Next to the crib was a line of bottles; beneath the stand that held the light were stacks of baby diapers. The shelf above the diapers held wipes and lotions, medicated diaper rash salve as well as a small case of baby first aid paraphernalia. Anything a mother could need to take care of her child.
The dresser at the bottom of the crib held clothes: sack gowns, pajamas and tiny outfits as well as socks, little head-bands and assorted baby girl accessories. Jonas had been specific when he'd ordered the room prepared. The exclusive baby store in Buffalo Gap had opened its doors at three in the morning to ensure that the child was provided with everything she would need.
Moving efficiently, Rachel stripped the child, cleaned her with several wipes, then diapered and dressed her in a clean gown in a matter of minutes.
As he watched, Jonas felt the glands at the side of his tongue tightening, filling with the mating hormone as they began to itch and ache. The need to mate her, to mark her, would eventually make him insane, he believed.
"The closet has clothing for you." He nodded to the large walk-in closet on the far side of the room. "I sent one of the Coyote females who's currently assigned to Sanctuary. They seem to be more girly than most of our Feline females. They assured me that you have everything you need."
"Tell me you didn't send Ashley." Rachel turned back to him, a look of almost horror on her face.
Jonas hid his smile. Ashley was the scourge of the entire Breed society. Sociable, so girly it gave a man a toothache, and able to kill with a smile. The woman made friends left and right, bought enough clothes to fill a small house and could talk all day about shoes and purses.
"It was her sister, actually." Her younger sister wasn't much better, but Rachel wasn't aware of that.
"Where did the whole genetic profiling go wrong with those women." Rachel shook her head. "They'll slice your throat for causing them to break a nail."
That wasn't far off the mark.
"They were coddled." Jonas shrugged. "The lab that had these girls in Russia was secretly attempting to aid their escapes or rescues. They had complete control of the Breeds there with no oversight, mostly because the Council was unaware there were Coyote females. They were allowed to develop traits that other Breeds were never given the chance to find within themselves."
And they were still spoiled. The five Coyote females were given the funds for their pretty clothes, their shoes and purses by the Coyote leader and his Coya. They were still coddled and still protected in ways that other Feline females scoffed at. And still, they were just as tough, just as merciless in battle, yet quicker to smile, to make friends and to endear the human population to the Breed cause.
"I'll shower, then, and head to bed." The look Rachel gave him was firm. It was time for him to leave.
Jonas nearly growled in frustration.
Patience, he warned himself. He'd spent so long assuring himself that he could control the mating heat because they shared few intimacies. He could keep from taking her, he could keep from destroying her.
That was no longer an option. As she had stated earlier, he wasn't an animal. Well, he was, but there was a side of him that was more than instinct as well. There was the strategist, and soon, there would be the seducer.
No battle was won purely with a show of strength, he told himself as he left her room, closing the door quietly behind him. Every battle won was done so with the right strategy as well as the proper weapons.
He simply had to determine when and where to begin the first skirmish.
As he set the alarms on the cabin and retired to his own bedroom, he found himself almost smiling. If he wasn't very careful, then he might actually have fun seducing his little mate. As dangerous as he knew claiming her would be, it could perhaps be even more dangerous not to claim her.
CHAPTER 4
Ghost Team moved into Sanctuary late that evening, as Rachel and Amber slept soundly. Called back from a mission that was only partially finished in Guatemala, they were flown into the compound under the dead of night under condition "Alpha." Complete secrecy.
Jonas knew the second they entered his cabin, that sixth sense when it came to the team he had put together himself and commanded for ten years now.
Stepping from his bedroom, he checked the door to Rachel's bedroom, secured it to ensure she didn't step into the room, and faced the six-member team standing silently in the living room.
Ghost Team was the best. They were the most silent, most efficient, killers ever created, and they were also the best-kept secret the Breeds held outside of the truth of the mating heat.
Standing front and center was the team commander, the Black Jaguar Breed, who had excelled in killing at the tender age of five when he had sliced a trainer's throat for daring to backhand him. He was merciless, cold. He was as hard as diamonds and, often, just as cold.
"Your mate?" The commander nodded to the secured bedroom door.
Jonas nodded. "Brandenmore made his move on the files he believes I had. He used the baby against her and attempted to force her to steal them for him."
Fierce black eyes glanced toward the door once more before Jag shook his black head in resignation. "We should just kill him."
"We need to capture him if possible," Jonas reminded him. "But I have a larger problem. He attempted to kidnap Rachel's child. The baby was injected with what Amburg believes was a sedative, but there's a scent to the child now that wasn't there before. Whatever he's doing, it now involves her. I want a net around Rachel, the baby and the other hybrid children here at Sanctuary. I don't have a good feeling about this."
He could feel that odd twist in his guts, the premonition that something was building, that Brandenmore had a plan that they hadn't yet foiled.