“Raymond Martinez was my uncle,” she reminded him caustically. “He was working for the Genetics Council since he was a young man, remember, Cullen? My whole family became targets once they knew we learned what he had been doing and unveiled many of his contacts. He put a price on our heads himself when we helped the Breeds gather that evidence. I was just in the wrong place at the wrong time, and one of them realized who I was. That simple.”
He didn’t know whether to turn her over his knee and paddle her ass or throw her over his shoulder, cart her to the bedroom and fuck her until neither of them could move. The terrifying part was the fact that both options were working in his head at this point.
She had herself convinced of the bullshit that fell from her lips. And it was bullshit. He knew it. The minute the words tumbled out, his newly awakening instincts reared up in furious denial.
“Nothing is ever that damned simple with the Genetics Council,” he barked out, pointing a finger in her direction as he fought back the need to do a little abducting himself and locking her away for her own safety. Not to mention his sanity. “And the Breeds they control do not just attack because they deem the opportunity appropriate. It’s carefully planned and the target quickly executed. And the Council didn’t give a damn about Ray Martinez after his association with them was revealed.”
Neither the Genetics Council nor their trainers, soldiers or fanatical Breeds operated that way. If they did, then it would have been far easier to bring the entire organization down a decade ago. Hell, Callan Lyons would have destroyed the twelve members controlling the Council himself rather than being forced to reveal the existence of the Breeds if it were that easy.
Chelsea was so damned stubborn she refused to see that.
“My status hasn’t been compromised, nor has my identity as the person who rescued Louisa Cerves been revealed,” she repeated, determination straightening her spine even as he glared at her. “It’s not possible, Cullen. And if it had been, there would have been some warning, no matter how slight, before that attack.”
His lips thinned as he fought back a curse. Stalking from the doorway to the back door, he stared out at the night for a moment to consider his options.
“Who’s your contact?” he asked, turning back to her and crossing his arms over his chest as he stared at her, determined to get the answer.
He’d follow up on this himself, find out what the hell was going on and make certain she wasn’t endangered.
For a moment, her eyes simply widened, shocked anger filling her gaze just before she laughed mockingly and propped her hands on her hips, anger flushing her face.
“Really, Cullen? You think I’m that naive where you’re concerned? I know you far too well for that,” she assured him.
She shook her head before pushing her fingers through her hair, gripping the strands at the back of her neck for a moment, then letting her hands fall to the back of a kitchen chair as she moved to it.
Cullen watched her silently, gauging her determination. It didn’t take him long to realize she was stubborn enough to refuse him the answers he needed at the moment.
“You know,” she finally said, her voice trembling with the hurt and anger he could scent filling the room. “I really appreciate the concern and the need to protect me,” she offered, her tone sincere. “But I left the Agency for a reason. You take this from me and I’ll make damned sure you never do it again.”
His brow lifted in surprise. “And you’ll do that how?”
He’d be damned if he’d allow her to continue risking herself this way.
“I’ll leave the Nation if you do what I think you’re getting ready to do.” Her shoulders squared, her eyes narrowing on him warningly. “You have no influence with the Breed Underground on the East or West Coast, and I’m sure I’d have no problem whatsoever working in a covert capacity with them. Do this, and that’s exactly what I’ll do.”
The Breed Underground in either area would be ecstatic if they acquired her. And he’d go crazy worrying about her, imagining her hurt, without help.
And she wasn’t bluffing. His sense of smell was sharper, his instincts stronger tonight than they’d ever been. If she were bluffing, he would have known it the second the words passed her lips. Pure determination filled her voice instead. And he knew just how stubborn she could get.
“Chelsea,” he sighed, fighting to find a way to try to make her understand. “We’re the same as family—”
“The hell we are,” she snapped out, her anger exploding through the room now, intensifying with a force he couldn’t have expected. “Number one.” She ticked off a single, graceful finger. “We so are not related, no matter how many distant cousins you marry. Number two.” She ticked off another finger. “My family members do not shove their tongues halfway down my throat every chance they get. You can take those arguments and kiss my ass, Cullen Maverick, because there’s not a chance in hell I’m letting you direct my life for me. Not now, not ever.” Disgust filled her expression. “You can leave now. Right now. Because I’ll be damned if I’m not finished with you and this argument.”
She was what?
Something snapped through his senses. She was finished with him and their argument? The hell she said. Incredulity flared through him. Never in all the years they’d worked together had she attempted to blow him off or turned her back on him during one of their confrontations. And he wasn’t about to let her get away with it now.
The careful control exploded. Suddenly, his sense of smell was magnified tenfold, and it wasn’t just anger he could scent pouring from the woman determined to drive him past insanity.
Beneath the feminine fury and emotional distress was the sweet, hot scent of female challenge and arousal. Strong and determined, she’d found a way to push past the guards in place that had kept the animal sleeping inside him and awakened him with a vengeance.
The dark dominance Cullen had always kept carefully in control had been strained where she was concerned for years, with each confrontation they had. The few times she had actually challenged him, it had jerked at the leash he kept around it and had threatened to come to full consciousness. And now it awakened with a vengeance. The animal, already pacing restlessly, leapt past his control now, determined to meet her challenge and to show her the consequences of making it.
He’d be damned if she would face this danger alone. It was bad enough that she’d already deliberately courted it, but if she thought she could push him away from her now, order him from her, then by God, he was about to show her the error of her ways.
CHAPTER 8
From Graeme’s Journal