She’d wondered, she’d ached to ask, but she knew he wouldn’t tell her. Just as he’d never told her what they did to him when Dr. Bennett had reinstated the gene therapy on him after Dr. Foster’s disappearance.
“Ask him first,” Jonas suggested. “If he won’t tell you, then come find me. I’ll tell you, with no strings attached, what created the monster you faced last night and why you can’t trust him with your life any more than I can trust him with Amber’s.”
“More games?” She sneered in disgust. “You know, Jonas, I’d find you far more palatable if you would stop attempting to manipulate me and simply accept that getting what you want through me simply isn’t going to happen.”
With that, she launched herself from the protection of the boulders and began her return back to the house.
No matter how hard she tried, there was simply no peace to be found.
? ? ?
“Well now, that went well.” Rule moved from the side of the stone tower, thoughtful amusement creasing his expression as he too watched Cat run back to the house Lobo Reever was letting her use.
What did Reever owe Gideon that he was willing to risk breaking the agreement he had with the Bureau of Breed Affairs to protect him?
Jonas had no doubt he’d figure it out, just as he’d figure out exactly what Rule Breaker, his new division director and one of his closest friends, owed that insane bag of Bengal genetics as well.
“No, actually, that did not go well. But I had no delusions it would.” He sighed, striving to be as honest with Rule as he’d always been.
After all, in the years they’d fought together this was the only instance he’d found where he couldn’t entirely trust Rule. For some reason, whatever the Breed knew about Gideon or his whereabouts, he refused to divulge.
Jonas could understand that. There were a lot of secrets Rule and his brother would probably kill him for keeping if they were aware of it. It was an exchange, he thought wearily. Not an exchange he liked, but even if Rule revealed his knowledge, Jonas knew he’d never reveal his own secrets until he had no other choice.
“What now?” Rule questioned as though only curiosity was the reason for the question.
“I’ll tell Rachel she was wrong.” He shrugged. “That girl knows where Gideon’s hiding. She knows far more than she’ll willingly give anyone, even someone she trusts.”
But she was still Gideon’s weakness. Threaten Cat and he’d come out and play. It wasn’t a move Jonas was willing to make quite yet, though. For now, there was information to collect.
For one, the role Reever played in all this. For another, the role Rule was taking in the intricate game playing out between Gideon and Jonas. And third, the fact that he knew Reever’s stepdaughter was somehow involved as well. The list he’d acquired of Gideon’s ties in the Breed community was surprising.
Gideon had a very well-hidden, though very powerful, group of individuals willing to help him, and Jonas wanted to know how one completely insane, violently vicious Breed had managed it. It was a trick Jonas needed to figure out in order to reveal everyone involved in this little conspiracy.
“Have you found the recessed Breed, Judd, yet?” Jonas asked as they moved around the tower to the Dragoon they’d driven out just before Cat left for her run.
“I don’t even have a list of suspects, Jonas.” Rule wasn’t happy with that either. He was actually pretty frustrated over the fact, if his senses were correct, Jonas mused.
“I want a list of suspects by the week’s end,” Jonas ordered. “This can’t continue.”
“I’m not one of your enforcers,” Rule batted back.
Jonas noted that the level of confidence the Breed had acquired had become a serious problem lately. Not that Jonas intended to do anything about it. Not that he could do anything if he tried. At least, not a lot.
“Then have one of your enforcers take care of it,” Jonas snapped back at him. “This is a Western Division problem, Rule. You’re the division director. So fucking take care of it. And take care of it by week’s end.”
Swinging into the Dragoon, he glared through the windshield, biting back a furious curse. Protecting Gideon was a laudable cause, and he would have helped at any other time. But protecting him wasn’t an option now.
“Where to now? Back to her house?” Rule asked as he slid into the driver’s seat.
Forcing himself to appear relaxed, he turned to Rule slowly.
“A hypothetical question,” he stated. “In my place, what would you do if you knew one seemingly unique Breed wasn’t so unique? That something had only triggered what you suspect other Breeds had been coded with? Breeds whose triggers could be far more sensitive?”