Stygian's Honor

CHAPTER 22

Stygian stared out over the desert landscape from the top of the spherical column of stone that rose above the valley floor, just behind the hotel, his gaze narrowed, his animal instincts humming in danger.

Something was out there—

“What are you hearing from your contacts?” he asked Dog quietly.

“I know they’re here, I just haven’t been able to find them. Since word went out that Cassie Sinclair was arriving in the area, more teams have been sent out, but like the others, they haven’t been glimpsed.”

The Genetics Council was sending out their best teams now, evidently. With the creation of the scent reduction drug, it was becoming harder and harder to track the bastards down too.

“They have to buy supplies at some point,” he stated. “Are there men in town watching for that?”

“We have several teams watching.” An edge of irritation colored Dog’s tone. “But what the fuck are we watching for and how do we cover every damned business that could possibly provide their supplies? And if they follow directive command and work with humans to supply their needs, then we’re fucked there.”

Wasn’t that the truth. Window Rock had dozens of businesses supplying outdoorsmen, hunters, weekend vacationers and the list went on.

“Why this area?” Stygian asked as he surveyed the land again, paying particular attention to the small canyon that ran alongside the road. “What are they looking for? There has to be more than just Honor, Fawn, Judd and Gideon. They have to be after something more.”

“Not sure, but there were signs of movement in the canyon night before last and several times last week. Loki has been flying over the desert, twenty miles in each direction, to track them. He’s been able to track and explain all movements but this one and another about four miles to the east of the hotel.”

Stygian rubbed at his jaw thoughtfully. “Any chatter?”

“Strangely, nada.” Dog shook his head. “If it hadn’t been for Loki, we wouldn’t know about this.” He nodded toward the canyon.

“This the same canyon Liza and Claire crashed into when they were fifteen. The one we took her to?”

“The same canyon we also found evidence of a sweat lodge in,” Dog told him. “You know, Navajo medicine is shrouded in history. There are a lot of things they’re rumored to be able to do though.”

“Such as?” Stygian asked absently as he stared through the binoculars into the canyon.

“I’ve had Chimera working with Joseph Redwolf for a while now, Megan Arness’s grandfather. From what she’s uncovered, there’s a legend that the memories of a dying warrior can be passed to a warrior who needs the skill or the information that could be gone forever. There’s no information whether it’s ever been done before, but the legend is there. She’s also learned that they’ve been shredding and burning records from more than a decade back, which were contained in a secured, secret location where the tribal chiefs are said to store the written history of their secrets and the recipes used for certain rituals, handed down since long before their lands were ever invaded by the white man.”

Stygian lowered the binoculars, his arms propped on the edge of the boulder he’d been resting against.

“The Navajo medicine men are rumored to still know many of the ancient rituals,” he said thoughtfully. “How close is that supposed secured, secret location to the canyon where the girls wrecked?”

“We don’t have a clue. Even Chimera doesn’t know where it’s at. But she’s smelled the ash on Joseph’s clothes when he returned from the desert. And he didn’t lie when she asked what he had been burning. He told her he was burning another’s past.”

Fuck.

Fuck.

He could feel it.

In his gut, Stygian could feel the vibrations of an interference that had likely saved Liza’s life as child, but could cost her that life now.

Liza?

To her friends, to her family, she was Liza Johnson. It was Liza Johnson’s memories she carried, but it wasn’t Liza Johnson’s personality. Just as it hadn’t been Liza Johnson’s destiny to be in this place, at this time. It was Honor Roberts’s. And now, Honor no longer had the very information that could save her life.

“At the same time the wreck occurred, two men supposedly from a unit Audi Johnson had trained while in the military showed up as well. Cullen Maverick and Klah Hunter. We suspect Klah is Judd.” Dog leaned against the boulder they were using as shelter, his gaze narrowing, the lines fanning out from his eyes, the marks of squinting into the sun, or his gaze narrowing on distant targets, stood out in stark relief as they narrowed once again.

Between his teeth he clenched a cold, thin cigar that he had yet to light. Crossing his arms over the desert-tan shirt that covered his chest, the Coyote watched Stygian assessingly.

“Stranger things have happened,” Stygian murmured.

Hell, he knew better than that.

