She was a beautiful woman. Like many of the Breed specialists still living, she wasn’t very old and was incredibly intelligent, with an above-genius ability in genetic engineering. The Council had spent years trying to blackmail her or force her into their ranks. She had spent just as many years in hiding, trying to escape them.
“Shots ready,” Armani said quickly as she prepared the injection. “The hormone to prevent conception isn’t complicated and it works quickly. I just need to take a few tests to make certain you haven’t conceived.”
“I don’t need the test, Nikki,” she said quietly. “I need to talk to you.”
Nikki swung around, her brow wrinkling in a frown. “Is there a problem? Have you been experiencing any other symptoms that we didn’t discuss?”
“No.” Anya moved across the room slowly and took a seat at the end of the examination table. “This has nothing to do with mating heat.”
Nikki’s eyes narrowed. “What does it have to do with?”
She licked her lips slowly. “Treason.”
Nikki stopped cold. “Are you going to kill that Coyote mate of yours?”
Anya let a smile tip her lips. “I haven’t come to that yet.”
“How serious is this, Anya?” Nikki pulled her stool closer and sat down. “I assume its fairly serious for you to make an excuse to see me.”
“How desperate are you for Coyote specialists?”
Nikki’s eyes widened. “I’d give my ass right now for just a few detailed notes. You don’t want to know what I’d do for specialists. But why would I need them if you have them? Base would—”
Anya shook her head. “He refuses to allow Council-trained specialists into Base. He’s made a career of killing them, Nikki. The ones he didn’t kill, the Council did. With the psychologists and medical specialists coming in from the Bureau, specialist backing could make a difference in determining some of the anomalies in the Coyote Breeds. Am I correct?”
Nikki nodded slowly.
“Would Haven give them asylum over the alpha Coyote leader’s objections?”
“Whoa!” Nikki’s head jerked back in surprise. “You have some? Not just one?”
“Two. I’ve been in contact. They’re currently in hiding, running for their lives from the Council. They were exceptional, Nikki. Compassionate, dedicated. They suffered when they were forced to allow Coyotes in that Russian facility to die.”
“Oh my God,” Nikki whispered. “Chernov and Sobolova are alive?”
“For now.” Anya nodded. “I’ve tried to discuss this with my alpha, but he refuses to agree that the Coyotes need their own specialists.” Or blankets and pillows, or a sense of belonging.
Nikki rose from the stool as she drew her jacket around her, crossing her arms under her br**sts and turning from Anya for long seconds.
“I have limited time before my alpha jumps in here demanding answers,” Anya sighed. “I need a decision soon, Nikki.”
“You could get in a lot of trouble, Anya,” Nikki whispered. “If these are Council plants, it could backlash on you.”
Anya nodded. “I know this. Just as Hope knew the trouble that could arise when she contacted you, Nikki, and the Wolves gave you asylum.”
Dr. Armani grimaced at that. “And you want Hope to consider giving these two asylum as well?”
“I can’t discuss this with the lupina.” Anya slid off the exam table. “But if you were to tell her that a confidential contact informed you of the possibility, then there would be no backlash to her, or to you, if it were discovered who your contact was. Your medical designation separates you from many of the laws that hinder me here.”
One of those laws? Going against direct orders from a person’s alpha leader. A mate could face serious charges if her alpha decided to go that far.
Would Del-Rey do that? She had to say at times, she simply didn’t know. Trust was an issue between them. She couldn’t be certain which way he would go in this. She hoped he would accept it, see the value of it and eventually trust that she was doing what was best for them, and any child they conceived.
“Why are you risking this?” Nikki asked her then.
Anya placed her hand against her stomach, feeling the twinges she knew to expect. “I’m still ovulating,” she whispered. “If I conceive now, or in the future, then I want my child safe, Nikki. I don’t want to risk losing Del-Rey’s child on the off chance that the genetics decide to go haywire or something unforeseen comes up. He’s an adult, an alpha. He can risk his life if that’s his choice. I’m not nearly as accepting of that risk to any children we’ll have together.”
“I can understand that.” Nikki nodded as a hard, sharp knock came to the examination room door.
Their heads jerked to it.
“Your alpha,” Nikki said. “I’ll talk to the lupina and contact you within the next twenty-four hours.”
Anya lowered her head, closing her eyes briefly as Nikki strode to the door and unlocked it before pulling it open.
He was standing there, wild, irritated, alpha. It was like a slam of lust surging inside her without the physical pain. Or was the emotional wound just too deep right now to allow her to feel the physical?
She stared back at him, seeing the disarray in his long hair. He must have raked his fingers through it more than once. He did that when he was frustrated or becoming angry. His dark eyes were narrowed, thick blond lashes framing the wicked black.
“What’s wrong?” He strode into the room. “Why have you decided you need the additional hormone shots?”
“I changed my mind.” She gave him a bright smile as she jumped off the examination table. “I guess I just needed someone to talk to.”
He stopped in the middle of the room, his gaze focused, intense on her now. “You have me and your bodyguards to talk to,” he growled. “Why do you need someone else?”
“The restrictions placed on me don’t bar me from talking, Alpha. Just from acting.”
He frowned. “I have a name, Anya.”
She paused and stared back at him silently for long moments. “And I have a brain, Alpha Delgado, regardless of what you think. Are you ready to go?”
She swept past him, moving from the examination room and rejoining the security detail waiting in the hall outside.