She was frightened.
He heard the tiny mewls, little squeaks of sound as her fists clenched and released. She wanted to cry, but she didn't have the strength.
"Dane, if this child is harmed, we're going to have problems." Jonas heard the growl in his own voice, felt the hidden claws as they parted the tips of his fingers, shifting beneath the regular nail beds and tearing forth.
Blood tipped, curved and sharp. His fingers flexed, his senses became sharper, edged with the hunger for blood and vengeance.
The problem had already arrived. The Lion, always kept so carefully leashed, had slipped free. In a moment of weakness, an awareness of the danger the child--his child--faced and it was there.
A snarl molded his lips, canines flashed in the darkness, a growl rumbled in his chest, deep-throated, predatory.
"Boss, we're in position." Rule knew the sound. "I have the Coyote, Lawe has the sentry in front."
"Dane converged on Brandenmore," Mordecai, the Coyote team member, gave the final order as Jonas, man and animal, moved into action.
The Genetics Council that had created the Breeds had one purpose in mind: the ultimate killing machine. The Breeds were created, enhanced, and trained for any and every situation that could be conceived.
They hadn't been created to save lives. They hadn't been trained to care, to mate or to love. But what they hadn't been trained for had made them better, faster, stronger.
It had made them the most dangerous creatures on the face of the earth.
The ultimate weapon.
Glass crashed, shattered.
It had taken precious minutes, patience Rachel had never believed she could have before she had the chance to tear open the door and fling herself from the SUV.
She made it to the side of the house, no farther. Hard, restraining fingers latched onto her arm, dragging her back as she watched the dark, snarling figure throw itself into the living room window.
The sound of glass breaking and an animal's snarl were the only sounds in the night. A shadow moved on the front porch, and silhouettes twisted and churned against the curtains covering the kitchen window.
It was the broken glass that held her horrified attention.
Shards, dark tipped with blood, were jagged in the frame. There were no sounds, not even so much as a child's whimper.
"Let me go." Her voice was reed thin, hoarse as she felt the tears falling once again.
"He'll kill me." Chimera's tone was regretful. "I've risked enough letting you this close."
Rachel's head jerked back to the other woman. "This close?"
Eerie green eyes glanced toward the house before coming back to rest on Rachel. Chimera's shadowed features tightened with some unnamed emotion. "She's your daughter. You have the right."
As the final word passed Chimera's lips, all hell seemed to break loose.
A roar, unlike anything Rachel had heard in her life, shattered the silence of the night.
Jonas went through the window. He felt the glass biting across his shoulders, felt the animal rage that surged through his body, and went for the enemy.
Brandenmore hadn't expected an attack. Rather than thinking to grab the child, he came to his feet instead. The weapon aimed and fired, the minute burst of explosive energy barely missing Jonas's head before Brandenmore jumped for the door.
A roar tore from his throat. A sound Jonas knew had never escaped his body as the full scent of the child hit him then.
Jumping between the babe and the door, Jonas faced the other man, his own weapon ready, held firmly in claw-tipped fingers as he snarled back at Brandenmore.
His faced creased with cruelty and age, Brandenmore smiled, a cold, mocking sneer that had Jonas's finger tightening on the trigger. Brandenmore held his weapon aimed in the direction of the babe.
"So much information." Brandenmore shook his head with a cluck of his tongue. "So many experiments. We've learned a lot since you escaped, Alpha One."