"There's no way to get to Brandenmore before he gets to the baby," Dane stated. "Think about it, Jonas."
Jonas glanced in the window again. Brandenmore's gun hand was within inches of Amber's head, the small, snub-nosed laser elite in his hand.
The animal inside him was screaming. From the first moment that Jonas had realized Rachel was his mate, he'd had a connection to the child. Defenseless, and yet confident of her place in her mother's world. She'd known no danger, no fear--until now.
Now she was experiencing sensations she should have never known. Exhaustion. Hunger. Drugs.
Jonas inhaled slowly. The baby was tired, but she was quiet because she had been drugged as well.
She was frightened.
He heard the tiny mewls, little squeaks of sound as her fists clenched and released. She wanted to cry, but she didn't have the strength.
"Dane, if this child is harmed, we're going to have problems." Jonas heard the growl in his own voice, felt the hidden claws as they parted the tips of his fingers, shifting beneath the regular nail beds and tearing forth.
Blood tipped, curved and sharp. His fingers flexed, his senses became sharper, edged with the hunger for blood and vengeance.
The problem had already arrived. The Lion, always kept so carefully leashed, had slipped free. In a moment of weakness, an awareness of the danger the child--his child--faced and it was there.
A snarl molded his lips, canines flashed in the darkness, a growl rumbled in his chest, deep-throated, predatory.
"Boss, we're in position." Rule knew the sound. "I have the Coyote, Lawe has the sentry in front."
"Dane converged on Brandenmore," Mordecai, the Coyote team member, gave the final order as Jonas, man and animal, moved into action.
The Genetics Council that had created the Breeds had one purpose in mind: the ultimate killing machine. The Breeds were created, enhanced, and trained for any and every situation that could be conceived.
They hadn't been created to save lives. They hadn't been trained to care, to mate or to love. But what they hadn't been trained for had made them better, faster, stronger.
It had made them the most dangerous creatures on the face of the earth.
The ultimate weapon.
Glass crashed, shattered.
It had taken precious minutes, patience Rachel had never believed she could have before she had the chance to tear open the door and fling herself from the SUV.
She made it to the side of the house, no farther. Hard, restraining fingers latched onto her arm, dragging her back as she watched the dark, snarling figure throw itself into the living room window.
The sound of glass breaking and an animal's snarl were the only sounds in the night. A shadow moved on the front porch, and silhouettes twisted and churned against the curtains covering the kitchen window.
It was the broken glass that held her horrified attention.
Shards, dark tipped with blood, were jagged in the frame. There were no sounds, not even so much as a child's whimper.
"Let me go." Her voice was reed thin, hoarse as she felt the tears falling once again.
"He'll kill me." Chimera's tone was regretful. "I've risked enough letting you this close."
Rachel's head jerked back to the other woman. "This close?"
Eerie green eyes glanced toward the house before coming back to rest on Rachel. Chimera's shadowed features tightened with some unnamed emotion. "She's your daughter. You have the right."
As the final word passed Chimera's lips, all hell seemed to break loose.
A roar, unlike anything Rachel had heard in her life, shattered the silence of the night.
Jonas went through the window. He felt the glass biting across his shoulders, felt the animal rage that surged through his body, and went for the enemy.