Judd wouldn’t have left the girls without his protection. Even in the labs, both Judd and Gideon had risked their lives more than once to protect both girls. “There was a reported attack on two teenagers and a young man, matching Honor’s, Fawn’s, and Judd’s description, as well as two Native Americans accompanying them, six hours from Window Rock, less than twenty-four hours before the wreck,” Dog continued. “Several soldiers identified as working for Brandenmore Research were found dead as well, their bodies obviously having been dumped there rather than left where they were killed.”

“The underground network that has always helped the Breeds in escaping and relocation are rumored to be on Claire and Liza’s asses every time they leave the hotel. The Breeds that were here, before Liza and Claire came on our radar, say the members of that network are rumored to never leave a kill where it was made, if killing is necessary,” Stygian murmured.

“True,” Dog agreed. “We also have the fact that there’s a team shadowing Liza and Claire, a report that the two girls have always had shadows. Shadows our Breeds could never identify or track. They’re damned good, Stygian, if they can evade us.”

“I’ve glimpsed them,” Stygian admitted. “Each time I’ve sent Flint or one of my own team out to track them, they simply disappear.”

“What’s your gut telling you?” Dog asked when Stygian said nothing more. “What are your animal instincts telling you?”

The bastard knew exactly what his instincts were telling him, Stygian thought as he glared out at the desert once again.

“When it happens, no matter how much she suspects it, it’s going to destroy her,” he snapped, enraged at the thought. “She believed she was one person. Her parents, her friends, everyone treated her as though she were Liza Johnson. To definitively learn the truth will destroy her.”

“Not if Honor’s memories are still there,” Dog stated. “If she’s having nightmares, then no doubt they are. Someone has simply overlaid Honor’s memories with Liza’s. They’ve done just enough to keep her safe and to keep her alive.”

“And now the Breeds will destroy that security,” Stygian retorted. “What a fine gift to give my mate.”

Dog breathed out roughly at the thought. “Too bad Liza’s medical records from the lab were destroyed. We know her DNA was changed by the treatments she received there, but we have no idea what it changed to. Have you asked her to have a Core Level DNA test done?”

“That’s not the answer,” Stygian argued. “As you said, we have no idea how Honor’s DNA was changed. It wouldn’t prove anything.”

“It would prove she’s not related to Audi Johnson,” Dog reminded him. “Just because she carries his familial scent doesn’t mean anything other than the fact that she lived as his daughter, in his home, for so many years. A Core Level test could reveal the truth.”

“It would.” Stygian agreed. “Unless a genetic wipe was done, which we suspect it was.”

“You think her natural father would ever have allowed her genetics to go unprogrammed, Stygian?” Mockery filled the Coyote’s voice now. “Who are you fooling, my friend, and why?”

Thank God Liza hadn’t asked that question, or seemed to have suspected the truth of Honor’s father’s love for her. No, her natural father would never have allowed such a thing. Any more than Stygian would allow the Core Level testing for the simple fact that telling her she was Honor Roberts wasn’t going to help her. It would only endanger her.

“You bastards and your mating bullshit,” Dog retorted irritably. “You’d keep your mates from getting a scratch even if it meant risking stitches in the long run.”

“You’ll understand when you find your mate,” Stygian informed him as the memory of ecstasy clashed with every fear he had for her.

Nothing mattered but taking away all chances of pain, of risk, of anything but that which would bring a smile to her eyes, laughter to her heart.

“I like to think I wouldn’t ignore reality,” Dog growled. “My mate will always have to fight. If she’s not prepared for that, then she’ll have to become prepared. She’ll have to face the knowledge that hell awaits her every minute of the day, and I hope I’m man enough—Breed enough—not to forget that just because she’s my mate.”

“Just because she’s your mate, nothing will matter but protecting her from that hell. Nothing will matter but giving the gentleness in her, the compassion in her, a chance to grow. Seeing her fight will destroy you. Knowing she may have to fight will remind you of every weakness and limitation you have. She’ll change every rule you live by and every belief you’ve been certain could never be altered.”

“God, just shoot me first.” Dog grunted.

To that Stygian had to laugh. “She’ll fill your soul with such light, Dog, with such humble certainty that you simply don’t deserve the pleasure she brings to you, that suddenly, your creation, the hell of training, all of it, suddenly becomes worth it, because it brought you to this one woman that only death can steal from you. And though her death would mean yours as well, still, it’s worth every moment you have to spend with her.”

Mating Liza had been the most humbling experience of his life, and given him the most pleasure and happiness he had ever known.

Even amidst the danger and the fight to ensure her safety, Stygian knew there was no other woman, no other life he would face if it meant facing it without her in his bed and in his life.

