Coley sniffed, almost in derision. “She’s blind. She can’t see them.”
There were snorts from the alphas, contempt filling the sounds.
“Poor little girl,” Jonas sighed. “She has a father that likely doesn’t realize the talents she possesses. Why do you care if she’s protected, Coley?”
Coley stared back at him in confusion. “Blind doesn’t mean I don’t love her,” he stated harshly. “She’s just a little scrap of a thing. You guys, you’re at war with the world and you know it. You’re adults. I don’t want her hurt in it. She seems to think you bastards are cool or some shit.”
Too bad the father didn’t follow the daughter’s instincts, Anya thought as she shifted in her chair, aware of a slow, building heat in her stomach, as well as the mass confusion that was filling her mind.
How had she known what Del-Rey’s response would be? No one could have blamed him for wanting blood rather than to pledge his protection to a child whose father had targeted his mate and himself. Coyotes were sometimes more logical, less emotional than the other Breeds. They could be colder, less feeling. But Del-Rey’s voice had deepened with his thoughts on the child’s protection.
She clenched her teeth and rose to her feet as Del-Rey moved to counter her, standing as well and watching her with hooded black eyes.
He could smell the arousal, she knew. As it bloomed inside her, he would know that. A part of her was freaked out over that. Completely terrified that no emotion, no feeling, no hint of what she was doing or thinking could be hidden from him.
“Ladies’ room.” She swallowed tightly. “Should I meet you somewhere?”
“I’ll await you here,” he finally told her softly. “We’ll return to Base soon.”
Anya nodded before slipping quickly from the dark room.
In the hall, Sharone, Emma and Ashley surrounded her, their expressions concerned as they watched her.
“Wow, that heat stuff is bad again, huh?” Ashley stated.
“Shut up, Ash,” Emma hissed.
“Well hell, it’s not like she didn’t know it was going to happen when she refused that last shot,” Ashley retorted. “I mean, she’s not going to, like, go to the tribunal again.”
Silence followed Anya then.
“Will she?” Ashley finally whispered, almost horrified as Anya lifted her hand in a signal for the bodyguards to remain outside as she pushed into the ladies’ room and moved to the sinks.
She turned on the cold water, stuck her wrists under the stream of water and laid her head against the cool mirror.
She’d tried to ignore the heat building in her. She should have had a few more hours before it became this bad. Before her br**sts swelled, her ni**les becoming so sensitive that her bra was painful. Her clit was so swollen, so engorged, it was touching the silk of her panties. Each move she made was agony now.
Part of her was cold, chilled to the bone and aching for Del-Rey to wrap his arms around her, and another part of her refused to ask, to beg for what she needed. She had made the first move. She had ignored Sofia’s insults to begin with, then she had made the first move and initiated that sexual adventure they had taken. She was forcing back her pride and trying her damnedest to make up for the past months, but it wasn’t easy.
And while that ice collected, she also burned. It was terrifying. Hot and cold at the same time. No, not just hot and cold. Icy and blazing. It was affecting her ability to think, to hold on to her composure and restrain herself.
Composure was everything. If she was going to take her place at Del-Rey’s side, then she had to prove she was competent and able to make decisions when needed. If she let the mating heat do this to her, then she was going to fail.
She almost whimpered at the thought. The way she felt right now, she couldn’t help him do anything but roll around in bed. What if they were attacked? What if Base was in danger? How could she do what she needed to do, and know Del-Rey had faith in her to do it while he and the other Coyote soldiers defended the inner caverns?
He wouldn’t be able to trust her. She would be a liability again. Something to f**k. That would be the extent of her worth to him, and she couldn’t bear that.
“Coya?”
She straightened quickly at the sound of Hope’s soft voice behind her. Dammit, she should have hidden herself before she gave into the ragged emotions filling her.
Straightening, she quickly shut off the water and pulled free several paper towels to dry her hands as she turned to face the other woman.
“Lupina.” She smiled back at her friend. “Do you ever feel strange as hell when someone actually calls you by your name?”
Hope’s lips tilted with charming amusement. “It’s according to the person. I’m Hope to many, but I’m also lupina.” She shrugged. “I’m the same person, no matter the name they use.”
“True.” Anya smiled as she inhaled slowly. “I’ll get out of here for you.” She headed for the door.
“I stopped in to talk to you.” Hope’s statement had her pausing.
“Why?”
“Brim informed our head of security, Jacob, that you were no longer on the hormone treatments, even those that still the more painful effects of the heat. You don’t have to suffer, Anya. The base hormonal therapy controls the pain and conception until you’re ready for it. What you were taking before controlled the heat itself. You have a choice in this.”
Anya breathed in more roughly this time. “I made my choice, Hope,” she whispered, staring back at the other woman intently. “It’s just . . .” She swallowed tightly. “It caught me off guard.”
Hope stared back at her in disbelief. “The heat is terrifying,” she said. “I know well how bad it can be. Until Kiowa’s mate, and then you to a greater extent, allowed our doctors and scientists to track how it works within our bodies, we knew that horror every month. We could feel it coming before we cycled, then as soon as that was over, we were hit with the mating heat cycle. And that doesn’t even count that first month of mating, when it’s like a vicious claw tearing at your mind and your body. It doesn’t have to be that way.”
Anya stared back at the lupina, the pain in her chest nearly brutal as she swallowed back her tears.
“What happens,” she said, “if I’m not able to get to your doctor? If Base is on lockdown and we’re under attack? If I don’t know how to handle it, then how do I help Del-Rey? How do I keep from becoming something he has to protect above all things, rather than someone that can help him? You learned how to work through it; I’ve heard how well you take care of your duties, even in the middle of mating heat, while Haven is under attack. How you’ve worked within the secured areas to make certain everything is running smoothly while Wolfe and the others fought back the attacks. How can I do that, if I don’t understand how to control my own body?”