Both men were killers, true stone-cold Breeds bred to shed blood.
“Let’s get you out of here.” His hand slid away from her mouth. “Stay behind me. We’ll work our way back to the cabin and let them take care of business here.”
Hawke could feel fear crawling through his system as he gripped Jessica’s hand, and following Rule’s directions, began to lead her along the most secure path back to the cabin she had been assigned.
Fear was an unknown emotion to him, until now. Until he had faced the realization that someone was shooting at his mate. That he could lose her. That everything he had fought for over the past year could end in her death.
He couldn’t face it, he realized in the moments that he, Mordecai and Rule had raced to her rescue. He couldn’t face Jess’s death. In the past year she had already faced more than any woman should have had to endure; to lose her this way was more than he could contemplate.
Lifting his head, he pulled the scents of the forests into his nostrils, drawing farther away from the sharp tang of evil and gunfire. He could literally smell the intent of the man stalking Jess. The murderous anger; the determination to kill her.
“He’s drawing away, Hawke.” Mordecai’s voice came over the communication link. “We don’t have an ID yet, just scent. Rule is moving in place to capture.”
“Capture, don’t kill,” Hawke warned the Coyote Breed, his voice hard. “I want enough left to question.”
“If I have to,” Mordecai drawled.
“You’re dragging me, Hawke,” Jess protested behind him.
He was dragging her. He was pulling her through the forests at a quick pace, forcing her to keep up with him as he rushed her back to safety.
There had been no report that she had left her cabin, though there were strict orders that he was to know each time she so much as stepped out on the porch.
“We have to get back to the cabin.” He slowed his steps marginally though, knowing she didn’t have the endurance that he himself had. “Did you let anyone know you were leaving the cabin?”
“No,” she stated mutinously behind him. “I didn’t want company.”
“Well, you had company anyway,” he growled. “The wrong sort.”
“Story of my life,” she muttered.
He glared back at her before jerking his head forward again and concentrating on getting her to safety.
He should have known better than to look back at her. Each time he looked at her he was struck by a rush of arousal that bordered on painful, just as he had been the first time he saw her two years ago.
With her red-gold hair falling behind her shoulders in heavy, ribbon-straight curtains, her wide blue eyes and porcelain perfect skin, she was like a vision of angelic innocence. Cupid’s bow lips, finely arched brows, high cheekbones. Her slender body was sleek and compact; at five feet and six inches, a little on the short side compared to Breeds, but with generous breasts and tempting hips.
She made a man think of all the nasty things he could do to that perfect body even as he felt like a perverted monster whenever he looked into her innocent face.
The innocence was real. Jessica Raines was still a virgin, as medical reports attested. And she was his mate.
“What the hell were you doing out here by yourself?” He snarled at her, angry at himself for the overriding lust tormenting him; angry at her for being the innocent, delicate creature she was.
“I’m always by myself,” she snapped back. “Why should a walk in the woods be any different?”
He almost winced at the statement, because it was the truth. She’d been imprisoned for a year, seeing only the doctor, a few of the higher ranking Breed female mates and her interrogators until they managed to figure out why Jessica had betrayed them. When she had been released, it had been into Haven only. She wasn’t allowed off the compound. She was given her own cabin, and most Breeds steered well clear of her because she was his mate.
“You have bodyguards,” he reminded her coldly. “Sharone and Emma were assigned to you when you were released. They’re not exactly unfriendly, so why weren’t they with you?”
Sharone and Emma, two of the rare Coyote Breed females, loved trouble. He’d expected any day to have to deal with a situation they had orchestrated where Jess was concerned.
“They have two days off.” She shrugged. “I imagine today was one of those days.”
“Ashley?” He barked out the name of the other coyote female. “She’s on backup.”
She shrugged again. He felt the movement through her arm as they cleared the woods and headed for the cabin. The compound was on red alert. Breeds were rushing through the woods now, the main gates were closed and the entire compound on lockdown.
Hawke’s lips thinned. Jess was to be protected at all costs. She was to have a guard twenty-four/seven and he would be damned if he wouldn’t know, and know fast, exactly why one of those guards hadn’t been present.
God help Ashley if she had deserted his mate. Coyote females were rare, and they would be one less if he found out the flighty, girlish little Coyote had literally thrown his mate to the enemy.
TWO
Jessica had a feeling she was getting ready to see Hawke explode when they entered the roomy cabin and heard the muffled thump against the basement door.
Her lips set mutinously as Hawke turned, stared back at her narrowly, then strode to the door that led to the basement below.
He jerked it open, his expression freezing as Ashley True sprawled to the wood floor of the living room. Her delicately streaked long blonde hair fell over her face for a brief moment before she swiped it out of her way and jumped gracefully to her feet to glare at Jessica.
Hawke was staring at her too, with that frozen, immobile expression she so hated. It would almost be worth sharing a kiss with the son of a bitch just to see some emotion cross his face.
“She locked me in,” Ashley gritted out as she pointed an accusing finger at Jessica. “I broke a nail.” She turned to Hawke, her voice raising. “Do you even have a clue how hard it is to get my alpha to approve a trip to the salon? Let alone pay for it? I have to actually be hurt. If I have to take another bullet to get my nails done, we’re going to fight, Hawke.”
Jessica crossed her arms over her breasts. “Do like the rest of us mortals. Clip them down and file them yourself,” she told her, her voice laden with sarcasm.
It had been over a year since Jessica had been to a salon. She had no sympathy whatsoever for the girl.
“And I tore my jeans.” Ashley glared down at her jeans as though Jessica hadn’t spoken.
“Give it another year and the ripped jeans will be in style again.” Jessica shrugged, refusing to show even a hint of nervousness at the silent, dark look Hawke was shooting across the room at her.
“She is a menace.” Ashley stabbed her finger in Jessica’s direction again. “She refuses to stay put. She tries to sneak off. She never takes orders and she will not, under any circumstances, share her soda with me.”
Jessica smirked. She liked her soda, and getting it wasn’t easy. Most Breeds refused to pick anything up for her in town, and when she did manage to get it, she tended to hoard it. Especially considering the fact that the few times she had shared her soda with Ashley, the other girl had never returned with more.
She had been highly inconsiderate, Jessica deduced. Therefore, she refused to share any longer.
“You’re relieved for the day, Ash,” Hawke growled, though he continued to stare back at Jessica as though he were doom and gloom coming to set up permanent residence.