“Like I said, save me from mating if it’s all that,” Dog grunted. “I’d rather just go ahead and eat one of my own bullets, I believe.”

Stygian was saved from a reply as the communication devices they wore in their ears suddenly activated.

“Be advised. Arrival in progress.”

The lack of identities assured him and Dog that it was the Sinclair family that was landing on the helicopter pad on the roof of the hotel.

The Sinclairs were arriving a day earlier than expected.

Stygian’s head jerked around to stare at Dog, certain the Breed had drawn him out here to allow Jonas to complete some manipulative little drama he might have in mind. Dog was just as surprised. His eyes widened as well as he slowly straightened from the boulder.

They both shot from their positions at the same time, jumped over the ledge that led to the position they had taken to survey the desert.

Hitting the soft incline with the flat of his boots, arms extended, Stygian went into a sliding crouch as he raced to reach the bottom of the towering stone pillars that jutted up from the desert floor.

They were approximately thirty miles from the hotel once they reached the Dragoon parked at the bottom of the tower.

He was screwed. There wasn’t a chance in hell he would reach the hotel before Cassie got to Liza.

“Arrival completed. Justice, Breaker, confirm positions and secured access to base two.”

“Confirmed, in position and access to base two secured. Arrival completed and en route.”

“Be advised, Team Three, movement along area seven detected.”

“Team Three moving out,” Loki answered the call.

“Team three confirmed, advise base two when in position and movement sighted.”

“I guess Dash still has a ban on Coyotes in the princess’s presence,” Dog growled in irritation as they hit the base of the rock column they’d taken as a lookout and went at a full run across the short distance to the hidden Dragoon.

Dash Sinclair rarely allowed Coyotes in his daughter’s presence because of the distress it placed her in with the visions that bombarded her.

“Control, be advised, Enforcer Black and C dash one en route.” He gave Dog’s call sign rather than naming him. “I request my mate remain secure until my arrival,” Stygian activated the link at his ear as they jumped into the Dragoon. “ETA in twenty.”

There was no way the Dragoon was going to gather enough speed with its weight and weapons array across the rough terrain between their location and the hotel.

“Request noted,” Control responded blandly.

“Control, be advised, I request solitary security for my mate until my arrival,” he gritted out as the Dragoon shot from the hidden shadows of the shallow cave he’d found to park it within.

The request was a demand. As Liza’s mate, he was well within his rights to make it, and to have it heeded.

“Repeat, Enforcer Black,” Control came back. “Your signal is deteriorating.”

“The fuck it is,” he yelled out as the Dragoon jumped a shallow, dry bed, and Dog cursed beside him as he held on to the safety grips hanging from the roll bars above them. “Control, advise the director—”

“Repeat, Enforcer Black,” Control cut in over the demand. “Please repeat, your comm-link is fading.”

“Jonas, I’ll make your mate a fucking widow,” Stygian yelled into the link. “You conniving bastard, don’t you do it.”

He stomped the gas, knowing there was no more speed to be found as the vehicle bounced over the rough terrain, stirring up clouds of dust that nearly obliterated the vision outside.

“You’re wasting your fucking breath, Wolf,” Dog snarled from beside him. “You know Wyatt and you know that freaky little witch of Sinclair’s. Stop wasting your time threatening Wyatt and figure out how you’re going to deal with the fallout instead.”

“By killing Jonas,” Stygian snapped back.

“Yeah, you and the rest of the world,” Dog sneered. “Good luck there.”

Stygian snarled in fury, tore across a shallow creek bed and fought to right the vehicle as he all but forced it up the sharp, uneven incline.

The Dragoon wasn’t meant for the speed or the terrain he was using it against, but he had little choice. He had to get to Liza. He had to get to her before Cassie did, and he knew there wasn’t a chance in hell…

Cassie tilted her head to the side and regarded the older woman that stepped into the sitting area of the suite she and her father, Dash, had been shown to, from the connecting bedroom.

Immediately, her gaze went beyond Liza Johnson to the hazy form of a young woman, of approximately the same age, that moved behind her. The form had long blond hair, gray eyes, higher cheekbones and her lips were more lush, but with a slight resemblance to the woman known as Liza Johnson.

The flow of natural, sun-kissed hair was like a halo around the spirit’s head, while her gray eyes watched Liza with a mixture of sadness and fear. This was the real Liza Johnson, Cassie sensed. The woman the young girl would have become had she not died in a fiery crash at the bottom of a canyon.

