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information from her this long. She’s clearly in danger, just as we’ve suspected. Arm her with the truth and perhaps we can regain the loyalty we lost in her when we had her confined.”
    Hawke’s lips thinned at the continuance. It was the Tribunal’s belief that they had lost Jessica’s loyalty because of their need to confine her, to lock her away from the Breeds as well as from her own people. Hawke didn’t believe that. Not once had Jessica tried to escape in the months that she had been free. She had sought solitude. She had sought moments when eyes weren’t watching her. But she had never indicated a need to escape, or indicated anger with the Breeds in general. It was more an anger directed toward Hawke.
    “I’m pulling in a team from the Coyote base,” Aiden informed him. “It will be done quietly, and they’ll be placed on protective covert detail around her. We know Haven is being watched. This way, whoever is watching will believe we’ve become lax about her safety.” Aiden leaned forward intently. “We need to capture her would-be assassin, Hawke. There were men we didn’t catch earlier this year with the pure blood society we disbanded. We need the information they have, as well as the resources they’re using. She’s our only link to them.”
    “Her safety will not be compromised in this quest of yours, Aiden,” Hawke growled, the animalistic rumble of his voice burring his words. “I’ve held back the mating heat, but nothing will change the fact that she is my mate.”
    Aiden nodded at the statement as he turned back to Wolfe.
    “I’m claiming my mate.” Hawke stared his alpha down then. “I’ve given you the time you needed, Wolfe. Jessica Raines is my mate. I’ll go without her no longer.”
    Wolfe shared a look with his second-in-command before turning back to Hawke with a short nod. “I appreciate your trust in me, Hawke. You’ve denied yourself when others wouldn’t have, and given us the time we needed to find answers rather than giving her her freedom based on law. It tells me more than words can say about the loyalty you give to the Breeds.”
    “My loyalty was to her,” Hawke snapped. “My mate was no traitor. There was only one way to prove it. It’s been proven. Now, I’ll have what’s mine.”

 
    FOUR
    S he should have known Hawke wouldn’t stay away long. The bodyguard he had left outside the house was male. She had noticed both during and after her release that it was a very rare occurrence for a male of either Breed or human persuasion to come around her.
    She had female bodyguards. Her doctor was female. Her visitors, namely the alpha’s mate, Hope, or his second-in-command’s wife, Faith. Occasionally, Charity Chance visited, but since the birth of her and Aiden’s son, she hadn’t been by.
    She watched the Range Rover pull into the small grav eled driveway in front of the cabin she had been given, and Hawke stepped out. As arrogant as any man could be, as handsome as sin, he stood beneath the falling snow like a force of nature daring the elements to come after him.
    Daring anyone to come after him or to oppose him.
    He was an integral part of Haven’s security team. He had been an advisor and security leader in the security and communications station where she had worked a little more than a year ago. He had been firm and honest, but he hadn’t always been easy to work with. He didn’t suffer fools easily, and he didn’t think twice about physically throwing out anyone not performing up to standards.
    Did he still oversee security there? she wondered. She realized she had no idea what he did now. She saw him driving through the compound often, stopping, talking to the security teams, directing them to different areas or joking with them. Though she realized she hadn’t seen a smile on his face since she had been released.
    He had often smiled at her when she worked security for the Breeds. Cautious little half smiles, as though he hadn’t