by Lora Leigh
“Dog,” she whispered, turning back to the spirit, fear rising sharp inside her.
You have to save him from himself . . . The spirit glanced at the bedroom doorway, clearly worried. Hurry, Cassie, you don’t have much time.
She grabbed her pack from the corner of the room and tore jeans, boots and a T-shirt from inside. Dressing quickly, she laced her boots on her feet, then collected her holstered weapon, snapped the belt to her hips and secured the Velcro at her thigh.
The sheathed knife was strapped to the opposite thigh, extra ammo clips were shoved in her back pockets.
“Where is he?” she muttered. “What happened?”
He’s found Major. The spirit was wringing her hands now, clearly upset as she looked to the door again.
Cassie had never, ever seen the spirit upset. When she was a child, the misty form of the woman had been imperative, urging her to hurry, but never so upset.
“Who the hell is Major?” she hissed, rushing for the door, aware of the presence floating behind her, following.
His grandfather.
Cassie froze at the apartment doorway, swinging around to face the vision.
Blond-haired, pale eyes, she watched Cassie with such sadness.
I came to you when I knew the danger you faced, the presence whispered. Cain’s mate. My son’s mate. You have to save him, Cassie. As I saved you and your mother, you must save my son.
Shock raced through her, nearly making her dizzy as she fought to make sense of what the spirit said.
Go. Fear filled the pale vision. You have to hurry. Come . . .
She floated past Cassie, moving through the door as though it didn’t exist, as Cassie bit back a curse and jerked open the door, following her.
Dog’s mother? The fairy had been Dog’s mother.
All those years it had been Dog’s mother coming to her, leading her from danger, guiding her through her childhood?
For Cain to survive, you had to survive, the form stated, her melodic voice whispering around Cassie as she raced through the halls of the Bureau behind it. For him to find happiness, to flourish, for my and his father’s deaths to have not been in vain, you had to survive, Cassie . . .
All this time, the ghost of a conniving, manipulating mother had been leading her to her equally conniving son? Oh, this was one she was definitely not going to forget for a long time.
When all is well, and the time is right, the spirit promised as Cassie pushed through the stairwell doors, I’ll come to you. I’ll tell you of his father, and of a love so perfect a killer found a soul and the Breed he loved learned joy. Later, Cassie, when Dog is safe . . .
“What is he doing?” she panted, tearing down the stairs, holding the rail and jumping from one level to the next to keep up with the spirit. “Where did he find Major?”
Breeds believing they were righting a wrong. The spirit’s sigh whispered around her. They held the key to the puzzle and did not know it. I tried to keep them from Cain, but Cain is stubborn. Determined. I could not turn him away when he found them.
“Go figure,” she said with a snort as they reached the garage level. The spirit passed through the door as Cassie slammed it open and raced into the secured underground lobby.
Hurry, Cassie, the spirit urged, waiting at the doors leading into the garage. You must hurry.
She burst through the doors, heard the snarl that ripped from her throat as she heard the vehicle, saw the lights heading for the down ramp. Pushing herself, her lungs burning, she vaulted over the hood of a car veering to cut her off and sprinted the final distance, jumped over the cement barrier. She came to a crouch, one hand braced on the asphalt as she planted herself in front of the limousine, glaring at the oncoming lights.
Brakes screamed, the tires laying black marks as the vehicle came to a hard stop, the grill only inches from her face. Coming slowly to her feet, her weapon in both hands and leveled at the driver, she snarled again.
“Dog, you mangy fucking Coyote,” she screamed, furious at whatever he was trying to do. “Get your goddamned ass out here.”
* * *
• • •
She was amazing.
Enraged and wild, black hair flying around her as she vaulted over the barrier, landed in a perfect crouch and forced Mongrel to bring the vehicle to a stop.
“Let her go,” the senator’s aide advised him, his voice quiet. It wasn’t a warning; it was a reminder. “You don’t want her there, Cain.”