“Liza Johnson,” Rule Breaker—God love his heart but she did love his name—stepped forward for the introductions. “Dash Sinclair and his daughter, Cassie.”

Liza stopped in the middle of the room, watching them warily, her darker gray eyes moving between the three of them before they settled on her. Cassie sensed the flash of trepidation.

“I see you’ve already heard about me.” Cassie sighed as her gaze moved to the misty form of the young girl now standing close beside Liza.

“It’s nice to meet you both.” Liza extended her hand to accept the handshake Cassie extended, before taking Dash’s proffered hand as well.

Her father was still as handsome as he had been the day he had rescued her and her mother, Cassie thought, but this was one of the rare times that a woman hadn’t sighed in appreciation of her father’s rough, dangerous good looks.

“A very nice avoidance of my statement.” Cassie laughed.

“Don’t taunt her, Seer,” the spirit chastised her. “She’s facing more than you could understand.”

Spirits chastised her often these days.

“Yes, Ms. Sinclair, I’ve heard of you.” Liza nodded, her gaze darkening, not with fear, but with a flash of resignation instead. “If you’re looking for Stygian—”

“No, I’m here to meet you,” Cassie assured her before turning to her father. “Dad, I’m sure I’ll be fine now,” she promised him. “Could Ms. Johnson and I chat for a minute, privately?”

Her father scowled at her.

“You shouldn’t be here. You’re going to ruin everything. Go away. I’ll find you later.”

Yes, the spirits had learned to do just that. This one had been calling out to her, though. Cassie had sensed it even before Stygian had requested her presence. She’d sensed this spirit since the moment she had met him, knowing they were somehow tied together.

“I’ll be right outside,” her father promised her.

The spirit turned to Liza then. “Tell her to leave. You’re tired. You know Stygian will want you to wait for him before talking to this woman.”

A frown creased Liza’s brow. “We should wait for Stygian,” she said, though her jaw tightened and her gaze flashed in irritation at herself as she heeded the subconscious demand of the spirit at her side.

Cassie tucked her hands into the back of her jeans and watched the woman and the spirit with a heavy heart. “I’m here to help you, Liza.” She glanced at the spirit as she spoke before meeting the other woman’s gaze once again.

As she spoke, Cassie wasn’t surprised to see the dark-haired being that slowly wavered into view on the other woman’s left.

It was all she could do to hold back her shocked surprise as the spirit of Honor Roberts appeared, looking as she would have without the plastic surgery that made her look more like Liza Johnson. The alterations to her face weren’t drastic. An added fullness to her lips, a rounding of her aristocratic nose, her cheekbones had been sharpened, and her eye color darkened from blue to gray.

The two girls hadn’t looked much alike before the alterations, but just enough had been done to bring her closer to Liza Johnson’s facial features, while the differences between Honor and Liza had been explained away as damages that had to be corrected from the wreck.

It was obvious the spirit of the true Liza Johnson was weary. She was tired of lingering in the half state, not alive and yet not dead. While Honor Roberts appeared to be patient, if concerned, with Cassie’s presence.

“It isn’t time.” Honor Roberts shook her head as she watched Cassie worriedly. “You can’t do this right now.”

Oh, how she wanted to question these two, to learn the secrets they hid. To know their thoughts, their fears in that state; one held to the earth through ancient magic, the other kept silent, unable to take her rightful place within the body she was still held to, yet could not share.

“Liza, don’t you think it’s time we talked?” Cassie asked, holding the other woman’s gaze, wishing she could read her as easily as she could hear the two spirits standing to each side of her.

“Ms. Sinclair, I’m certain you’re here to help,” she said tensely. “But you’re not someone I can deal with right now. If I wanted to talk to any ghosts that followed me, then I have six tribal chiefs that would be more than willing to talk to me.”

“Oh yeah, right, like they’re going to give her any answers.” The young blonde beside her rolled her eyes sarcastically. “Those old geezers won’t even take her phone calls when she gets up the nerve to call them.”

“Are you certain they’re that willing to help?” Cassie asked as she withdrew her hands from her back pockets and moved to a nearby chair. “Have they been answering the calls you’ve made to them?”

Liza smiled faintly. “Jonas probably told you he compromised my phone the second he had the chance. He’s known all along I was trying to reach the chiefs.”

Cassie nodded at that as Liza sat slowly on the couch across from her.

