What was the point in drinking coffee if she didn’t get her jolt? Besides, decaf just tasted flat. That crap wasn’t coffee in any shape or form.
“The injection Graeme gave you last night isn’t as effective if you swill that damned coffee like it’s water,” he argued, his gaze fierce, his body practically humming with tension and no small amount of anger. “Caffeine will lessen its effects.”
And God forbid anyone actually know she was his mate—mate. Good God, wasn’t nature just having the last laugh on every human who came in contact with the Breeds for the horrors a few had committed.
Propping one hand on her hip, she lifted her chin and glared up at him. “Look, I understand the problems you’re having with this, I really do.” Like hell she did. “Tied to a woman you don’t really want, and the animal coming awake inside you refused to save the woman you loved.” She lifted her hand quickly when he would have spoken. “Well, you’re not by yourself. Trust me, I want to be tied to someone who doesn’t love me just about as much as you want to be tied to someone you don’t love. And I’ll be damned if I’ll give up my coffee for it. Tell your brother to up the dose next time if that’s such a problem.”
Jerking the door open, she stomped from the house, slamming the panel closed behind her and fighting back the tears that wanted to fall.
She wasn’t crying for him.
She wouldn’t cry for him ever again.
Swinging herself into her truck, she was moving out of the driveway just as Cullen strode purposefully from the house, the look on his face more than a little put out.
He looked pissed.
And that was just too damned bad. He should be in her shoes right now. She was so damned horny she could barely stand it, she hadn’t had her coffee and she’d just spent a sleepless night reliving every word she’d heard in that damned kitchen the night before.
He wanted a cure, did he? Well, she’d give him a damned cure if it killed her. And if she got much hornier, it might do just that.
CHAPTER 11
From Graeme’s Journal
The Recessed Primal Breed
The Primal Breed instinct is to protect his mate at all costs. To shield her. To cover her. To stand between her and the world.
A strong, independent mate is hell to shield. Especially one determined to stand at her mate’s side.
Chelsea was aware of Cullen just behind her during the drive to the Bureau.
She stopped at the coffeehouse drive-thru first and ordered the largest cup of coffee they sold and made a mental note to stop at the grocery on the way home and rebuy her coffee. Graeme would just have to fix that injection next week to allow for her one and only true vice. Doing without it endangered everyone she came in contact with otherwise.
Swinging into the entrance of the VIP parking of the Western Division of the Bureau of Breed Affairs, she waved to the Breed on duty before checking her rearview mirror. Cullen drove by slowly, tipped a finger to his forehead and continued on his way. No doubt to the Covert Law Enforcement Agency.
That was definitely where he needed to be, out of her hair and occupied with things that so did not concern her any longer.
Parking her truck in the assigned spot, Chelsea grabbed the coffee from the drink holder and swung out of the vehicle. Bumping the door with her hip to close it, she hit the auto-lock on the key fob and lifted the coffee to her lips.
The first drink was hot, with that faint bitter bite and an assurance that it was not decaf. Not that she’d drink the whole cup. She’d be wired for days. She didn’t even intend to drink her normally allotted amount.
She wanted her coffee, but she did not want children for Cullen’s crazy brother to influence. At least, not for a while. Not until she could raise her children herself, instead of using a daycare or babysitter.
Pushing through the door leading to the lobby, she sidled up to the security counter and flashed the Breed on duty her normal bright smile.
“Hey, Code,” she greeted the Lion Breed cheerily. “Cassie and Ashley are expecting me.”
Whiskey-colored eyes were speculative as he stared down at her, his nostrils flaring with the subtle sign that he was drawing her scent in.
She waited, pasted a polite smile on her face and told herself she was going to be really nice about things this morning.
Lifting the coffee cup to her lips, she took a fortifying drink, waited another second or two and then frowned.
“Code. Wake up!” she demanded firmly. “Cassie. Appointment. Can I go up now?”
No one got on the private elevator without first going through Code.