"Go to another room, Rachel. We need to talk." Cassie's tone brooked no refusal. For a teenager, she could sound amazingly mature. "And don't bother to make excuses to Jonas; we both know he just heard every word I said."
She rolled her eyes as she glanced at Jonas, noticing how well he pretended he wasn't hearing every word Cassie said.
Breeds were a pain in the ass.
Shaking her head, she moved from the bedroom, through the living room, then into the kitchen.
"Good," Cassie expressed as she stepped into the far room. "So how are you feeling?"
How was she feeling?
"Cassie, are you doing drugs?" she asked carefully.
The young woman laughed lightly. "I don't do drugs at all, Rachel. I simply wanted to assure you that the legalities of Amber's acceptance into Breed society has no loopholes. There is nothing the Marshals can do to break that clause."
"What they can't acquire legally, they'll acquire illegally." Rachel sighed. "Amber will never be safe."
"No adult or child within Sanctuary is safe, Rachel," Cassie said softly. "No Breed mate or friend is safe. It's simply a part of our world."
A part of their world. And it didn't matter if they were child or adult, friend or mate. Anyone associated with the Breeds came under fire at one time or another.
She had known that, Rachel told herself. She was aware of it from the beginning, but until now, it hadn't truly hit her. She and Amber had never truly been safe; they had been living merely on borrowed time. Sooner or later, she would have been targeted because of her job, her friendship to Merinus and Kane, or simply because she believed so deeply in the freedom of the Breeds.
"I'm fine, Cassie," she finally told the young woman. "I just need some time to think."
"Thinking is perhaps what you don't need to do, Rachel," Cassie said gently. "Maybe now it's time to simply feel. Good night, Rachel."
The line disconnected, leaving Rachel staring into the kitchen with a vague sense of impending anticipation. Nervousness.
Disconnecting the phone from her end, she turned and headed back to the bedroom, only to come to a stop, once again amazed by the man, the Breed, who claimed her.
He was diapering Amber as though he had done it many times before. And he had, while Rachel slept.
"Cassie likes to poke her nose into things when it's not needed just as well as she does when it is." Jonas fixed the undershirt Amber wore before pulling her gown back around her feet.
The baby kicked, gurgled, her fists flailing as she stared up at Jonas with childlike wonder.
"She worries, I think," Rachel whispered.
Jonas nodded, picked Amber up from the bed, held her close to his chest and reached for the bottle he had obviously prepared earlier.
"Go bathe, Rachel." He watched her, his silver eyes calm rather than raging as normal. "Relax for a while. The next adventure will come soon enough."
The next adventure.
She almost smiled. That was similar to many of her sister's views. And it was nothing less than the truth.
Hopefully, the next adventure wouldn't be quite so hard on her nerves.
CHAPTER 13
The bath helped, but Rachel found herself not quite as sleepy, nor as tired, as she should be. Pulling on the long, warm gown that had been provided for her and a matching robe, she took a deep breath before leaving the bathroom.
She found Amber's crib empty when she reentered the bedroom. She touched the ultra-soft comforter on the mattress and felt her heart clench in something akin to panic.
Jonas was drawing her in. He was tying her to him in ways she wasn't certain she wanted to be tied to him.
Love.