“He didn’t mention it actually,” she said, her smile commiserating. “But knowing Jonas, I have no doubt he did just that. He’s very worried about Amber.”

“You could draw that damned Breed a road map and he’d still ignore the obvious,” the dark-haired vision cursed Jonas, as most fully living creatures did as well. “He wouldn’t listen if he could see and hear us, as well. He’s like one of those junkyard dogs that just refuse to let something go.”

“Amber’s his little girl.” The other vision sighed as she berated the darker one. “He can’t let this go, and you know it.”

“Just as you know that he’s refusing to see the truth,” Honor’s spirit stated irritably.

It was all Cassie could do to keep her expression from revealing her complete amazement at these two. It was no wonder the woman they knew as Liza Johnson couldn’t navigate her way through the drifting nightmares and fragmented memories to find the place she needed to be.

To remember.

“There is a time and a place, Cassie.” Honor’s spirit suddenly turned to her, the wavy, hazy figure all but glaring at her as though she had read her thoughts. “The time has not yet arrived.”

But the place was here? Was that what she meant?

“Ms. Sinclair, did you hear me?” the woman known as Liza questioned her, a hint of her irritation showing in her tone.

Cassie blinked and turned back to her quickly, only now realizing that her attention had been focused on the two spirits tied to the other woman.

“I’m sorry.” Shaking her head, she smiled, a bit abashed. “My attention drifted.”

“What do you see?” The immediate question was almost a whisper, and one filled with trepidation. “Tell me who you see, Cassie.”

“Not yet, Cassie,” the true spirit belonging to the woman, Honor, turned to her quickly once more, beseeching, her voice pleading though her expression was filled with demand. “Chaos hasn’t arrived yet. You have to wait.”

“It’s not so much what I see, as what I sense.” Cassie focused on the other woman with a sigh.

She had learned long ago not to disobey the spirits that came to her when they made such demands. She had no idea the fate that awaited this woman, nor did she know the part the two spirits were to play.

“Then what do you sense?” There was an edge of fear, but her voice was filled with the need to know, to understand what was happening to the life she had once thought she’d known.

Cassie glanced at the wavering figures, their somber faces, the aching fear and uncertainty that shadowed them.

“Cassie, those who did this, those who hid me and gave her the life Liza was unable to live, knew what they were doing, just as they knew what was coming,” Honor whispered as the two forms began wavering, dissipating slowly. “Let me be safe, Cassie. Please, please let me and Stygian be safe.”

If anything happened to the woman known as Liza Johnson, if she died, then Stygian would follow her, Cassie knew. He was an intense Breed, known as a lone wolf, and he had mated this woman. He had given himself to her body and soul. If he lost her, then the Breeds would lose him.

The two slowly eased away, disappearing slowly as the woman known as Liza watched her with curious uncertainty.

“What do you see?” Liza asked again softly, almost too softly to hear, as though she were frightened of what was coming.

Cassie sighed wearily. “I didn’t come here to see anything, Liza. Stygian is one of my dearest friends, as are Jonas and Rachel. I’ve been worried about all of you and wanted to make certain there was nothing I could do to help.”

Why was she here?

Cassie wanted to rage, to scream. The spirits she had seen today were not the ones that needed her the most. Yet, the moment she had met Stygian, she had felt these two tied to him.

Was there another?

She looked around the room, opening her senses, calling out to any other that could be lurking, frightened to reveal themselves.

But there was nothing there.

There was no other spirit lurking in the room, no areas in the small sitting room that seemed blurred, or wavering. There was no hint of paranormal presence, and yet Cassie could still feel that cry, the one that resonated within her senses the moment Jonas had called with Stygian’s request. “If there was anything you could do to help, then only Stygian is aware of it.” Liza sighed as she pulled her long hair over a bared shoulder and sat back against the couch.

The sleeveless cotton top and jeans the other woman wore looked cool and comfortable, but Liza was anything but comfortable at the moment. She was off balance, and she felt that way because of Cassie’s presence.

“If there’s nothing I can do, then I’ll go see Rachel and Jonas.” Standing to her feet, Cassie looked around the room once more, searching, wondering where the presence that had called out to her was hidden.

Liza rose as well, her expression drawn, the tension that was tearing her apart inside evident in the set of her face and the shadows in her eyes.

“If you need me, Liza, I am really good at keeping secrets,” Cassie promised her sincerely. “I can be a very good friend.”

