Bengal's Heart

by Lora Leigh

  ker on the sat phone, and was certain that this was the cabin he was searching for. He watched, inhaling the scents blowing toward him, searching for some sign of Cassa and finding nothing on the cold breeze.

  He was going to have to get in closer, but with the way the cabin sat and the position of the ravine, it was going to be damned near impossible to slip up on another Breed. His Breed scent might be masked, but if the pill did indeed allow the human scent through, then he could be fucked. Because Azrael would be able to detect him coming.

  He would have to stay low. The lower he was, the less chance there would be of the breeze betraying him. The winds were swirling, but for the moment they were coming down, curling and moving along the edge of the valley. If they stayed as they were, a big if there, then there would be a narrow window of movement that he could use to advance on the cabin.

  Plotting his course, he gave the breeze time to die down before he took off. Using one hand to hold the rifle secure at his back, he ran, body low, using the speed that had been built into his genetics to race the wind.

  As he drew closer to the cabin, he knew something was wrong. He could smell Breed scent; Walt Jameson’s scent was there as well as a scent he knew belonged to David Banks. But the scents weren’t fresh. They weren’t there.

  Enraged, a howl tore from Cabal’s lips as he went through the front door. Glass and wood crashed into an immaculate kitchen. There was chili on the stove, coffee in the pot. All fresh. Cassa’s scent was there at the table, an untouched bowl of food where she had sat.

  But there was no Cassa.

  “You fucker!” he screamed. Fury burned like fire in his blood and tore through his senses, darkening the stripes now bisecting his face and running down his body.

  “Jonas,” he barked into the comm link. “They’re not at the cabin I tracked the sat phone signal from. What the fuck is going on?”

  “Watts is moving,” Jonas growled into the link. “If you’d keep the goddamned link turned on, you might know that. There’s movement at the valley where Alonzo’s body was found. We can’t slip in with the heli-jet. We’re moving in on foot.”

  Cabal didn’t wait to question. The clearing was a good half hour’s hard run from where he was currently at. The distance could be shortened if he shot over the cliff behind him. If he could scale it quickly enough.

  It was a second’s thought, quick calculation before he ran for the cliff. The leather gloves on his hands protected his palms, but nothing could protect the gloves as his nails retracted, the strong claws beneath shooting out to grip the stone.

  He scrambled up the narrow cliff face, using every ounce of strength in his arms and legs to move himself quickly along the jutting stone and the weathered erosions that pitted it.

  Within minutes he was jumping over the top and was running. Son of a bitch, he hated running with this damned suit on. He couldn’t feel the breeze, couldn’t smell it either, couldn’t sense friend or foe as he could without the protective outerwear.

  Without it though he would be easily detectable to Breed or human devices. The fabric blocked some scent; hopefully the anti-scent drug he had taken would completely block the Breed scent. If he was lucky, damned lucky, then he just might be able to slip in.

  “Cassa’s been sighted, Cabal. She’s alive. Patrick Wallace has made a deal with Watts according to the information our spy within the group had gotten to us. He’s trading Cassa to Watts for information on a missing son.”

  “What missing kid?” he snarled into the link.

  “The Valentine’s night massacre,” Jonas relayed. “Wallace’s mate was in labor when the Dozen found her. She was alone with the midwife. Both his mate and the midwife were killed. Her child was cut from her body and taken. Watts took the boy. Wallace is hunting for his child.”

  Then he should have come to Jonas. Hell, he could have come to Cabal at any time and received every resource they could use to find Wallace’s missing child.

  No, what this man had done was insanity. He had killed, risked the Breed community and then dared to attempt to trade Cassa for information.

  He was a dead man, Cabal promised himself. There was no way in hell Cabal was going to allow such mercilessness to survive.

  “Cabal, we have a team moving in,” Jonas informed him. “Brimstone is commander of the Coyotes that broke Watts out of the prison. That team is not to be touched. Those Coyotes are friendly. I repeat, they’re friendly. Do not engage. Son of a bitch, you stubborn-assed Bengal. I know what the fuck I’m doing here!” Jonas finally yelled in frustration when Cabal didn’t respond.

