Rachel nodded again. "I'll check with Erin to make certain she can stay with Amber." The young lynx Breed had taken to Amber with surprising affection.
Jonas frowned at the statement. "Erin and Amber will be going with us. Socialization begins as an infant, Rachel. You want her to know how to deal with others, and how to interact, even as a toddler."
Her brows raised. Jonas's frown deepened.
"She's my baby, Jonas," she reminded him. "I appreciate what you've done to protect her . . ."
"She is our baby." He leaned forward, his hands planted on her desk with a suddenness that had her staring up at him warily. "Never doubt that I don't claim that child as my own. We will raise her together, we will protect her together. If you have other ideas, then perhaps you've been right to deny the mating."
He straightened as quickly as he'd leaned forward, his shoulders straight, his expression forbidding as he seemed to glare at her.
"Don't imagine you can demand those rights." Rachel was out of her chair immediately.
"I don't demand them. I have taken them," he growled, bending again until he was almost nose to nose with her. "Raising a child is a partnership, mate. Don't imagine otherwise."
"You're pissing me off." Her hands went to her hips. "Asking for something is a hell of a lot nicer than demanding it. What the hell is wrong with you, and since when did you decide you could arbitrarily decide that you have any rights over me or Amber?"
"When I knew you were my mate," he snarled back at her. "And why have you decided to suddenly become so damned difficult? I do know a few things about children. Cassie didn't turn out so bad, and all of Sanctuary has participated in raising her."
"Cassie has an excellent mother," she pointed out, exerting effort to be calm, her eyes narrowing. "And likely had a father who understood not to speak to her mother as though she knew nothing about raising a child."
Jonas was fighting for control; Rachel could sense it. She watched him, her heart racing, a sense of impending doom rising inside her as his eyes flashed from silver to mercury and back again.
He was testing boundaries he didn't want to tempt, not now, not yet. Likely, never.
"Amber has an excellent mother," he growled, obviously pushing the words past clenched teeth. "I never implied otherwise, Rachel. You have turned a simple discussion into a conflict that should not exist."
"Or perhaps you have." They were still nose to nose, eyes narrowed, the tension stifling. "Now that we've agreed Erin and Amber will accompany us, you can see about becoming prepared for the telephone conference you have with Senator Tyler in exactly one hour. After that, you have a meeting with the pre-cabinet concerning the latest attempt by various groups to gain access to a hunting permit for Sanctuary's northern boundary. You don't have time to stand here growling and snarling at me."
He flashed his incisors at her. She crossed her arms over her br**sts and stared back at him with steely resolve.
"Mating heat is coming, mate." His voice lowered, rasped, stroked along her senses like dark velvet. "Let's see where all that anger gets you then."
Turning on his heel, he stalked from the ante office back to his own, and closed the door quietly behind him.
Very quietly.
Rachel flinched, then blew out a soundless breath.
Now, there was an attitude she hadn't seen from him before. If she wasn't mistaken, he had been seconds, inches, one last thread of control from kissing her.
For one wild, exciting moment, she had nearly kissed him instead.
And she'd had fun.
Smiling, Rachel took her seat and returned to the computer and her own work.
Not many people could say they had faced the bogeyman of the Breeds in a screaming match and came out unscathed. Rachel was betting she was the only one who could lay claim to that particular talent. And she looked forward to the next round.
She paused at the thought.
Hell, she knew she was in love with him now, because the only other person she would dare to yell back at was her sister. She and Diana had gone nose to nose many times over the years, and Diana hadn't always backed down, but she had always ended up laughing at Rachel's particular manner of "handling" her, as she called it.
She glanced at the door again.
She should stalk right in there and kiss him herself. She had no idea why he was holding back now. No idea what demons were shadowing him that he hadn't claimed her.
She knew he wanted to. She knew it was going to happen.