“I’ve heard that about you as well.” The small smile Liza gave her was one that assured Cassie that the other woman at least believed her, even if she wasn’t willing to take her up on the offer.

“Ask Stygian to call me later then?” Cassie asked as she headed for the door.

“Are you going to tell him something you didn’t tell me?” Liza stopped her with the question.

Turning back, Cassie couldn’t help but smile. “If I did, Liza, he’s your mate, and I know Stygian well enough to know that he would tell you anything I might tell him.”

Relief scented the air as Liza nodded, some of the tension easing out of her as Cassie left the room.

Now what? she thought as her father met her outside the door. Why the hell did it seem so important that she be here?

As the elevator stopped on the fifth floor and the doors slid open smoothly, Stygian was immediately aware of the additional security forces along the floor.

Dash had been slowly amassing his own pack to ensure the protection of his family. Cassie was one of the most valuable members of the Breed community, simply because of their love for her.

As a child, she had managed to pull Sanctuary as well as Haven together and created bonds that had become unbreakable as she matured.

She had been the only hybrid Wolf Breed child for many years, and was accepted as the Feline Prides’ adopted child due to the months Dash and Elizabeth Sinclair had been forced to leave her in their care.

As a young adult and the only Breed who seemed to have the ability to effectively argue Breed law without revealing the secrets it hid and protected, she had become even more important.

Nodding to the additional Wolf Breeds who lined the hall leading to Jonas’s suite, Stygian made his way to the entrance, stepping inside as the probationary enforcer opened the door for him.

“Stygian!” The happy cry sang from Cassie’s voice as she jumped from her chair, her long black hair flying around her too delicate form as she raced across the room.

Dressed in jeans, white sneakers, and a white T-shirt claiming BREEDS RULE, in black, she looked more like a kid than a young woman rapidly approaching her twenty-first birthday.

She stopped inches from him, her blue eyes twinkling teasingly as she stared up him.

“You dog,” she accused him with a grin. “You went and mated and now I can’t even give you a hug. Tell me you’re totally happy and I’ll forgive you.”

Stygian couldn’t help but laugh. Cassie had a way about her that simply invited laughter.

“Come here, imp.” Despite the vague irritation that came with holding a woman other than his mate after mating, he still gathered Cassie’s slight form into his arms as she threw hers around his neck. “Trust me, I’m totally happy in my mate. Now, how have you been, sweetheart?”

No one who knew the fragile young woman could dislike her. She was filled with charm and compassion, and despite the ever-present shadows in her eyes, she spread happiness wherever she went.

“I’ve been completely bored now that Styx has mated,” she told him as she stepped back with a little pout. “Who am I supposed to cause trouble with now?”

Stygian grinned back at her. Styx Mackenzie, the red-haired Scot Breed, had been her partner in crime for all her hijinks until he had mated the year before.

“I’m sure Breeds are standing in line to help you cause trouble.” He chuckled before turning to her father and clasping the hand held out to him. “Dash, good to see you.”

The man was black-haired, blue-eyed, standing over six feet tall and still in his prime despite the fact that he was now in his forties.

Mating, as with all Breeds, seemed to have frozen him into the age he had been when he mated the human Elizabeth Colder.

Just as it had delayed her aging as well.

“Elizabeth, you’re as beautiful as ever,” Stygian swore as he passed the back of his hand over the silk of her hair where it flowed to her right shoulder.

The greeting seemed to come about naturally over the years. Female mates were incredibly sensitive to any male’s touch other than their mate’s. The mere act of shaking hands was mildly painful if a female was in mating heat, and something no Breed would inflict on any other’s mate.

After the first phase of mating, the heat came in cycles rather like a female’s menstrual cycle. There were times, though, that the heat itself wasn’t detectable after mates had been together six months or longer.

But friends and family had developed a habit of, rather than touching, the males passing the backs of their fingers along the right side of the female’s head in a gesture of affection, just in case mating heat had flared again.

“You’re as handsome as ever, Stygian.” She grinned before stepping back to her mate’s side. “It’s good to see you again.”

“And I’ve already met your mate,” Cassie told him as he turned his attention back to her. “I’m surprised you asked me to come, though. I think even you sense that there are no answers to be found right now. And once they are revealed, I don’t think it’s something you—or Liza—are ready to know.”

That knowledge was out there now.

Stygian stared back at her, silent, wondering why she had made the statement and why she would put that between himself and Jonas.