  Engage, his ass. Then they better not get in his damned way. He liked Brimstone just fine. Second-in-command of the Coyotes that had joined the Wolf community of Haven, he was a fine man. He was a damned good Breed. But if he stood in Cabal’s way, then he was going to be a damned good dead Breed. It was that simple.

  ◆ CHAPTER 26 ◆

  Patrick Wallace didn’t touch her, Cassa had to give him that. He made certain she was given breathing room, she wasn’t crowded in the van that he, Walt, Keith and David rode in.

  David didn’t continue the full distance. They met another vehicle not far down the mountain.

  “Protection,” Patrick murmured as Cassa watched the several Breeds from the other vehicle help David Banks into the four-wheel-drive. “David has proof and information against the members of the Dozen that have been identified so far. It’s been a process of elimination for the past few years.”

  Cassa turned and stared at his profile. His expression was quiet, reflective. His face was cast in shadow in the low light of the dash, giving him a somber, dark-angel appearance.

  “You won’t find the identities of the final four,” she told him quietly. “Cabal will kill you for this, Patrick.”

  She was shaking inside. She could feel the fear moving through her, building in her mind. If Cabal didn’t find her soon, and she knew he was looking for her, then she was screwed. God only knew what Douglas would do to her once he got his hands on her. From the videos she had seen of those hunts, it was something she didn’t want to contemplate.

  Patrick shook his head slowly.

  “My mate betrayed me and mine to those hunters,” he said quietly. “My best fighters were massacred. The females of my pride were either killed or returned to their labs. I learned then: You do what you have to do. My loyalty is to my fallen pride and those who still survive. You’re a pawn, Ms. Hawkins. Cabal was a pawn. And Watts will become a fatality. However I have to effect that end, that is what he will be. Whether you live or die all depends on how intelligent you are, and whether or not you’ve learned how to fight in the past eleven years.” She stared back at him, knowing there was going to be no mercy here. He might not want to hurt her himself, but if she was harmed, he wouldn’t cry over it.

  “I hope this is worth the hell Cabal will ensure you endure,” she whispered.

  “There is no hell greater than the one I’ve already endured.” He sighed as he slid the vehicle into gear and drove the van out of the wide spot he’d used to pull off on.

  Cassa was certain a worse hell awaited her though if she didn’t find a way to escape it. What had he said? Her ability to survive this depended on her own intelligence. And what exactly did he mean by that?

  “Rick, everyone’s in place,” Walt informed him quietly as he disconnected the sat phone he had held to his ear for long moments. “Watts is moving into the meeting area.”

  Patrick nodded. “Keith?” He glanced at the Breed in the back.

  “In place.” Keith was quiet, his voice rough. “The players are all heading to the field.”

  The tension mounted in the van now.

  “Don’t do this,” she whispered again.

  “I was born to do this,” he said heavily. “Live or die. It ends with Watts tonight.”

  Cassa stared into the darkness that gathered around the van as they drove deeper into the mountains. The bare trees danced in t
he wind as snow began to swirl in the air. The chill outside seemed to seep inside the vehicle, to sink into her flesh.

  She needed Cabal. She ached to burrow against him, to feel the warmth of him just once more. She should have told him, she thought. She should have told him that this mating meant so much more to her than she had ever imagined it would. That through the years she had run from him, just as hard as he had run from her, because she had been frightened. Because she had been afraid he could never forgive her for the deaths of his family.

  Not just his pride. Those Breeds were more: They were brothers and sisters, born of the same mother, bred from the same genetics.

  She loved him. She had always loved him. That night as she stared into his eyes, feeling his fingers wrapped around her throat and seeing the amber rage in his gaze, she had also seen the mercy. The struggle within himself. The certainty that he would never hurt her, no matter the fury that tore through him.

  He hadn’t left the first mark on her. Not a single fingerprint or bruise. He hadn’t hurt her. He would never hurt her. In that single moment a part of her heart had opened and Cabal had filled it.

  And now she could lose that forever.

