Styx's Storm

CHAPTER 12

For the first time since aiding the development of the Wolf Breed community, a week later Styx almost regretted one of the few responsibilities he had toward it. One such duty was the occasional pig roast for mated anniversaries.

Dash Sinclair and his mate, Elizabeth, were celebrating the ten-year mark of their mating on the next evening, and the surprise celebration had been planned for months. Cassie had planned most of the event, and Styx knew this gift to them was very important to her. She wanted to show her parents the value of what they had done for her. Getting her to understand it was no more than any parent would do wasn't easy.

Her life hadn't been an easy one. When she had come to Wolfe and Hope with the idea of the celebration, the alpha pair had wholeheartedly embraced it because Dash had been instrumental in many of the advancements and contacts the Wolf Breed society had gained since the former Army Ranger had declared his Breed status.

Prepping the pig was time-consuming, but a project Styx could do while he thought about things. The fire pit was already prepared, lined, and the coals were glowing red hot as he wrapped the prepared pork in heavy baking foil and set it in the cast iron carrier that would be used to lower it into the pit and to retrieve it when it was ready.

But the activity separated him from Storme, and in the past days, since her attempted escape, something had changed within her. Something he couldn't quite put his finger on or explain.

She seemed quieter, more thoughtful. She still hadn't yet joined the community dinners in the evenings, but now he could see the hunger to do so in her eyes.

There were times he would have given anything to see or to hear what she was thinking when she sat on the back deck of the cabin each evening and watched the hilarity that ensued when they all came together.

Once or twice, he swore he had even caught her on the verge of laughing as the evening progressed and the men attempted to get the hang of a game of touch football or soccer.

They were accomplished athletes, but male Breeds were highly competitive and could become snarling, sweat-soaked friendly adversaries as the games progressed.

Still though, she hadn't joined the fun, nor had she come from the deck to draw closer to it. And her expressions had the power to worry him now.

She seemed almost saddened, as though a part of her just couldn't fight something anymore, and he feared she was giving up on some part of herself.

The mating heat hadn't progressed; he was still tortured by a mating that wasn't. He'd marked her, he could smell his scent on her, but the full heat still remained just out of reach.

Nodding to Navarro to take the other side of the heavy burden, Styx lifted the guest pork and helped carry it to the pit prepared in the middle of the courtyard. Chains attached to the sides of the carrier were then attached to a large hook used to maneuver it and lower it into the hot coals. It was then covered and all they had to do now was wait for the succulent meat to cook.

"It's going to be a hell of a party," Navarro commented as he stepped back and carefully dusted off his hands.

Styx nearly grinned at the Breed's fastidiousness. Navarro was a Custom Class Breed, a Breed created and trained to infiltrate political, social or elite influential societies. Styx called him the "pretty boy" of Haven. He preferred not to get his hands dirty, his hair was always perfectly cut and styled, his clothing always tailored to perfectly fit his tall, corded frame.

"Cassie has it planned to the last minute," Styx murmured in amusement.

"Will your woman be attending?" Navarro asked, surprising Styx with the question.

The other Breed called her his "woman," not his mate. The knowledge of the fact that every Breed in Haven could sense that he hadn't marked her, had his back teeth gritting in anger.

"Perhaps," he answered shortly.

"I can sense the bond there, Styx," Navarro commented. "But you haven't yet mated her. What's holding your Wolf back?"

Styx stared back at the other Breed. "It's not the Wolf holding back, it's the woman."

Navarro grunted at that. "The woman doesn't produce the mating hormone, my friend," Navarro informed him. "She's only subject to it. Therefore, it seems to me it's your Wolf holding back."

"Or her acceptance," Styx growled. "I always wondered at the impression of force the mating hormone gave. That it took choice from the female's hands. I believe Storme is retaining control by refusing to accept ..."

"Or you are."

Styx gave a low, warning growl. "She's my mate. I accept that."

"But does your Wolf?" Navarro posed the question curiously. "This mating phenomenon intrigues me, Styx. This is the first time a Breed has been held back from his mate in such a way. Perhaps you are the one who refuses to accept a mate that feels such prejudice toward you. A mate that refuses to accept her lover is human as well as animal."

Styx forced himself to hold back the anger that demanded a physical repercussion for the slight toward his acceptance of his mate.

The Wolf inside him was going crazy at the fact that he couldn't mark her properly, that the mating hormone was just out of reach, irritating the glands but refusing to release.

It had to be an unconscious reaction to the fact that his mate didn't accept him, because he sure as hell had no problem accepting his mate. He couldn't and wouldn't accept that the problem lay with him.

"I would rescind the mating acceptance I understand you have given your alpha in regards to the woman," Navarro stated then. "Perhaps a part of you realizes she's going to betray you, or Haven. The consequences of that could be disastrous."

"Did I ask your opinion?" Styx all but snarled back.

"You didn't have to ask my opinion," Navarro assured him. "It was volunteered."

"Then stop fucking volunteering," Styx snapped.

Navarro grunted at the order. "You refuse to even see the truth then? To recognize the fact that this woman is being rejected by your genetics not because of her feelings, but because of your mistrust of her?"

"Exactly." Styx punctuated the statement with a hard growl. "Because unlike you, Navarro, I know my Wolf well. When you understand yours as well, then you can come chat with me."

He turned on his heel and stalked from the fire pit, through the sheltering trees that surrounded it and back to his own home and his own woman.

