Bengal's Heart (30 page)

“My God,” Danna whispered as she raised shocked eyes to meet Cabal’s. “Who is it?”

“Dr. Ryan Damron,” Cabal said quietly. “Did you know him?”

He pulled free another of the pictures, in which the sheriff could see the body and the ground around the doctor. There was an eyeball by his left shoulder. His tongue had been sliced off and laid on his mauled chest.

“Ryan Damron.” Danna inhaled deeply. “I knew of him. He visited with Brandenmore and Engalls during the summers fairly often. Especially during hunting season.”

Cabal slid the pictures back into the envelope.

“You think he’s tied to David Banks,” she guessed. “Were they both killed by the same person?”

Cabal shook his head at the question as though he were uncertain. “The only tie we have is the fact that the good doctor was missing for several months before we found his body. The kill was fresh. The Bureau received information where the body could be found, and nothing more.”

“And Banks’s body hasn’t shown up either.” Placing her hand on her hip, the sheriff turned away before pacing to the other side of the room.

“I knew Banks,” she sighed. “I didn’t like him much, but I knew him. Damron I was only acquainted with.” She turned back to them, her dark green eyes flickering back to the envelope that held the pictures. “They were both tied to Brandenmore and Engalls though, I do know that.”

“Damron, Banks, Brandenmore and Engalls were all hunting buddies,” Cabal stated. “Do you remember anyone else that hunted with them, or visited with them here often?”

Danna lifted her hand and tapped at her lips with her index finger as she frowned thoughtfully for long moments.

“There were several others,” she finally said. “A police officer, Aaron Washington. A quiet guy, kind of plain. An attorney out of D.C., Elam March, he came in maybe once a year and made a nuisance of himself. There was a sheriff from out west somewhere I think, Jason Douglas. And that damned H. R. Alonzo. He was a pest even then.” She shook her head. “There were others, but I’d have to ask Myron about them. He was more social than I was, even then. He’d know more about Brandenmore’s buddies than I.”

Myron. Cassa felt her stomach sink at Danna’s words. After his reaction yesterday morning to her questions, she was beginning to get a bad feeling that he was more involved in this than she wanted to believe.

“Thanks for your time, Danna.” Cabal rose to his feet as Cassa followed more slowly. “If you think of anything else, let me know.”

“Cabal, what the hell is going on here?” Concern lined the sheriff’s face now. “What was Banks involved in? A Breed wouldn’t wait this long to kill over a murder that took place over twenty years ago.”

“I’m not sure, Danna.” Cabal’s gaze was somber as he watched the sheriff, and Cassa thought perhaps she detected a shadow of regret in his voice. Did he suspect, as she did, that Myron could be involved in the killings?

She didn’t want to believe it, but she’d learned to be suspicious, and she’d learned that even those closest to you could betray you in the worst ways. She and Myron were friends, but that didn’t mean he wouldn’t be seeking revenge for a mate that had been murdered and possibly tortured to death.

Danna’s jaw clenched as she gave an abrupt nod, obviously sensing that Cabal wasn’t going to tell her anything more.

“Let me know if I can help you any further then,” she told him. “I’ll keep looking for information on Banks as well. His disappearance is still an open case. There were a lot of people around here that liked him though, so be careful how you ask your questions.”

“Thanks for the advice, Sheriff.” Cabal nodded once again before turning and heading for the door.

“Thanks for the coffee, Sheriff,” Cassa said quietly.

“You’re welcome, Ms. Hawkins.” The sheriff’s voice was stiff now, concern lining her expression as Cassa turned away from her and followed Cabal out of the house.

As she stepped into the chilly air and felt his warmth next to her, she had to restrain a shiver of sudden need.

She wanted to keep her mind on this investigation; she wanted to find the killer whose acts might destroy the Breeds and learn why he’d committed such destruction on the bodies of his enemies. What was driving him, and who was he? A Breed or someone intent on destroying the Breeds?

The need to understand drove her to try to answer the questions roiling through her mind. But another need was beginning to burn through her as well.

The need for her mate.