  Where was he? She stared out into the night, knowing he was there somewhere. He was looking for her. He was fighting to save her. She might have to save herself for a while first though.

  She could do that. Whatever it took to ensure that she had the future she had always dreamed of with Cabal. Whatever it took to ensure that she didn’t have to live so much as another hour without knowing that he understood the faith and the trust she placed in him.

  Had she ever told him that? She hadn’t. God, this had all happened so fast. The mating, learning to adjust to a heat that really wasn’t as bad as she had heard it was. Actually, she thought and frowned, it was rather tame when compared to the trials she knew other mates had faced.

  Though the physical symptoms were lighter than with other mates because of the hormones, she could still feel the bonding. She could feel the need to be close to him, the need for his warmth, not just his lovemaking. She needed Cabal, just because he was Cabal. Her wild Bengal Breed.

  “Get ready,” Patrick warned them as they pulled into the wide clearing she had used herself when searching for the valley where Alonzo had died.

  Get ready to die.

  Cassa could feel the tension rising inside her. As Patrick stepped out of the van and slid open the door by her seat, she met his gaze calmly.

  “You can’t trust Douglas,” she told him. “He always has a backup plan.”

  “As do I.” He shrugged. “Let’s go. We’ll get this taken care of as quickly as possible. Perhaps you’ll get lucky and you’ll see your mate before the night is over.”

  Cassa inhaled slowly and stepped into the cold. She could feel it wrapping around her, prickling over her flesh despite the coat Walt had given her to wear.

  “Move out.” Patrick urged her forward, but she noticed that he, Walt and Keith surrounded her.

  There was no sense of safety here though. There was a heavy sense of danger instead. As though she could feel evil surrounding her, coming closer to her. Or rather, she was moving closer to the evil.

  Her chest hurt with the knowledge that blood was going to spill, one way or the other, tonight. There was no way to stop it. Whether Douglas lived or died, the Breed that had dared to kidnap her, to attempt to trade her, no matter the reason, would become the hunted rather than the hunter. Cabal would see to that.

  “Keep your head up.” The Breed that had spoken little through the day and evening, Keith, spoke to her softly as he walked beside her. “Watts fears strength. Don’t be surprised by him, don’t be fooled by him. He’s not going to be as strong as he wants you to believe.”

  “Enough, Keith,” Patrick cautioned him, both their voices low and calm as they led her through the forest to the meeting Patrick had set up. “She’ll survive by her own wits. To be a Bengal’s mate, she’ll have to learn now.”

  “And a Bengal’s mate is different how?” she asked him.

  She wished she could forget where they were going, what awaited her.

  She stared through the night again, her heart whispering for Cabal, aching for him. She had never been so frightened in her life, or so uncertain. She wasn’t the least bit ashamed to admit that she was way over her head here. “And if Cabal gets here before this is over, stand behind me,” she told the younger Breed. “I might be able to keep him from killing you.”

  Patrick chuckled, more at the fact that she hadn’t offered to stand in front of him, Cassa figured. He could stand on his own, he’d proven that. She had a feeling he was a little overconfident when it came to Cabal though. Primal Breed or not wouldn’t matter in Cabal’s case.

  Stilling the shudders that wanted to wrack her body, Cassa kept her eyes opened, watching, waiting for a chance to run. No doubt they would find it rather easy to chase her down, but she would never be able to ignore the opportunity if it presented itself.

  Cassa could feel her palms sweating as they moved closer to the valley that she had been directed away from before. Sliding through the thick growth of pine and bare trees, a single narrow path led through the dense growth of thicket, boulders and wild roses.

  Tiny thorns caught at her borrowed jacket, and she stumbled more than once over the large, hidden stones beneath her feet.

  She felt as though she were walking through another reality, a different dimension. She could feel the clash of fear and disbelief rocking through her, shortening her breath as panic rose inside her.

  The past was catching up to her with a vengeance, and she wanted nothing more than to escape it. Just as she had prayed to escape Douglas when she believed he was her husband.

