Besides, if the mating heat crap was true, she wanted to be as far away as possible from this particular Breed. He already seemed to have found some hidden entrance to emotions she had no idea she could feel. She sure as hell didn't want to risk an even bigger vulnerability.
Besides, there was more information to be had on Sanctuary, security wise.
Where Haven was concerned, there was supposedly no weaknesses in their security, no way to escape the almost clandestine atmosphere of the Wolf Breed mountain.
Adding to the security were the Coyote Breeds that inhabited the sharp rise that led into the mountain. Caves were said to be carved into the mountain there, allowing the Coyotes a view that assured constant surveillance of each entrance into the main compound, as well as the compound itself.
Once, Coyotes, all Coyotes, had been the enemy of both Wolf and Feline Breeds.
Now certain factions of Coyotes were banding together and joining the side that seemed to be winning in the battle between Breeds and Council supporters.
"Come on." Styx pulled her after him, gently but firmly. The hold on her wrist assured her that she wasn't going to get away easily.
There would be a chance though, she assured herself frantically. There was always a chance, right?
"Go ahead and try to escape," she heard Jonas mutter just behind her. "I dare you."
Fear shook her then, listening to Jonas. On second thought, she didn't dare let herself be forced under his control. Styx would be the far better choice. For the moment.
She hoped.
Stepping up, she gripped his arm with her spare hand before casting a wary glance over her shoulder to Jonas's cold, hard-eyed gaze.
There was death in those eyes. The latent fury gleaming beneath silver ice was frankly terrifying.
Perhaps there wouldn't be a chance to escape, yet.
"This is a mistake," she warned Styx as he pressed her into the elevator. "I will escape, Styx."
She couldn't forget how easily he had tricked her, how easily he had played her.
She had given herself to him for a few moments of warmth and peace, and now she was truly paying for it.
"You can try." Still no brogue, no warmth. "That's all I can promise you, Storme, is that you can try."
What the hell was going on? Styx kept his expression clear, his temper calm, and that wasn't easy to do. He could feel the animal raging inside, clawing, snarling in fury.
Something wasn't right. The glands at the side of his tongue were irritated, swollen, but only the most minute quantity of the hormone had slipped free. As his release had torn through his c**k earlier, he had felt the mating knot pulse in the middle of it, throbbing, the flesh trying to swell outward as his se**n jetted inside her. Yet it had never fully emerged.
Beneath his flesh he could feel a low-level hum of electric sensation that he couldn't shake, that he couldn't eradicate.
As though she were almost his mate.
What the f**k was up with that? There was no such thing as an almost mate, was there?
As the service elevator they took came to a stop on the main floor and the doors opened, the Wolf Breed Enforcers waiting outside surrounded them and escorted them to the waiting vehicles.
He could smell Storme's wariness now, her mounting fear. As each second passed with the realization that there was no escape, her desperation was beginning to grow.
Exiting the rear of the hotel, he pushed her quickly into the back of the vehicle before climbing in beside her and hemming her in as Navarro slid in on the opposite side.
There was no escape. No way he could allow it. Jonas was wrong. She did belong to him; it was just that something seemed to be stopping it. He had to find out what that
"something" was before he went crazy.
Jonas stood back and helped his mate into the wide seat in front of Styx and Storme. Rachel watched Storme compassionately yet firmly as Jonas slid in beside her.
There was no compassion inside Jonas though. This woman possibly held the answer to the hormone that had been injected into the infant Jonas had claimed as his own, Rachel's child.
Amber was a well-loved, well-protected babe within Sanctuary now, but months before Brandenmore had managed to outthink Jonas and take Amber as a hostage in exchange for her mother's agreement to steal certain documents from the Bureau.
Jonas had been waiting for Brandenmore's next move when Rachel had shown up, hysterical, bruised, beaten, and terrified that her daughter was being held by one of Jonas's enemies.
While in Brandenmore's less than tender care, Amber had been injected with what at first was thought to be a sedative. Now Jonas was certain there had been something more, despite the Breed scientists' inability to track any problems.
Jonas wasn't paranoid. If he said Brandenmore had somehow managed to inject Amber with something that was as of yet untraceable, then Styx believed him. He was a hard-edged, icy, controlled, dangerous bastard, but nothing in this world mattered to him as much as his mate and child did.
Once, the Breeds had been Jonas's full focus; now that focus had narrowed to two frail human females who held the heart of the silver-eyed bogeyman of the Breeds in the palms of their hands.
Since his mating, Jonas had become more dangerous, more determined to ensure their safety and security. At the moment, learning the truth of Project Omega, Jonas was certain, was all that could save his child.
Beside him, Styx felt a shudder, barely restrained, as it moved up Storme's spine.
She was moving past the anger now, and fear was turning to terror. He could feel it, scent it, just as Jonas could.