He'd be damned if he would allow the other Breed to question something so significant as his trust in Storme's innate honesty. She wasn't a cruel person, as much as she wanted to pretend. He could sense the goodness in her, just as he sensed her fear and her confusion.

He wasn't certain why the mating heat wasn't active; all he knew were his feelings, his belief, that nothing or no one could force love, even mating heat. And thus far, no mating had occurred where there hadn't been the potential for love. Until now.

Storme was intrigued. She wanted him, ached for him. But until she let go of the past, she would never be able to love anyone. Not Breed or human.

Pushing the door open, he caught her scent immediately. His already hardened cock became pure iron, throbbing in need as his balls tightened.

Taking a deep, hard breath, he controlled the impulse to follow the scent to the living room and take her immediately.

His cock was so hard it was painful. His tongue throbbed and itched, though a quick check against the sides of his teeth assured him that the glands hadn't swelled, the mating hormone wasn't filling them.

"I need your help in here." Resignation filled her tone as it echoed from the living room.

Frowning, he moved into the living room before coming to a surprised stop just inside the door.

Storme sat on the floor, her head beneath the living room table where the television controls, the glass top's internal computer display and the room temperature and lighting controls were accessed and wired into.

The sensitive electronic tabletop lifted for easier view, with a holographic keyboard that moved and angled to fit any position on the couch in front of it.

At least, it had. At the moment, Storme seemed to have several components to the wireless receivers as well as the main control board disassembled.

He felt his stomach fall in acute disappointment. Damn, he loved that system. It controlled not just his ability to access the Internet and Bureau files, but also his television, satellite links, security details and his state-of-the-art audio system on the far wall.

"May I ask what you're doing?" He stepped to her, keeping his hands carefully from around her neck.

He was in love with her. If he wasn't in love with her before, then in that moment, he fell head over heels as she reached for the slender electronic adjustment wand at her side and expertly applied it to the sensor in the control module that had been giving him hell for months.

"Well, I was trying to bypass the security protocols on the system so I could watch the damned television," she muttered. "While I was in there, I found about a dozen shorts in the system and several hardware vulnerabilities. I thought I'd just fix everything."

"Bored, Storme?" he drawled in amusement as he hunched down beside her.

"Just hold this." Feigned disgust filled her tone as she indicated the long, awkwardly mounted control board beneath the table. "Whoever installed this should be shot. It's a freakin' mess. Do you realize hardware vulnerabilities can screw your entire firewall system? What? You want someone to slip into your system and fuck with it?"

No, he didn't, but he had suspected Storme's talents based on the files the Bureau had on her. He'd deliberately left the problems in place and had the communications bunker closely monitoring it as he waited on her to get tired of roaming the house like a ghost and do something about it when one of the shorts caused the television to stop working.

"I appreciate your concern," he murmured as his gaze drifted to where the shirt she wore gapped at her stomach, several buttons having slipped free.

She was wearing one of his shirts now. Bare, tanned flesh tempted him to take a taste as he reached in and held the control board in place for her.

"My concern or my boredom?" she questioned crisply as she reached for another of the electronic tools, her fingers feeling around against the sheet until he pushed it in her path silently.

She picked up the slender needle-nosed wire adjuster and soldering tool, and he watched as she gripped two minute wires, set them in place and activated the tool to set the wires.

So much for Jonas and Navarro's opinion that she would betray them at first opportunity. She could have kept her mouth shut about the hardware problems, likely believing he was unaware of them, and tried to find a way to hurt Haven.

She hadn't. She had warned him of the problem instead. That knowledge sent a surge of pure emotion slamming through his gut, nearly causing him to lose his grip on the control board.

"Geez, Styx, don't get fumble fingers on me," she muttered as she pulled the pliers back and checked her work with a small electronic surge light.

Thumbing the switch to the light, she activated the testing system and began running the white light over each component and wire.

"Where did you learn how to work on these systems?" Styx asked as she frowned up at the internal system fiercely.

"Tinkering some," she answered absently. "I had some training at the Omega lab, with one of their computer experts, before the rescues."

"You have a knack for it," he stated.

"It's a talent." She reached for another slender tool and made an adjustment in the wireless modules that connected the system to the various electronics it controlled.

"I would have imagined you would lean toward medical or genetic engineering. I wouldn't have guessed a talent in computerized systems."

She paused, glared at the system then sighed heavily. "I thank God I didn't lean toward anything medical in any way. The thought of it sickens me."

"Because of the work your father and brother did?"

She pushed herself from beneath the table and glared up at him now. "Would you like to know, Styx, why I hate Breeds with a depth that frightens me at times?"

His teeth clenched. She was admitting it, and he hated that.

"Why, Storme?" he asked softly.

"Because they sent my father and my brother to hell before I was ready to let them go. My father and brother broke the laws of nature, and the laws of decency, in what they helped the Council to do. And then they broke my heart when they showed their loyalty to their work over their loyalty to me. I hated them for it, I hated the Breeds for it, and I hate that fucking Council so bad I'd kill every one of those bastards if I could. So the Breeds can count themselves lucky. At least I don't wish I could murder them to their faces. Now, excuse me, but I don't need your help any longer. You can leave now."

She pushed her back beneath the table and ignored him as though he wasn't there, while she went back to work on reassembling the electronics she had taken apart.

At least, she appeared to ignore him; what he sensed was far different. He could feel her pain, tears unshed and a sudden desperation that tore at his chest.

Storme was fighting more than the past or her emotions. She was fighting the desertion of her father and brother, and the suspicion that they had loved the Breeds far more than they had loved her.

Unfortunately, Styx agreed with her.