Two hundred acres of Uncompahgre National Forest, so far, had been deeded to the Wolf Breeds, with another five hundred acres expected to be ceded to them within the next year.
The valley the Wolf Breeds claimed as home was within full sight of the cliff peak that the Coyote Breeds had invaded a little over eight months before. That single mountain had been given to the Coyotes due to the fact that it represented a threat to the valley below and hadn’t been in the original land given to Haven. It was a home Del-Rey was now determined to return to.
He’d just finished an investigation into Engalls Pharmaceuticals and a division of that company, Brandenmore Research. The two companies were working covertly on a drug that would control a Breed’s free will. The investigation had taken longer than he had originally believed it would. He hadn’t been back to Base in over two months.
He hadn’t smelled his mate in two months. He’d had too much time to think and too damned much time to regret. And he was sick of being away from Base, being away from his mate.
“Where do you think we’re headed next?” Brim smothered a yawn as the pilot contacted Haven’s base and neared their airspace.
“We’re not going back out,” Del-Rey stated, his gaze still narrowed on the night sky.
Brim’s silence lasted a little too long.
“You promised the tribunal a year,” Brim reminded him quietly.
“I know what I said,” he growled. “We’ll go fuck off at the beach for a few weeks here and there. Hell, take the girls to fucking Disneyland or some shit. I’ve had it, Brim. This is bullshit. My mate runs my fucking base better than I do, and on top of it”—he turned to his second-in-command and bodyguard—“did you read that fucking report Sharone finally got around to sending to us? This is a disaster waiting to happen.”
He was going to start sweating again. Hell, when he’d read the original report, he swore his hands had shook. His mate was too damned brave, courageous and daring, and those female bodyguards he had allowed her were just as damned bad.
He ran his hand over his face and shook his head. Eight months. A man could do a lot of thinking, conniving and planning in eight months. When it came right down to it though, he knew when he’d reached his limit. Del-Rey’s limit had been reached.
“Should be easy enough to put another team on Engalls and Brandenmore with our information,” Brim stated. “All we need is the proof now.”
“Proof better come soon,” Del-Rey snarled.
Brandenmore and Engalls, CEOs of the two companies they were investigating, had nearly been the cause of several Breeds’ deaths as well as a librarian in Virginia who had overhead their plot. Being forced to release them to gain information had left a bad taste in Del-Rey’s mouth. Information had come in. Information that would save a young woman’s life, and enough medical knowledge to prepare a fail-safe in case another Breed was infected with the drug. But damn if he hadn’t wanted to kill the bastards still walking the streets. Smug, superior, Phillip Brandenmore and Horace Engalls were the worst that humanity could produce. And they called Breeds animals, he snorted silently.
The black heli-jet came in, full stealth, and settled on the landing pad above the two-story welcome entrance at the gates of the Wolf Breed compound, Haven. The doors slid open silently, and figures, tall, dark and silent, stepped from the craft and moved with lethal precision to the steps that led down to the side of the building and the entrance door.
Del-Rey and his team didn’t make a sound as they entered the secured building, moved through the security protocols, then entered the enclosed Wolf Breed compound through a lower door.
“Alpha Leader Delgado, we have a vehicle awaiting you and your men.” A Wolf Breed escort stepped forward in the low light that surrounded the outside of the structure. “Alpha Leader Gunnar and the Wolf Breed Cabinet have assembled as per your request.”
Del-Rey gave a sharp nod. He motioned two of his men with him, the other two he gave a silent signal to return to their own base within the cliffs that rose high above the peaceful valley.
With him was Brimstone and another member of his team who was also part of his security as alpha: Cavalier, the Breed Anya had helped him to rescue before the main facility rescue.
She had never understood why he took only a few at a time. It had been imperative to weed out the spies, to show her that often those she trusted would betray her. And when it came to his packs, he wanted the assurance of loyalty. Cavalier had information he needed and a view into the facility that even Anya and Sharone wouldn’t have known to make note
of.
The drive to the pack headquarters in the center of the compound wasn’t a long one. The valley was nearly two hundred acres of pristine grassland and rising, centuries-old cotton-woods, pines and oak. They sheltered the cabins and buildings within, and deep beneath the base of the mountains that rose above them was a command center rivaled only by the Felines or the American government itself.
It took time, though, to clear Security in the main building of the headquarters. An elevator ride took them down to the bowels of the base, and then they had another drive through steel and cement to the once abandoned military base that the Wolf Breeds had been given access to.
Over the past seven years since Haven had been established, the majority of work had gone into this defense and operational base. Above them, the serene valley reflected a love of nature, privacy and established camaraderie, if one overlooked the armed guards hidden in the mountains and the sheltering branches of the trees.
Below was the heart and soul of Haven’s security, and it ran like a well-oiled machine.
“The cabinet is waiting in meeting room three on the third level,” the Wolf Breed guard said and nodded to them as they entered an elevator. “Dash Sinclair and his family arrived just ahead of you.”
Dash Sinclair had risen up the ranks of Breed hierarchy quickly since his revelation of Breed status. A Breed with recessed genetics, he had escaped his labs at ten. He had gone into the American foster care system, been educated and was in the military until a little girl’s letter drew him back to America and awoke the animal that had stayed suppressed within him.
His daughter, Cassandra, was still a sore point with Del-Rey, but he knew she had been wounded several months before during an operation that she should have never been in the middle of.
“How is Ms. Sinclair’s recovery?” he asked. He hated the woman’s logic, her ability to argue for everything he had rejected with every part of his soul, but he had seen the tender, compassionate woman she was in her concerned gaze the day she had argued for his mate’s freedom.
“She’s doing much better.” The guard nodded. “She’s here at Haven at present under the care of Dr. Armani. We still haven’t learned who broke into her hospital room that night.”