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She had run from him because of his need to protect her, and now she was in his face, snarling back at hie, which she had no idea what it would entail, to do what she felt was right To do soive her the escape fro for Hethe pain inside hile order released theht be Then he turned to her "The labs are in the o with you, Amanda As much as you may not believe me, I would kill one of those doctors the first time I heard you cry out"

He turned and stalked back into the house The eggs and ha in her scent, the presence he feared losing in his life And he forced himself to wait

He didn’t understand Amanda swiped at the tears that fell down her face as she stalked down the graveled road He was so stubborn, so supremely male that she couldn’t find the words to explain it She was falling in love with him Stupid fool that she was, in less than a few days, her heart was reaching out to hi for hih to drive even a determined wonore the consequences of what they were facing

As he had said, if word got out of the er, the need that burned through even the strongest defenses, then the Breeds would never be safe To protect her life and thein love with, ansould have to be found And noas the time to find the brand, and left her shaking, weak froer for his touch

How she had left him alone at the cabin, she wasn’t certain Hell, she didn’t even know if she was going to s were so weak Everything inside her was screao back to hi either She felt as though it were ripping her soul out to walk away fro the pain inside hi hi was so easy when lust ripped at her loins like a hungry beast

Soon, she promised herself, as soon as these tests were endured and the heat eased, they would talk If this was nature’s way of pairing the Breeds with one particular woman, then Amanda had to trust that nature had paired her as well, with a th and desperation that she was beginning to feel for him

"Amanda"

She came to a stop as she realized a s up, she aze

"Kiowa called down to the house Do you need a ride?"

"He called?" Confusion filled her, but she kne easy it was to becohts

"Coet in I’ll take you back to Kiowa if you like" Her voice was somber, quiet Amanda forced herself into the s herself to think, to finish what she had begun "The tests We have to do those tests"

"Are you sure? Amanda, you don’t have to do this"

But she did This was her life Possibly her children’s lives She did have to do this

"Yes Yes I do," she whispered, raising her eyes back to Merinus’s "For myself and for Kiowa, I have to do this"

Chapter Twenty-Three

"…As I wish for you dreams that will soothe your soul, dreams that hisper of secrets untold I wish for you dreaht you can know no strife I wish for you entle rays But most of all precious one, I dreaainstAnd know I send with you the spirits of the eagle, the wolf and the coyote To protect you from harm To raise you in their ar but har woman, small and wan, her dark eyes filled with randfather’s hatred

"We found the records, Kiowa…" Dash’s words, the day after Kiowa arrived at the Feline Cohter of Joseph Mulligan Kidnapped, held one week, artificially inseuard A Coyote Breed Test showed no pregnancy at release, but later notations mention the suspicion that she er life span of the Coyote sperm It’s also suspected that the Coyote who raped her,her He killed himself a month after her death…"

"They opened her up and they shoved you inside her and then they didn’t give a darandfather’s voice had been cruel, filled with hatred "She suffered until the day she died, you soulless little bastard…"

"…Dream of me, Kiowa… Remember me…" The soft voice, was it his mother’s? It had haunted him for years, had come to his drealed to accept the shaht to the unknown mother

Kiowa stared up at the dream catcher He had been unable to dispose of it over the years As it became worn, he had carefully repaired it, kept the wood oiled and supple, the feathers replaced as they becae of his dreah his uard who raped her, mated her, knohat he had done? Had his mother somehow believed her child was safer hidden away froht would care for it?

He sighed wearily, dragging himself from the bed, the memories, and the scent of the woman who now tormented him Hoas he to know that love could happen like this? That it could rip and shred the soul, tear apart a heart that had shielded itself for more years than he wanted to count Nature’s curse, the Felines called theheat Was it a curse? Or was it nature’s way of ensuring life, of pairing those two souls ether? One half of the other And as he to be even considering so so miraculous as a soul mate for himself?

He wandered out of the house and then came stock-still as he faced little Cassie Sinclair just outside the door

She looked around hiray eyes sole house, Cassie," he told her quietly, watching her with a frown as she kept looking behind hiirl looked up at him, those elfin eyes of hers too quiet, too sad Cassie was Dash and Elizabeth’s child The little girl had been hunted forlord learned that the little girl had been a product of her mother’s artificial insemination by wolf/coyote hybrid sperm Unaware that the doctor who did the procedure hadn’t used her husband’s sper lord was hunting her daughter with such dedication Soh when she struck up a pen pal relationship with Dash Sinclair while he was fighting overseas, during one of her few school terirl’s letter for help reached hi of the Wolf Breed and Elizabeth had produced a healthy son since then, and had created a wave of controversy currentlyfor Ahed "My fairy wanted me to come here and meet your fairy"