As she turned into the alpha’s section of the base, she nodded at the security team she’d put in place. They were Del-Rey’s pack members and, she knew, more loyal to him alone than the others would be.
“Should we wait outside?” Ashley asked.
“Yes, you should,” Anya answered her. “I don’t need protection from your alpha.” At least, she hoped she wouldn’t. “As a matter of fact, the three of you can return to quarters while I’m here. Get some damned sleep or something, Ash. You’re getting dark circles.”
“Those are fighting words, Coya,” she growled, though the playfulness still filled her tone.
“We’ll spar later.” Anya laid her palm against the palm plate that had been installed, and waited to see if she would be accepted.
She wasn’t. She closed her eyes against the pain.
A second later the door opened and Brim stepped back, his gaze remote as she entered the room. She slapped the e-pad into his hand.
She could almost feel his disapproval that she was there; the fact that if he had the authority, he might even order her out.
“You’ll find my notes, unencrypted, there,” she told him. “You’re needed in Command and Security. While you’re there, have a talk with your pack leaders about cooperation in areas you share before you need to knock some heads together.”
He stared back at her silently.
“The packs have been cooperating fine,” he said coolly. “They’re working together when they were never meant to do so. I consider that a rather amazing occurrence on a good day.”
She stared back at him with the same measured look. “They’re not working together well enough then. It’s your job to see to this, and you haven’t.”
“I have been rather busy.” The mockery slipped free then. “I’m Del-Rey’s bodyguard and part of the team now assigned to the Bureau. It’s rather hard to be in two places at once and to see to my duties in Command and Security as well as be bodyguard and general overseer.”
“You should have assigned someone in your place,” she retorted calmly.
“I did so,” he informed her, his voice clipped. “Things have worked well enough.”
“Well enough isn’t working anymore,” she told him. “And you are not needed as general overseer. I think I can handle that well enough.”
“Coya, this isn’t a place to play games,” he said quietly. “You can’t walk in and take your place for a few days, then run screaming when things begin to get out of control for you where the heat is concerned. Let this be until Del-Rey awakens and he can decide how we’ll handle it.”
“My place is here,” she gritted out. “Yours is in Command and Security now that you’re on base. Are we understood?”
She wasn’t going to argue over who belonged where. She belonged here, and she would be here. Her decision had been made; mating heat or not, as arrogant as all of them could be, it was time to finish this, one way or the other.
“Completely, Coya.” He inclined his head slowly, though his expression never changed. “I’ll collect my PDA and get to where I belong then.”
“Have you slept?” She propped her hands on her waist as he started to turn from her.
“For several hours,” he admitted. “There’s a sleep chair in the office that I made use of.”
He took her e-pad and held it in one hand with his PDA and stared back at her. “When he wakes up after healing, he’s a prick. I don’t want to hear you crying later if you end up with your feelings hurt or, worse yet, you find yourself back in his bed.”
Coyotes didn’t beat around the bush, she had to give them credit for that.
“Agreed.” She nodded sharply. “I’ve left notes where I need to be updated if you don’t mind. My PDA code is notated in there so you can send it straight to me.”
Brim nodded his dark head, his light blue eyes shifting as though amusement threatened to touch his gaze, before he left and closed the door quietly behind him.
Breathing out roughly, Anya stepped fully into the room, then felt, saw, the haze of red fury that began to wash over her. She felt her fingers curl as the need for violence rushed through her system. She wanted to kill. To see blood flow and kick some damned Russian female ass.
Sofia was sitting on the side of his bed staring back at her, a damp cloth in her hand, a bowl of water on the bedstead as Del-Rey lay sleeping, stretched out, all but naked before the other woman’s gaze. Her Del-Rey. Naked. Covered by nothing but a sheet, and another woman was touching him? Brim had dared to allow another woman to touch him?
Sofia rose slowly to her feet. “Fever.” She cleared her throat, her hazel green gaze flickering for a moment. “I was merely helping Brim.”
Merely helping Brim? Brim had called this woman in, allowed her to touch Del-Rey, to care for him as he left Anya in Command and Security?
Anya’s head lifted. “He’s not going to f**k you, so we both know you don’t have a chance of achieving the status of coya in this base, are we agreed?”
Sofia’s gaze darkened, almost in amusement, as she licked her lips slowly. “We’re agreed, the status of coya will never be mine. But you haven’t officially accepted it as of yet either.”
“Don’t play word games with me, Sofia,” she warned her. “I’m not in the mood for them, or for your cattiness. Get the hell out of these quarters and make damned certain you stay out of my sight for a long while. We might both regret it if you don’t.”
“Possessive, Anya?” she asked. “I’ve heard you really don’t give a damn, and haven’t given a damn in over eight months. Why begin now?”
“Playing gossip, Sofia?” she sneered. “You should know better at your age.”
Sofia’s lips curled into a mocking smile. “Poor guy. He needs a lover that could balance him, that can be just as determined as he is. You ran from him.”
“Do you want to die today?” Because Anya was definitely in the mood to shed blood.
“Today is as good as any.” Slender shoulders shrugged expressively. “But, I have a feeling it’s not going to happen just yet. I’ll be on my way, Coya. If you need any help, let me know.”
“Oh, I think I can manage all on my own,” Anya assured her, her voice calmer than she had expected it to be.