The Devil's Due by Lora Leigh Read Free Book Online

never failed to find adventure and excitement in Ireland together. It was one of the reasons Katie’s father had worried about their friendship so often.
    When Khileen’s mother, Jessica, had met and married Lobo Reever, it had seemed Breeds in general had drawn an easier breath though. Lobo was considered a lone Wolf, one that too many independent Wolves had longed to follow.
    Lobo had no alliance pacts, had sworn no loyalties nor had he professed any. Yet, he had banded with more than two dozen of the strongest, darkest, most exactingly created Wolf Breeds that the Genetics Council had kept files on.
    It was rumored there were another half dozen the Council hadn’t even recorded that followed the Lobo.
    With his marriage, or “mating” as she’d heard it called several times, and Reever’s move to the American deserts, the Breeds’ fears that Lobo would somehow upset the balance of Packs and Prides had eased.
    They were a strange and often difficult lot on the best of days, but never more so than when they felt threatened.
    “Cassandra Sinclair flew in last night,” Khileen Langer said, her voice low as they walked through the stables several days after Devil Black had brought her to the Reever Ranch.
    “What do you think she wants?” Katie frowned as they stopped at one of the stalls to pet one of Lobo Reever’s prized mares.
    Having Cassie Sinclair in residence couldn’t be comfortable. Katie had heard quite a bit about the young woman, and couldn’t imagine being comfortable around her.
    “I’m not certain.” Khileen shook her head, her expression concerned. “I know Lobo’s been in negotiations with the Packs and Prides, but I’m not certain why.”
    “I thought Tiberian was his negotiator? How are any negotiations being discussed without him?”
    Tiberian was Lobo’s younger brother and, Katie knew, one of the Breeds the Council had destroyed records of.
    Khileen looked away. “Tiberian left the night of Mother’s death. I’ve not seen him since.”
    Jessica Reever’s death six months before in a fall from her horse had devastated the family. She knew it had devastated Khileen.
    Tiberian’s disappearance was interesting though.
    The fact that Cassandra Sinclair, a young mixed-Breed female becoming known as the Breeds’ highest legal advisor, was at the ranch at the same time that their negotiator was missing was bad enough. Adding that to the rumors that a rogue Bengal Breed was in the area searching for a young female the Genetics Council had experimented on. The situation was causing havoc with the Navajo nation, and must have Lobo pulling his hair out by the roots.
    “And with all this, he offered his protection to me?” Leaning against the side of the stall, she stared back at Khileen in surprise.
    Khileen shrugged, disrupting the long black, spiral curls that had fallen over her shoulder as her bright blue eyes dimmed for a moment.
    “I saw the news report when your grandfather’s estate was seized,” she revealed. “I know you, Katie. You would have needed to run. You would have felt it was the only way to protect your family. I asked Lobo to check with the Network to see if you had sent out a request and if you did, if he would help.”
    “They’re threatening to investigate Da as well,” Katie revealed. “He and Mam are destroyed by the revelations. They didn’t know Grandfather had overseen those labs or had even been involved with them.”
    Her parents had gone to a fertility clinic to attempt to conceive the child they wanted so desperately, only to be told that their initial tests revealed a rare genetic incompatibility between them. The clinic had decided there was no way to help them and had claimed to have disposed of the samples they’d taken.
    Those samples had then been sent to the Genetics Council, which funded the clinic, and Katie had been “created.” A Wolf Breed, created to seduce and kill. The genetics her parents possessed had been exceptional, her