No gifts were given without the battle to receive them, he knew. The Earth knew what many parents did not understand: Its children must work for the gifts given and only with sacrifice could they appreciate the happiness that came with those gifts.
His granddaughter Claire had sacrificed everything for future happiness. Though if the happiness did not come, perhaps at some point she might find contentment in finding a new life. Which of these exceptional young women’s bodies she would be accepted into he did not know. The spirits of the young women had seen all they could see, fought all they could fight; their weariness was apparent in the dimness of their life force.
The Earth, the Great Spirit that guided them all, had other plans for their bodies and he only prayed those plans would see to the eventual happiness of the child he ached for, the granddaughter he feared he’d already lost.
? CHAPTER 21 ?
If she were going to run, it would be tonight.
Focusing his attention on the display of the security feed from her bedroom on the secured e-pad lying in the dirt before him, Graeme reminded himself of that fact once again. Confronting her about it would do no good. To give answers, she would first demand answers, and revealing the horrors he’d experienced when he was recaptured was something he couldn’t bring himself to do. Instead, he was here. The interrogation of the Jackals had been delayed, though a brief meeting with Jonas hadn’t been. Even as he watched her shift on the bed and tuck back a stray strand of hair into the snug braid she’d bound the rest into, he couldn’t push away the certainty that she was going to run.
Tonight would be her best chance if that were her intention. She believed him distracted by the interrogation of the Jackals with Jonas Wyatt. She was certain he was unsuspecting of her intent to leave. Had Claire not warned him of Cat’s intentions, then he might have questioned his certainty that something was wrong.
And something was definitely wrong. He could feel it. Even as he lifted his gaze from the security feed to stare at her open balcony doors, his instincts were raging. He hated her habit of leaving those doors open, it was a security risk that made his skin crawl after the attack by the Jackals and Raymond Martinez. But, like Claire, she enjoyed the night and the cool breeze that drifted into the bedroom. Personally, Graeme thought it was the sense of freedom the act gave her that she enjoyed.
Not that there seemed to be a risk tonight. The breeze was soft, cool but not yet cold. And for all the eyes on the small rental estate, there was nothing restless or dangerous that seemed to drift on the wind.
The six-man team of enforcers from the Bureau of Breed Affairs had fanned out around the walled property at perfect vantage points to watch the area. They thought they were hidden from Graeme’s detection, but he’d found them instantly as he scanned the area.
The fact that Jonas’s warning instincts were roused as well had the primal force inside him itching to emerge. Just beyond the gates of the property Brim Stone, along with Ashley, Emma, Rule Breaker and his mate, Gypsy McQuade, watched the front of the house in plain sight. The two human soldiers the Council had sent were in the shadowed rise of boulders about a half mile from the property, believing themselves hidden. Graeme had known the second they passed Lobo’s borders the night before, though. There was no way for his Cat to be taken or to run without being seen. So why he was so certain her safety was in imminent peril he couldn’t explain.
Beside him, stretched out on the rocky peak of the rise behind the house, Lobo waited as well. The Wolf was so still, so silent, Graeme could barely detect his heartbeat. Lobo was far more than others suspected and took extreme advantage of that fact. And like Graeme, he could be the perfect killing machine. They’d been in place since darkness had fallen and not once had the other Breed questioned Graeme’s instincts. In the year since they’d formed their unusual partnership Lobo had given him what seemed to be unquestioned faith. If only Cat would extend a small measure of such trust.
“She’s good,” Lobo murmured as his gaze remained focused on the security feed. “Cool as ice. Whatever her plans, she’s not giving anything away. You trained her well, Graeme.”
Unfortunately, that was far too accurate.
“Perhaps at some things I trained her far too well.” Graeme sighed, his voice barely a breath of sound.
Lobo gave a small, amused grunt.
“As a trainer your instincts are excellent. Even my own force has benefited from them immensely. Despite their dislike of felines.” The wry comment had a grin tugging at Graeme’s lips.
“They learn well despite my dislike of wolves.”
The world believed the Breeds—feline, Wolf and Coyote—struggled with a perceived, instinctive dislike toward and prejudice against one another. The truth was, only those who had sided with their creators harbored such prejudices. For those born with the instincts more closely related to their animal genetics, there was no such dislike. It hadn’t been in their training either.