“Haven and Sanctuary are homes, to their alphas as well as their mates and children. If you prefer a military base rather than a home, then that’s your choice. Excuse me for taking up your time Alpha Delgado. Perhaps if you find the time from all your duties to f**k tonight, I’ll see you then.”
“Anya.” He came out of his chair as she moved from hers and headed for the door. “Dammit, that was uncalled for.”
She paused and turned back to him. “Was it?” she asked, the hurt in her voice thick now. “I had more freedom when the separation order was intact. I’ve become the one thing I swore I would never be, Del-Rey. Your pet, nothing more.”
“That isn’t true,” he growled. “Anya, you know better than that.”
She shook her head slowly, her blue eyes dark and filled with sadness. That sadness struck him like a physical blow.
“You just proved it,” she said softly. “I’ll leave you to run your base now.”
She swept from the room, head held high, shoulders straight, the subtle scent of her pain drifting back to him as he dropped into his chair and wearily wiped his hand over his face.
She knew better, he told himself. She would come to understand the necessity of this. Like a woman, she wanted ribbons and bows on everything. Coyotes didn’t do well with ribbons and bows. If they did, f**k, they’d be Wolves. Coyotes weren’t f**king Wolves.
He glared at the door as a firm knock sounded on it.
“What?” he snapped, knowing who stood on the other side.
Brim stepped into the office. “Well, how did you manage to f**k up?” He closed the door behind him as he smirked back at Del-Rey. “Wouldn’t let her have the quilts over the plain blankets for the soldiers’ barracks?”
“I refused the requests across the board,” he snarled back. “Do you have a problem with it? Since when do Coyotes think they don’t have to work for what they sleep on? How long did it take us to find a bed of our own? We appreciated it more for the fact that it was ours.”
Brim’s expression went blank. “I see,” he finally said. “Very well. I’ll leave you to your duties, Alpha.” He opened the door.
“What the f**k has a stick shoved up your ass?” Del-Rey snarled. “We’re a military base, not a f**king hotel complete with room service.”
Brim turned back slowly. “If this is true, then perhaps you should return the females to Haven. That way they don’t remind our men of everything they don’t yet have, and everything they know their coya would do to make their lives less military and more normal. They’ll remember they’re animals then, rather than the men they want to be. Should I arrange to have the coya and her detail returned?”
Del-Rey rose to his feet with a primal growl.
Brim’s brows arched. “Be a fool with your mate if you want to be, but stop excusing it. You don’t want the changes because those changes threaten you, not the base, Alpha. And despite your determination to claim her heart, simply put, you’re not willing to give her yours, or your trust, in the same measure. Poor coya. Maybe she’ll become the soldier you need rather than the mate she thinks you want. Would you be happy then?”
He didn’t give Del-Rey a chance to respond, but stepped from the office instead and closed the door quietly behind him, leaving Del-Rey alone with the knowledge that his second-in-command might be right. If she didn’t make the base a home, then if he ever lost her again, there would be less to suffer for, less to miss. For all of them.
“I need an escort to Dr. Armani’s office,” Anya told Emma as they stepped into the community room and headed back to the tunnel that led to her and Del-Rey’s rooms. “Ask her to have the hormonal therapy to prevent conception prepared and to please pencil in a few moments to talk to me.”
“Yes, Coya,” Emma said quietly, using the comm link to access the outside line.
“Ashley, when is your nail appointment this week?” Anya asked.
“Alpha hasn’t approved it.” Ashley didn’t pout; her voice was calm, composed. The airhead was nowhere in sight.
“I just approved it. You’ll be accompanying me to my own appointment so we might as well make it a girls’ day out. Have our security team advised and make certain the detail is comprised of at least as many of the soldiers that came out of Russia with us as it is of Del-Rey’s men. Ensure that the other half are men who have been on that detail with us before. I want no complications.”
“Fuck,” Sharone hissed. “Now isn’t the time for this, Coya.”
“We can’t wait forever,” she told them. “Once our appointment is set, I’ll need you to find an excuse to go into town, make contact and give them details. I’ll talk to Armani this afternoon.”
“The conception hormone is an excuse then?” Ashley asked.
Anya breathed in roughly. “I made a choice,” she whispered. “It’s a choice I believe in—to let this play out without the hormones. But that mangy Coyote tried to manipulate me. He tried to play me. Let’s see how he likes playing his own game.” She turned to Ashley then. “How long do you think Brim will give us?”
Ashley’s smile was deadly. “I saw his face when we left. He’ll wait until the last possible moment before telling the alpha. I’d guess, half an hour lead time as long as no one else blabs.”
“No one blabs on the coya,” Sharone grunted.
“Team is in place. We have five men, all are from the alpha’s original team, ready and waiting at the south exit. They have an all-terrain ready to roll.”
Anya changed direction. It wasn’t necessary to change clothes before going to Haven. Jeans, boots and long-sleeved shirts were standard attire there.
“There’s snow moving in,” Sharone reported. “We may not make it back tonight. All we have are the all-terrains; the heli-jet is still in tech getting repairs, but one is on loan from the military.”
Wouldn’t it just be too bad if the alpha didn’t have his little sex toy to play with tonight, Anya thought furiously as they rushed to the waiting escort. Why, that just might break her heart.
Not.
CHAPTER 19
Anya stepped into the examination room and faced the Wolf Breed doctor silently for long moments. Dr. Armani was exhausted. There were darker shadows beneath her chocolate brown eyes, and for once, her long, silky mane of black hair was tied into a ponytail rather than braided into all those tiny braids that normally covered her head.