Cabal shook his head at that. “A Breed would never wait twenty years to exact revenge against a lost mate. There are few instances of matings before the Breeds revealed themselves. Each time, the Breed left behind went feral and was killed.”
Cassa breathed out roughly. Glancing at her as he drove into Glen Ferris, Cabal took in the light frown between her brows and the concern in her dark gray eyes.
“Myron knows something.” She shook her head as she glanced back at him. “There was something about his reaction to my questions that didn’t sit right. It wasn’t in character. It made me wonder if he didn’t know what was going on here and why.”
She worried about her friendship with Myron, but she worried as well about the Breed community and the killings now taking place. Myron knew something, and that something could mean the difference between catching a killer and the safety of the Breeds.
“He lost his mate here, just before the revelation of the Breeds,” Cabal stated. “A Lion Breed female. She was barely eighteen. She was killed while helping to escort an escaped Breed through the mountains. Nearly a dozen Breeds died that day in the same valley where we found Alonzo.”
“Do you think there’s a connection?” She could feel the connection.
Cabal wanted to believe there was, simply because he needed easy answers.
“A Breed is making these kills,” he told her. “Not a human. Myron might suspect someone, but he’s not the killer.”
“Meaning you’ve already checked on the possibility,” she stated.
Cabal smiled at that. “See how well you know me, Cassa? Mating with you might well be more fun than either of us anticipated. It could get very interesting.”
She rolled her eyes at him.
Cabal had no doubt it was going to get interesting, just as soon as he got her back in the bed. That damned pill was slowly wearing off, and the sweet scent of her arousal was beginning to drift to him. Her arousal as well as the hormonal mark he had left on her body. Finally, the animal inside him could breathe easier.
That pill was dangerous. As Jonas had stated, there wasn’t a Breed alive that was safe from the Council now. There would never be an assurance of safety because they could no longer depend on being able to scent their enemies.
“Where are we going first?” she asked as he turned off the main road onto one of the side roads.
“Sheriff Lacey,” he told her. “Today’s her day off. I called earlier to let her know we were coming by. Her father was one of the leaders of the groups that protected the Breeds around here. She was friends with most all of them. I’m hoping she’ll know something about the group that was killed in the valley. It’s not a coincidence that we found Alonzo’s body there.”
“But no other bodies were found there,” she pointed out. “They’ve been scattered, and Banks’s body still hasn’t been found. Someone had to have seen something,” she mused. “There could be more than just a rogue Breed, but also one or more persons protecting him.”
He’d already checked that angle, just as he’d investigated every Breed in the county. He hadn’t questioned the sheriff enough yet. She might have more information he wasn’t getting from others.
“Lacey seems cooperative,” Cassa ventured carefully.
Cabal almost grinned at the hint of jealousy he could smell now.
“Her family has always protected the Breeds that made it here,” he told her. “She’s an important contact to have.”
But he hadn’t slept with the sheriff. Danna Lacey was cooperative and friendly, but there was a reserved air about her that practically screamed at a man to hold his distance.
Cassa didn’t say anything more. Cabal drove the Raider to the turnoff to Danna’s small house, just inside the forested tree line that surrounded the small town.
The sheriff was waiting at the door, a cup of steaming coffee in her hand as she leaned against the frame and watched them leave the vehicle and move to the house.
She was dressed in jeans and a large flannel shirt, with her hair pulled back into a braid, while her green eyes gleamed with amused interest.
Her gaze flicked to where Cabal recaptured Cassa’s hand after getting out of the Raider. His prickly little mate still wasn’t certain about the affectionate side of the mating she was now involved in.
He’d given up on remaining distant from her. He needed to touch her, needed to hold her.
“Good afternoon.” She greeted them as they stepped up on the porch. “Come on in. I just made a pot of coffee. Decaf if you don’t mind it. My doctor thinks I need to cut my intake of caffeine.” She snorted at the thought.
“Decaf is fine,” Cabal assured her as they moved to the long kitchen table. “Thanks for seeing us on your day off.”
“That’s not a problem,” she assured him. “But I am curious. What do you need to know that it couldn’t wait until I returned to the office?”
Cabal lifted the brown envelope he’d carried from the Raider and laid it on the table before extracting the aerial shot of the valley where H. R. Alonzo had died.
“This valley.” He pointed to the area. “Twenty years ago a pride of Lion Breeds were killed there. What can you tell me about those who were mated?”
Cassa watched as the sheriff moved slowly to the table and picked up the aerial shot. Her expression transformed for the briefest second into lines of pain before she took a deep breath and shook her head sadly.
“There were ten Breeds,” she said as she looked up. “They were headed by Patrick Wallace, an escaped Breed from the UK. He’d banded most of the Breeds together into his pride. He took ten of them that night. The youngest was a little Lion Breed female. She was only eighteen years old but she was one of the fiercest fighters they had.”
Danna moved from the table, poured coffee, then returned with cups for both Cabal and Cassa before she took her seat.
“What was significant about the female?” Cabal asked.
Cassa knew before the sheriff answered, but she listened, and ached at the regret she heard in the sheriff’s tone.
“I was twenty-three myself then,” Danna sighed. “The girl’s name was Illandra. She had just married one of our group’s young men, Myron James.” The curve of her lips was tight with sadness. “They were escorting a Coyote Breed through the forest. He was wounded, too weak to get over the mountain on his own, and they couldn’t risk taking him by vehicle or allowing him to stay in the area. They went on foot instead, thinking they could avoid the Council Coyotes and soldiers that had been sent for them.”
“What made this Coyote so special?” Cabal asked her. “At that time there were few Coyotes that opposed the Council.”
“Maybe that was what made him special,” she stated as she shrugged heavily. “I didn’t know who he was, or why he was there. We rarely did. Patrick was pretty secretive.”
“They were caught in that valley though?” Cabal pressed her.
Danna nodded. “They were caught in the valley by a group of men sent to hunt them. Most of the male Breeds were killed. Illandra and the other female in the group were captured and taken away.”
The sheriff reached out and pulled the picture toward her once again. She sat staring at it as Cassa watched her face. She had obviously known the Breeds who had died there well.
“Illandra was Myron’s mate, you said?” Cassa sked.
Danna looked up, her lips pressing together painfully. “She was so vibrant. She had only just started laughing. Myron would make faces at her, bring her flowers and candy. He was always spoiling her, always trying to make up for the horrors she’d experienced in those labs. He was devoted to her.”
“What about the other female?” Cabal asked. “Was she mated?”