Brandenmore and Engalls, the owners of a pharmaceutical and drug research company, were under indictment for the drugging of the Breed doctor, Elyiana Morrey, and conspiracy to murder in several Breed deaths. They had been caught attempting to buy from her two assistants research conducted by Dr. Morrey, and were rumored to be researching a de-aging phenomenon the Breeds and their wives were supposedly experiencing.
There was no supposition to it. Cassa knew the truth of it. The Breeds were experiencing an aging decrease once they went into mating heat. The phenomenon was making Breed doctors crazy trying to figure it out, and sending the Breed Ruling Cabinet into a frenzy each time the gossip tabloids came up with another angle to tell the story from.
So far, it wasn’t being taken seriously. But that couldn’t continue much longer. It had been eleven years since the Feline Breed alpha had announced the existence of the Breeds. Ten years since he or his wife had aged in any noticeable way.
Cassa was one of the few people who knew the truth, and she knew the consequences of ever writing that story or revealing her knowledge of it. The nondisclosure agreement she had signed, in return for special consideration in interviews and breaking Breed stories, had been frightening. She was certain she might have signed away her soul, her firstborn child and her cat’s blood. Or something close.
“Engalls and Brandenmore are being dealt with,” Jonas drawled, his tone one of pure ice. “I’m more concerned with a rogue Breed’s indiscriminate killings. Find him, Cabal, or we could all be up shit creek without a paddle.”
Cabal grunted at that. “I thought we already were.”
“No, at the moment, we have a paddle,” Jonas informed him sarcastically. “Now find that bastard before he kills again. I’ll be damned if I want to try to clean up another mess like the last one. I’m certain there are still pieces of him missing.”
Cassa forced herself to silence. She had the pictures of that killing, she was certain she did. That one, and three others. Pictures that had been sent via secured, untraceable emails that accused the Breeds of hiding a killer.
She hadn’t doubted they were capable of it. She just hadn’t imagined that even a Breed could do the damage that had been done in those pictures.
Trepidation built inside her as she felt the sweat that began to trickle down her temple at the thought of being caught now. She knew Breed Law, and she knew the price of eavesdropping on this conversation. Like David Banks, she could disappear and her fate never be known.
There was once a rumor that Jonas had a fondness for throwing his enemies into volcanoes. She really didn’t doubt it. It sounded like a very “Jonas” thing to do.
“You’re pissing in the wind, Jonas,” Cabal informed him. “We have nothing to go on here. No suspects, no clues. Until I have one or the other, then there’s not a lot I can do.”
“Get it.” Jonas’s voice became dangerous, clipped. “Quickly, Cabal.”
“Yeah, I’ll get right on that, Director, just as soon as you tell me who the hell I’m looking for.” Cabal’s voice lowered until it vibrated with suppressed menace. “Until then, there’s not a hell of a lot more I can do.”
“Banks was from Glen Ferris. Get back there, see what you can find out. We’re supposed to be searching for him. Investigate it from that angle.”
“Just what I need, you telling me how to do my fucking job,” Cabal grunted.
“I could be telling you how to find your mate,” Jonas drawled with a hint of amusement. “I’m certain she’s around here somewhere. What do you think?”
A dangerous growl filled the air as Cassa felt her heart sink in her chest. Cabal was mated? No, that couldn’t be true. Breeds did not ignore their mates, and they sure as hell didn’t fuck around with anything in a skirt as Cabal was known to do. The man had a virtual harem kneeling at his feet, begging for the privilege of pleasing him. It was enough to make her teeth clench in irritation.
Jonas had to be talking about a mate in general, not one in particular. Such as in a seek and ye shall find, why aren’t you looking for your mate type of thing. That had to be it.
“Don’t fuck with me, Jonas,” Cabal warned him. “I’m not in the mood.”
Jonas chuckled. It wasn’t a comfortable or amused sound. It was, frankly, frightening.
“I’m not the one you have to worry about fucking with you, my friend,” he drawled. “I do believe though that our intrepid little reporter, Ms. Hawkins, could give you lessons in it.”
Cassa felt her lips part in shock. There was a hint of amusement in Jonas’s voice now, but none in Cabal’s rumbled snarl. The sound was sexy as hell even as it sent chills racing up Cassa’s spine—and a flood of warmth between her thighs.
Jonas knew exactly how Cabal felt about her; he had been there the morning Cabal had killed her husband and nearly killed her. She could still feel Cabal’s hands around her throat, see the fury and the need for blood in his eyes.
“Drop it, Jonas,” Cabal warned him.
Yes, Jonas, please drop it, Cassa moaned silently. She was becoming aroused by his voice, despite her best efforts not to do so. She was worried that whatever that pill did, it would be little defense against the scent of her need. And she was definitely needy. In the eleven years since her husband’s death, she had never been so turned on as she was when she was around Cabal St. Laurents.
“Fine, consider it dropped.” She heard the shrug in Jonas’s voice. “The heli-jet will be ready to fly you to Glen Ferris in the morning. Investigate Banks’s disappearance further. We might get lucky and you’ll find a suspect while you’re there.”
“Keep hoping,” Cabal grunted. “Trust me, if they’re hiding a feral Breed in their midst, they’re not going to turn him over simply because I ask nicely.”
The residents of Glen Ferris would be more likely to shelter and protect a feral Breed, no matter the risk to themselves. Hell, they’d been doing it for years; there was no reason to believe they wouldn’t do it now.
“You know how to ask nicely?” There was a wealth of sarcasm in Jonas’s voice.
“Go to hell.” There was a wealth of arrogance in Cabal’s.
Cassa wanted to laugh at the confrontation, even as she filed away the surprising information that had come her way. Everyone suspected that Banks was dead at this point. It had been a week since his disappearance, and there were no leads on what had happened to him. The river had been dragged, search efforts were still ongoing, but there wasn’t a clue to his whereabouts.
David Banks had gone for his evening walk one night in the little town of Glen Ferris, West Virginia. He hadn’t been seen again. His body hadn’t been found. There was no trace, no clue where he might have gone or what might have happened to him. Until now.
“I’ll return to hell, you check on our nosy reporter.” Jonas’s voice echoed with command once again as Cassa gave a small start of fear. “She was too jumpy at the reception tonight. Make sure she’s where she’s supposed to be rather than someplace where she shouldn’t be.”
Cassa sensed the air of hesitation that filled the area on the other side of the shrubs.
“Is she becoming a problem?”
She definitely didn’t like the flat, cold tone Cabal used now. He’d claimed he owned her the morning of his escape from that pit, and he took every opportunity to remind her that he could enforce that claim anytime he chose.
“She’s always a problem whether she’s here or at Sanctuary,” Jonas answered.
Cassa’s eyes narrowed. She was never a problem at Sanctuary. The Feline Breed stronghold was homier and a damned sight more welcoming to her than the Wolf Breed compound she was in now.