What was wrong with her? She knew how dangerous it was to allow herself to stand on the balcony, in clear view, a target to any enemy with the intent to kill her. What force had drawn her there, pushed her to stand there in full view? The price on her head was for her abduction, her virginity intact when she was turned over to the scientists secretly working with what remained of the Genetics Council.
She was unique, not just in her genetics but in her birth. The same as a hybrid, a Breed born of a Breed-human mating. But she was even rarer than that. She was created from both Wolf and Coyote genetics. The good and the bad. The shadow of a paw print. A genetic marker. But as she grew older, another shadow began marring her flesh, one even her parents were unaware of, one resembling that of jagged slices made by claws. The mark of the Coyote stained the flesh just over her womb.
And her mother loved her. She knew he was dead. He fell to the floor, blood spilling from his chest as he stared at Cassie with hatred. Thirteen years. It had been thirteen years since that night, and still, Cassie remembered every second of it as though it had happened only moments before.
She was carefully protected, and those who protected her feared Dash Sinclair—her true father in the most important ways—far too much to risk lusting after her. She socialized within the Breed community, rarely among non-Breeds. There had been a sense of maturity, of experience, in the hungry gaze focused on her. Curious and hungry. Her heart raced, her breathing became faster and she could feel the whisper of the air drifting through the area, against her.
It eased past her gown, stroked her flesh, sensitized it. And they were quite thorough. He remained behind her, hidden within the heavy foliage that had brushed against her back as he sat down. How wrong it seemed that what she was feeling now would be for the Breed who would kill her. And he was a Breed. Her eyes closed as she felt a caress against her hair, fingers twining in it, testing the curls, as a hum of appreciation stroked against her senses. She could feel him in the air she breathed, in the slow caresses in her hair.
Why argue when this would likely be the only time she knew a measure of what it felt like to be desired, to be touched by a man. Instead, all I was watching was you. She needed something to hold on to, to make the next few days bearable. She stiffened in outrage, in anger, but before she could turn and inform him just how insane he was, he was gone. Wide-eyed, her heart racing, she stared at the swaying leaves of the huge ferns behind her and heard a whisper of a chuckle somewhere in the darkness.
His enforcers rushed through the atrium, at least half a dozen, converging on her as she drew her robe on and tied the satin ribbons holding it closed. Was she all right? His guards had checked the area before she entered it; no one knew the visitor had been there.
He stared behind her, his eyes narrowed, nostrils flaring as though testing the air for any unfamiliar scents. If they found her visitor, what would they do to him? Her father would be furious. Whoever he was, he carried no scent, which meant he was trying to hide from Breeds. No doubt he was the enemy.
She was being dragged back to her room as though she were a toddler. If her father had just let her have this time, in this place, maybe she could have stolen something for herself. Why she ached for his warmth for just a moment, just for tonight. Because tomorrow night would be too late. He watched her leave, a shadow within a shadow, and waited for the Breed Enforcers who followed her father to clear the room. It took them a while. Of course, they knew he was there. Rather than moving or becoming nervous because of their continued search, he merely waited, patient, unconcerned.
At first, half of them left; the others were still and silent, waiting for movement. They waited for a quarter of an hour; then they all left, but one.
The Breed they left was damned good. Marches by the hundreds of thousands swept across nations, and for months, the screams echoed to heaven itself. Voices were raised to right this horrible wrong. The companies revealed to have provided funds for the depraved, horrific experiments saw their stocks crash, and entire corporations were destroyed. Some burned to the ground in the madness of the fury the world felt that their governments, their militaries, had contributed to something so evil.
Government leaders in nation after nation toppled amid the fury until it threatened to decimate whole administrations unless those governing found a way to preserve the lives that had suffered so terribly. They were creatures genetically enhanced to sway public opinion, to pinpoint weaknesses and strengths and use them to their own advantage. The genetics of fallen heroes and villains came to the fore as the Breeds stood before the masses and calmed their fury, suggesting their leaders ensure Breed freedom.
Their genetics were drawn from the greatest minds in generations—long-lost warriors, military leaders, skilled orators, legal geniuses and scientific monsters—and mixed with those of the most cunning and predatory hunters alive. They understood deception and how to use it.
They knew compassion but also the need for force. They became the weapons their creators envisioned, but they were now using those talents against their tormentors. What science had created and military minds had thought to control, they now found themselves helpless against; they were forced to sit down with creations who held such a fine understanding of legalities, deception and self-preservation that they were able to use the very laws of democracy against the democracies shaking beneath the threat of destruction.
But freedom is still a chimera, a dream the Breeds are reaching for. Popular Free Online Books. Left Hanging by Cindy Dorminy. Many waters by Madeleine L'Engle. Imago by N. One Baby Daddy by Meghan Quinn. A Distant Heart by Sonali Dev. Cross Breed Breeds 32 by Lora Leigh 1.
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