“Father and my cousins Ivan and Donan will have their teams here.” She pointed out the general areas that the security teams believed were weak. “They aren’t aware of the tunnels that lead from the labs to this cave.” She pointed out the cave. “I asked Father if the scientists didn’t have secure access underground and he said no. There is no other access. But I found the tunnel myself and followed it.”
And she was damned proud of herself. Hell, he was proud of her, even though his guts cramped at the thought of what could have happened if she had been caught.
“We have to do this soon,” she told him. “Enough of your excuses, we have only months and the Council will be moving me to St. Petersburg for admin training there in the offices of the Federation Secret Forces. If that happens, then all these years have been wasted.”
“And when it happens, what then?” he asked her. “What happens to the humans who worked within your labs?”
“Father will take care of me,” she told him confidently. “He’s already attempting to have the decision reversed, along with the scientists there. If the Breeds there escape, then the security forces will be reassigned. They will find the fault that will be programmed into their new security system and believe that my trainer overlooked my obvious incompetence to make himself appear brighter for having a protégée. I’ve seen what they do when this happens. They drop both trainer and protégée, who are then lucky to work in the factories.”
“A factory suits you then?” he asked her curiously.
Her smile, impish and teasing, curled at her lips. “I will talk Father into going to America then. It’s much warmer than Siberia.”
This was true enough, and she would indeed be taken to America. Though her father would not be traveling along with her. Del-Rey would be though. He had plans. Plans he had already set into motion, and Anya figured into many of them. Once this rescue was carried off, they would go to Colorado, petition the Wolf Breeds for an alliance and join the Breed society.
It wouldn’t be easy to convince the Wolves to allow an alliance, but he had proof of their work over the past years. Ten years living in the shadows, being no more than ghosts, free yet chained by the bonds of being forced to hide who and what they were from everyone.
“I’ll contact you soon,” he said.
He was lying to her, and not for the first time. For six long years, he had lied to this beautiful woman-child. He had watched her grow from a gangly teenager filled with fire and a thirst for her friends’ freedom. He had watched her plot, plan and implement his orders from a distance.
She was a f**king genius in administration and personnel. Intuitive, she could take a look at a group and damned near size them up instantly. She’d already done it with his men, and he had to grit his teeth when she informed him several of his men were too damned lazy. Hell, they were Coyotes, they needed a few faults or they’d be f**king Wolves.
There was something about her though, something he could never put his finger on, that drew him. Even when she was too young to be amused by or drawn to him, still, she had drawn him.
“I don’t want to be contacted soon, Del-Rey,” she informed him fiercely. “I’m only months from my birthday. This can’t be put off any longer.”
“I will contact you before you’re transferred,” he told her firmly. “The rescue will take place before then, I promise you this. It’s time for you to trust me, Anya.”
She glared back at him in confusion. “But I do trust you. I’ve always trusted you and you’ve always dragged your heels. I’m starting to worry now.”
“No worrying, little one.” He reached out before he could stop himself and touched her cheek with the tips of his fingers.
It flared then. That connection, that something he had felt growing over the years. And she felt it as well. He watched her lashes lower, watched her lips become fuller, more sensual. A flush filled her cheeks, and the arousal that filled her young body each time they met flared to full, heated life.
He was a Breed. He could smell her dampness, the rush of her sweet juices filling her pu**y, her body preparing for him.
She wasn’t a child any longer. She was twenty-two years old, old enough. Mature enough, he prayed, because he was still a Breed and still a hard man. It was a bad combination when lust was eating at his insides.
When she tugged her teeth over her lower lip, his teeth ached to nip it. When her tongue dampened it, he nearly groaned at the erection that filled his jeans.
“Tell your people to be waiting,” he warned her. “I’ll contact you and we’ll arrange the date and time. Agreed?”
She nodded slowly. “And you’ll not harm my family?” she asked him again. “They don’t believe in what is going on here, Del-Rey. This is their job. They’re military. They are following their orders, just as your men do. Promise me, you won’t harm them.”
“I’ve sworn this, Anya.” He let the backs of his fingers smooth over her silken cheek. “My men know which of the forces are your family. We will know where they will be at the time of the attack. It’s going to be fine. I promise you.”
And he was lying to her. Her father and cousins were soldiers, but they could have taken the responsibility that Anya had taken on her own young shoulders. They could have aided the Breeds a thousand times over, but they hadn’t. They had followed orders.
All attempts would be made not to kill them, but they would suffer for allowing this young woman to take the risks she had taken to do the job she was doing.
“Trust me,” he whispered again.
The scent of her arousal intensified at the soft croon of his voice. The need that filled her eyes made him ache in regret.
“I trust you.” A smile trembled at her lips. “I’ll always trust you, Del-Rey.”
Sadly, he knew that statement would soon be retracted. Anya knew fierce loyalty, but she also knew how to hate. She was a woman whose passions would always run deep, no matter which way they ran. And before much longer, she would know only hatred for the man she stared at with such longing now.
Regret. It seared inside him. An emotion he had never felt in his life, and it wasn’t one he liked feeling.
CHAPTER 1
Anya was where she was supposed to be, but things weren’t going as they had been planned. Nothing had gone as planned. When she returned to the labs that evening, within hours the attack came.