The warrior crossed his arms over his chest, gazing back at him thoughtfully.
This man knew Gypsy McQuade better than anyone, even her parents, he guessed.
“She’ll seek out her friends first,” he finally answered. “Liza, Isabelle, and Jonas’s mate, Rachel. Perhaps even the Coyote females. She knows them quite well and parties with them often. When there are no answers to be found there, only then will she go to Breaker.”
“He would be the most direct route,” Dane pointed out. “Why not go to him first?”
“Because he spooked her.” The warrior suddenly grinned. “And he’s the first man who’s managed to do that. He has her so spooked, he just might have her running scared. And, boys”—pure anticipation filled the other man’s voice now—“I’ve never seen Gypsy Rum McQuade run scared from any man or Breed. I’m damned sure looking forward to this one.”
What the warrior wasn’t thinking of, what he wasn’t remembering, was that Gypsy had remained a virgin all these years to continue working with the Unknown for a reason.
She was trying to deserve to live.
She’d never forgiven herself for something that was never her fault to begin with.
Her brother’s death.
She wouldn’t give in easily, and if she did—if she did, he hoped Rule had the good sense to give her more to live for than she would believe she needed to die for. Just as he hoped that in Gypsy, Rule could find a mate he deemed worthy of fighting his fears for. Because in this world, in this time, being a Breed wasn’t easy, nor was it much safer than it had been before.
Now, a Breed had so much more to lose.
Perhaps his father had been right last year when he’d suggested to Dane that it was time to place both woman and Breed in a position that neither could refuse nor run from. A position that would give that animal skulking inside Rule the best chance possible of claiming his mate before Rule realized what was about. And the best chance for the woman to be mated.
He almost smiled in satisfaction.
There were times when he and the old man were in perfect accord. Well, actually, often. They only really seemed to butt heads when the Leo began to suspect that Dane was out having fun when he’d told the Leo he was searching the world for his mate.
His father, despite his toddler twins who were giving him hell nowadays, was desperate to see his bachelor son settled and giving the Leo grandbabies to bounce on his knee.
Dane was just as determined to do otherwise.
He’d loved, deeply, sincerely. Mate or no mate, he’d loved one woman with a strength he’d not known he could possess. He’d loved her enough to give her to her mate and ensure that the dumb bastard deserved her.
Not that he ever had, but he was as close as any man would get, Dane had decided, aching a bit, as he always did, for her.
Still, he’d set this in motion nearly a year before, then just waited for his little brother, Jonas, to get a clue and finish the job for him.
Jonas was rather dependable in that area.
Thankfully, because Dane didn’t think the title of Mate Matcher would sit as well on his shoulders as it did on his baby brother’s.
“What now?” Dog asked, glancing at Dane curiously.
“Now”—Dane smiled around the cigar clenched in his teeth—“now, we dot our i’s and cross our t’s and see what happens.”
The other two men glared at him in confusion.