She wasn’t about to give up.
The girl she was looking for was too important and there were too many forces converging around her for Diane to give up now.
“Night, boss.” Thor headed in the opposite direction to his room.
“Night, boss,” Malcolm echoed as he crossed the hall to his room.
“See ya, boss.” Aaron followed Thor, and headed farther up the hall, his shoulders drooping just a bit.
Aaron got his wish to head home to see his parents. Brick could pick up with the woman he’d been living with for the past few years, while Malcolm had a sister he intended to visit. Thor kept talking about budgets, accountants and balancing the books. She threw a careless wave over her shoulder to her men as she headed down the hall to her room. Reaching the door, she nodded to the Breed Enforcers assigned to guard the floor of the exclusive D.C. hotel reserved for Breed VIP visitors to the city.
Tonight, it was home.
She could feel the grime of the past three days on her body, and the long hours spent in the middle of the desert before that hadn’t helped. And it seemed no matter the direction she went, the information she was searching for was always one step ahead of them. Just as the woman was.
Lawe stepped from the stairwell entrance, preferring it over the elevator to help alleviate some of the tension that tightened his muscles.
As the door closed behind him, the ping of the elevator had him pausing as the doors slid open and Rule stepped into the hall.
Dressed in black, the Lion Breed Enforcer insignia on his right shoulder and his black hair pulled back from his face to reveal the strong features and brilliance of his topaz eyes, he didn’t look like Lawe’s twin. There was a resemblance, though, one strong enough that the genetic line wasn’t in doubt.
He paused as he turned and saw Lawe, a frown marking his brow.
“Jonas didn’t mention you were scheduled to be here.”
Lawe’s lips tightened.
“Do you ever get tired of his machinations?”
Rule snorted. “Don’t we all. If it weren’t for the fact that killing him would only cause more problems, I would kill him myself.”
It was a regular refrain from damned near every Breed that came in contact with the director.
Rule tilted his head then as he stared back at Lawe questioningly. “Why are you here?”
“Because Jonas is playing games with us,” Lawe growled. “He knows she’s my mate, Rule.”
Rule nodded sharply. “It would be hard to miss. She carried your scent when I first met her. I wondered if you would tell me when it happened and why you walked away from her.”
The curiosity in his twin’s gaze was impossible to miss. Lawe had been ignoring it for months, and didn’t intend to explain it now either.
“I haven’t mated her.” Lawe’s teeth clenched at the speculation in his brother’s eyes. “Jonas sent you to try to push me to it.”
Rule’s lips thinned. He didn’t like Jonas’s games any more than anyone else, but Lawe could see something more swirling in his brother’s gaze. Something that had him tensing at the possibility that his brother could become a problem where Diane was concerned, just as Jonas was becoming one.
“No mating huh?” Rule asked softly. “Tell me, Lawe, what do you think of Jonas and Ely’s position that if a Breed doesn’t claim his mate, then a genetic relation, or brother, may have that chance?”
Lawe’s nostrils flared with his attempt to hold back the instinctive anger that shot through his system because of the question.
Jonas and the Breed specialist, Dr. Ely Morrey, seemed to be under the impression that if a female wasn’t physically mated, then the first stage of mating heat made her vulnerable to other males.
That first stage, when the minute quantities of the hormone appear on the fine hairs covering a Breed’s body, or when something as simple as a brush of his lips to her flesh could infect her with enough of the hormone to activate her ability to become a mate. That combined with an emotional response, Ely had hypothesized, could allow her to mate another Breed.
Lawe had no idea if it had ever happened in the past, but he’d be damned if he’d allow Rule and Diane to prove it.
“Don’t go there, Rule,” Lawe warned him softly. “I don’t think your horoscope declared today to be a good day to die.”
Rule reached back and rubbed at his neck as he gave a heavy sigh.
“Jonas wants you out of this,” Rule said as he dropped his arm back to his side. “I agree with him. You don’t want her, you don’t want the mating and I understand why. That doesn’t mean she should be left vulnerable to any Breed looking to complete it. A Breed perhaps unable or unwilling to utilize her strengths.”
“Use them you mean?” Lawe questioned with icy disdain. “Don’t sugarcoat it, Rule. We both know Jonas doesn’t want to lose her and her team. He knows I’ll pull her off active duty the second I can.”
Rule shrugged. “She’s a hell of a warrior. You’ll destroy her if you do that, Lawe. On the other hand, I think I could handle it.”
Lawe couldn’t help but laugh, though the sound held little amusement. “Go find your own woman. This one’s off-limits to every other Breed with the mistaken intention to even attempt such a thing.”
“But you’re not claiming her,” Rule pointed out softly. “You know, Lawe, we’re brothers. Identical twins, despite the differences in our looks. I don’t want to love a woman to the point it marks my soul. If you don’t want your mate, give me that chance. I’d take care of her.”