“I don’t know why you do it, and I don’t care,” she whispered. “But you have to warn him.”
“No.” He closed the file and snapped it back to the counter.
“I knew it,” she sneered. “You just answered your own question, Jonas. You enjoy risking your damned life.”
“I don’t risk my men needlessly,” he snarled. “Neither do I resort to paranoid fears and interfere with the job they have to do, and neither will you. What you will do, my fine little doctor, is keep a very careful eye on him while she’s here. I want blood, saliva and semen tested weekly for the feral hormone. If, and I say if , the mating hormone or the feral hormone makes itself known, then we’ll apprise him of the situation. Until then, you will keep your pretty mouth shut.”
“That might not be good enough. I can’t predict . . .”
He broke in. “Then you better learn how to predict. Merc is alone, Ely. He’s accustomed himself to being alone. But that doesn’t mean he doesn’t regret what he thinks he lost. As far as we know, Breeds mate only once. Mercury is convinced that lioness was his mate. Until we see otherwise, you will not give him hope. Until we see otherwise, you will not plant your paranoia in his head. Do you understand me on this?”
She stared back at him in fury. “That lioness was his mate. The mating hormone proved it, Jonas.”
“Do you understand me?” He lowered his voice, determination threading through the tone as he stared back at her.
Seconds later, her lashes flickered and lowered, and she nodded shortly. The small sign of submission would work for now. Once he had time, though, he was definitely going to rein in his little Breed scientist. She was becoming much too confrontational for the job they had ahead of them. “Very well. Ms. Rodriquez arrives within the next two weeks. When she comes in, take your own samples. There could be a problem with the ones Vanderale’s provided, and run this again. I want to know what it shows when you do. If they haven’t changed, then we’ll watch the situation very closely. It’s all we can do.”
“He could destroy her as well as himself if that hormone releases during a moment of stress.” Her voice was strained as she attempted to override her natural submissiveness.
Damned fucking Breed genetics. She submitted to him by design rather than choice. It grated at him each time it happened. “Or he could mate her and live happily ever after,” he retorted sarcastically. “Until we know one way or the other, then our hands are tied.”
“I could warn him that the drugs that recessed the feral genetics may not have done their job,” she suggested. “And have him run?”
He pushed his fingers through his hair in frustration. “You don’t know Merc very well, Ely. I do. Keep your mouth shut and keep me up-to-date on this. I’ll take care of the rest.” Dammit to hell. He didn’t need this. He needed Merc to keep Vanderale’s little paper pusher out of trouble, not to mate her or go insane on him. And he sure as hell didn’t need Ely wigging out on him. He turned and left the lab, closing the door carefully behind him despite his need to slam it off the fucking hinges. At times like this, he wished he were a drinking man. A good drunk might have helped.
CHAPTER 1
TWO WEEKS LATER
The private jet taxied into the hangar, pulling into the heated cavern awaiting it, and huge metal doors closed to trap the heat inside as its motors stilled.
Long minutes later, the door opened, and Ria Rodriquez stepped out onto the top step the pilot had lowered. She stared around the hangar.
A long black limo was parked well out of the way of the jet’s wings, and as she watched, a door opened and Mercury Warrant stepped from the car.
She wanted to groan at the sight of the man sent to meet her. Or rather the Breed.
She stared at him curiously. She had seen his photos over the past months, knew as much about him as her boss Dane Vanderale could dig up, and still, the sight of him was like a punch of reaction deep inside her stomach.
His features weren’t those of a man’s. Nor were they those of the lion his genes had been merged with. If a sexier than hell version of both could be created, then that was Mercury Warrant.
Slanted amber eyes, the line of the lids black, as though someone had applied the lightest layer of eyeliner. She knew his lashes were thick. His nose was long and straight, though a bit flatter, a bit more arrogantly defined than possible in a normal male.
His lips were just a bit thin, but that lower lip, it had a tempting fullness at the center of it that had had her tongue running over her own lips whenever she had noticed it in the pictures she’d studied of the Breeds she would be in contact with.
“Ms. Rodriquez, we’re heading to Venezuela to pick up Mr. Dane. Should you need us, don’t hesitate to call for pickup.”
She turned and looked at her pilot. Bush pilot. Scruffy, his eyes flat and hard, but there was a twinkle of warmth in them when he looked at her.
She was used to working with the hidden Breeds of the world. The ones the Vanderales has slipped from the labs, or from missions. The ones that were listed as dead. Such as Burke had been.
“Tell Mr. Dane to please remember the bling he promised me,” she murmured. “I’m about to earn it.”
Burke glanced to the limo and the Breed awaiting her. “He’s a fine specimen,” he said quietly. “Dangerous though. More dangerous than we might realize.”
Ria shrugged. He wasn’t the one she was after. She’d already drawn her initial suspicions and sent them to Dane. The person or persons they were after would never stare back at her with such captivating eyes, or with such savage interest.
“He’s going to be my bodyguard, not my mark,” she reminded Burke with a smile.
He snorted at that. “I’ll inform Mr. Dane to add to the bling. Because if that’s your bodyguard, I’m not certain which one of you I should feel the most sorry for. But I like you best.”
“You’re a good man, Burke.” She smiled smugly as she patted his arm. “Tell Mr. Dane the emeralds looked especially fine next to the diamonds. I’m very eager to see just how much he appreciates the risk I’m taking.”
Burke chuckled as he escorted her down the steps and over to the limo.
“Mr. Warrant. I see Director Wyatt couldn’t awaken in time to meet me.” Ria restrained the urge to check the thick bun she had rolled her hair into on the plane, or the dowdy outfit she had donned.
Damn, she was really going to miss her finer clothes. But she knew the persona that garnered the greatest results. And as much as she disliked that persona, she owed the Vanderales. She owed them her life.
“Director Wyatt was detained in D.C.,” Mercury informed her as he glanced at the pilot curiously.
“Anything more that I should tell Mr. Dane?” Burke asked her as she released his arm and he turned to help the copilot with her luggage and laptop case.
“Yes, inform him I won my end of that bet we made. Director Wyatt didn’t show up after all.”
She caught Mercury’s grimace from the periphery of her vision.
“I’ll make a note of that.” Burke nodded his dark, shaggy head as the trunk opened on the limo and her luggage was stored inside.
As he and the copilot loped back to the plane, Ria turned and stared back at Mercury, trying not to feel too female in his presence.
He was tall, broad and absolutely delicious looking. Savage and male-the combination did something to her feminine core that surprised her.