“Mutt.” He clenched his fingers into fists, rage burning in his gut at the order he knew he had to give.
“Aw, come on, man,” Mutt muttered, the low tone doing nothing to disguise the plea. “Don’t make me do this.”
“Now.”
“Dog, you mangy fucking Coyote. Get your goddamned ass out here!” Her scream, so filled with anger, with confusion, ripped at his guts.
“Now, Mutt.” He’d gone too far to turn back now.
“I fucking hate you,” Mutt growled, but he pushed the door open and exited the vehicle.
Not more than he hated himself.
* * *
• • •
Cassie watched the door open, her heart racing, the beat of it tightening her throat in horror as Mutt closed the door slowly and walked toward her.
Swinging the weapon on him, she bared her teeth, her breaths strangling her at the regret she saw in his face.
She could feel his determination to stop her and knew her mate had sent him to do so. Her mate. He was leaving her and he couldn’t even face her himself. The rage she’d felt building inside her all her life began beating in her head, flooding her veins and tearing aside the shields she’d used to hold it back.
“Cassie, let him go.” The Coyote lifted his hands as he moved closer. “Come on, no one’s forcing him to leave.”
“Get back, Mutt. I swear to God I’ll shoot you,” she warned him.
“I can’t do that, Cassie. Dog’s going to go no matter what you say or do. Let him go . . .”
She fired.
“Goddamn! Fuck!” His shoulder jerked as the bullet tore into it, but it wasn’t enough.
She should have shot his knee out.
He jumped for her, his arm going around her waist, one hand gripping her wrists together as she fired, and fired and fired, screaming in agony and rage at his touch as the limo shot past.
“No . . . ,” she screamed again, watching Dog staring straight ahead as the limo passed.
Mutt released her the second the limo disappeared from the garage, and she was ready for him. She lashed out as she turned, her fist burying in his balls. His eyes jerked wide, his breath a gasp, and her fist slammed beneath his jaw in a second blow, leaving him lying as she turned and ran.
She raced from the garage exit, her screams tearing from her throat, moving as fast as she could, fighting, fighting to get to him. He couldn’t leave. He couldn’t leave her.
He was her mate.
He was hers . . .
And he was gone.
The strength left her legs, slowing her until she felt her knees hit the pavement and heard an enraged animal’s scream explode from her. Her head tipped back, a demented sound, not a scream, not a howl, exploding from her, the gun dropping from her fingers as she felt herself sobbing, heard the scream erupt from her throat again.
She was barely aware of her father yelling, her mother falling beside her, her arms going around her, the pain of the touch only blending with the agony tearing from her soul now. She had no idea what they were saying, there were so many voices, so many demands, and all she could do was scream Dog’s name.
He’d left her.
He’d let another Coyote restrain her. Touch her. And he’d left her.
The betrayal was slicing her to ribbons, tearing through her so deep, with such force, that the
agony was horrendous. It was tearing her apart, ripping something from her very soul that she knew she could never replace without him.
He’d been with her for so many years. The hazy form of the Coyote he harbored had followed her, always just out of sight, and even that was gone now.
He was gone.
* * *
• • •
Jonas stood in shock, staring as Dash and Elizabeth fought to hold on to Cassie as she knelt in the center of the road leading from the garage. Her screams were the sound of an animal tortured, agonized and brutal as they erupted from her throat.
Long, riotous black hair whipped around her and tears ran from her eyes. All the control Cassie had fought for all her life was gone, shattered, wiped away as she fought like an animal to be free of her parents.
But it was what he sensed pouring from her that shocked him the most. There were no longer the separate scents of the Coyote and the Wolf howling in grief. They’d merged, and as he watched her struggles slowly ease, watched as the tears and the screams were silenced, he sensed the strength forging inside her.
Whatever pain she should have felt at her parents’ touch receded, sinking inside her, merging with the now silent howls he could feel echoing inside her.
