Beside him, Rachel sat silently, but Jonas could smell her fear. It ate at his control, enraged the beast inside him and tore at his logic.
He could smell the blood pounding in Svenson's body, could almost taste it, his need for it was so strong.
"How did you manage it, Svenson?" he asked, his voice uncontrollably deeper, rougher. The animal refused to hide.
Svenson smiled again. A slow, cold curl of his lips. "I won't say it was easy, but there's a lot to be said for tranqs, wouldn't you say?"
Jonas hid his own satisfaction this time. Breed Enforcers were inoculated against tranqs. Ely and the Wolf Breed scientist had come up with that solution years ago when the Council scientists had thought they could recapture their best soldiers by tranquilizing them and bringing them back to their side.
"Yes, there's a lot to be said about tranqs." Jonas crossed his arms over his chest and fought to hold back the growls rumbling in his chest.
The drug would have lasted only minutes. They must have bound Lawe somehow, incapacitated him in a way that had kept the Breed from instantly striking back.
"So, where's the bitch's brat?" Svenson questioned again.
"In Sanctuary," Jonas answered as he felt Rachel trembling beside him. "There's a storm coming in. We felt it best to keep her there rather than taking her on what should have been a rather short trip."
Svenson scowled, his thin, short lips pinching in anger.
"Mr. Brandenmore won't be pleased," he warned Jonas.
"And pleasing him is something that tops my list of things to do," Jonas mocked.
The bastards, all of them, were dead. Anyone who had participated in this little kidnapping plot would pay in the most painful manner.
Svenson glanced at Rachel then. Jonas could feel the slight tremors of her body, smell the anger and the fear burning inside her. She remembered the night Brandenmore had actually managed to get his hands on Amber. That memory still lived clearly within her soul.
"You should have brought the kid," Svenson grunted regretfully. "His displeasure might not worry Jonas here, but it could end up hurting you. Rather painfully. He was none too pleased after you managed to snag the little bitch from him last time."
Her fists clenched in her lap. Fury was a raw, burning scent of maternal rage as the bodyguard insulted her baby.
Not that it was doing Jonas much good, but as long as the other man had that laser weapon trained on Rachel, there wasn't much he could do. It wasn't bullet powered. A killing blast from the weapon he was using would rip through her body, burn and sear and leave damage that could possibly never be repaired.
"Why does he want the baby?" Jonas kept his tone icy, merely curious. There were preconceived notions of Breeds, one of them being that Feline Breed males--and females too, for that matter--were not accepting of any mate's children from previous relationships.
Council scientists cited the fact that lions would kill the young within a Pride that they took over. That they refused to nurture the cubs of other males. The scientists had stated that Breed Feline males would be no different.
They continually forgot that Breeds, no matter their subspecies, were still human.
"He has plans for her." Svenson shrugged, his gaze licking over Rachel in a way that had Jonas biting back a territorial snarl. "Plans that don't include the two of you."
Jonas could feel Rachel fighting to hold back the anger eating at her. Her baby was safe, that was all that mattered to her. She would die for Amber if need be. Just as Jonas would die for both of them. He was simply hoping it wouldn't quite come to that.
"Well, without knowing the plans he has for her, then I really can't help him much, can I?" Jonas sat back in his seat, threw his arm behind Rachel and pulled her closer. "Do I have time for a nap?"
He was known as being uncaring of others' welfare. Could he trick Brandenmore into believing that the mating was only biological? That by holding Rachel he would only incite animal logic rather than debilitating anger?
"He's not getting Amber." Terror was racing through her. "You promised you wouldn't let anyone hurt her, Jonas."
Satisfaction edged through him. He'd never promised any such thing, at least not in that manner. He had staked his claim on the child, and Rachel knew exactly what that meant.
"She doesn't know Breeds very well, does she, Wyatt?" Svenson chuckled. "You'd sell out your bitch mother if it served you."
"Only if it served me, but as I have no idea who supplied that particular component of my creation, I can't help you much there, now, can I?"
"No mommy, no daddy." Svenson laughed. "You bastards are luckier than you know. Now just sit nice and quiet. We'll be at our destination soon and you can discuss all this with Mr. Brandenmore."
r /> The partition raised, leaving them alone as the vehicle sped through the city.