Tied With a Bow

jail cell for starting a bar fight. The coyotes were growing, adapting, they were maturing, and the proof of it was in the face of every coyote Breed there.
    “You have a hell of a pack, Del-Rey,” Dane’s voice echoed with the respect Del-Rey and his men had fought to attain. “If you need anything, anything at all.” Dane’s look became more intent, somber. “The Vanderales are here for you. Welcome to the family.”
    This time, it was a handshake, and one Del-Rey hadn’t been expecting. Not that he showed it. Inclining his head with calm acceptance, his handshake was firm, confident.
    Vanderale’s acceptance was the final hurdle to ensuring the survival of his people. Vanderale Enterprises “gifted” Haven and Sanctuary with all their military toys and were essential contacts to many of the military security contracts that were lining the wolf and feline Breed coffers. Del-Rey was eager to join the family, to gain for his people what the wolf and feline Breeds were kind enough to share with the coyotes. They wanted their own.
    Breathing in deeply he turned and let his gaze flicker to the far hall and the wing he knew they were keeping Ashley in. Brim was with her, and that was the best protection she could have, but Del-Rey ached to see the young woman he had come to call “sister.”
    Turning to where Malachi and his mate sat on one of the far couches, Del-Rey made his way to them. Sadly, the scent of heat was, for the moment, cool. Isabelle’s bruising and injuries had been such that it didn’t endanger her life, but it had endangered Malachi’s ability to enjoy his mate until she healed. But the coyote seemed content to take care of her. Like all male Breed mates, his devotion to her was clearly apparent.
    Breeds didn’t throw away what human men took for granted. Their mates were everything to them, and Malachi was no different.
    They rose to their feet.
    “I’m sorry, Del-Rey,” Isabelle whispered, the proof of the tears she had been shedding showing in her red-rimmed eyes. “None of us expected Holden to do something like this.”
    Del-Rey shook his head. “No fault lies at your feet,” he swore to her. He glanced at Isabelle and the exhaustion and bruises on her face. “Take your mate to the hotel, Malachi, so she can rest. There’s nothing more that can be done here. We’ll head home first thing in the morning.”
    “I’ll take you up on that, Alpha Delgado,” Malachi stated. “And once we’ve arrived at the Citadel, we need to talk. There’s far more interesting information here than any of us imagined.”
    Del-Rey’s brow lifted. More information? And from the sounds of it, something that didn’t want to wait.
    “Tomorrow evening,” Del-Rey promised them. “Until then, get some sleep.”
    As they moved away Del-Rey sat down on a nearby couch and watched as his men began filtering from the waiting room, moving to find their hotels, a meal or a drink. He only prayed they managed to stay out of trouble.
    He added that prayer to another. The prayer that Ashley was soon her bright and vivacious self again. Because if anything happened to her, Del-Rey feared that the war between Breeds and the remaining Council would only heat up further. Ashley was well loved by all the packs and prides, considered a little sister, a sometimes irritant, and represented all their dreams of a future. Because Ashley laughed. She played. She pulled pranks. But even more, Ashley reminded them all of what they wanted their children to be.
    Full of fun and full of life.
    Losing her could very well tip the balance and change the silent war with the Council to one that the world would clearly see in the color of blood.
    And that was something none of them could afford.
     
     
    TWO DAYS LATER
     
    Malachi let his lips coast over the bruising of his mate’s face as she lay before him, naked, aroused. The past two days had been free of the mating heat, the injuries sustained to her body evidently severe enough that it had ameliorated the effects of the heat.
    The glands beneath his tongue hadn’t swelled, the hormone absent until he’d awakened minutes earlier. Now, they were fully swollen, his cock engorged and throbbing, hunger pounding through his system and carrying with it the heightened hunger that affected Breeds and their mates during mating heat.
    He wasn’t the only one affected. His mate was moving against him, her thighs clasping one of his, the wet heat of her pussy rubbing against