  Escaping him wouldn’t have been easy. He was manipulating, controlling, and Cassa had been too young, too uncertain of herself at that time to defeat him. She would have, she assured herself, in time. Douglas wouldn’t have had the power to hold her indefinitely. But he hadn’t wanted to hold on to her, she reminded herself. She had been a tool he had needed at the time, nothing more, and she was suddenly thankful for that.

  They came to a hard stop as Patrick moved ahead of the group and lifted his hand imperiously. She could feel the in-drawn breaths around her, sense them testing the wind.

  “Four Coyotes and one human,” Keith murmured.

  Patrick shook his head slowly, his head lifting as though searching for answers in the very air itself.

  As he turned to Cassa, his teeth flashed in the darkness. “You shared the little gift we sent you, didn’t you?”

  The gift? The pills. He was talking about the scent-neutralizing pills that had been sent to her before she left for West Virginia.

  Refusing to answer him, she stared back at him coolly instead, wondering if he could smell something in a way that Jonas had not anticipated. Was there a way for a Breed to detect others who were taking the neutralizer? She’d assumed it blocked all scent.

  Patrick shook his head slowly as he chuckled in amusement. “I would have enjoyed having time to get to know you better, Ms. Hawkins,” he finally said. “I have a feeling you would have increased my understanding of humans in a few small ways.”

  “Humans?” she asked him. “You’re human as well, Patrick.”

  He shook his head at that.

  “He looks like a human. He walks like a human. He speaks with the voice of a man.” His eyes seemed to glow red in the dark for the briefest moment. “The animal is loose, Ms. Hawkins. There is now nothing but blood for drink and death for peace.” He turned to Walt then. “You know what to do if all does not go as planned.”

  Walt sniffed and nodded slowly. “I’ll take care of your boy, Rick.”

  Patrick nodded before inhaling slowly and turning to Keith. “Return with him.”

  “That wasn’t the plan,” Keith reminded him, his voice colder now than before. “I’ll fight by your side, Rick.”

  Patric
k shook his head slowly. “This is my fight. She was my wife. My mate. Too many have paid the price already for her deceptions.”

  “Then I’ll fight by her side.” He nodded to Cassa. “You have enough blood on your soul, brother.”

  Patrick turned away from them long seconds before finally nodding. When he turned back to them, she warily tried to step away from him. The spare light of the moon caught his eyes, and the animal was indeed loose. His eyes flashed red, and she swore his facial features had tightened, turning more animalistic than they had been moments before. Cruel purpose slashed across his face and drew his body taut as he bent closer to her.

  “Your friends are in place, your mate isn’t. Good luck, Ms. Hawkins. If you survive, remember one thing. We are all a product not of our environment or our training. We are a product of the deceit of man.”

  With that he turned from her. Walt stood aside as they moved forward, and she swore she saw a tear in the old man’s eyes.

  Swallowing past the panic welling inside her, Cassa moved between Patrick and Keith through the thick underbrush and heavy boulders. Minutes later they stepped to the edge of a large clearing.

  “We’re here, Watts.” Patrick’s voice echoed through the valley.

  They were still sheltered by several thick, ages-old oak trees. Patrick Wallace was no man’s, or Breed’s, fool.

  “Did you bring the Bengal’s whore?” A light illuminated deeper into the clearing.

  As Cassa watched, a figure stepped into the beam of light. As he moved closer she recognized the arrogant swagger of the walk, and then the form of the man she had once called husband.

  “I’ve brought our lovely reporter,” Patrick corrected him. “Do you have what I require?”

  Douglas came closer, and only then did Cassa see the two Coyotes that walked with him. Her eyes widened in recognition of the one at his left.

  Brimstone. The second-in-command of the Coyotes that had only recently sought asylum in Haven, the Wolf Breed compound.

  What the hell was he doing here? At Douglas’s other side was another Coyote she recognized. Mutt, part of Dog’s team. She looked between the two Breeds, her throat tightening in dread.

  “Hello, wife,” Douglas drawled as he moved closer.

  His steps were a bit stiff, his expression furious.