“Come on, baby. Come on . . .” Dash lifted her in his arms, cradling her against him as he came to his feet, his gaze filled with agony as she lay limply in his arms.
Elizabeth’s face was wet with tears, as was Ashley’s as she trailed behind them and followed them into the Bureau. Breeds stood around the area staring, still in shock, weapons held ready with no idea what to fight, what to kill, to ease the horror and enraged pain that still filled the air.
Alpha leaders had always watched her warily, put off by her calm, by her air of steady strength. Distrustful of the shy smiles and overtures of friendship from the young Breed who always seemed to lack the dark-edged nightmares that most Breeds held.
Now her nightmares were free. A lifetime of them, and one had just been added. And the realization that the calm she had always projected—which, though they distrusted it, had still given them a glimpse of peace whenever she was near—was shattered.
“Find out who was in that limo . . .”
“It was Dog.”
Jonas swung around to face Mutt, seeing the blood at his shoulder, the limp in his walk.
“Council . . .”
Mutt shook his head. “Cassie shot me.”
Jonas blinked back at him. He couldn’t have heard right.
“I need a Dragoon, Jonas.” Mutt stood before him, his eyes damned near hollow with the regret pouring from him. “I have to meet Dog.”
“What the fuck happened?” Jonas snarled, grabbing the Coyote’s shirt in one fist and jerking him closer. “What happened to her?”
“Dog left her,” he breathed out wearily, pain and regret filling his expression. “He wasn’t taken, he wasn’t forced, and I don’t fucking know why. I just went along with him until I could figure out what the fuck was going on. Now, let me go, so I can do that.”
Jonas released him slowly and stepped back, shaking his head, certain he couldn’t have heard him right.
“He left her?”
Mutt nodded slowly. “He filed a Separation and Disavowal before he left. When I know more, I’ll contact you.”
Blood dripped from the Breed’s shoulder as he hurried to the nearest Dragoon, dragged himself into it and shot from the parking lot with a squeal of tires.
Dog had filed a Separation and Disavowal from his mate? What the fuck was going on?
•CHAPTER 17•
The spirit was silent, but she hadn’t left. The tall, broad form of her mate, Dog’s father, had joined her. They didn’t speak. They were hazy, barely there, and they weren’t speaking. They had no answers for her, they didn’t know where Dog was, but his father knew he was with Major.
His grandfather. The same man who’d had his son and his son’s mate hunted down like animals and killed. A grandfather with no male heirs now. Dog’s father was certain that somehow, Major had convinced Dog to come home, so to speak. The order that had gone out on the parents hadn’t been the same order that had gone out on the child. Major had demanded that the child he suspected had been born be delivered to him.
So, her mate had decided, in essence, that his grandfather was more important than his mate.
Wild fury filled her at the thought. It burned inside her, searing her soul with the knowledge. Well, he hadn’t married a female willing to allow him to ride off into the sunset and live happily ever after with his grandfather and his grandfather’s fortune.
Mercenary fucking Coyote. If he thought she wasn’t a vengeful mate, then he’d find out quickly how vengeful she could be. There was only one mate. Her soul was bound to his, even if his wasn’t bound to hers. And if she was going to carry the scars of this mating to the very depths of her, then he’d carry a few on the outside, courtesy of her.
Scouring the dark web for any hint of a rumor that a Coyote was stepping up to a fortune—or a grandfather—she could feel the wild, enraged instincts clawing inside her for action. Demanding she go searching.
Only a few searched with no idea what they were searching for. She wasn’t a fool. That icy logical core that had slowly grown over the hours assured her of this. She might be burning in rage, but that cold, hard center kept her anchored where once Dog had.
A dry sob shook her. She’d cried for hours, screaming with the crazed pain that had destroyed her. She’d had her mother crying; Ashley, her sister Emma and Graeme’s mate, Cat, had sobbed with her. Their touches hadn’t bothered her. Her parents embraces merely made her numb.
