The thought almost froze her in her place as the elevator doors opened on the lobby floor, depositing her in the deserted hall.
Douglas wasn’t alive. She had seen him die; she knew she had. There on the floor of that horrible lab, a steel spike driven into his back.
She stepped into the hall, her steps slowing as she moved to the back entrance of the inn.
She hadn’t actually seen him die. She hadn’t seen his body at the burial. It was a closed casket funeral, supposedly at the request of family.
She’d wondered at the time, What family? Douglas had never mentioned family to her.
Lifting her head, Cassa paused at the back entrance, her hand clenched around the strap of her pack as she fought with the questions raging through her mind.
This killer was smart, methodical. He had managed to get seven men to return to Glen Ferris after word would have spread that the Dozen was being picked off, one by one. He knew what he was doing, and he knew how to do it.
He wanted Douglas. He wouldn’t be satisfied with Douglas’s wife.
She felt her heart racing in her chest now, and this time, it wasn’t from arousal. It was from horror. Terror.
She could feel herself shaking her head, feel the knowledge burning into her soul as surely as the mating heat burned through her body.
“Turning back, Ms. Hawkins?”
She turned with a gasp at the sound of Dog’s rough voice.
Eyes widening, she watched as he stepped from the doorway of one of the offices. Dressed in black leather, his silver and black hair framing his savage features, he looked like a demon come to collect souls.
Was her soul the one he had chosen? Or merely her life?
“You were supposed to meet me outside,” she said, feeling the fear as it rose inside her with a vengeance.
“So I was.” His brow arched with curious amusement. “And you were supposed to actually step outside that door thirty-five seconds ago. You’re late.”
“So I am.” She stepped back as he moved a step forward.
What had she done? She had known even as she stepped from that elevator that she was making a mistake. That she should have never agreed to this meeting. Now she could feel that certainty to the very marrow of her bones.
She should have never allowed herself to be drawn away from Cabal so effectively. She should have fought this out with him rather than trying to solve things the same way she had done all her life. Her way. Silently. Stubbornly.
Douglas had once told her that her stubbornness was going to cause him to kill her. Maybe, in a way, he had always been right.
“So much fear.” Dog scoffed mockingly as he watched her, his head tilted to the side as one thumb rested just inside the pocket of his snug leather pants. “You should have thought of the wisdom of this meeting before arranging it perhaps.”
No shit.
“I’m considering it now,” she retorted. “Let me pass, Dog.”
“Going to run back to your little Bengal then?” He grinned as he asked the question. “Tell me, Cassa, have you figured it out yet?”
Had she figured it out? She had a lot of suspicions and a lot of questions. But she had a feeling that Dog didn’t have as many answers as he thought he had.
“What’s there to figure out?” she questioned him instead. “Cabal will kill both of us if I leave here with you.”
“Well, he’d kill one of us anyway.” His lips quirked in a rueful smile. “Somehow, I doubt you’d be so lucky as to escape that easily though.”
Somehow, she guessed he was right.
“We’re not leaving the inn,” he finally told her as he glanced up the hall before turning back to her. “I have no desire to end my existence quite yet, despite repeated attempts by others to hurry it along.”
Cassa swallowed tightly as she stared back at him and wished to hell she had stayed in her room.
“What was I supposed to have figured out by now?” She returned to his previous question.
He shook his head slowly. “Mordecai seemed pretty confident that you were smarter than you’re letting on,” he sighed. “Tell me, Cassa, haven’t you figured out yet why the killer drew you here? Why your Bengal refuses to allow you to be a part of what he’s involved in?”
“Dog.”
Cassa started, swinging around as Cabal stepped into the back hallway.
Talk about being caught between a rock and a hard place.
Her gaze swung between the two men as the eerie sense of danger began to wrap around her.
“What was I supposed to figure out?” she asked the Coyote as she ignored her mate. Ignored the man she loved and tried to ignore the suspicion that was beginning to make her sick inside.
“Drop this, Dog,” Cabal warned quietly. “It’s gone far enough.”
“Perhaps it has,” Dog sighed. “If the truth hasn’t slapped her upside the head by now, then it isn’t going to.” He inclined his head toward her. “Next time you want to talk, Ms. Hawkins, try going through regular channels. It’s normally safer for my ass that way.”
“He’s alive.”
Dog froze. Time froze. Behind her, Cassa heard Cabal growl.
“Isn’t he?” she whispered and turned back to stare at Cabal. “My husband is still alive.”
◆ CHAPTER 20 ◆
“He’s not your fucking husband!” The words tore out of Cabal’s mouth before he could stop them. For the first time in longer than he could remember, he spoke without thought, without considering the words that fell from his lips.
He hadn’t meant to say it, not just like that. But he couldn’t handle it. Hearing her call Watts her husband was too much for him to stand.
The pain in her eyes, in her scent, nearly overwhelmed him. The need to comfort her, to wrap her in his arms and shelter her from this knowledge, was like a stake through his soul.
“Get out of here, Dog,” he snarled.
That bastard Coyote. The son of a bitch had to be related to Jonas, because he was nothing but a manipulative troublemaker, rather like the Bureau director himself was.
Dog watched them silently, his expression brooding, heavy.
“Let her face it,” he said softly, his gaze going to Cassa as she stared at Cabal with betrayal in her eyes.
The betrayal hurt the worst, Cabal acknowledged. As Jonas had warned him, this secret had come back to bite him on the ass.
“You knew.” Her voice was husky with a pain he had no idea how to ease for her. “You knew he was still alive.”
“And I know it doesn’t matter.” He’d had enough.
Cabal stepped forward, gripped her arm and pulled her toward the elevators. “We’ll talk about this upstairs.”
“The hell we will.” Jerking her arm out of his grasp, she stared up at him, waves of fury beginning to pour from her now. “What else have you been keeping from me, Cabal? How many other lies have you told?”
“More than you want to keep track of,” he bit out in self-disgust. “Do you want a fucking list?”
He pushed her gently into the elevator, blocked the exit and stared down at her implacably as the doors slid shut behind them.
“Locking me up again, Cabal?” she sneered at him.
He couldn’t blame her for her fury. She had every right to it. As Jonas had said, this was a secret he shouldn’t have kept from her, but neither had she needed to know. Until this assignment. Until the mission that Cabal had no doubt would require that he kill Watts again. This time for good.
“You would only slip out,” he growled. “You can’t stay in place, can you, Cassa?”
“Go to hell!” she yelled furiously, her face flushing a becoming pink. “I’m not some weak-kneed little bitch you can order around. Not anymore.”
“So instead of fighting me for anything, you go to Dog?” he snapped out, the anger beginning to burn in him as well. “To a Coyote, Cassa?”