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K yle knocked on the door to Diego’s cabin the following morning, but he fervently wished he was still in bed.

Waking up with Tara pressed against his side, feeling her warmth and softness, filled him with wonder and appreciation.

She hadn’t agreed to bond with his coalition, but he was relatively certain she would.

She’d been in the feline village for six weeks and numerous males had attempted to draw her attention.

She was wary about bonding, so she wouldn’t have allowed them to fuck her if she wasn’t seriously considering them as mates.

Leaving her side had taken all of Kyle’s willpower and several persistent tugs from Isaac and Jon. Kyle was the strongest telepath in their coalition so this task fell to him. Malik, one of Diego’s coalition mates, opened the door and greeted Kyle with a warm smile.

“Good morning. Diego told us that you’d stop by,” Malik had wavy brown hair and dark eyes. Though not technically a doctor, his extensive education and medical background were invaluable. Malik had saved many lives since coming to Rydaria.

“I wish this were a social call, but we discovered something disturbing in the lupine village.”

Malik nodded and motioned him inside.

Kane, the coalition leader, pushed back from the access terminal in the far corner of the room.

He stood and crossed to Kyle. Kane’s dark hair was shaggy, and a short beard shadowed much of his face.

Still, his striking features and confident bearing commanded attention wherever he went.

“Diego and Zion headed up to the raptor village so you’re stuck with us. ”

“You and Malik are who I came to see,” Kyle assured him.

“Would you like a cup of coffee or anything before we get started?” Malik offered, motioning toward the small kitchen.

Kyle shook his head. “I’m anxious to hear what you think about what we witnessed.” They sat down around the dining table. Theirs was square rather than round, but the cabins’ layouts were nearly identical. “We confirmed that Babcock is still alive and up to no good, as usual.”

“We all hoped the rumors were false, but I don’t think anyone will be surprised,” Kane predicted. “Babcock is wily and ruthless, a very unpleasant combination.”

“It would be fastest and most effective if you just show us what you saw,” Malik advised.

Kyle held out his hands. “My memory transfers are more detailed with a physical connection.” Malik took Kyle’s right hand while Kane grasped his left.

Kyle started by showing them the documents Babcock had been studying before the couple arrived.

Kyle paused over each graph and report, making sure Malik had a clear view of what Babcock had been analyzing.

“Damn it,” Malik muttered. “This can’t be good.”

Opening his eyes, Kyle paused the transfer and waited for Malik to elaborate.

“I’ll explain what it means after you’ve shown us the rest,” Malik told him. “Please continue.”

Frustrated, but suspecting that everything that had happened was related, Kyle showed his companions the couple’s arrival, the female’s distress and eventual capitulation. “I’m not sure I’m remembering the couple’s words verbatim, but it’s a close paraphrase.”

“Then she volunteered to continue?” Malik sounded suspicious. “Even after her reaction to the injections, she agreed to go on?”

Kyle nodded, forcing the lingering images out of his mind. “We wouldn’t have left her there if she were unwilling. She was human, not lupine.”

“Not anymore,” Kane stressed with a derisive shake of his head. “She’s well on her way to becoming a lupine hybrid.”

The possibility surprised Kyle. His coalition wasn’t sure what it all meant, but they were leaning toward sexual compatibility or maybe breeding. “You think this is about transformation?”

“A very specific type of transformation,” Malik said. “Babcock is tracking hormone levels and other changes in the endocrine system. And there were twelve subjects listed on the reports, so the couple that interrupted him is one of six.”

“For those of us who didn’t go to medical school, what does that mean?” Kyle blew out a ragged breath. He couldn’t believe they were still dealing with Babcock’s maniacal ambition after all these years.

“He’s trying to enable the wolves to breed with human females,” Kane clarified, confirming Kyle’s suspicions. “I didn’t think it was possible without nanobots, but apparently that sonofabitch has found another way.”

In feline hybrids, clusters of nanobots entered the female during sex and triggered the needed mutations resulting in interspecies compatibility.

There were only a few dozen hybrids on Rydaria who were equipped with reproductive nanobots.

Kane just happened to be one of them. His nanobots could be extracted and then injected into other males.

The nanobots were also self-replicating, so theoretically he could keep making them as long as they were needed.

“Breeding was our top guess,” Kyle told them, “but Diego wanted confirmation.”

“Judging from the hormone levels reflected in the reports, none of the females have conceived yet. In fact, I think Babcock is still a way off from his goal.”

Kyle nodded. “He told the female there would be multiple injections, as many as ten.”

“Well, we need to make sure he isn’t alive to administer even one more.” Kane’s tone was cold, his features emotionless.

“I despise Babcock as much as you, but let me play devil’s advocate. If all the females are willing participants, as the woman we saw clearly was, do we have the right to interfere?”

“Babcock forfeited his life when he took us captive,” Kane countered, his tone even sharper than before.

“Then why has Zion taken so long to give the order? The humans arrived four months ago.”

Kane leaned forward, arms resting on the tabletop. “Why are you defending that sonofabitch? Babcock made all our lives a living hell.”

“I’m not defending Babcock,” Kyle insisted. “I thought he should have been taken out the day he set foot on Rydaria. The question is why is Zion willing to do so now when he wasn’t before? Is Zion lashing out at Babcock or Elias?”

“Both,” Malik said with a shrug. “I can’t explain why Zion has waited so long to end Babcock, but the wolves cannot be allowed to breed. Not while Elias commands them.”

Kyle didn’t understand the timing, but he agreed with the proposed outcome, so he allowed the subject to drop. “Did Diego give you any indication about when he’d return?”

Malik shook his head and pushed back from the table. “They’re working out the details of the alliance so it could take a few days.”

“We’ll update them as soon as they return,” Kane offered. “This is important, but not urgent. It has been going on for weeks.”

Kyle wasn’t sure he agreed with the assessment.

The longer the breeding program was allowed to progress, the greater the chances that the wolves would be able to continue without Babcock.

Still, he didn’t want to interrupt a diplomatic conference.

They’d been hoping for an alliance with the raptors since they went to war with the wolves.

The conversation was finished, and Kyle was anxious to return to his mate, so he nodded his farewell. “Thank you for your help.”

“Anytime,” Kane responded, and Kyle headed home.

Four frustrating days passed as Zion and his advisers debated the next move.

If it weren’t for the delightful distraction of their mate, Jon might have snuck into the lupine village and snuffed out Babcock’s worthless life with or without permission.

He hated waiting, he hated indecision, and he despised Eugene Babcock with a burning intensity.

To his way of thinking, the conflicts were not that complicated, so what the fuck was taking so long?

“Babcock deserves to die,” he stated firmly. “Is anyone still arguing about that?”

“I don’t think so,” Isaac said. “I think the issue is whether or not he possesses knowledge that we need before we end his life.”

“We survived for years without his ‘knowledge,’” Jon sneered. “He arrived on this planet four months ago. I say we’ve waited long enough.”

“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.”