◆ CHAPTER 16
◆

There was nothing as confusing as a damned Breed, especially Cabal. He’d gone from refusing to hold her at all to refusing to release her.

He held her hand out of the sheriff’s home. When they were back in the Raider, his large hand cupped her knee as he drove. He acted as though he couldn’t stand to take his hands off her.

Was he trying to distract her? Throw her off balance? What the hell was up with him?

She gave him another suspicious look as they drove through town. The Raider itself drew an incredible amount of attention as it eased through the light traffic of Glen Ferris. Not that the town was large enough to actually slip through without being noticed. The Breed insignia on the door of the vehicle didn’t help matters much.

Breeds drew attention wherever they went though. The world still wasn’t used to, or certain of, this strange new species that man had created.

“The Breed Freedom Society that hid the Breeds in the area. Do you know the identities of all its members?” she asked as she tried to think past the feel of his fingertips rubbing against the inside of her knee.

“No one knows the identities of the Freedom Society,” he answered her, and he didn’t seem concerned by it.

She stared back at him in disbelief. “Right,” she answered mockingly. “No one knows their identities. You haven’t checked into it. And I’ll just bet Jonas doesn’t have a clue either.”

His lips quirked at her snappy words. “What Jonas knows pretty much stays with Jonas,” he stated. “Who knows what he knows?”

She almost snorted at that, but found herself staring at him in disbelief instead. He was joking with her? The stoic, sober, dangerous Cabal was cracking jokes? Since when?

“You’re making fun of me,” she accused him suspiciously.

The look he turned on her was one of confusion. “Making fun of you? Why would I do that?”

“Because you can,” she sighed, attempting to move her leg from his touch and failing. Not for the first time.

“I’ve never attempted to identify all the members of the Freedom Society for a reason,” he explained. “They’ve struggled to remain anonymous, even to the Bureau. I’ve tried to respect that.”

“And if they’re hiding a killer now?” She turned to him as she asked the question. “What if they’re aware of the rogue, aware of the murders?”

He stared through the windshield as she watched him with a hint of anger.

“Danna is a member of the Freedom Society, we know that.” She held up a single finger. “Walt. I’d bet he was part of it, and high ranking at that.”

“Why Walt?” His hand slipped higher on her leg, his fingers rubbing, caressing, interfering with her thought process.

She could barely manage to control her breathing. If his fingers went much higher, she was going to lose her breath entirely.

“Why Walt?” She looked down at his hand, watching as his darkly tanned fingers continued to smooth, to rub over the denim that covered her legs.

There were chills chasing up her legs, frissons of sensation beginning to sing through her nerve endings, to strike higher, to wrap around the sensitive bud of her clit.

She was growing wetter, more sensitive. She could feel the tender flesh of her pussy heating, preparing for him.

All she wanted to do was to slide across the console, straddle his lap . . .

And what the hell was stopping her? This was her mate, right? He was her man. He could touch. He could kiss. He could do whatever the hell he wanted to do.

Her jaw tightened at the thought. Well, maybe she should try doing what she wanted to do for a change. They were close enough to the hotel. Hell, for that matter there were any number of places that he could pull off the road, darken the windows and just have his way with her. If he were of a mind to do that.

She wondered if she could put him in the mind to do it.

“What the hell are you up to?” She slid around in her seat, watching him closely now, wondering if she had the courage, if she dared to be so bold.

“Me?” He stared back at her in surprise. “What do you think I’m up to?”

His fingers were moving higher, only inches from the wet, desperate flesh that vibrated with need for him.

“You’re trying to distract me.” She could be naughty. She could be bad. She would be, because she was sick and damned tired of this particular Breed thinking he could, and that he would, control her.

She let her fingers touch the back of his hand, the pads barely caressing his flesh as he paused on her thigh.

“You think you can control me, don’t you, Cabal?” she asked him softly, the accusation weighing heavily between them. “You don’t want me asking questions. You don’t want me investigating this story. So what are you doing?”

He glanced over at her in disbelief. “What am I doing?”

