Gasping for oxygen, she tried to scramble out of the way of the next kick, crying out as he landed a blow against her hip.
“Are you insane?” she cried out, barely escaping another kick. “The Breeds will kill you for this, Todd.”
He had been her friend. They had worked together in the communications center; they had gone through basic training and Breed security together. He had always had a smile, always seemed loyal to the Breeds, always argued for their rights and their right to live with others.
“They’ll have to figure out who did it first,” he laughed back at her. “How do you think I snuck up on him, bitch? How do you think I managed to hide in the house he spent every waking minute building for you?”
She shook her hair from her eyes as she fought to find a way out of this. How had he managed to sneak up on Hawke? To disable him so easily?
Todd laughed again, the sound ugly, brutal. It echoed with menace and a hunger to inflict pain.
“Can’t figure it out, can you, Jessica?” He smirked. “I guess the Breeds didn’t tell you all about close proximity and association, did they?”
Actually, she did know about it. Close proximity and association was when a human became so much a part of a particular pack or family that his scent began to blend in with those of surrounding family or pack members. The human began to carry not just his own scent, but also the scent of the areas and the Breeds that he was in close proximity with.
“I made sure I stayed close here.” He stared around the living room. “I carried in lumber, I hung around and talked and laughed while it was being built. And afterward . . .” His smile became sly. “Afterward I came inside as much as possible, always certain to wear the same clothes, to make sure when they were cleaned they were washed with Breed uniforms.” He shook his head. “How easy it is sometimes to slip up on them. They tightened security on the rest of us after they suspected you betrayed them, but even then, it wasn’t enough. Because I knew how to fool them.”
He wouldn’t fool them for long. Close proximity and close association only made his scent familiar to the Breeds. Hawke might have missed his individual scent mixed with those of his own as well as those of the other Breeds that had been inside the house to set up the tree and lights, but that wouldn’t mean he was safe.
His scent now was mixed with that of the weapon, as well as the individual scent he carried that would be stronger because of the length of association with the room.
Her knowledge of the subject was limited, but the Breeds’ knowledge wasn’t. They knew how to track their enemies, whether or not they had been in close proximity and association.
“You won’t get away with it, Todd.” She shook her head, knowing she was running out of time. She could see in his expression, in the hardening of the flesh over his cheekbones and forehead, that he was preparing himself to make his next move.
She couldn’t get to the derringer.
“How did you manage to knock out Hawke?” She hadn’t sensed a blow to his head, and surely she would have.
Todd grinned again. It was a smile of smug satisfaction and triumph. “The champagne I handed him at the party. It was drugged. A special little mix of cocktails that carries no scent, no taste, and takes several hours to react on the Breed senses. I took my chances on it.” He shrugged. “Look how well it paid off.”
And it had paid off well for him.
“You don’t want to do this, Todd,” she rasped, rising to her feet, swaying as though she were dizzy, as though the blows and the shock to her system were too much. “You can’t destroy the Breeds like this. It won’t work.”
“I’ll get away with it,” he assured her. “They will never know it was me.”
“You won’t listen any more than my father would,” she snapped back then, as though angry. “The way to destroy them isn’t through this sort of deception. It’s through the mating heat.” He paused. “The heat is a rumor.” There was an edge of suspicion in his voice though.
Jessica gave a light laugh as she held her hand to her ribs. “I’m going to forgive the bruises for just a moment,” she told him. “I’m even going to try to forget that you’re a moron acting outside of orders.” He frowned at the insult. “Imagine, if you will, that the mating heat does exist. How do you destroy the Breeds?”
His eyes narrowed on her. Oh yes, let that suspicion work through your teeny tiny little brain, she thought. She was the daughter of the man who had led the pure blood society he was obviously a part of. The daughter who had been imprisoned and betrayed her people. But he couldn’t be certain; not really. No one had heard from her in a year before her release.
“You prove mating heat,” he ventured softly.
“Father wouldn’t listen.” She shook her head furiously. “Killing the mates would only enrage them, but they’re too heavily backed by too many powerful political figures now. That’s not the way to take them down.”
Todd nodded slowly. “You have to make people fear them.”
She smiled in approval. “I didn’t betray my people or my country, Todd. You know I couldn’t do that. I loved my father. I love my country.”
“You pulled Gunnar and Arlington’s mates out of harm’s way,” he accused her furiously, but the gun leveled off and his attention was no longer on Jessica.
“I did what I had to do,” she snarled back at him. “Mating heat, Todd. Prove mating heat. How do you prove it?”
He licked his lips, staring at her like he was beginning to see her point of view.
“Let the heat run it’s course,” she suggested. “Then escape. Once I do that, and the heat is fully conditioned inside me, then we have what we need to destroy them. Proof.” There wasn’t a chance in hell.
“You’re fully mated?”
“Close.” She pushed her fingers through her hair as though frustrated. “Close, until you decided to play the moron. God, couldn’t you have given me just a few more days? That was all I needed.” Was it working? He was suspicious. He was still watching her as though he knew she was lying, knew she was playing him.
“How can I believe you?” He wanted to though, because the thought of finally proving the Breeds were a threat was irresistible.
“Don’t you ever pay attention to anything beyond your own inglorious little fantasies?” she scoffed.