His dark blond head tilted to the side, dark green eyes with tiny specks of amber that were rarely visible, now glinting within the iris. “I believe there’s a mate perfectly suited to each and every Breed, whether they were born or created,” he finally answered softly as he leaned indolently against the wall, sliding his hands into the pockets of the dun-colored slacks he wore. “What would make you ask such a question, Cassie?”
She shrugged. It wasn’t always easy to explain her own feelings, her own fears.
She was a Breed, a tri-species, she’d heard herself called.
Human, Wolf, and the still feared Coyote. The Coyote DNA was the one she feared the most, just, she suspected, as her parents did. As many of the Breeds did. They all seemed to. She could sense it, feel it. At times, God, she could even smell their fear.
“Surely you’re not frightened that there’s no such future for yourself?” The South African accent was almost mesmerizing. Cassie often found herself concentrating on the cadence of it, rather than the meaning behind whatever questions he was asking her.
“It could prove difficult.” Tucking her hands into the back pockets of her jeans, she wandered to the wide, shaded glass of the bay window on the far side of her room and stared at the place where she knew her assassin hid. “I’m not human, nor am I a Wolf Breed or Coyote. So far, no Breed has mated outside his or her own species with the exception of the human pairings. Wouldn’t that make it rather hard for me to find a mate?”
He watched her closely. Too closely.
He had that habit. Dane wasn’t a man one could often hide things from. Nor was he man that anyone would want to try to lie to or in any way deceive.
He could be a brutal enemy.
“What do your guides tell you, Cassie?” he asked her softly, the question causing her to freeze as a hard chill raked down her spine.
Dane was the only one to have ever, at any time, acknowledged that more than just intuition had guided her throughout the years.
How could he know? Could he know? Could he sense that the beautiful, once comforting presence that had followed her throughout her life had now deserted her?
She turned to him slowly, their gazes locking as she stared back at a Breed that none could read, not even the most intuitive of their species. Even she, the one who seemed to draw the inner demons and broken spirits of the Breeds from their hiding places, had never convinced the protective spirit that always hovered close to him to reveal itself. Or to reveal his secrets.
“She doesn’t visit as often as she once did,” Cassie finally admitted softly.
“And you’re not yet confident enough in yourself to use what she taught you.” He nodded.
Cassie could only shake her head. Her father had asked her that same question.
Perhaps she just hadn’t been smart enough to learn.
As she considered the subject, a brief knock at her door had her turning away from the hybrid to glance at the barrier before turning back to Dane.
A grin tugged at her lips.
Just that quickly, Dane was gone.
Back to his own room, no doubt, where she had no hesitation in guessing he was plotting world dominion. And if he were, he would succeed.
Breathing out wearily, she answered the summons with a brief, “Yes?”
The door opened several inches as one of the Reevers’ maids peered around the door. “Ma’am, your father and Mr. Reever asked that I let you know Mr. Reever is putting steaks and ribs on the grill for the evening meal. He says you’re especially fond of them.”
The tall, buxom brunette watched her warily. The scent of the other woman’s fear caused only regret to shift through Cassie’s senses. It didn’t hurt as it once had.
“I’ll be there soon,” she informed the other woman.
The maid nodded, and closed the door, and Cassie could sense her moving slowly away from the room. If she closed her eyes, Cassie thought, then she would sense much more than that from the maid. Not just her fears, but her hatreds, her self-importance, her pride—
Cassie didn’t close her eyes. She just didn’t want to know.
THREE
Katie hadn’t expected to get so lucky as to be reunited with her dearest friend, and within hours had realized why. She and Khileen had never failed to find adventure and excitement in Ireland together. It was one of the reasons Katie’s father had worried about their friendship so often.
When Khileen’s mother, Jessica, had met and married Lobo Reever, it had seemed Breeds in general had drawn an easier breath though. Lobo was considered a lone Wolf, one that too many independent Wolves had longed to follow.