“You’re using the mating heat and the sex to distract me,” she answered him. She should have been furious. She assured herself that she would be later. For now, she was going to be what she wanted to be. For once, she was going to do what she wanted to do. For once, she was going to distract rather than be distracted.

She decided that was a mate’s job. At least when a woman had a mate such as Cabal.

“I wouldn’t do that.” He cleared his throat as she moved her hand from his and laid it on his thigh. Her fingertips danced over the denim that covered the hard muscle there, moving close, then drawing away from the bulge of his hardened cock.

She watched as he took a deep breath, his chest expanding as she released her seat belt and moved in her seat.

“Hell,” he breathed out roughly as she slid one leg over his thighs and moved until she was straddling him, her body braced between him and the steering wheel.

“I’m sure this is illegal.” His voice was suddenly guttural, harsh.

“Have you ever cared about the legalities of what you do?” she asked, her head lowering to his shoulder, her lips touching his neck.

“Only if I could get caught.” His hand gripped her hip, his body tightening as she raked her teeth along his neck. “We could get caught.”

“What are we doing?”

“Driving and riding in an illegal manner?” he questioned her. “I’m sure there’s a law somewhere.”

“I’m sure,” she murmured, suddenly distracted by the taste of his flesh as her lips caressed his neck, her tongue stroking over it.

She felt a surge of power racing through her as Cabal’s hips lifted, shifted, his cock pressing into the vee of her thighs as she moved over him. He wasn’t pushing her from him. He wasn’t denying her or ridiculing her.

“Damn, Cassa.” He was groaning instead, as she pulled his shirt from his jeans, her hand smoothing over his hard abdomen, feeling the muscles flex beneath her palm.

He was warm. So warm and hard. He made her feel soft, female, in ways she had never realized before.

“If I wreck, we’re going to be in trouble,” he warned her, but he wasn’t ordering her away. He wasn’t calling her names; he wasn’t cursing her for her temerity.

He was aroused. And he was holding her to him.

How many times had she fantasized about this? About being brave and bold with him. She had dreamed about being the woman she had never been able to be before. The woman she hadn’t known how to be.

“Don’t wreck, Cabal,” she whispered as she nipped at the hard flesh of his neck.

“Easy for you to say,” he groaned, his hand moving against her hip, shifting her against him as he rocked in the cradle of her thighs.

“Very easy for me to say.” She sighed in bliss at the feel of the hard ridge of his cock stroking against her sensitive folds.

“What the hell has come over you?” His moan was a strangled breath of lust as his head turned, his lips stealing a quick kiss before he turned his gaze back to the road. “I thought you were going to fight this with every breath.”

“You were the one fighting.”

She leaned into the curve as he took the turn that led back to the cabin he had rented. Her knees tightened on his thighs, her hand stroked his chest.

“Cassa, baby, you’re destroying my control.”

And what had happened to her control? Where had her common sense gone or her sense of self-preservation?

It had disintegrated in his hold. It had disappeared with his first kiss.

“I own you.” She sat up on his lap as the Raider gained speed up the steep incline to the cabin.

She watched the amber in his eyes flare, watched the flush that stained his cheekbones and the lust that flared in his expression.

Her hands moved between their bodies, her fingers tearing at the closure of his jeans. She needed him. Ached for him.

“Damn you,” he growled. “What you do to me should be illegal.”

“Take it up with the ruling cabinet,” she gasped, speaking of the group that oversaw the Breed community and its laws.

“I’ll take it up with you, mate.”

His breathing was as harsh, as heavy, as hers when the Raider slammed to a stop outside the cabin. Before she could draw more than one harsh breath, his lips were on hers, his tongue swirling over hers, spreading the spicy taste of the mating hormone and setting fire to an arousal already growing quickly out of control.

She tightened her arms around him; her knees gripped his hips and she held on to his shoulders and his kiss as he stepped from the vehicle.

She wanted to laugh in sheer pleasure as she felt his hands grip her rear, holding her to him. But she was consumed by his kiss instead. She moaned into the kiss, her hands tearing at his shirt, pulling at it, desperate to feel his bare flesh as she felt the door at her back, felt Cabal struggling to release the security lock.