Raines wasn’t a man that Del-Rey could make himself like. He was deceitful. His blue gray eyes barely hid his malicious-ness, but there was no hiding it from Breed senses. Del-Rey could smell it, a subtle acrid stench that sickened him.
“Ah, Pack Leader Delgado.” Timothy gave him a twisted little smile as he moved toward the group. “Join us. We were just discussing those nasty tabloid stories that are making the rounds again. Really. You’d think if Breeds were so animalistic, they would have never achieved human status.” There was the barest sneer in Timothy’s voice.
Del-Rey lifted his brow. “I don’t read the tabloids, I’m afraid. What are they saying now? Are we eating our meat raw again? Howling at the moon?”
“Knotting your females,” one of the men said and snickered with avid curiosity. “Turning them into nymphomaniacs with some kind of hormonal release from a kiss.”
Avid eyes latched onto him as he scratched his cheek, as though in confusion. Breeds didn’t deny the mating heat, but they didn’t admit to it either.
“They’re still harping on that?” He grinned. “From what I understand there were several of our Breed males that volunteered to prove differently. Did that ever happen?”
Del-Rey knew it had. Some of the younger male Breeds had publicly named lovers for several journalists. It had stopped the rumors for a while.
“That doesn’t stop the gossip,” the gray-haired public works manager chuckled. “Your genetics are still a mystery to too many folks, Delgado. Makes you good gossip fodder.”
Del-Rey shrugged. “Whatever works for them. It does keep the women interested in us though. I’m sure quite a few of our males appreciate that.”
The men laughed, then looked around as though making certain none of their women were listening. It was amusing at times, and at others offensive. Del-Rey could imagine the furor that would erupt if the world learned the truth. That only with certain women did their animalistic nature show itself, and when it did, for now, there was no permanent escape from it.
Del-Rey caught the mayor’s gaze once more.
“Mayor Raines, when you have a chance, I’d like to discuss the request you put into the Coyote Cabinet last month.”
Timothy’s gaze sharpened, too much, and Del-Rey swore he caught the scent of death on the man. The request was to assign several Coyote males to the local police department and as security guards at city hall.
The little town outside Haven’s boundaries wasn’t large; it hadn’t attained the popularity of Sanctuary’s neighboring town, Buffalo Gap. He wanted to know what made Mayor Raines believe they needed the advanced talents of the Coyote Breeds for any security.
Raines’s gaze moved around the room before a smile shaped his lips. “I didn’t mean to bother you with that decision, Alpha Delgado,” he apologized with the utmost insincerity. “I assumed the lower members of the cabinet would take care of that.”
“There are no lower members of the Coyote Cabinet,” Del-Rey informed him. “I’m but one of six pack leaders, Mayor. Each of us chairs the cabinet.”
“Every army has a general, Delgado,” Raines laughed. “You head it, correct?”
As he did, by strength and by will. That didn’t make any of the others below him, they were his equal, they merely chose to follow him.
“Incorrect, Mayor, but we can discuss that as well when you get a moment. As you’re busy tonight, we could meet in the Coyote base sometime this week if you prefer. I’d like to see the proposal you promised the cabinet.”
Something flashed in Raines’s gaze. Something triumphant, certainly dangerous. “I’ll be sure to do that.” He nodded. “I’ll call soon.”
Like hell. Del-Rey made his excuses and moved from the group. He lifted his wrist and spoke into the small mic beneath the cuff of his tuxedo jacket. “We’re going to have problems. I suggest an exodus.”
“Grounds?” Wolfe murmured into the earpiece Del-Rey wore.
“Instinct, use yours. I’m getting my people out.”
He nodded to Brim and headed for the bar, where Sharone and the other females surrounded Anya, their expressions filling with dangerous tension.
Ashley shifted, hiding the fact that she had reached to the holster strapped to the inside of her thigh and the small handgun she carried there. Sharone was blocking any access to the side and Emma was covering her back.
“This one stays.”
Del-Rey heard the bartender’s voice, dark, ugly with menace through the bodyguards’ comm links.
Emma turned to Del-Rey, her expression icy, and mouthed, Weapon on coya.
“We have a weapon on my coya,” he announced into the mic. “Get your women the f**k out of here.”
He moved for the bar, aware of Brim striding quickly toward it and a young Breed, Carlen, moving for the females. The Breed was Wolf. He wasn’t Coyote, nor was he one of the Wolves assigned to Anya’s small protection detail.