She stared at him in surprise.
"I'll take care of that, Mercury," Kane answered him. "Ely needs you back in the lab, though."
Mercury's lips pulled back from his teeth as he turned to look at the other man. Evidently, what Kane Tyler saw shocked him as much as it had shocked Ria moments before.
"Tell Ely she has all she's getting from me." With that, he stalked from the office, moving purposefully along the hall until, moments later, Ria heard a door slam, loudly.
"Ms. Rodriquez, I'm going to ask nicely," Callan said carefully. "Please submit yourself to the labs below so Ely can take a few blood and saliva samples. I promise, it should be relatively harmless."
"Like hell." She straightened, suddenly furious. "What the hell did you do to him? You accused him of trying to rape me?"
"He moved in on you while you weren't looking. Moments later, it appeared he was taking you without your consent," Kane informed her. "I had a brief moment to see the tapes before we had to go to the labs. I admit, Sanctuary is a bit informal, but if there was something going on here, something you were unwilling to participate in, now is the time to say it."
To Kane Tyler's credit, he didn't appear to believe any such thing, but that didn't keep it from pricking her anger. What the hell did they think was going on? And how did they have the temerity to even suggest anything so preposterous as Mercury Warrant attempting something so horrible?
"And perhaps I was willing." She was amazed at the anger that flooded her now. "That's what you get for being so damned nosy, Mr. Tyler. You've managed to humiliate me in the middle of what should have been a perfectly nice Saturday afternoon, and you've insulted and betrayed a friend." Contempt rose within her as she flicked them both a hard look. "Perhaps you should get me a ride back to my cabin. And don't bother with another babysitter. I've grown pretty comfortable with the one I had; I wouldn't handle another one well."
They might not understand loyalty, but she could assure them, she did. It was what had landed her in the middle of this mess to begin with.
"An enforcer will accompany you"
"I'll call Dane Vanderale, my boss, and I'll have a Vanderale heli-jet parked on your landing pad in thirty minutes flat if my wishes are ignored in this case." She'd had enough. Even Dane couldn't sweet-talk his way out of this one. "It's no damned wonder you can't keep a handle on the spies in Sanctuary. You're too damned busy suspecting those loyal to you to look beyond them. Get a clue here. I'm not a Breed nor am I answerable to Sanctuary and as far as I'm concerned you can all go bugger yourselves."
Her accent slipped free. That never happened. She'd been born and raised in South Africa, and her job habitually required that she maintain the impression that she could be from anywhere, everywhere except Vanderale's home offices.
It irritated her to no end that it had slipped free now.
"Are we clear, sirs?" Dammit, it was still there. "I require a vehicle of my own, immediately. Your enforcers can freeze to death outside for all I give a bloody damn. But if one attempts to step inside my cabin, then that call shall be made."
She jerked her bag from the floor, pulled it over her shoulder and glared back at them. "The vehicle. Now."
This time Callan cursed, jerked the door open and stomped out, leaving her alone with Kane Tyler, who stared back at her curiously. "I thought Mercury lost his mate," he mused.
Her jaw clenched and she had to hold back the trembling of her lips. "I'm quite certain he did. I was unaware it took mating to defend a man accused unfairly. You know, Tyler, I'm disappointed by the lot of you. To be honest, I had a better opinion of the inner strength of Sanctuary. Perhaps I was wrong about that."
Kane sighed. "Some things might seem that way," he sighed. "But trust me, it's not always that easy. Come on, I'll get your car and your escort."
Not that either helped her frame of mind. And it wasn't going to help Dane's once she got hold of him. He had sent her on this damned fool's errand. They both knew Sanctuary still had a very dangerous spy, but the first Leo wanted to visit. He wanted to spend time with his grandchild and the child Callan's mate was now expecting, and Ria had a feeling he wanted to put Jonas Wyatt in his place. The Leo was the Leo. Period. Arrogant. Hardheaded, and stubborn. He was frighteningly intelligent, in control, and certain of himself. All the qualities that Jonas used to piss off everyone he came in contact with.
* * *
As Kane watched Ms. Rodriquez drive off, the enforcers trailing her, he bit off a curse.
"Ely thinks he's going feral again," Callan told him quietly from the doorway. "That was why he didn't want her to have that last vial of blood."
Feral displacement had once nearly driven Mercury insane. The death of the young Lioness he could have mated, likely cared for, had triggered a surge of such violent adrenaline in his body that he'd had to be confined in a special cell in the labs until a drug could be created to control him.
Kane shook his head. "I don't believe that. I saw those videos of Merc from years back the same as you did, Callan. What Mercury is going through now isn't some kind of bullshit feral fever."
"She's doing initial tests now on that last vial of blood. She thinks he's beginning to lose control."
Kane had seen the security videotape. What he saw concerned him, made him wonder what the hell was going on, but it hadn't made him worry about Merc's sanity. Evidently, Callan felt the same or they would be sending enforcers after Mercury now. But Ely didn't make determinations without evidence either.
"I didn't see anything to indicate force." He propped his hands on his hips and stared at the entrance to Sanctuary, grimacing at the chanting of voices from the other side of the iron gates.
Protestors, again. They'd been amassing over the past weeks, no doubt drawn by more horror stories in those rags about human sacrifices. Shaking his head, he turned back to the pride leader and watched Callan curiously.
"What proof do we have that he mated to that Breed girl that died?" He headed up the steps as he asked the question. "Could we be looking at another anomaly in mating heat?"