She’d talked to Dr. Armani in depth over the past year about mating heat, and she was beginning to wonder if the heat wasn’t just an advanced arousal. An advanced tie. If nature hadn’t simply ensured that those who fell in love were pushed together faster, held together more firmly, to guarantee the survival of this species.

  “Ready?” He held his hand out to her. A large, capable, strong hand. Calloused and dark, as though his entire body was permanently tanned.

  Jessica moved to him slowly, let him envelop her hand in his and draw her to the bedroom door.

  “Did you put the presents in the Rover?” she asked, trying to tone down the nervousness. She hadn’t been to a party in years. Not since her father had finally stopped forcing her to attend the boring little functions he and his friends had staged several times a year.

  “The presents are in the Rover,” he promised her. “The breads and desserts are packed snugly in the backseat alongside them.”

  “Good.” She swallowed tightly as they moved down the natural wood stairs to the foyer. “You’re certain I should go?”

  She wasn’t so certain. She was known as a traitor, no matter the reason. How could any of the Breeds trust her now?

  “I’m absolutely certain you should go.” He drew to a stop at the bottom of the stairs, collected the long dark blue and black cloak that went with her dress and drew it over her shoulders. “You’re worrying too much, Jess. Everything is going to be fine.”

  “Easy for you to say.” She licked her lips before raking the lower one with her teeth and staring up at him as worry began to tighten her chest. “I couldn’t blame anyone for not wanting me there, Hawke. You didn’t force this, did you?”

  The faint smile at his lips was chastising, and just a bit amused. “I can’t force something like this, mate,” he promised her. “If Wolfe didn’t trust you to be there, then you wouldn’t be.”

  That was true. She inhaled tightly before straightening her shoulders and forcing in courage for the evening ahead.

  She knew Hope, Wolfe’s mate. Just as she knew Faith and Charity, the mates of his closest friends. She also knew Amanda Bear, a former president’s daughter and mate to a Coyote Breed. She’d met Anya Delgado several times, mate to the Coyote Breed alpha. She knew the mates of those who were influential in this world. She had thought they might even be friends.

  “You’re worrying too much,” he promised her as they left the house and stepped into the cold night air.

  Hawke held on to her as he moved her quickly to the Rover, helped her in and then loped around to the driver’s side. Jessica kept her fingers laced tightly together and held in her lap.

  She knew Hawke could sense her nervousness; it wasn’t something she could help. She had always been denied acceptance until she had come here two years ago. During the year she had spent working with the Breeds she had thought she had begun to find that acceptance. Until she had unwillingly, unwittingly, given her father the information he had needed to attack Haven in the worst ways. She had given the location of the alpha’s home, as well as the homes of his second-in-command and his head of security. Locations that were kept hidden for a reason: because their lives were in such danger.

  The drive to the entrance of the community center was quick. Hawke drew the Rover to a stop at the large double doors where a young Breed stepped outside and moved to the driver’s side as Hawke stepped out of the vehicle and walked quickly to Jessica’s door.

  She took his hand, allowing him to help her to the paved entrance and draw her inside.

  The upper, aboveground portion of the community center was filled with large rooms, a kitchen and various work centers. Belowground, reinforced and nearly impenetrable, was the huge open gathering area.

  Joining ceremonies, as marriages were called in the Breed society, were often held there. It was there that mates were rushed if Haven was attacked, and this was where various dignitaries were brought for meetings.

  Hawke guided her into a large elevator and keyed in his security code. Instantly the doors closed and they were whisked several floors belowground where they were deposited into a wide hallway where both human and Breed guests were loitering. Several journalists were in attendance, though no photographers were allowed. Breeds highly valued their privacy, no matter their Feline or Canine designations.

  “You’re almost shaking,” Hawke accused her softly.

  “I don’t do well at parties.” She lifted her head and squared her shoulders as they passed several Breed soldiers who had escorted her to her cell the day she had been arrested.

