It was like that at Sanctuary. Callan and his people did their best to keep the mountain more of a haven than a compound, but the ready watchfulness of the Breeds on alert could be felt at any time of the day or night. No one slacked off, no one forgot the fact that the Genetics Council and the Purist societies working against them were just waiting for the slightest break in their defenses.

It wasn't a prison, but damn if he didn't feel just as hemmed in there. It would be worse for Megan. He saw her today. For the first time since she had run headlong into his life, he had really seen her. Her eyes shining, the fierce fire of battle blazing in them. She lived for adventure. Loved the fight, the racing adrenaline, the triumph.

Just as he did.

And he had seen something else, something he had only realized in the past hours. Megan did have the proper barriers, those that kept out the harmful effects and allowed the information through. She had used them instinctively today, racing across that mountain like a daredevil from hell, instinctively turning the wheel, steering clear of the worst of the gunfire as well as the natural obstacles. With training she could learn to use those barriers as well as her talents with lethal effectiveness. She could be the perfect partner; she would be the perfect mate. But she would never survive Sanctuary.

He lifted the beer, finishing it off lazily before twirling the bottle between his fingers.

"She won't go," he finally said softly.

"Or you won't let her?" Jonas asked, his voice dark. "She'll die in this desert, Braden, and you'll go with her. Let her make the choice."

"Do you think I don't know her, Jonas?" He kept his voice low, pushed back the anger that the other man would question, and tried to remind himself that Jonas's job was to protect the Breed community as a whole. Megan was Braden's mate. Capable of birthing the future. That would definitely fall under the heading of protection.

"I think maybe you're not thinking this through," Jonas said carefully.

Braden felt a small spurt of amusement at the other man's comment. This wasn't the first time he had been accused of such a thing.

"I'll ask her." He owed her that.

He fingered the bruise at his eye. Damn, he was almost too scared not to give her the choice. Even when shaking on her feet that woman packed a wallop.

"Don't ask her, Braden." Jonas's voice hardened. "Pack her up and stick her ass and yours in the heli-jet. We'll figure this out another way. Keep her safe."

Braden rolled the bottle between his hands before turning his head and staring up at the other man. Was he being selfish? Was his own need to be free overriding the need to protect his mate? His woman?

"Braden, they will kill her." Jonas's voice was harder now, more determined.

"I said I'll ask her." He leaned back against the house, staring out into the night. "You don't just tell a woman like that to do much of anything, Jonas." He grunted. "She'd cut your balls off and throw them in your

face."

He shook his head at the thought. She drove him crazy, made him so horny he thought he was going to die, and she warmed him. God help him, she warmed every comer of his soul and he hadn't even realized it until that fucking Raider had flipped and those bastard soldiers had opened fire on the defenseless vehicle.

He had thrown himself at the first rider, snapping his neck before jumping for the second. Rage had boiled in his blood, a red haze of fury unlike anything he had known sweeping through him.

As he killed the second, she had pulled herself out of that damned Raider, staring back at him, dazed. Wobbling on her feet, but alive. And he had bit her.

He shook his head in confusion as he remembered the primal compulsion. It had surged from his gut, swept through his body and he had acted. Without thought, without remorse, his only instinct had been to lock his teeth into her vulnerable shoulder as the glands of his tongue spilled their rich hormone into the wound.

"What do you know about the Mating, Jonas? He had to fight to stay calm, even though calm had always been easy to attain, no matter the situation. "Why the hell do I keep biting her?"

"Come to Sanctuary and we'll discuss it," Jonas suggested evenly.

The blatant blackmail had Braden staring back at him coldly. Jonas was a manipulative bastard, there was no doubting that. But Braden had no intention of letting him manipulate Megan.

"We've never fought, Jonas," Braden mused softly. "We've butted heads a time or two, but never really been at odds. Don't put us there now."

Tension thickened between them. Jonas was his supervisor. For the most part, Braden did his job and was usually in agreement with Jonas on how it should be done. Until now.

"Tell me what's going on, man." The rumbling growl in his throat was something he seemed to be doing often.

Something he had rarely done before. Megan was not a good influence on him. "And tell me now."

Jonas sighed roughly. "We're not sure yet, Braden. Too much is still unknown. The bite to the shoulder allows the hormone into the mate's body faster. We know that much. At the moment, that's all we know. But the Council scientists know this as well. They're dying to get their hands on a Breed mate. And they will, eventually."

They were testing them then. The soldiers that attacked them were Council based, Braden had no doubt of that. But now he was beginning to suspect that Megan's death wasn't all they wanted. They would suspect the Mating; it would be impossible not to if they were aware of the possibility.

Attempting to see if mates were more effective, if Megan's abilities were stronger in his presence, if she could be used against him or vice versa. It was the way the Genetics Council worked. They researched each strength and weakness, tested and tortured until the subjects were dead or just too damned numb to care if they lived or not.

Which meant the stakes were raised, as well as the danger.

