"Then we wait." Judd took a position on the other side of the snowy clearing, marking an invisible line in the snow.
One that wasn't broken when Hawke and his lieutenants arrived. Brenna, too, had returned. She took a position to his left while the others went to his right, flanking Hawke. The SnowDancer alpha took a step forward. "Lucas, this sure as hell better be something good."
Lucas mirrored Hawke's move, his face a mask of fury. "There was an attack on the DawnSky deer clan. They were butchered."
Hawke growled low in his throat. "How many dead?"
"Nine adults, three children." Lucas's markings became even more delineated. "Would've been more, but Faith had a partial vision and managed to get out a warning. Mercy and Dorian were close enough to intervene. Tamsyn and Nate are out there picking up the pieces."
Judd watched as Sascha slid her hand into her mate's, leaning against him but staying partly behind his back - giving comfort while not distracting him by becoming an open target. Lucas's fingers closed around Sascha's. "It was a planned slaughter. Six armed Psy against a herd of deer out for a graze."
Judd knew from living with the wolves that deer were one of the most peaceful of all changelings. They were also very weak in terms of physical strength. "Why?" he asked, though experience told him the presence of a Psy assassin probably infuriated the leopard alpha. "The Council always has a reason - they think five steps ahead."
Lucas's voice was close to a growl when he answered. "I went out to the site. There was a pretty slick attempt to mark the bodies as wolf kills - looks like they had weapons shaped to mimic claws. The bodies were shredded, but a very fine scent was somehow layered into two of the deer. Mercy and Dorian must've interrupted the murdering bastards before they could do the other bodies."
"If the deer had all died," Hawke said, a low growl in his tone, "no one would've been left to point fingers at the Psy. It would've been on us."
"Changing your reputation from powerful but fair, to that of indiscriminate killers." Judd glanced at the sentinels who stood behind Lucas. "Did you tag any of the Psy?"
Mercy looked at her alpha and answered only after his nod. "We saw them leaving but made the choice to help the injured rather than give chase. They hid their trail like experts and the deer are too traumatized to be of much help in terms of descriptions - they're schoolteachers and accountants, not soldiers."
"What about Faith, did she see anything?" Judd asked, knowing Faith's reputation as the strongest foreseer in or out of the Net.
Sascha shook her head. "She's taking this hard - she saw it after it began. Said she saw the consequences, not the act...saw a glimpse of a future drenched in bloodred."
There was an instant of total silence, then Dorian spoke, his rage more evident than the others'. "One of the kids thinks he saw an insignia on the left shoulder of their uniforms. Snakes. Kid's terrified of snakes, so he remembered."
"Now he's going to be phobic about them," Sascha said. Her tone was soft but her expression was full of anger.
Lucas turned to brush his lips over her hair. "Sascha wanted to stay with the survivors, but I figured we'd need a Psy perspective. Didn't know he'd be here." He nodded toward Judd and the act wasn't friendly. "Any ideas?"
"Some. Give me a minute." Death was his only talent after all. "I do know that the snake emblem belongs to Ming LeBon, but that simply confirms the Council link."
A fine-boned feminine hand slipped into his and he felt it in every cell of his body. He glanced down to find Brenna looking up and giving a small shake of her head. In that moment, time seemed to stop and he knew she was telling him that death was not all he was. He almost believed her. Except even at that second, he was aware of the monstrous thing inside of him. One moment of carelessness and it would crawl out to rain indiscriminate death on those around him. Men. Children. Women.
Hand remaining clasped to his, Brenna turned away, breaking the odd moment. "I'd like to help." Her words were directed at Sascha.
"I think you'd be very good with the young ones."
Because, Judd thought, Brenna knew what it was like to be helpless and breakable. He had vowed to ensure she'd never again suffer as she'd suffered in Enrique's hands, but the scars were already there and they had changed who she was.
"Judd?" Sascha's cardinal eyes turned to him. "I - "
"Yes," he said, before she could ask the question.
"I knew that. But I was going to ask how many hours you think you could give me."
When had Sascha gone from being uneasy around him to believing him "good"? "As many as you need." He couldn't heal traumatized minds as she could, but he could feed her extra power, a talent rare among Psy but which seemed to be paired with his little speciality. Some Psy abilities were like that - they came in sets.
"If Bren's going in, we need to ensure protection. There's already been one attempt to target her," Riley said.
"What are you talking about?" Brenna frowned.
Judd looked at the other man. "He's thinking we were wrong, that maybe the hyenas knew you were at the cabin."
Chapter 22
"How could they?" Brenna's brow furrowed.