mates to compare her findings to.

And now she would have her granddaughter to test. Her granddaughter and the rabid little female cat determined to steal the mate Ria had taken.

Ria stared at the back of the tinted glass as the limo drew to a stop in front of the cabin. The two Breeds from the front left vehicle approached the cabin and went through it for a security check before Ria and Mercury entered.

Did they know? she wondered. Lawe and Rule were exceptionally perceptive for Breeds, and they had Jonas’s trust. Did they know what she was? She had no doubt they were aware by now that she was a Breed. It was becoming impossible to keep that animal contained. Before Mercury, it hadn’t been a problem. Before the mating, she’d had no concerns that it could ever slip free, because her control was too ingrained.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” He asked the question quietly as they waited for Lawe and Rule.

Ria stared into the forest, with its covering of snow, and the predators that were making their presence known. The lions seemed to follow Mercury. She had seen that in Africa, on the estate Leo had built deep within the Congo. There, were some Breeds, those like Mercury, who could control the fierce, wild creatures.

“I told someone once,” she finally said quietly. “My first lover. A month later, Dane had to kill him. He was trying to find the Council, to connect with them and to sell me to them.”

Dane had shown no mercy. The moment he learned what was going on, he had arrived at her new apartment, torn her lover from her bed and ordered Ria to the car. They had flown to the Congo. Twenty-four hours later she had watched as Dane put a bullet in her lover’s brain. He was twenty. And she had thought she loved him.

She pushed her fingers through her loose hair, aware of his hand settling over her thigh, comforting, warm. She shook her head and refused to look at him.

“The Vanderales didn’t raise you themselves?”

She shook her head. “They oversaw me, though. Dane was always about when I needed him. But they couldn’t risk the questions it would raise if they took in an orphan and raised her. Especially an orphan tied to the victim of a violent act. My mother was in a vehicular accident with several other cars, but what no one knew was that she crashed the vehicle herself. She killed herself, the Coyote Breed that had taken her hostage and the occupants of two other cars, to protect the Vanderale secrets. Once the Vanderales learned about me, they were afraid the Coyote might have already reported his findings to the Council, and that I would be compromised as well. They protected me, but they protected themselves as well.”

“Dane’s your father?” he asked.

“No. Dane’s my biological uncle. My mother was a Breed that Leo and his force rescued. She was created using the genetics stolen from the Leo and Elizabeth. I’m their natural granddaughter. My parents disappeared from Leo after their mating. When my father died, she returned, but never told them about me.”

“They deserted you, Ria,” he said, his voice quiet, but filled with anger. “They should have raised you.”

“They should have done exactly as they did.” She turned and faced him then. “Actually, they should have done much less, in order to fully protect themselves. I’m a hybrid, Mercury, and not even a particularly effective hybrid. My talents are simple, my instincts regressed. For all intents and purposes, I’m merely human. They risked themselves in what little they did, and I’m grateful for it.”

“They didn’t love you,” he growled.

She smiled sadly at the accusation. “They loved me, Mercury. And they love me now. I didn’t tell you what I was because I’ve never forgotten the value of silence. My lover died in front of me. Begging me for mercy. Begging me to stay Dane’s wrath. Because my lover betrayed me. He risked my capture, as well as the Leo’s, Elizabeth’s and Dane’s. My bad judgment could have destroyed us all. And it never will again.”

The limo door opened as she finished speaking. Drawing her jacket closer around her, she never felt the cold as she stepped out into it. All she felt was the heat, clawing at her insides. She had waited too long and she knew it. Sating the horrific arousal tearing her apart wouldn’t be easy. Nor would it be gentle.

Mercury escorted her to the cabin, stepped inside ahead of her and waited as she entered. He closed the door slowly, then locked it.

The sound of the click was like a bomb going off inside her mind. Her knees weakened, and her tongue began to itch. She closed her eyes. She didn’t have the glands beneath her tongue that Mercury did; she didn’t have the hormone needed to induce mating heat. But she could still feel the anomalies in her own body. She had felt them since the first time she had come in contact with him.

“What was his name?” Mercury asked her.

Ria knew who he meant. She shrugged out of the leather coat before sitting down and unlacing her boots.

“His name was Jason. He was the son of one of Leo’s contractors. They never realized what happened to their son. Dane had his body flown back to Jo’burg and placed where he would be found. It appeared an act of random violence.”

“He deserved it, Ria,” Mercury growled.

She turned to face him slowly. “He didn’t deserve it. I could have saved him. Dane looked back at me before he killed him. He gave me the choice and I remained silent. Because I knew if I stayed his hand, Leo, Dane and the Breeds they had rescued over the years would never be safe again.”

The choices Dane had been forced to make broke her heart. The choice she had made that day had never broken her soul.

“Which doesn’t explain why you didn’t tell your Breed mate that you’re a Breed,” he pointed out, and though his voice was calm, she could feel his anger.

“Because I no longer consider myself a Breed, hybrid or otherwise,” she said. “And I wouldn’t have, as long as I could have kept that part of me in submission. There was no reason to tell you, simply because I had no intentions of allowing it to be free.”

His lips lifted in a silent snarl as he paced to the other side of the room. He didn’t try to touch her. She was burning, in agony; the pain that swept through the arousal was killing her.

“Are you regretting the mating?” she asked him then. She had expected this, but that didn’t mean she welcomed it.

He turned back to her slowly. “Have I said I do?”

“You haven’t touched me. All day.”

His expression transformed. It became hard, savage, relentless.

“You want it, you’ll take it. No excuses. Claim what’s yours or you can suffer for it. Knowing what I know now, I’ll have no mercy, Ria. You’re a Breed, and whether you like it or not, the instincts of that animal are inside you. You can use them, by God, or we’ll do without all that wild, hot sex we’re both dying for.”

She stared back at him in surprise. “You’re not serious, Mercury. Breed males don’t wait for their mates to make the first move. When did you lose your senses?”

“When you screwed up my mind and my soul with every emotion I swore I’d never feel for a woman,” he snarled back at her. “When I realized you’ll walk away before you’ll fight for any damned thing you want. A man has his pride, and a Breed has even more. You want it, mate? Come and get it.”