Dr. Elyiana Morrey was a Breed with dark brown eyes and short dark brown hair. She was tall, nearly five-ten, with a compassionate expression and a hard-as-nails voice when things didn't go her way. But despite her likability, she made Megan uncomfortable.

"I need you at Sanctuary," the doctor said as she took the final vial of blood and packed it in her case.

"The samples aren't going to be enough soon. We need to keep a close watch on the Mating signs, compare them to the others."

Sanctuary wasn't a place Megan figured she wanted to be confined to.

She had seen reports on the high security compound the Felines called a home base, and she didn't think much of it. She couldn't handle being watched like that, day in and day out, knowing that the moment she stepped out of those gates any number of people were photographing her, profiling her and attempting to determine her weaknesses as the journalists often did the Breeds and their wives.

"That's okay." Megan rubbed at her arm before rising from the bed and moving stiffly to the robe she had laid across a chair. "I'm doing fine here."

She was living for a change. She restrained her smile, reliving the sheer exhilaration of the chase earlier and the knowledge that no matter how close it had been, they had won.

"The Mating is different with you." Dr. Money sat comfortably at the end of the bed, watching her with a hint of confusion. "Biting is normally rarely done, and only during sexual situations. Braden is the first Breed male to bite outside of that situation. The bite is different as well. Deeper than normal and if I'm not mistaken, which I'm usually not, the hormone he's injecting into you is more potent. The scent around the bite is stronger than the others.

This will increase instinctive responses and emotions. Be careful of that, especially where anger is concerned. It seems anger and arousal are the two responses it increases first. Judgment can be hindered in some

cases, and it's not always easy to control."

No shit. But strangely enough, the bite didn't hurt.

Megan reached up, rubbing at the muscle as she flexed her shoulder. It was the only spot on her body that wasn't sore.

"It's already beginning to heal," the doctor pointed out. "That's odd as well, considering the depth of the bite. I can't do the proper tests this way, Megan. And until I can see what's going on, I have no idea what's causing it."

"Ask Braden," she snorted. "He's the one that bit me."

She was no one's lab experiment and she wasn't going to start now. Maybe later, she amended.

"If Jonas had learned anything from him he would have let me know." Morrey shrugged her shoulders gracefully.

"I'll get the samples I need from Braden before I leave, but still, this isn't enough. I need you back at the labs."

Yeah, Megan bet she did. She eyed the other woman carefully, uncomfortable with the emotionless core she could sense in the doctor.

"This has to finish here." She finally sighed wearily. "Hiding won't help, no matter the excuse we use. And I'm tired of hiding. When it's finished, maybe I'll visit for a while."

Dr. Morrey stared back at her serenely. "You could die here, and we'll never learn what caused the anomalies you're showing. Just the initial exam is showing several differences between you and the other mates at Sanctuary.

Braden's hormones are reacting in a different manner than those of the other Breeds. I need to study this."

"You have blood, skin, vaginal, saliva and a multitude of other samples to go on." Megan crossed her arms over her breasts as she stared back at the doctor. "It will have to be enough."

A reluctant smile tipped the doctor's thin lips. "You don't have much give in you, do you, Miss Fields?

she pointed out.

"Sometimes too much," Megan admitted wryly. "And you're avoiding telling me what this biting stuff is all about. What the hell is going on'?"

Dr. Morrey pursed her lips tightly for a moment.

"The hormone we carry during Mating Heat has some peculiar

properties," she admitted. "Over time, and the time varies from Mating to Mating, it begins to affect the non-Breed mate on the genetic level. The bite today" She shrugged as she waved her hand in confusion.

"That has never happened before. But I've noticed with the other females that their healing rates increase after Mating, as do their immunity levels. I suspect it was an instinctive action that resulted from the extremity of the situation. I'll know more after I study the levels of the hormone in Braden's saliva and semen."

Megan's eyes widened as she swallowed tightly. "It's in the semen too?" A vision of her on her knees, Braden's cock spurting heavily into her mouth, flashed before her eyes.

"The hormone levels are actually much higher there."

The doctor nodded as she closed up the case that held the samples and began gathering her tools of torture together.

"Especially in the barb. The hormone potency there is amazingly high from the few samples we've managed to acquire." The short, mocking laughter the doctor gave as she leveled a look at her was faintly bitter.

"It's almost impossible to get samples from the barb. We got lucky with Merinus, once. The hormone travels so quickly into the womb that it's almost impossible to get a sample. For some reason, the barb only emerges vaginally." She shrugged philosophically. "Such is a doctor's

quest, I guess."

Megan kept her mouth shut. No way in hell was she going to reveal the oral injection she received. With her luck, she'd be jerked into Sanctuary so damned fast it would make hers and Braden's heads spin. She wanted nothing to do with Sanctuary right now, despite the edge of guilt that filled her. The Breeds deserved their freedom, and they deserved to know what nature was doing to them. But she knew that the danger surrounding her would only intensify if it wasn't dealt with now.