No battle was won purely with a show of strength, he told himself as he left her room, closing the door quietly behind him. Every battle won was done so with the right strategy as well as the proper weapons.
He simply had to determine when and where to begin the first skirmish.
As he set the alarms on the cabin and retired to his own bedroom, he found himself almost smiling. If he wasn't very careful, then he might actually have fun seducing his little mate. As dangerous as he knew claiming her would be, it could perhaps be even more dangerous not to claim her.
CHAPTER 4
Ghost Team moved into Sanctuary late that evening, as Rachel and Amber slept soundly. Called back from a mission that was only partially finished in Guatemala, they were flown into the compound under the dead of night under condition "Alpha." Complete secrecy.
Jonas knew the second they entered his cabin, that sixth sense when it came to the team he had put together himself and commanded for ten years now.
Stepping from his bedroom, he checked the door to Rachel's bedroom, secured it to ensure she didn't step into the room, and faced the six-member team standing silently in the living room.
Ghost Team was the best. They were the most silent, most efficient, killers ever created, and they were also the best-kept secret the Breeds held outside of the truth of the mating heat.
Standing front and center was the team commander, the Black Jaguar Breed, who had excelled in killing at the tender age of five when he had sliced a trainer's throat for daring to backhand him. He was merciless, cold. He was as hard as diamonds and, often, just as cold.
"Your mate?" The commander nodded to the secured bedroom door.
Jonas nodded. "Brandenmore made his move on the files he believes I had. He used the baby against her and attempted to force her to steal them for him."
Fierce black eyes glanced toward the door once more before Jag shook his black head in resignation. "We should just kill him."
"We need to capture him if possible," Jonas reminded him. "But I have a larger problem. He attempted to kidnap Rachel's child. The baby was injected with what Amburg believes was a sedative, but there's a scent to the child now that wasn't there before. Whatever he's doing, it now involves her. I want a net around Rachel, the baby and the other hybrid children here at Sanctuary. I don't have a good feeling about this."
He could feel that odd twist in his guts, the premonition that something was building, that Brandenmore had a plan that they hadn't yet foiled.
"Indigestion," Jag quipped. "Brandenmore inspires it."
That was the damned truth. At this rate, Jonas would be the first Breed to develop an ulcer.
"We came in along the east border of the compound," Lobo, Jag's second-in-command, stated from the shadows along the far corner of the room. "There was a scent marker there, and signs that someone had used the ravine there to make their way into Sanctuary. We followed it until it disappeared along the main road."
"Were you able to detect the scent marker?" Jonas kept his voice low, his senses tuned to the next room.
Jag shook his head. "There was a faint hint of human scent, but it was too old for the trail we found."
"Too old or deliberately laid." The Coyote Enforcer, Loki, stepped forward, his gray eyes dark, the thick black lashes surrounding them looking almost too soft, too seductive, for the most elite killer the world might ever know.
"What did you detect, Loki?" Jonas asked.
Loki shook his head, the thick, straight strands of his devil's black hair feathering over his forehead and along his shoulders. "Don't know, Jonas. There was something odd about it though, as though the scent had been deliberately altered in some way."
Jonas turned to Jag, Lobo and the other members of Ghost Team.
"The rest of us didn't detect that, but Loki's ability to detect scents is better than ours." The other Coyote, Angel, growled the information, which was no less than Jonas had expected.
Watching Angel closely, he noticed the other man watching the bedroom door closely.
"Is there a problem, Angel?" Jonas asked softly, his tone dropping dangerously.
Angel shook his head, his black-and-gray hair shorter than Loki's, but just as silken and straight.
"I've no interest in your woman, Jonas," Angel assured him.
"Then why the interest in the door?"
"He likely senses what I smell." Loki stepped forward.
"And that is?" Jonas's head swung around.
"Your mate is awakening," Angel growled, drawing their attention. "That's what I sense. She'll be out in moments, and I'm certain you don't want us seen."
No one had ever seen Ghost Team other than Jonas. Jonas doubted the six men had ever faced another Breed or human without some sort of camouflage.
"If you see anything, if you learn anything, then let me know." Jonas nodded, still watching Angel closely.
There was no detecting a lie with these Breeds. Like Jonas, they had been taught how to use their emotions to trick other Breeds or animals. How to lie, to manipulate and deceive.
They nodded quickly before disappearing. Between one blink and the next, they were gone. Silently, blending in with shadows, moving quickly, taking advantage of the slightest weakness--that was what they were trained for before escaping into the pre-dawn darkness.
Moving quickly to the bedroom door, Jonas removed the electronic lock just as the doorknob turned and Rachel pulled the door open.
"Good morning." Jonas arched a brow at the glare she gave him.
"Amber will be waking soon." There was an edge of concern in her voice. "I need more formula and diapers before the day is out, Jonas. Elizabeth promised they would be here by time they were needed."
"And so they are. They arrived several hours ago." He nodded. "Her formula is on the counter; the sterilized bottles are beside it."
She moved away from him, the large shirt and even larger men's sweatpants she wore bunching around her small frame as she walked.
"I need a phone," she stated as she moved into the kitchen. "I need to contact my sister."
Jonas grimaced. "Diane is still overseas." He'd met her sister once. The woman was a Breed without the genetics. She would make a man think of suicide if he had to stay around her for long.
"Get me a phone, Jonas, before she has to come looking for me," she warned him as she moved for the bottles after checking out the rather large bag of diapers the Vanderales had had delivered.