“What would have happened to us if the human females hadn’t been exiled to Rydaria?” Isaac asked, challenge clear in his expression.
Jon glared at him. He knew damn well what Isaac was getting at, but he was not in the mood for logic. They sat at the kitchen table pretending to be civilized. Tara sat sideways across the couch with a book in her lap, but she was listening intently to every word they said. Kyle was running an errand for Diego and hadn’t returned yet.
“Well?” Isaac persisted. “What would have happened to us?”
“Extinction,” Jon admitted as he downed the rest of his ale. “Without the ability to reproduce, our species would end with us.”
“Thanks to Kane’s nanobots, we can transform females enabling them to bear our young,” Isaac reminded, not that the reminder was necessary. They all understood what it took to breed a female.
Jon’s gaze drifted toward Tara. She’d stopped resisting them in bed and the past couple of nights had been unbelievable. Still, she was far from agreeing to the transformation process, far from admitting she was their mate. “What’s your point,” Jon growled out.
“What about the raptors and the wolves?” Tara set her book aside and stood up. She’d allowed Isaac to direct the conversation, but thanks to her friendship with Lexie, Tara knew everything that was said at the council meetings. And despite Jon’s anger, the conflicts were more complicated than he wanted to make them. “Don’t they have the right to fight against extinction too?”
Jon watched her as she walked across the room and felt much of his anger melting away. She frequently had this effect on him, and he found it annoying. He needed his anger right now. “The wolves don’t deserve to procreate, and we’ll share the nanobots with the raptors. They’re our allies now.”
She sat down across from him before she responded. “The nanobots are programmed for feline hybrids. They won’t work in raptors or wolves. And not all the wolves are evil. According to Lexie, half of the packs have refused to participate in any of the raids. Zion suspects that one of the packs will challenge Elias for control of the village.”
“So he gets away with all the lives he’s taken. He tied Akari to a table and tortured her for six fucking days! Do we just forget about all that?” Too wound up to sit still any longer, Jon shoved back his chair and began to pace the living room. “Elias needs to die, and Babcock needs to die.”
“And you want to be the one who spills their blood.” Isaac’s brow arched and challenge filled his tone. “Why are you so anxious to end them?”
“You know why,” he snapped angrily. He glanced at Tara and sighed. She was clearly confused by his vehemence, but he wasn’t quite ready to explain.
“You were engineered to be an assassin,” she mused, more to herself than to him. “Does the aggression build up if you don’t use your skills?”
He shut his eyes and took a deep breath. There were serious disadvantages to having such a sharp, perceptive mate. “Yes,” he admitted tightly. “If I don’t release the aggression I can go into a blind rage. It’s only happened a few times since coming here, but it’s nothing I want to experience again.”
A sexy smile curved her lips as she asked, “Is there only one way to release the aggression?”
“I’d be willing to experiment with it once we’re bonded, but it’s too dangerous right now.”
The front door swung open, drawing everyone’s attention. Kyle stepped into the cabin and motioned to someone behind him. “Look who I found on my way home.”
Akari moved into the doorway as Kyle stepped aside. “May I speak with Tara for a moment? I won’t keep her long.” She kept her eyes downcast and made no move to fully enter the cabin.
Tara hurried over to Akari and they went out onto the porch. She was only gone for a few moments and then she returned alone.
“Is there a problem?” Isaac stood up and walked around the table. “Is Akari all right?”
“She just agreed to let you guys scan her memory.” Tara sounded surprised by the announcement. “She told me that she wouldn’t be able to live with herself if they hurt someone else because she refused to help you.”
“We can do it tonight while she’s sleeping,” Isaac reminded. “She will be completely unaware.”
Tara shook her head. “She doesn’t want to know exactly when you do it, but she wants to be awake. The thought of having someone sort through her memories while she’s sound asleep is disturbing. She wants me to contact her once it’s over, but she does not want to know when you’re about to begin.”
Isaac nodded. “We can work with that.”
Tara looked up at him, uncertainty shadowing her eyes. “How does it work? How do you keep her from feeling it when you enter her mind?”
“Jon and Kyle will shield the link while I perform the scan. We’ve done this sort of thing before. Akari will be completely unaware that anything is happening.”
“Okay,” Tara sighed. “I’m going to presume the people you did this to before deserved to be invaded and just move on. I think you should do it right away. She’s going to spend all daywondering if the scan has started. It will be a big relief when I can tell her it’s all over.”
“I agree,” Isaac assured her with a smile. “Give us a minute to prepare mentally.”
“Do you know Akari’s current location?” Jon asked as Isaac closed his eyes and slipped into a light trance. “Was she heading back to the cabin she shares with her mates?”
With another shake of her head, Tara explained, “One of her mates is the head baker. Zion wants fresh bread and finger cakes for the gathering tonight, so Akari is helping her mate fill the order.”
