She was trying to deserve to live.
She’d never forgiven herself for something that was never her fault to begin with.
Her brother’s death.
She wouldn’t give in easily, and if she did—if she did, he hoped Rule had the good sense to give her more to live for than she would believe she needed to die for. Just as he hoped that in Gypsy, Rule could find a mate he deemed worthy of fighting his fears for. Because in this world, in this time, being a Breed wasn’t easy, nor was it much safer than it had been before.
Now, a Breed had so much more to lose.
Perhaps his father had been right last year when he’d suggested to Dane that it was time to place both woman and Breed in a position that neither could refuse nor run from. A position that would give that animal skulking inside Rule the best chance possible of claiming his mate before Rule realized what was about. And the best chance for the woman to be mated.
He almost smiled in satisfaction.
There were times when he and the old man were in perfect accord. Well, actually, often. They only really seemed to butt heads when the Leo began to suspect that Dane was out having fun when he’d told the Leo he was searching the world for his mate.
His father, despite his toddler twins who were giving him hell nowadays, was desperate to see his bachelor son settled and giving the Leo grandbabies to bounce on his knee.
Dane was just as determined to do otherwise.
He’d loved, deeply, sincerely. Mate or no mate, he’d loved one woman with a strength he’d not known he could possess. He’d loved her enough to give her to her mate and ensure that the dumb bastard deserved her.
Not that he ever had, but he was as close as any man would get, Dane had decided, aching a bit, as he always did, for her.
Still, he’d set this in motion nearly a year before, then just waited for his little brother, Jonas, to get a clue and finish the job for him.
Jonas was rather dependable in that area.
Thankfully, because Dane didn’t think the title of Mate Matcher would sit as well on his shoulders as it did on his baby brother’s.
“What now?” Dog asked, glancing at Dane curiously.
“Now”—Dane smiled around the cigar clenched in his teeth—“now, we dot our i’s and cross our t’s and see what happens.”
The other two men glared at him in confusion.
Dane rocked back on his heels and grinned at them.
“It’s time, gentlemen, to prepare a contract for our assistant director and ensure that he has no option to run.”
CHAPTER 6
The air of excitement that filled the offices of McQuade Image Consulting when Gypsy entered it several days later was nothing short of surprising. Normally, Hansel (God forgive her father’s parents for that name) and Greta McQuade were with clients rather than in the offices across the street from the Gingerbread House, the sweets and gift store Greta’s parents had turned over to their granddaughters.
They’d been busy building the small personal marketing business their first child had begun with them when he was no more than twenty. After Mark’s death, they had thrown themselves into it and ensured that their lives were as busy as possible.
With Jason overseeing the offices and potential clients, her parents had concentrated on building the images, personal and business, needed to build their reputations.
Her father was still trim at fifty with very little graying in his hair. He was standing in the small conference room, a smile wreathing his face, his brown eyes sparkling in excitement.
Her mother was sitting at the long, dark walnut table, her chair turned to the side to face him, her green eyes filled with anticipation as her head turned and they both stared at Gypsy expectantly.
Despite her green eyes, Greta McQuade’s features were pure Navajo, compliments of her maternal Navajo grandfather and paternal Navajo grandmother.
She was still slender, her five foot six frame delicate and well toned for her age. She looked ten years younger and sometimes acted twenty years younger.
Jason sat at the head of the table, grinning as he watched Gypsy, his gaze approving as they both noticed the fact that she had arrived on time for the meeting he’d called and dressed in soft light blue capris, sleeveless shell and white strappy flat sandals rather than jeans and a snug cami as she usually dressed.
Gypsy closed the door slowly, eyeing the three of them suspiciously as they continued to watch her as though she should be erupting with the same joy.
She didn’t do joy so well.
She was inclined to suspicion and watching for whatever was about to disrupt her little world when they looked at her like that.
“Did we win the lottery or something?” she asked warily.
“Or something.” Her father clapped his hands together in a gesture of building excitement, obviously ready to burst with whatever excitement filled him.
“Come in and sit down, Gypsy,” Jason invited, his smile revealing his own excitement at the news they were obviously holding back.
“Do you want to tell her, Jase?” Greta asked, anticipation gleaming in her eyes as she gripped the armrests on her chair and glanced at her daughter. “I can’t believe we actually did it.”
Jason chuckled lightly, shaking his head. “I think this is Hans’s news. He’s the one who busted his ass to pull it off.”
Her father shot Jason a look of gratitude before his hands gripped the edge of the high-backed chair in front of him.
“We just got that account we bid on last year for image development and social integration with the Bureau of Breed Affairs,” he announced, sending a sharp edge of warning to explode in her stomach as she froze at the news. “They’ve contracted for a year’s time, for their new division director and two business and civil liaisons at the new Window Rock offices of the new Bureau of Breed Affairs and Enforcement. The contracts are individual, for the positions and the Breeds filling them, rather than the Bureau itself. If it works out, though, when they fill the remaining positions for this division next year, we’ll have at least one of those as well.”