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.I could feel the mental pushes strongly enough to give me one really bad headache that put me in bed for twelve hours.”“Tay is nowhere near being strong enough to take on this asshole,” Cree put in.“So what?” Fallon demanded.“If it was Bronwyn the prick had, what would you do, Cree?”“Move heaven and earth to get to her even if I ran the risk of getting my ass handed to me,” Cree said.“That’s not the point, Fallon.I might have a chance with the Rogue since my hellion is far older than Tay’s.At the moment Tay has only a fledgling inside him, not a full-grown hellion.He’s not that much stronger now than he was when his king was taken.”“Well, fuck you, Cree, don’t you think I know that?” Fallon shouted.“Mind your manners, pup, or I’ll fuck your shit up so bad—” Cree began but the Supervisor intervened.“That’s enough!” he snapped.“We don’t know the balgair poses a threat to Albright.”Fallon rolled his eyes.“Wishful thinking on your part,” he mumbled.“There’s no doubt there is a threat,” Cree said.“Not a physical threat at least.He wouldn’t hurt Laci.”“How do you know that?” Darkyn asked.“You’re not mated so you don’t have a point of reference,” Cree said, “but mated Reapers aren’t physically or mentally capable of harming their life-mates.You might turn her shapely ass over your knee and give her a good smack or two but you wouldn’t dream of actually hurting her.The protection command is much too strong.That is one geasa no Reaper can ignore.”“But Tay is Laci’s mate,” Darkyn protested.“It is the hellion inside the Reaper that intercepts the mating imperative and acts on it,” Cree said.“And Tay’s hellion is inside the Rogue,” Fallon said.“This Coulter shit is feeling exactly what Reynaud felt when he first laid eyes on Laci.”“What I felt when I first saw Bronwyn and what Fallon felt with Keenan,” Cree added.“It hits you like a ton of bricks and there is no thinking of anything else save having her under you, being inside her,” Fallon said.“All we can do is hope the Rogue will wait until he gets to the Exchange before he attempts to mate with her.Trouble is, he may not be able to wait.Taylor knows this and that’s why he’s so pissed.”“And worried,” the Supervisor broke in.“As am I.”“You think Laci will give in that easily?” Sorn asked.“She may not have a choice,” Cree said.“If this bastard is as powerful as you think he is, he could easily control her, make her do what she normally wouldn’t.”“I see the problem.All right, we need to separate Tay’s hellion from the Rogue,” Sorn said.“That’s a given.”“Aye, well that might be easier said than done,” the Supervisor replied.“We are dealing with a very powerful entity here.We don’t even know what he is as of yet.”“I asked An Fear Liath Mor to look into it but he hasn’t gotten back to me,” Fallon said.“I need to rattle his cage again.”“Then I suggest you get on it,” Cree told him.“The longer Laci is with the Rogue, the more time the hellion will have to work on her.”“What does that mean?” Sorn asked, his brow furrowed.“It means it could make her give in to its host,” Fallon said.“Influence her, Sorn.Coulter could conceivably have the ability to take her away from Reynaud.”“We need to get him to the Exchange,” Fallon said.“That’s all there is to it.”“He’ll come,” Cree said.“And you know this because…?” Sorn asked.“He wants to be the Alpha here,” Cree said.“Why is the $64,000 question.”“You question his motives in taking out the terrorists?” Sorn wanted clarified.“I don’t trust him because I don’t know him,” Cree said.“He could be doing the bidding of Raphian.”At the mention of the Dark God, the Destroyer of Men’s Souls, the other men looked acutely concerned.“Has it occurred to any of you that this might be Raphian’s way of starting the war we all know is coming?” Cree asked.“Organizations like Al-Queda, the Taliban, Hamas, they now know we exist.They know we are actively working against them.My guess is that’s why Hassan tried to make his own version of a Reaper warrior.If Raphian is involved, it would be on the side of the terrorists.”“I see what you mean,” the Supervisor said.“Such a thing had never crossed my mind, Cree, and it should have.”“Coulter was a SEAL,” Cree said.“That means he is a patriot.If Raphian is involved, He would want Coulter to believe he is doing what he needs to protect civilization from all-out war.He’d make him believe the imperative was coming from the Triune Goddess, Herself.Coulter wouldn’t know any better.He gets here, becomes your Alpha then starts working against us.”“Cree hit the nail on the head.Wouldn’t it stand to reason if Coulter was working for Mo Regina She would have informed us?” Fallon asked.“Mo Regina did not create the Panthera.She tends to ignore their existence most of the time,” the Supervisor reminded them.“She can control them—as She can any creature—but they are not Hers.She doesn’t track them like She does Lupines and Hell-hounds.”“If Mo Regina didn’t create you, who did?” Fallon asked of Sorn.“The an Éigiptian goddess Bastet,” Sorn replied.“She and the Diabolusian god Tepeyollotl.”“Where the Lupine and Hell-hound species were created, the Panthera were god-born.Which tends to make them very arrogant,” Alexandru said, glancing at Sorn.Sorn grinned back at him.“And very intelligent.” At his Supervisor’s snort, Sorn chuckled.“Here’s something to consider.Terra could be low on Mo Regina’s list of priorities right now.That may be why She hasn’t stepped in,” Cree grumbled.“As She’s told us many times, we are not Her only concerns.”Alexandru nodded.“She will intervene in Her own good time.If he’s a threat to us, She’ll quash him quickly enough.”Chapter TenOn SantoriniHe took her hand as they left the restaurant and she was incapable of preventing him.His fingers were warm wrapped around her own as he brought her hand to his lips and kissed it.“You shouldn’t do that,” she protested.“I shouldn’t do a lot of things,” he said.“My life-mate wouldn’t like it,” she told him but he just smiled.“It is lovely here,” he said.“I can see why you like it so much.I’m looking forward to moving into the beach house for the remainder of the week.”“The beach house is taken,” she said.“Agent Kerns will be vacating the premises come morning.She’s had it two days and that’s long enough.”“And just how do you…?” She stopped.She knew he’d somehow arranged for Nellis Kerns to leave the beach house without so much as lifting a finger.“Yes,” he said.“I am that good at what I do.”“If you’re trying to make me uneasy, you are doing a bang-up job of it,” she mumbled.“Put your mind at ease, sweeting,” he said.“You are as safe with me as you were in your mother’s womb.”“You know nothing about my mother,” she said.“Au contraire, my love,” he said.“There isn’t anything I don’t know about you.Test me and you’ll see.”“And my life-mate?” she asked to knock him off his game.“Do you know everything there is to know about him?”“Better than anyone alive,” he said softly [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]