“Ready?” He held his hand out to her. A large, capable, strong hand. Calloused and dark, as though his entire body was permanently tanned.
Jessica moved to him slowly, let him envelop her hand in his and draw her to the bedroom door.
“Did you put the presents in the Rover?” she asked, trying to tone down the nervousness. She hadn’t been to a party in years. Not since her father had finally stopped forcing her to attend the boring little functions he and his friends had staged several times a year.
“The presents are in the Rover,” he promised her. “The breads and desserts are packed snugly in the backseat alongside them.”
“Good.” She swallowed tightly as they moved down the natural wood stairs to the foyer. “You’re certain I should go?”
She wasn’t so certain. She was known as a traitor, no matter the reason. How could any of the Breeds trust her now?
“I’m absolutely certain you should go.” He drew to a stop at the bottom of the stairs, collected the long dark blue and black cloak that went with her dress and drew it over her shoulders. “You’re worrying too much, Jess. Everything is going to be fine.”
“Easy for you to say.” She licked her lips before raking the lower one with her teeth and staring up at him as worry began to tighten her chest. “I couldn’t blame anyone for not wanting me there, Hawke. You didn’t force this, did you?”
The faint smile at his lips was chastising, and just a bit amused. “I can’t force something like this, mate,” he promised her. “If Wolfe didn’t trust you to be there, then you wouldn’t be.”
That was true. She inhaled tightly before straightening her shoulders and forcing in courage for the evening ahead.
She knew Hope, Wolfe’s mate. Just as she knew Faith and Charity, the mates of his closest friends. She also knew Amanda Bear, a former president’s daughter and mate to a Coyote Breed. She’d met Anya Delgado several times, mate to the Coyote Breed alpha. She knew the mates of those who were influential in this world. She had thought they might even be friends.
“You’re worrying too much,” he promised her as they left the house and stepped into the cold night air.
Hawke held on to her as he moved her quickly to the Rover, helped her in and then loped around to the driver’s side. Jessica kept her fingers laced tightly together and held in her lap.
She knew Hawke could sense her nervousness; it wasn’t something she could help. She had always been denied acceptance until she had come here two years ago. During the year she had spent working with the Breeds she had thought she had begun to find that acceptance. Until she had unwillingly, unwittingly, given her father the information he had needed to attack Haven in the worst ways. She had given the location of the alpha’s home, as well as the homes of his second-in-command and his head of security. Locations that were kept hidden for a reason: because their lives were in such danger.
The drive to the entrance of the community center was quick. Hawke drew the Rover to a stop at the large double doors where a young Breed stepped outside and moved to the driver’s side as Hawke stepped out of the vehicle and walked quickly to Jessica’s door.
She took his hand, allowing him to help her to the paved entrance and draw her inside.
The upper, aboveground portion of the community center was filled with large rooms, a kitchen and various work centers. Belowground, reinforced and nearly impenetrable, was the huge open gathering area.
Joining ceremonies, as marriages were called in the Breed society, were often held there. It was there that mates were rushed if Haven was attacked, and this was where various dignitaries were brought for meetings.
Hawke guided her into a large elevator and keyed in his security code. Instantly the doors closed and they were whisked several floors belowground where they were deposited into a wide hallway where both human and Breed guests were loitering. Several journalists were in attendance, though no photographers were allowed. Breeds highly valued their privacy, no matter their Feline or Canine designations.
“You’re almost shaking,” Hawke accused her softly.
“I don’t do well at parties.” She lifted her head and squared her shoulders as they passed several Breed soldiers who had escorted her to her cell the day she had been arrested.
“You’re going to do wonderfully,” he promised her as they stepped inside the wide double doors to the main room and he helped her off with her cloak before handing it over to a helpful attendant. A human attendant.
Coyote and Wolf Breeds mingled amid Christmas music and a display of bright, multicolored lights. At one end of the room was a huge fir tree that had been brought in, decorated lavishly and stacked with presents underneath.
Wolfe Gunnar stood close to the brightly colored traditional tree with Hope, his mate. Hope, with her slightly Asian features and diminutive stature, was dressed in a gay, vivid Christmas green. Her shoulder-length black hair fell to her shoulders like silken ribbon and gave her an almost regal air.
Wolfe, much taller and broader, stood with his arm around her shoulders as he laughed at something another Breed said. Coarse black hair was pulled back from his face to his nape and secured there. He was dressed in black as well, as were most of the males, with a dark silver silk ribbon stretching from his shoulder across his chest and to his waist that proclaimed his rank of Wolf Breed Alpha.
There were other ribbons present on many of the males. Different colors, all muted blue or gray. His second-in-command wore cloudy gray; his head of security wore a navy blue. Communications wore silver blue.
The women, guests and Breeds alike, were dressed extravagantly in long gowns. For the Breed females, this was their chance to be women rather than soldiers.
“I see you finally got her to join the rest of us mortals.” Ashley True stepped up to them, her teasing smile catching Jessica off guard.
“It was a trial,” Hawke admitted as he pulled Jessica closer.
“He’s the trial,” Jessica teased back. She was actually glad to see Ashley now that she wasn’t her bodyguard.
“Most male Breeds are.” Ashley sighed with exaggerated patience. “We put up with them the best we can.”
“Be good brat, or I’ll have a talk with your alpha about giving in on those spa treatments,” Hawke warned her. “I hear you got the full go-round today.”
Ashley’s smile brightened as she fluffed a head full of multihued blonde curls and flashed a perfect set of nails. “Del-Rey does so enjoy spoiling me, Hawke. He won’t listen to you.”
“Brat.” Hawke laughed again.
“Always,” Ashley agreed. “Now, go find Wolfe. He was asking where you were a little while ago. I’m off to find more punch.”
She sped away on heels that should have been impossible to stand on.
“That woman is a menace,” Hawke muttered as they continued through the throng of guests.
“She’s nice though.” Ashley, her sisters Sharone and Emma, and the Coyote’s mate and Coya, the female Coyote alpha, Anya, had always been kind to her. She’d appreciated that, even as she had chafed under their protection.
“She’s hell. A prissy little diva by day and when night falls, I swear, one of the sharpest, most lethal Coyote Breeds ever created.”
But wasn’t that what all Breeds were created to be? They were trained to fit in when they had to, and to kill perfectly, efficiently, when they were ordered to.
Moving to the tree, Hawke sat their large bag of gifts among the others before straightening and drawing Jessica to where Wolfe and Hope Gunnar and Jacob and Faith Arlington stood.