Very quietly.
Rachel flinched, then blew out a soundless breath.
Now, there was an attitude she hadn't seen from him before. If she wasn't mistaken, he had been seconds, inches, one last thread of control from kissing her.
For one wild, exciting moment, she had nearly kissed him instead.
And she'd had fun.
Smiling, Rachel took her seat and returned to the computer and her own work.
Not many people could say they had faced the bogeyman of the Breeds in a screaming match and came out unscathed. Rachel was betting she was the only one who could lay claim to that particular talent. And she looked forward to the next round.
She paused at the thought.
Hell, she knew she was in love with him now, because the only other person she would dare to yell back at was her sister. She and Diana had gone nose to nose many times over the years, and Diana hadn't always backed down, but she had always ended up laughing at Rachel's particular manner of "handling" her, as she called it.
She glanced at the door again.
She should stalk right in there and kiss him herself. She had no idea why he was holding back now. No idea what demons were shadowing him that he hadn't claimed her.
She knew he wanted to. She knew it was going to happen.
Yet, he was fighting it with every breath he took.
He was drowning.
Jonas sat at his desk, glared at the wall, and felt the stifling tightness in his throat, his chest. The taste of cinnamon and cloves was choking him; the need for her was stealing his breath and his control.
He parted his lips to breathe in roughly and a growl tore from his lips despite his attempts to hold it back.
His hands lay flat on the desk, claws extruding, digging into the wood. The glands beneath his tongue were so swollen, so sensitive, he was in agony. He felt as though his tongue were being ripped out.
He lifted the comm link from a drawer, attached it to his head and pressed the direct secured line to Ely's office.
"Jonas," she answered immediately.
"Rachel will be in this evening for the examination and tests," he informed her. "Get whatever you have to have while you can."
Silence filled the link for long seconds.
"I'll be waiting for her," she stated. "Amburg was in here earlier. He's asking for more blood from the baby. He found a slight anomaly in the last test he conducted and wants to investigate it further."
"I'll discuss it with Rachel."
"If you're bringing her this evening, then whoever is watching Amber can oversee my assistant extracting the blood," Ely suggested. "There's no need to tempt her refusal, Jonas."
He shook his head. "You've learned too well." He sighed. "She's my mate, Ely, not a particularly stubborn Enforcer. I won't go behind her back."
There had been a time when Ely would have never suggested such a thing; to the contrary, she would have protested it had Jonas made such a suggestion.
"Perhaps I didn't learn fast enough from you," Ely murmured. "Whichever, I'll be waiting for you this evening. Let me know by then how to proceed."
The line disconnected, leaving Jonas to stare broodingly into the dark room as he reflected on games, machinations and his past calculating attempts to ensure that his Enforcers met, mated and lived, if not happily ever after, at least with a measure of softness in their lives.
He didn't regret a moment of it, but damned if he wasn't paying for it now.
CHAPTER 15