“I wanted her to have the chance to come to that knowledge herself,” he told her, reminding himself that he should have remembered that Cassie rarely practiced tact when she was around those she loved. And she did dearly love Jonas Wyatt—poor kid. “Those memories won’t be easy for her to accept. But I’m smart enough to know the danger she’s facing, Cassie. I won’t risk her because I might not be ready to know whatever the truth may be.”

Cassie didn’t say anything; she just stared beyond him, her blue eyes glowing neon now.

How she did what she did, no one knew for certain. What she actually saw, heard or felt, no one could detect. Unlike most Breeds and humans, there wasn’t a Breed yet that could sense anything Cassie was feeling.

Cassie saw the form that wavered into her view. She almost flinched. Every part of her soul filled with pain, filled with an agony she couldn’t understand.

Chills raced over her flesh—hot and then cold, as Cassie felt herself weakened at the sight of the spirit that slowly materialized beside Stygian.

This wasn’t Honor. It wasn’t Liza.

Who was she? What did she want and who did she belong to?

The spirit was slowly shaking her head, her hands clasped in front of her, her caramel-colored hair flowing over her face as her brown eyes stared back at Cassie pleadingly.

Who was she?

“Please. He’ll hear, no matter where you are, no matter where you speak, he’ll know. Please don’t betray me, Cassie. Please don’t let him kill me.”

Oh God, who was she?

Why was this woman’s pain driving inside her skull like steel spikes? Why was her fear like a blanket, heavy and hot, making it hard to breathe, to focus on the information she could have sensed from the spirit facing her.

“Cassie?” She was silent for so long, the tension in the room growing so heavy, he couldn’t resist the need to remind her they all needed answers.

Her lips quirked with an edge of bitter amusement. “I don’t always have the answers,” she stated softly, turning to him as if focusing her attention had become a task.

He barely restrained his surprise, knowing from the quiet near whisper of her voice that the message was meant for him alone.

What the hell was going on? What was the message in her neon eyes, the plea he could sense there? Raking her fingers through her hair restlessly, she turned away from him, the shadows in her eyes seemed to darken.

“I think I need to rest for a while,” she stated then, her voice quiet as she turned to her parents. “I’d like to go to my room now.”

“You can walk down with your mother and me,” Dash stated before turning to Jonas. “We’ll talk later.”

“Just let me know when,” Jonas agreed as the Wolf Breeds accompanying them led the way from the suite.

Stygian watched Cassie with narrowed eyes, knowing—just as he was certain the rest of them did—that she was escaping. Whatever she had sensed, or even seen, she wasn’t ready to reveal yet.

“There are days I have a tendency to forget how exasperating that child can be,” Jonas stated as the door closed behind Cassie and her parents.

They all had that tendency, though Stygian had rarely sensed her pain, or that feeling of a silent message, as he did now.

Stygian knew who Liza was. At least, he was pretty certain she was Honor Roberts rather than Fawn Corrigan. He knew for a fact she had not been born Liza Johnson. Honor Roberts for all intents and purposes was dead. She had died in the desert twelve years before, the night Liza Johnson and Claire Martinez had gone over that canyon in a sports car that didn’t belong to them.

Honor Roberts had died in Liza’s place. Or at least, her spirit had. Because there wasn’t a doubt in Stygian’s mind that Liza had always believed to the bottom of her soul that she was Audi and Jane Johnson’s daughter.

And, Stygian knew, her father knew the truth.

Audi Johnson knew Liza wasn’t his daughter, though Stygian couldn’t be certain what Ray Martinez believed.

If Ray Martinez knew or suspected, then Stygian intended to pay the man a visit and advise him on how to treat his daughter with respect rather than resentment.

“Before you head back to your room, we need to go over a few security revisions I want to make.” Jonas raked his fingers wearily through his hair as he moved to the conference table that had been set up and spread out with not just hand-drawn maps and notes but also several electronic data pads.

“Have you heard from Dog on the movement he’s tracking in the desert?” Stygian asked as they headed to the table. “He headed back out to meet up with his men.”

“Control advised he was in place and tracking it, but he hasn’t sighted anything yet.” Handing Stygian a data pad, he picked up his own. “Here are the changes I’m considering—”

Stygian listened, but he watched the director as much as he did the plans that had been drawn up.

Jonas rarely showed the physical signs of weariness or worry, and he hadn’t aged a day since his mating, but worry creased his forehead now and there were shadows in those mercury eyes that hadn’t been there before.

