“Samuel, Mordecai,” she yelled at two of the Coyote enforcers. “Get your butts in the air with Ivan and team two.” They were two of Del-Rey’s best men.
They looked to each other, then her.
“Is your alpha here?” she yelled back at them.
“No, Coya.” Samuel shook his dark head quickly.
“Then you obey your coya. Now go!” she snarled. “Now!”
They surprised her. They turned and ran, barely catching up with Ivan as he straightened the limo to head to the top of the mountain and the waiting heli-jet.
She could hear the hum in the air and, over it, the explosions across the mountain. Lifting the hem of her gown, she moved into the caverns, following the medical team that was bearing a still-cursing Sharone through the stone hallways to the lower-level medical rooms.
At least one attack had been made on this mountain while Anya had been here. A stealth jet had managed to penetrate the Breeds’ air defenses and had slammed “cave busters,” mountain-penetrating missiles, into both the Coyote Breed base as well as the mountain that overlooked Haven.
Anya had led then. It had been her first command situation.
There had been damage, but not a single Breed had been scratched. There had been more damage to the Haven buildings and homes, but the rumored base in the mountain that sheltered the valley hadn’t been hurt. Twenty-four hours later Del-Rey had returned and taken over.
“Coya, Sharone’s threatening to leave Base and head to the mountain.” Emma rushed to her side as Ashley flanked her. “She’s cussing up a storm, and it was all we could do to keep her in the limo.”
“Tell the doctors to shoot her full of a sedative if she can’t keep her butt on the gurney and out of trouble,” Anya ordered her. “Ashley, get to Command. Have one of the soldiers get me a headset. I want to know everything that’s going on as it happens.”
Ashley rushed away as one of the male Breeds took her place.
“You!” She pointed to another soldier, watching his eyes widen almost in panic. “Find me some information and find it now. And make damned sure your alpha is still breathing.”
The soldier hurried off as Anya entered the medical caverns and stood back, watching as Sharone cussed out the Coyote Breed medical staff.
If she was cussing, she was just pissed. Sharone could get eerily silent if she was really hurt. Almost deadened.
“Emma, get one of our enforcers down to Haven. I want information on that bartender they brought back and I want to know what he’s saying. Get another to Dr. Armani’s office and see what’s coming out of there, then contact our enforcer in the Wolf Breed security detail and see what he has. I want everything tapped into me, via the link Ashley better have to me within the next second.”
“Yes, Coya.” Emma stepped to the side as Anya wrapped her arms around herself, slowly rubbing at the chill invading her body.
“Coya, I found a blanket.”
A soldier stepped forward, unfolding a thick gray blanket and helping her pull it over her shoulders.
“My wrap and purse are still at the ballroom,” she told him. “My knives are in that purse. When it’s safer, I want a team flown into town and all our belongings collected. Get a list together. If we don’t get everything back, then we’re going to break a few rules and start breaking into houses. Whoever was behind this won’t be expecting us to come back to collect anything.”
The soldier grinned. “I like how you think, Coya. I’ll get the information and get everything ready.”
“Prepare a plan,” she told him. “When your alpha returns, we’ll submit your ideas to him in the eventuality that anything is missing. Because I’m betting you, someone is collecting it and splitting the goods now.”
The women invited had all left their purses and wraps with the doorman. Some were exquisite creations donated by some of the world’s premier clothing makers on the off chance that the Breed females or mates would show off their creations and give them the cachet of knowing their designs were worn by the women chosen by the notorious Breeds.
“Coya, I’m a lower-ranked soldier,” he finally said. “I’m not an enforcer. I should take this to an enforcer to prepare.”
She turned on the man, her gaze going over him. “Were you considered defective in your lab, soldier?”
“No, Coya.” His voice hardened, a deadly growl reflecting in it. “I was considered a class one stealth and exterminating specialist.”
“Then here’s your chance to earn your bar as an enforcer,” she retorted. “You got lucky tonight, soldier.”
“Yes, Coya.” He straightened. “I’ll get that information together now.”
“Emma, I don’t have my communications set,” Anya reminded the other woman as she turned back to the window that looked in on the medical room.
“It’s coming, Coya,” Emma promised her, then paused. “Our alpha is fine. No matter what.”
“Of course he’s fine, and he’s going to be growling and snarling and tasting blood when he stomps into this mountain. Get on the radio, get me that communications set now. Tell those boys in Communications they better be anticipating every shred of information he’s going to need before he gets here. If I hear again that the information needed to defend this mountain isn’t available to him the minute he’s ready for it, then heads are going to roll.”
During the last attack, she knew, Del-Rey had spent hours getting much needed information together because Communications and Security had been so surprised by the attack that they had been scrambling to figure out what was going on.
“I should be in Communications,” she decided. “Keep a soldier here. I want reports sent in on that stubborn Breed’s status every five minutes. And if she tries to pull her usual get-up-and-fight bullshit, then have her sedated.”
She turned and headed along the passageway as the other Breeds watched her assessingly. This was her first time as second-in-command while Del-Rey was considered on base.
Coyote Breeds had a love-hate conflict in regards to their coya sometimes. She didn’t reside in their mountain while their alpha was there. They had felt deserted by their leader’s other half, and Del-Rey’s original team felt as though she had deserted their alpha.
Now Emma almost smiled. She, Sharone and Ashley had done well. Eight months. In only eight months Anya was automatically taking her place as Del-Rey’s second-in-command and his mate.