  Cassa lifted her head and smiled. “Wife?” she asked. “I much preferred widow.”

  He sneered back at her as she noticed the large envelope he was tapping against his thigh.

  “Send her over here,” Douglas snapped.

  “Not yet,” Patrick drawled. “I believe you have something for me first. Let me see the proof, then we’ll see about the trade.”

  “Do you think I’m a fool?” Douglas snarled.

  “I do,” Cassa forced the insult past her lips. Nothing was guaranteed to incite his rage faster than her smart mouth. She remembered that well from their so-called marriage.

  “You little bitch.” He slapped the envelope into Brim’s hand. “Take it to him. Then bring that little whore to me.”

  “Once a whore always a whore I guess,” she quipped. “Really, Douglas, that insult doesn’t have the power it used to have. You should have learned something new in the past eleven years.”

  “Locked up like an animal in that cage your lover stuck me in?” His voice throbbed with anger now. “You’re spreading your fucking thighs for a damned animal. You can pay the price for that now.”

  “Whatever your price, Cabal was well worth it,” she snapped. “A man for a change was a pleasant upgrade from the monster I thought I was married to.”

  Brim stepped closer and handed Patrick the envelope. No one was paying attention to her except Douglas. No one cared if she ran, if she fought to escape. Patrick wouldn’t come after her. She didn’t think Keith would. Brim might, but she was starting to wonder about that one. He was an enforcer under Jonas’s command. Could he be undercover now?

  There was nothing left but to find out.

  “I’ll make you pay for this, Cassa,” Douglas promised her.

  “You’ll have to catch me first.”

  She took off before the words had left her lips. She was running, crashing through the undergrowth and clamoring over the boulders that ringed the valley.

  She could hear Douglas screaming behind her, then, seconds later, the labored chase he was giving.

  God, he was crazy. A true hunter he wasn’t. Didn’t he take the time to know his adversary? To pay attention to the fact that the men helping him were no more friends of his than Cabal was?

  At least, that was what she prayed.

  She ran through the forest, panting, her heart racing, remembering the last flight she had taken through here.

  Where was Cabal? Patrick had warned her that Jonas was near when he posed the question about the pills. He had to have smelled something in that valley that assured him the director was there.

  Where was Jonas at least?

  She could hear the pursuit behind her, and knew that despite his halting steps in the valley, Douglas was determined. Determined enough that he was actually gaining on her.

  “Cabal!” She screamed out his name now. He had to be close. He wouldn’t leave her here like this. He’d been here when Dog and his men had chased her. He had saved her then, he would save her now.

  A sharp retort sounded behind her. Cassa screamed when a bullet shaved the tree next to her as she flew past it. Ducking, tears finally falling from her eyes, she cried out for Cabal again.

  Snow was falling faster now, covering the ground beneath the trees and making it treacherous. She slipped, fell and rolled before scrambling to her feet once more. When she glanced behind her, wild terror seared into her brain at the sight of Douglas pausing and aiming the handgun he carried toward her.

  She raced behind trees, barely escaping another bullet as she glimpsed the dark forms moving with Douglas. He wasn’t alone. Was that Brim or Mutt? Either of the two she felt she had a chance with.

  Panting, sliding down the slick, mountainous slope, Cassa prayed for a miracle now. She couldn’t let herself be killed. God forbid she was actually unlucky enough to be caught.

  Slipping again, she found herself facedown on the ground, fighting to find traction, to find her feet again. She was kicking off to sprint again when cruel hands gripped her arm.

  Wild-eyed, she stared back at the Breed that gripped the heavy arm of her jacket. His eyes were black, his hair blond. Determination marked his features and filled her with terror.

  The Coyotes weren’t good. None of them. Those at Haven were betraying the very vows they had made to protect the society as a whole. Proof was in this man, their leader, the mate she had watched take his vows just weeks before. Del-Rey Delgado.

  “No!” She screamed out the rejection, fighting him, tearing free as the coat slipped from her shoulders and she raced down the mountain.

  Another bullet clipped a branch overhead. Behind her, she could hear Douglas cursing, ordering. The mou