"I want more teams added to the mountain patrols as well." Jonas frowned over the map of Sanctuary that he brought up. "So far, each time we've had an attempted kidnapping from Sanctuary they've used the ravine here, where Mordecai found evidence of a watcher, or the ravines here, farther up." Jonas pointed out the weak areas. "Hidden sensors are in place now, but I want several teams patrolling each of those areas from here on out. If Kane has any problems with it, then please have him contact me."
Kane Tyler was head of Sanctuary's security, and a damned good man for it. But Jonas could feel the edge of premonition pricking at him now. There was going to be trouble, and he had no idea from which direction it was coming. And neither did Cassie.
"Callan and Leo have requested that you come to the main house, along with your mate and child, tonight for dinner." Lawe seemed hesitant to relay that information. "I believe it might have been the Leo's idea."
The Leo. His father.
Jonas rubbed at the back of his neck. They wouldn't have asked just for the hell of it.
"Find out what time," he growled, feeling his tension ratcheting higher now.
Lawe nodded. "By the way, congratulations."
Jonas looked up from the computer and frowned. "For what?"
Rule and Lawe both stared at him as though he were crazy.
"You're mated. Congratulations. We scented the proof of it the minute Rachel opened the door and allowed us in. It's particularly strong . . ." Lawe trailed off as Jonas stared back at him in surprise.
"There has been no mating," he told the other man.
There hadn't been. If there had, Jonas wouldn't be in the physical hell he was in.
Lawe scratched at the side of his cheek. "Well, there's no scent of crazy lust coming from her, I admit." He cleared his throat nervously. "But the mating scent is there, Jonas. There's no missing it."
Unless you were the mate. His own scent was so familiar to him that he wouldn't have detected the mating scent itself on Rachel. That scent was for other males, not for the mate.
Ely was right; he needed to get Rachel to the labs for testing as soon as possible. If he carried the mating out, then the examination would be painful, too painful. Though according to his Enforcers, the mating had already been completed.
Which he knew for a fact wasn't possible.
"Has anyone else been in here?" he asked the two men, wondering how many others would be aware of that scent.
Lawe shook his head. "Just us. We were here when she unlocked the office doors waiting on you."
Jonas rose from his seat, his teeth clenched. He had to get Rachel to the labs for tests, there was no other way around it. But in doing so, he was opening himself up to a vulnerability he wasn't ready for anyone else to know, especially the Vanderales.
If Rachel was indeed displaying the mating scent, then that particular hormone would display variances that would reveal the DNA used in Jonas's creation. Elizabeth Vanderale's DNA. It would also show that his creation was far different than his files stated. He wasn't created to be simply a Pride leader, and commander. He had been created to breed the very animal that Breeds and humans alike feared the species would eventually become.
He couldn't ignore the fact that others knew this information. Scientists that had been at the labs and had escaped Breed justice. There was a slim chance Brandenmore at least suspected he was the Breed scientists still searched for. The one designated as Alpha One.
He was one of a few male Breeds given a unique designation during creation. He was created not to be the ultimate Breed, but to create the ultimate killer.
It was a hell of a legacy, he thought savagely.
"Get Dog in gear and oversee Alpha Team One," he ordered Lawe. "I'll contact Callan to see what time we're needed for dinner. Assign a Breed to Marshal, while you're at it. Make it a female Breed. Someone nonthreatening."
"Ashley," Rule murmured. "She at least appears nonthreatening."
She was a killer in heels. As one of the Coyote Breeds, and exacting of her privacy, there were no tabloid pictures of her, and even less information about her.
"Put her undercover," he ordered Lawe. "A little rich bitch looking for fun. That should be right up Devon Marshal's alley right now. Give her backup. Her sister Emma should work."
As a team, Ashley and Emma were hell on wheels.
"I was going to suggest both of them." Lawe nodded. "We'll have an update for you on Dog as soon as we speak with him, and I'll let you know when Ashley and Emma head out."
Jonas nodded shortly, waited, then blew out a hard breath as the door closed behind the two men.