Lawe's Justice - Lora Leigh [76]
Technically, she was right since she reported directly to Jonas.
“I’m quite certain Rachel was smart enough to warn you about the effects of mating heat,” he stated instead of tying and gagging her as he wanted to and forcing her back to Sanctuary. “You can’t just return to the same life as before. It doesn’t work that way.”
He couldn’t let her continue this mission either. She wasn’t just facing a rabid Breed in what was suspected to be the throes of a medically induced feral fever but also a team of Council-loyal Coyote soldiers searching for the same prey. And if the Breeds who once fought with her were right, she was also dealing with a traitor within her own ranks.
None would hesitate to kill her if she dared to attempt to interfere with their acquisition of the Bengal Breed Judd, Fawn Corrigan, or Honor Roberts. And they knew she was doing just that, as was evidenced by the attempt on her life before she slipped away from him in D.C. And if they didn’t kill her, the Council scientists would surely love to get their hands on a female experiencing mating heat.
“I can damned near do anything I want to do, Lawe.” Getting to her feet, she packed away the cleaning materials before storing them in her ammo bag and securing it firmly.
She kept her back to him, which was something else he hated. Diane was fairly skilled at lying with her lips and keeping the scent of it covered, but she hadn’t yet perfected lying with her eyes.
It was the only way he would have of detecting her emotions for now.
While she was able to hide certain emotions and their scents, she couldn’t use it as a reliable shield against Breeds for long. Especially not from Lawe.
“Any Coyote who detects the scent of your heat will make it his job to kidnap you and turn you over to the Council and their scientists,” he argued. “That’s not a pleasant place to be, nor is it a pleasant way to die.”
He was restraining himself and the effort to do so was about to snap his back teeth as he clenched them so tight his jaws ached. If he were human, he had no doubt they would have already been ground to the gums.
He had never clenched his teeth so often or as tightly as he did whenever he and Diane faced off in a disagreement, which was pretty much every time they came in contact.
“You should have stayed in D.C. rather than following me,” she told him as she lifted one of her duffel bags to the bed.
Disillusionment covered her. As though there had been some glimmer of hope that he would allow her to continue? The sad part was he had tried. Hell, he was still trying, yet all he saw each time he tried to formulate a plan to allow her to complete the mission, was her blood. Her screams. Her death.
Pulling down the heavy tab of the zipper, she opened the luggage and began packing the few items she had used the night before into the bulging interior. It was evident she had no intention of listening to him.
Which only left Lawe with that idea of tying and gagging her.
“Don’t push me like this, Diane.” Anger had the mating heat boiling inside him. Strong emotion, especially anger, had the effect of intensifying the rush of the sexual hormones and sending them surging through the body. “You won’t win.”
At that point, she did turn and face him, her gaze clashing with his as he got a glimpse of the burning emotions she was still keeping tightly reined.
He was amazed at her ability to do so. The deep brown of her eyes held a darker, almost burgundy tint. Rage had to be eating her alive for her eyes to have turned such a startling color. Yet not so much as a hint of the scent drifted to him.
“What will you do to force me to obey you, Lawe?” Her head tilted to the side as he watched her visibly struggle to keep the emotions reined in. “Will you beat me? Tie and gag me before dragging me back to Sanctuary? Because those are your only options.”
“I would never harm you,” he managed, fighting the urge to