Jonas grunted at that. “Snarling that you owned her didn’t count, huh?”
“Reflex,” he growled.
“Or instinct,” Jonas suggested. “Tell me, Cabal, have you told her yet that the man she believed was her husband is still alive?”
Cabal froze. A sense of predatory rage built inside him until the growl that came from his throat was more enraged animal than furious male.
“I’ll take that as a no.” Jonas’s tone was coldly disapproving.
“As far as she’s concerned, he’s dead,” Cabal snarled. “He can rot in whatever prison he’s sitting in.”
A heavy silence filled the line. Cabal understood it. His boss was giving him the chance to reconsider the decision. There was nothing to reconsider. The moment he had learned that the marriage Douglas Watts had perpetuated between himself and Cassa hadn’t even been legal, he’d made the decision for her.
He’d be damned if that bastard would ever shadow her life again. He wouldn’t have it.
“Cabal, you could be making a mistake,” Jonas warned him quietly.
“It’s no mistake,” Cabal snarled. “He’s been in a Breed organized prison since his recuperation. That was his choice. That or death. He chose the prison. He wasn’t given the option of informing the woman he’d continually lied to.”
He heard Jonas breathe out heavily. “Very well. For now, we can play this your way. The day may come though that the game shifts. What will you do then?”
“She is my mate.” His voice was clipped, cold. “He has no hold on her that I can’t top. Period. If that day ever comes, then I’ll deal with the choice I made. Until then, f**k the bastard. I only wish he were in more pain.”
He was paralyzed from the hips down. There was no sensation in his legs, or in other areas that had been important to Watts. Confined as he was in a high-security overseas prison created and manned by Breeds, there wasn’t much chance of Cassa ever learning the truth.
“I just hope you know what the hell you’re doing, my friend,” Jonas stated, his tone concerned now. “She’s a good woman.”
“She allowed the man she loved to use her,” he growled. “He used her to kill, to maim, and he received pay for it. She should have chosen more wisely.”
A part of him protested the statement he’d made. The human part, he decided. The weaker part. That internal voice was forever harassing him where she was concerned. His conscience? Hell, he thought he’d killed the f**ker years ago.
“Perhaps she should have.” It didn’t really sound like an agreement; it sounded more like a chastisement, and not of Cassa.
Cabal tightened his lips, refusing to argue the matter further. It was a done deal. Douglas Watts was no more than a shadow of himself that existed in a hellhole of a prison. There were no televisions, video games or computers. There were few comforts. The food wasn’t too bad, unless you were used to better.
Sucked to be Watts.
“I have things to do, Jonas,” Cabal finally stated harshly. “If this was all you wanted, then you’re wasting my time.”
“I have no doubt.” The heavy mockery pricked at Cabal’s temper. “Take care of your mate then, Bengal. Give me a report whenever you have one.”
“Until then you can get your report from Rule or Lawe,” Cabal snapped. “Since they’re obviously not here just to see the sights.”
“They’re not mated,” Jonas said quietly. “Their heads are still clear, Cabal. And that’s what I need. Enforcers with clear heads. Remember that.”
Jonas disconnected before Cabal could tell him to get f**ked. But one thing the director had done was to remind him of the fact that mating Cassa, tying her completely to him, was of the utmost importance.
If she ever learned about Watts, she might be a little upset. He didn’t want to have to do without one of the few benefits that came from mating heat. Especially the one that put her screaming in pleasure beneath him.
He’d deal later with Rule and Lawe sticking their noses into his business. For the moment, there was the scent of his mate in the shower, the smell of feminine cleanliness and sweet, hot woman.
She was aroused. The mating heat was building inside her. She could take the hormone treatments until hell froze over, but it wasn’t going to cure the effects of his kiss, his touch. She should know that by now. Nothing could combat that, though the scientists were still trying.
Unfortunately, they couldn’t hide mating heat forever. There would be a day—and it was coming soon, Cabal knew—that the world would learn about mating heat, just as it had learned about the Breeds to begin with.
It had been more than ten years, closer to twelve, since Callan Lyons, the alpha leader of the Feline Breeds, had mated his wife, Merinus. Neither Callan nor Merinus had aged appreciably since then. Doctors had determined that their bodies had aged merely one year in all that time. Their bodies’ aging process had slowed down dramatically, and from all the scientists had learned, especially since the first Leo’s appearance with his own mate, it seemed that the aging process would remain incredibly slow for years to come.
The first Leo was over a hundred years old, as was his mate. They both appeared no older than their late thirties, and their bodies were in peak condition.