  “You’re going to do wonderfully,” he promised her as they stepped inside the wide double doors to the main room and he helped her off with her cloak before handing it over to a helpful attendant. A human attendant.

  Coyote and Wolf Breeds mingled amid Christmas music and a display of bright, multicolored lights. At one end of the room was a huge fir tree that had been brought in, decorated lavishly and stacked with presents underneath.

  Wolfe Gunnar stood close to the brightly colored traditional tree with Hope, his mate. Hope, with her slightly Asian features and diminutive stature, was dressed in a gay, vivid Christmas green. Her shoulder-length black hair fell to her shoulders like silken ribbon and gave her an almost regal air.

  Wolfe, much taller and broader, stood with his arm around her shoulders as he laughed at something another Breed said. Coarse black hair was pulled back from his face to his nape and secured there. He was dressed in black as well, as were most of the males, with a dark silver silk ribbon stretching from his shoulder across his chest and to his waist that proclaimed his rank of Wolf Breed Alpha.

  There were other ribbons present on many of the males. Different colors, all muted blue or gray. His second-in-command wore cloudy gray; his head of security wore a navy blue. Communications wore silver blue.

  The women, guests and Breeds alike, were dressed extravagantly in long gowns. For the Breed females, this was their chance to be women rather than soldiers.

  “I see you finally got her to join the rest of us mortals.” Ashley True stepped up to them, her teasing smile catching Jessica off guard.

  “It was a trial,” Hawke admitted as he pulled Jessica closer.

  “He’s the trial,” Jessica teased back. She was actually glad to see Ashley now that she wasn’t her bodyguard.

  “Most male Breeds are.” Ashley sighed with exaggerated patience. “We put up with them the best we can.”

  “Be good brat, or I’ll have a talk with your alpha about giving in on those spa treatments,” Hawke warned her. “I hear you got the full go-round today.”

  Ashley’s smile brightened as she fluffed a head full of multihued blonde curls and flashed a perfect set of nails. “Del-Rey does so enjoy spoiling me, Hawke. He won’t listen to you.”

  “Brat.” Hawke laughed again.

  “Always,” Ashley agreed. “Now, go find Wolfe. He was asking where you were a little while ago. I’m off to find more punch.”

  She sped away on heels that should have been impossible to stand on.

  “That woman is a menace,” Hawke muttered as they continued through the throng of guests.

  “She’s nice though.” Ashley, her sisters Sharone and Emma, and the Coyote’s mate and Coya, the female Coyote alpha, Anya, had always been kind to her. She’d appreciated that, even as she had chafed under their protection.

  “She’s hell. A prissy little diva by day and when night falls, I swear, one of the sharpest, most lethal Coyote Breeds ever created.”

  But wasn’t that what all Breeds were created to be? They were trained to fit in when they had to, and to kill perfectly, efficiently, when they were ordered to.

  Moving to the tree, Hawke sat their large bag of gifts among the others before straightening and drawing Jessica to where Wolfe and Hope Gunnar and Jacob and Faith Arlington stood.

  “Wolfe, Hope, Jacob, Faith.” He nodded to the four as he drew Jessica closer. “May I present my mate and soon-to-be wife, Jessica Raines.”

  Jessica almost froze in shock as everyone around them became quiet. Dread began to fill her as Wolfe’s black gaze flickered over her. He was imposing, showing little emotion, no acceptance or rejection. His nostril’s flared and he drew in her scent.

  She knew he could smell the combination of her scent and Hawke’s as it merged in the mating heat. He would also smell her fear. But would he know her regret, her pain, and the wish that she had known what her parents were doing, how they had wanted to destroy the Breeds? Did all that come across in a scent? She highly doubted it.

  “You’ve chosen well, Hawke Esteban.” Wolfe’s arm moved from his mate’s shoulder so he could clasp Hawke’s hand. “A beautiful and loyal mate, and one I’m pleased to accept into our pack.”

  Jessica blinked. He couldn’t have been speaking of her, could he?

