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and left those men unwounded, then the Genetics Council would have had theht down to it The Coyote Ghost wasn’t a man of mercy when it came to the enemy If the Council had suspected he had shown mercy to anyone except the woman he had kidnapped, then they would have instantly suspected thosebeen involved in the plot to free the Breeds from that facility

Not that Anya had wanted to hear that explanation She refused to speak to him Once the Breed doctor Nikki Armani had taken her from the caves, he’d been denied any private contact with her, at her request

He better understood nohy his fury had risen at the thought of the risks she had taken Why he had put twothat should the Council send soldiers to collect her, she could be rescued

He’d been too protective of her, and he had known it His men had known it They had tread a fine line around hiirl was concerned for tooheat explained those impulses that Del-Rey would have never risked at any other time It also explained his awareness, from the first time he had seen her, that in some way, he would betray her

Calculation and ht Those traits were part of the Breed makeup overall, but Coyotes had them in abundance As well as a healthy dose of near laziness, but no species could be perfect, he told hieneral life, and he was accepting of that in his ht slouch on their own ti specifications

Now there was ahisCabinet Rules needed to be established, he told himself Anya needed her pound of flesh or he would never have his chance to hold her again

He understood pride He didn’t understand a woman’s emotions, but the female Coyotes he’d rescued had infor those emotions fast They had sworn loyalty to hi the alliance with the Breed society That loyalty ran deep They wouldn’t break their word But if he took her freedom of choice from this point forward, then resentment would brew Both in the woman as well as in the packs he led

It bit his pride though It bit at his anger For three weeks now he had been separated froround Breed research facilities undergoing tests on theher He could feel it, knew it in a part of his soul he hadn’t known existed And he had been unable to force his way into her

The five female Coyotes stayed with her They were his insurance that if she asked for him, he would know If she wanted free of the tests, then they would come for him They reported to him daily, and each day he was told she didn’t want him there She didn’t want to leave But he saw in the women’s eyes the proof that she suffered His mate suffered and he was helpless to stop it

Now he sat in theroo he was told had never been held in the eleven-year history of the Breeds’ establishment

A table of twelve men and women chosen from within all species to hear his mate’s petition for separation from him

He kneould end He knew, and the ache that filled hi the truth and the direction each battle must take had never been a hardbefore hi what enetics that were never far fro fury The sa in his ed, and he watched his life change before his eyes

A petition for separation from a mate had never occurred, not once in the eleven years that the Breeds had known of h it Not until Anya Kobrin had submitted to three weeks of tests to complete the research the doctors needed to created a base hormonal therapy that would control the symptoms of the heat

She had been warned it wasn’t a cure, merely an aid She had been told she would never be free of the man they called her ure out what the hell had happened to her life and how it had o to hell so fast

She stared at the Breed tribunal from the table she sat at in front of them Nine men and three women drawn from every species of the Breeds Wolf, Feline, Coyote Del-Rey and Sharone were there to stand for the Coyotes Her mate and one of her dearest friends