“It’s complicated,” he gritted out, not enjoying the sensation of having others watch him as he so often watched them.
“You don’t say,” Dog commented wryly. “Why not explain it to us anyway?”
Shooting him a glare, Dane bit down on the tip of his cigar before clenching it between his thumb and forefinger and lowering it slowly.
“I told you, I just sense it,” he repeated, forcing back his discomfort.
He’d be damned if he’d let that grinning jackass of a Coyote know that he felt a bit at odds trying to explain the little talent he had.
“Do tell,” the warrior suggested, a bit more firmly than Dog had.
“Telling’s the hard part,” he admitted with a twist of his lips. “It’s a knowledge that’s there once I see them together. Rather like a gut feeling.”
“Gut feeling, huh?” Dog was definitely laughing at him; thankfully, it was silent laughter.
Dane couldn’t help but let his lips twitch, because with this Breed, he would definitely have the last laugh.
“And sometimes, all I have to do is hear a certain name on a Breed’s lips to know who his mate is. Want to start naming names, boet?” The South African slang for “friend” slipped before he could stop it. A problem he was having more often of late.
Dog’s eyes instantly narrowed as suspicion lit them, the gray darkening, flickering with a hint of anger.
“Stop letting him rile you, Dog,” the warrior grunted in disgust from Dane’s other side. “He tried that one on me last year. You have to know him well enough not to let him mess with your mind.”
Oh, he could do far more than mess with Dog’s mind. There was a reason he had sought out the Coyote and formed a friendship with him when he had. If this Breed didn’t have friends soon, not just acquaintances or other Breeds who didn’t care to fight with him, then he was going to be in a spot of trouble.
“You’re going to end up in a world of hurt if you make the mistake of messing with what you assume is my mind,” Dog warned him quietly.
“There would first have to be a mind within that thick skull of yours to mess with,” Dane suggested mockingly before turning back to the warrior. “Rescind the virginity clause and give her a choice. I never understood why you put her under such constraints to begin with when you’ve done it with no one else.”
Surprise reflected on the other man’s face before instant denial filled his gaze.
“The hell I will.” The warrior suddenly tensed, his brows jerking together in a frown as the tinted contacts he wore picked up the faint hint of color that Dane was certain he’d want no one to glimpse.
“Virginity clause?” Dog was far too easily distracted tonight, Dane thought with silent sarcasm.
Did Breeds have trouble with ADHD that he was unaware of?
“If I rescind the clause, she’ll become suspicious,” the warrior said, ignoring Dog’s query. “She’s too well trained for that, Dane, and you made certain of it. She’ll instantly know she’s being set up, and don’t think she hasn’t been listening long and hard for proof of Mating Heat whenever she listens to the Breeds talking. If she catches a whiff that it could be true and Rule’s her mate, then she just might turn tail and run for good long before he does.”
“She’ll not hear anything there.” Dog’s assurance had Dane staring back at him now.
“Breeds gossip worse than old women,” he reminded the Coyote.
“Not here, not about Mating Heat.” Dog shook his head firmly. “Jonas put the word out before the first Breed headed out here nine years ago, I hear. He reinforced it when the search for Brandenmore’s research pets led them out here again. And he made it clear, if word of Mating Heat is gossiped about, or the words ‘mates’ or ‘mating’ are mentioned, then he is going to start chopping off heads. Literally.”
Dane shook his head before looking to the stars in search of help where his brother was concerned. That boy was a danger to himself sometimes, not to mention Mating Heat in general. The legend of the Mate Matcher was definitely sealing itself within stone. And Jonas with it if the other Breed wasn’t extremely careful.
“Assuming she really is his mate,” the warrior said then, “what happened tonight? Because he’s damned sure not in bed with her.”
To that, Dane could only shake his head, because he didn’t have a clue. That didn’t mean he wouldn’t figure it out.
“Rule will run if he even suspects that’s his mate,” Dog stated then, causing that “something,” that extra sense to shift inside him.
“His animal instincts won’t let him run, from what I understand,” the warrior argued, with a hint of a question in his voice.
Ahh, there was the key.
“It wouldn’t matter if his instinct was a full-grown in-his-face Lion,” Dog grunted. “That Breed even suspects his mate is in the area, might be in the area, or could be arriving at any time in the near future, and trust me, he’s gone. He’ll run.”