  “Jessica, had we not doubted that you could betray us, then you would have died before Hawke had time to declare you as his mate,” Wolfe told her softly as she stared back at him. “Questions needed answers, and your loyalty had to be proven rather than simply believed in despite the evidence. We thank you for your patience, and above all, for the grace you showed during your confinement to give us the time to prove your innocence, as well as your bond to your mate.”

  She shook her head slowly. “What grace, Alpha Gunnar?” she whispered in disbelief.

  A smile tugged at his lips. “You didn’t throw anything at us, despite months upon months of questioning. You never threatened to call in a representative, though you could have. And not once did you demand rights that were due you. The right of Tribunal rather than confinement during your interrogation. That was grace.”

  She shook her head again. “It was guilt,” she whispered back. “How could I deny what I had done, even though I couldn’t explain why I had done it, or stop the actions even as they happened?”

  “You saved my mate, as well as Jacob’s, despite the drug that enforced your will,” he said gently. “That was courage, and it was strength. We need that strength to survive our future. You’re part of Hawke’s future, and therefore, part of our own. Welcome to our pack.”

  He nodded with a slow dip of his head, a respectful air of acceptance. He wouldn’t hug her, nor shake her hand. No Breed alive would dare to even brush against her during mating heat, especially that first, strongest phase that she was in now.

  She had been accepted though. By his words and his actions, Wolfe had given her mating to Hawke his blessing, and therefore, the pack’s blessing.

  “Dance with me now.” Hawke drew her into his arms even though she was still reeling from Wolfe’s proclamation.

  She was part of the pack, a family. The pack was like an extended family, drawing together both Wolf and Coyote Breeds, extending an umbrella over each member, an acceptance they could find nowhere else.

  The sound of a slow ballad filled the huge room as Hawke led her to the dance floor. Instantly, heat, sizzling energy and a sense of warmth began to invade her. With her head against his chest, his hands settled low at her back, moving her against him, Jessica let the acceptance she had been given sink inside her.

  She had found a home; she had found a family. She had people who had believed in her even when it had appeared she had betrayed them.

  “I love you, Jessica Raines.”

  She almost froze in his arms as Hawke whispered the words at her ear.

  Jessica lifted her head and stared up at him, her lips parting, tears filling her eyes. “I’ve always loved you, Hawke Esteban,” she answered, her voice soft, trembling. “Since the moment I met you, I loved you.”

  He was her future, he was her heart.

  Lowering his head, he brushed his lips against hers, a sizzling caress that almost caused a moan to break from her throat. She could taste a hint of the spicy essence of his kiss. A taste of lust, need, desire and hunger. A taste that would only fuel her own.

  “Soon,” he promised, turning his head until he could brush his lips against her ear. “Soon, mate.”

  Soon. Tonight. When they stepped back into their home, when they stepped back into the heat waiting to flare between them.

  Soon. Until then, she had this. His touch, this dance and the incredible realization that she did indeed have a future.

  NINE

  It was a night made for lovers. Even amid the party, Christmas cheer, exchange of gifts and laughter, there was an air of warmth and intimacy that bound her to Hawke.

  Quiet smiles, the touch of his hand, the knowledge that the sexual need was building inside both of them. When her skin was prickling with awareness and sensitivity, he took her hand and drew her back to Wolfe and Hope where they made their farewells.

  Anyone watching them would have known why they were leaving, what would be happening that night. Besides the fact that they were Breeds and they could smell the mating heat, Jessica knew that each touch, each look they stole at each other gave them away.

  The drive back to their home was made in silence. The short distance was filled with magic though. The twinkling of lights, the heated warmth spearing between them. When they pulled into the driveway, Hawke stepped around the vehicle, opened the door and then lifted her into his arms.

  She couldn’t speak. Her throat felt closed with emotion when he pushed the door open and, rather than moving upstairs, moved to the living room instead.

  Where once the room had been empty, there was now a Christmas tree and a lush silk-covered mattress awaiting them.

