"We can leave now." Pulling a small blanket from the table by the incubator, Rachel wrapped her daughter snugly, then turned to Jonas.
He was staring at Elizabeth, his expression tight, almost angry. Glancing back at the other woman, Rachel saw the same expression mirrored on Elizabeth's face.
These two were so much alike that it astounded Rachel that they weren't related.
"Let's go then." Stepping back, Jonas allowed her to pass before turning in behind her and following her to the door.
"Jonas. Rachel."
They stopped, glancing back.
"I'll need the two of you in for tests in the morning," she informed them. "Please be here before breakfast. It's rather important that it be done before you eat."
"That what be done?" Rachel asked.
"Mating tests," Jonas informed her, his voice cold. "Never let it be said that mating a Breed is easy."
Rachel glared back at him. "Never let it be said that I agreed to any of this. Forget the tests, Jonas. I haven't decided I'm your mate. Therefore, no tests are needed."
She pushed through the lab door
s, determined not to show a weakness either in expression or emotion. For all Jonas knew, her heart wasn't racing in excitement, and her thighs weren't ready to clench in arousal.
She was immune. At least, that was the image she presented. The truth was a far different matter.
She watched as his expression seemed to change. It became emotionless, almost lifeless. Bronze, savage features tightened until they seemed carved from stone as his eyes boiled like heated mercury.
"Rachel, simply because you refuse to accept it doesn't make it so," Elizabeth ventured cautiously as she stepped closer, her hands sliding into the wide pockets of her lab coat as her dark blue eyes softened in understanding. "Mating heat is not a choice, my dear."
"I beg to differ." Rachel shifted Amber in her arms, her fingers rubbing against the baby's back in a comforting motion, despite the fact that Amber was sleeping peacefully. "I'm not an animal, Dr. Vanderale. Neither is Jonas, despite his attempts to convince me differently over the past months. I'm not ruled by my hormones, nor am I ruled by Breed hormones. Rest assured, should I decide to accept whatever anomaly dictates your mating heat, then I will submit myself to your tests." She stared back at Jonas. "Are you ready, or do I need to see about finding a hotel for the night?"
It was his luck. Jonas entered his cabin, stood aside and watched as Rachel walked in, knowing that every curse, every ill thought his Enforcers had had concerning his turn at mating were most likely coming true.
The sight he'd seen in the medical facility had made his cock harder than it had ever been. She'd lifted her head with an arrogance that still amazed him, looked down that little button nose of hers and informed Elizabeth Vanderale that she was not mated because she hadn't accepted it.
It would have been amusing had she been another Breed's mate. Unfortunately, she was his, and though he'd had no intentions of fulfilling the mating promise, in that second, nothing else had mattered to him but mating her.
It was the Breed genetics, he told himself as she toed her shoes off and moved into the large living room and looked around. It was the challenge--the steely eyed certainty that she could deny him--and the fact that she was attempting to deny what he knew couldn't be denied.
It was the fact that she belonged to him. She was his. And she had dared to stand in front of the one woman he would never show weakness to and state that she was not his mate until she decided it was so.
It was enough to make a Breed consider relieving the ache of the mating hormone torturing his tongue, in a kiss that would burn them both straight to the tips of their toes.
"This is your cabin." There was an edge of accusation in the statement as she turned to him.
She had attempted to restore order to her hair, but still, it fell from the clip at the top of her head, long red strands cascading to the middle of her back as she flashed ire-filled neon green eyes at him.
Her face was scratched; her stockings were ripped and barely covered her flesh. The dark gray skirt she had worn the day before was torn along one seam, flashing a pretty section of thigh. The matching blazer was stained with oil, the cuffs frayed in several places. Her once-pristine white shirt was now gray with soot and dirt. And nothing in the world had ever looked so damned pretty to him.
"So it is." He shrugged as though it didn't matter while removing his boots and setting them alongside Rachel's black low-heeled shoes.
Padding along the hardwood floor, Jonas walked to the other side of the room and opened the door to the bedroom he'd added on once he'd realized she was his mate.
It was meant to be Amber's bedroom. The large, airy room was connected to a full bath, which separated the master suite from the child's room.
It would now be Rachel's room, he thought with a sigh as he turned on the lights.
The queen-sized bed had been installed as he'd ordered just after arriving to Sanctuary. A crib bed sat along one wall, a mobile of lions, tigers and fairies attached to the headboard while a soft baby-sized comforter covered the fairy sheets.