As she scrolled through yet another Breed-sighting site, her head lifted, instinct racing through her as she sensed the Breed heading down the hall. He moved with purpose, with regret. And he was coming for her.
Standing up, she closed the case on the tablet, smoothed her hands over the black skirt she wore and made certain the black sleeveless blouse was neatly tucked in. The four-and-a-half-inch heels weren’t needed for confidence. Others expected her to dress a certain way, and she knew it might be best to give them what they expected.
The knock came at the door as she reached it. Opening it, she stared up at the Breed watching her with pain-filled eyes, his expression heavy with knowledge.
“Sweet Cassie,” he sighed, the Scots burr a gentle sound. “I’ll kill him for ya, I swear it.”
“I’m sure that’s not why you’re here.” He felt sorry for her, and as fondly felt as that pity was, it was so misplaced.
“Rule needs to see ya,” he said. “I’m sorry, lass.”
“Don’t feel sorry for me, Styx.” She stepped out and closed the door behind her. “Feel sorry for that Coyote. He’s going to need your pity far more.”
She didn’t wait to follow him as she would have otherwise. Breed instinct had once demanded she do just that. That instinct no longer existed.
She stepped into the elevator, checked the watch she wore on her wrist for the time and calculated the time to enter the next dark website she’d found earlier. She should have plenty of time. She doubted what she suspected was coming would take long.
It would kill the last of her soul, but it wouldn’t take long.
“Cass, ya need to talk, I’m here,” Styx said gently as the elevator stopped and they stepped out. “Ya know I’ll always be here for ya.”
“I know.” She strode ahead of him for Rule’s office, her head high, steeling herself for what was coming. “There’s nothing to discuss, though.”
Stepping into Rule’s office, aware of her parents behind her, she faced Rule, Jonas, Brannigan and the three leaders of the Breed community, Callan, Wolfe and Del Rey.
“I’m sorry, Cassie,” Rule sighed as she stopped in front of his desk, a grimace contorting his
face as he shook his head heavily. “I’m so fucking sorry, sweetheart.”
She’d known him since she was a little girl. She’d teased him over his name, played practical jokes on him as a teenager, stood in awe of him as she matured. Now all she could do was stand before him and wait.
“Get it over with,” she demanded. “Just get it the hell over with.”
She pressed her lips tightly together as he lifted two paper forms from his desk and handed them to her.
She accepted them slowly, stared down at each and felt herself shattering. The agony racing through her wasn’t as sharp as it had been the day before, but she felt it shredding her soul.
No. No. She could hear the whisper of the spirit lingering behind her, a mother’s disbelief and pain. And all Cassie could do was stare at the end of her world as she knew it.
Petition for Separation and Notice of Disavowal. Disillusionment, the reason stated. Permanent separation and disavowal. No contact. Talk about reaping what you sow.
“How ironic,” she said softly, forcing herself not to tremble, but she couldn’t stop the tear that fell from one eye before she could blink it back. “I’m the reason this petition even exists.” She lifted her eyes to Coy Delgado and felt her breathing hitch at the compassion in his black eyes. “I’m so sorry, Del Rey.” Her voice was strangled, the pain carving furrows into the already jagged pieces of her soul. “I didn’t know . . .”
She didn’t know how bad it hurt. How bad the agony could resonate inside the very spirit.
“No, Cassie.” He shook his head, the rough sound of his voice filled with denial. “None of this is your fault, especially that.” He nodded to the petitions. “I brought it on myself in my treatment of my mate, but you did nothing to deserve it.”
But he’d been given a chance to win his mate back: His mate had agreed to one year’s separation. Her mate had filed for permanent separation. She had been disavowed. There was no hope of seeing him again.
Like hell!
She dropped the paper onto Rule’s desk. There wasn’t even an objection she could file. She was denied any information they might have on his whereabouts. They couldn’t even let her know if he was alive.
