He would have done the same. He would have hidden his mate, he would have fought to rescue those Breeds he was certain would be loyal to him, as well as those created by himself and his mate.
"Jonas?"
He looked across the room to Rachel, who stared back at him drowsily. Once again, the scent of mating was clear, unmistakable, but the heat had cooled, and there was no biological, hormonal or any other reason to be found for it.
This particular anomaly, as well as the unfamiliar hormone found in Jonas's system, was making the scientists crazy as they fought to figure it out.
"Good morning, baby." He strode across the room, leaned to her and kissed her slow and easy.
The glands beneath his tongue weren't swollen. Their kiss was natural, filled with a different kind of heat, an emotional undertone that at once humbled and strengthened him.
"Morning." Her smile lit up his heart. It curled her lips, warmed her green eyes and flushed her cheeks as the sheet fell away from the gentle curves of her br**sts.
He'd marked her shoulder, but he'd also left a mark on the upper curve of her breast.
Reaching out, he touched the small bite mark, at once proud and concerned at the wound he had inflicted.
Rachel glanced down and her lips twitched in amusement. "Do you remember what happened when you did that?"
His entire body clenched. She had tightened on his c**k until he had exploded inside her as though he had died.
"Still, I should be more careful." He sighed.
"Yeah, more careful to do it again next time." She slid from the bed, casting a smile over her shoulder as she moved naked from the bed and headed toward the shower. "Do you have breakfast ready yet?"
He stared back at her. "These tests need to be done before we eat," he told her. "We'll have breakfast with Callan and Merinus."
She paused at the bathroom door and frowned.
"I'm sick of the tests."
She wasn't the only one.
"Hopefully, they'll been finished soon." If they weren't, then he wasn't going to handle it well.
"No, they'll be finished this morning," she told him as she turned and walked into the bathroom. "Because I'm done."
The door closed behind her and Jonas couldn't help but grin. He had to say, he rather enjoyed the fact that his mate wasn't the least bit intimidated by him or his reputation.
She was his lover, his mate. She was his other half and she had no problems whatsoever claiming her place.
Rachel endured another examination, more samples being taken. Blood samples, saliva samples, vaginal samples. There were scans this time, old-fashioned X-rays, skin samples, nail samples and hair samples.
It was as though the scientists were well aware that they were never going to get another sample from her.
"Are you certain you're not uncomfortable?" Ely Morrey asked, not for the twelfth time. Perhaps more.
Rachel turned a frustrated look on her. "I'm very uncomfortable," she replied sweetly. "I'm sitting here in a paper gown that shows my ass while the three of you"--she looked at Ely, Elizabeth and Jeffrey Amburg watching her clinically--"talk scientific jargon that makes no sense, and frankly gets on my nerves."
Elizabeth's lips twitched.
"You're showing too many anomalies for mating heat." Ely crossed her arms over her br**sts and frowned back at Rachel. "Jonas is showing too many anomalies as well. This is so far beyond normal that we have to be certain to cover our bases."
"Why?" That part confused her just slightly.
"Because it's best--" Ely began.
"Tell her the truth, Ely." Elizabeth moved to Ely's side, her tone firm.