Amber was getting worse.

And the knowledge of that was taking all choice from Stygian’s hands.

Something would have to be done soon.

Dog moved into place, watching the four Coyote Breeds waiting in the overhang of the canyon’s cliff.

Moving confidently, Mongrel and Mutt flanking him, he moved along the canyon wall before stepping into the cave-like overhang.

The four Breeds looked up, their hard faces sharply hewn, their eyes cold, hard.

“Satellites tracked your asses,” he growled at the men, irritation lacing his voice. “I told you to watch your fucking asses.”

The commander snorted at the information. “Yeah, we knew that. Let them go on guard for a while, it will make them more vulnerable when we move in.”

Thane could be a bastard, and he was one of the few Breeds that Dog would hate to go up against. He was also one of the few Breeds he would trust his life with. The three Coyotes that followed Thane were of the same ilk, though their personalities varied. All four were hard, cold, almost dead inside though. And nothing or no one mattered more than preserving the Breed communities.

No matter the cost to themselves.

Dog eyed the other Breed for long moments as Loki, Mutt and Mongrel shifted behind him.

Thane was as tall as he was, at six four, powerfully muscular and without fear, he was a deadly enemy. His coloring was different from most Breeds. Rather than the blond to light brown hair, his was pitch black, his eyes blue, the Irish heritage from his mother clearly apparent.

“You still carrying a grudge?” Dog asked, knowing Thane hadn’t been happy at the loss of one of his men in an operation against a hidden start-up lab in the Middle East that had been holding abducted Breeds.

“The bastard was a death wish walking,” Thane admitted. “There’s no grudge to hold.”

Nodding, Dog moved to the gas fire ring and poured a cup of coffee into one of the extra metal mugs sitting next to it.

“We need to move soon,” Dog told them. “The Sinclair girl’s arrived, and only God knows what she might sense or reveal. Stay out of sight of those fucking satellites so we can at least blame it on the bastards in the North. That way Jonas won’t send a team your way when you make your move.”

“We know what we’re doing,” Thane stated.

“Maybe I’m just reminding you,” Dog mocked. “You have a problem with that?”

He wasn’t about to treat the Breed commander any differently than he would any other, even if he did often respect him more.

Thane quirked his lips in hard amusement.

“Don’t have a problem with that, Dog,” he drawled. “I was just reminding you as well.”

Like he needed reminders of any sort.

“Move into position tomorrow,” he told them, his gaze moving over each man. “Wait for my signal.”

“You think you can maneuver them that easy?” Thane asked as the others watched curiously.

“I can maneuver anything or anyone,” Dog informed him confidently.

He knew his limits, but his abilities to be just as calculating and merciless as Jonas Wyatt were in doubt. “The four of you just make sure you’re in place. I don’t want to risk our agenda and I sure as hell don’t want to risk our plans here. There’s too much riding on it.”

“What do you have riding on it? Maybe it’s time you let us know what the hell is going on here, Dog,” one of the younger Coyotes in Thane’s group sneered mockingly. Dog didn’t have time to challenge him, but he couldn’t let it go either. In a dominant, powerful move, Thane was suddenly on his feet and throwing the younger Breed against the rock wall of the cave as the knife he carried at his thigh was pressing into the other Breed’s jugular. “Need to know,” Thane rasped, his scarred lips pulling back into a demonic snarl as a growl rumbled in his chest. “If you needed to know, then I would have told you.” There was no fear in the other Breed’s eyes, only the knowledge that he had pushed too far.

“There are boundaries, boy,” Thane told him, his voice brutal as he glared into the younger Breed’s eyes. “Step over the line again, and you won’t have another chance.”

“Understood.” The other Breed didn’t lower his gaze, he didn’t look away. He didn’t show submission; what he showed, though, was agreement. That was all Thane needed.

Stepping back, he released the other Breed and moved back to the position he had taken before the low fire and lifted his coffee cup to sip at it as though nothing had happened.

“Then we’re all on the same page here?” Dog looked around at each man, their nods assuring him everything and everyone was in place and knew their places.

Finishing his coffee, he set the cup back in place before sauntering to the opening of the overhang.

“Be in place on time or you lose half of your commission,” he informed them all without turning back. “And stay out of sight of those fucking satellites.”

“Dog.”

It was Thane who had him pausing and glancing back.

“What are you going to do when Jonas learns the game you’re playing here?”

Dog’s brow arched. “He’s never going to know.”