  The lights on the tree lit up as they stepped into the room. Blue and gold. The entire tree was lit with blue and gold. There were only lights, no ornaments, but at the base of a tree was a small, gaily wrapped box.

  “What is this?” she whispered as he carried her to the mattress and eased her to the thick silk comforter that covered it.

  “It’s our first Christmas.”

  awke stared into Jessica’s shining eyes. There were tears there. She stared at the tree as though she had never seen one before, much as he had stared at the first Christmas tree Wolfe and Hope had decorated for Haven’s first Christmas several years before.

  There, amid the colors he had chosen for their family—her blue eyes, his golden ones—he watched as she reached out, her fingers trembling, to touch the point of one tiny light. A golden one. His color.

  “Hawke.” She whispered his name again, her voice throbbing, as she turned back to him, staring at him as though he had just given her the most precious gift in the world.

  He swallowed tightly, his throat nearly closed with emotion. Hell, this was the hardest part to get used to, he thought. So much emotion, when before he had felt so very little. The labs had bred emotion out of the Breeds. The scientists and soldiers beat it out of them, froze it out of them, and in some cases, had killed to be rid of Breeds that couldn’t hide emotion.

  Hawke had survived. He had hidden all emotion, often even from himself. He had cared for nothing but the survival of the Breeds as a whole, and once he escaped, he had made certain that the survival of their race was all that mattered to him.

  Until Jessica.

  Now, staring into the velvety depths of her eyes, he knew that he would die, kill, forsake even his race, for this one woman.

  “This is my first present to you.” He lifted the small box from beneath the tree and handed it to her.

  The brush of her fingers against his was like fire. He could feel the tremble just beneath her flesh, smell the arousal and the hint of need that filled her. He could also sense the love that poured from her. He had never smelled love before, not in relation to himself.

  He could become addicted to it.

  Hawke watched as she took the gift from him and slowly pulled at the bow he had tied around the small decorated box. It came loose easily, allowing her to lift the flap open.

  Reaching in, she pulled free the angel that was inside. With red gold hair and blue eyes, the porcelain body was finely made. Dressed in jeans and a sweater, feet bare. Behind her back, delicate crystal wings were attached and a glistening halo circled her head.

  At her feet sat a great gray wolf, its golden eyes staring up at her in adoration. Finding an artist to create what he had needed hadn’t been easy. The delicate tree ornament had only been finished for a matter of weeks.

  “My God,” she whispered, her gaze lifting to his as she cradled the figurine in her palm. “Hawke, it’s beautiful.”

  “Not nearly as beautiful as you.” He had to clear his throat before he could speak further. “It’s our first ornament, Jess. Our first Christmas together.”

  Cupping her hand, he lifted free the gold tree ring in the back and helped her to her feet before guiding her hand to the tree.

  There, in the center, he attached the ring to a branch and watched as the blue and gold lights gleamed around it.

  Turning her to him, his hands on her shoulders, he lowered his lips, touched them to hers and whispered a prayer for their future.

  A second later, everything went black.

  Jessica heard Hawke’s muted groan. It wasn’t one of pleasure, nor of arousal. The sound was so odd, so animalistic, that her eyes jerked open, even as he pulled her to the mattress.

  It was a free fall. It wasn’t a man taking a woman down to continue the pleasure that filled both their minds. It was a complete, boneless fall, his arms still wrapped around her as he somehow managed to drag her beneath him even as she felt unconsciousness overtake him.

  “Hawke!” She screamed his name as she pushed at his much larger body, trying to get his weight off her, to figure out what was going on.

  After struggling from beneath him, she rose to her knees, her hands gripping his shoulders when a sudden, fiery tug at her scalp jerked her back and threw her to the floor.

  Bracing her fall with her hands, she lifted her head and tossed her hair from her face as she stared up at the dark, shadowed male form above her.

  A tight sneer pulled at his lips as he glared back at her from eyes that were familiar, and had once been warm and filled with friendship. His husky body was tight, tense with anger, and she swore she could feel the need to kill as it emanated from him.