God, she was insane. She had lost her ever lovin’ mind somewhere, and evidently she wasn’t about to find it anytime soon.
The hormones she had been taking for the past five years evidently did little to help assert common sense when a woman was around the Breed that her hormones went crazy for. Because the treatments sure as hell hadn’t helped. This morning she had taken two pills to compensate, but she had a feeling the compensation wasn’t going to last past her own hope that she could exist away from him for more than an hour or two.
She was demented.
She almost smiled at the thought as she shook her head and picked up a small, mineral-stained pebble, wishing the chill in her hand would extend to other parts of her body. Like the flesh aching between her thighs, dammit. And even worse, and this truly was the worst part, the incredible need just to be held. Something he hadn’t given her.
She threw the pebble and watched the ever widening ripples as it hit the water.
Damn him.
She tried to fight back the emotions tearing at her. She hated it when she allowed herself to be hurt. When she let her expectations build despite her efforts not to.
And that was exactly what she had done. Over the past years she had watched the Breeds and their mates. She had seen their devotion to each other, the silent though passionate and emotional air that surrounded each couple.
She had allowed herself to dream. She hadn’t thought she had; she had thought she was controlling it. She had been wrong. This morning she had learned exactly how wrong she had been. When she had turned to him, half-asleep, wanting his arms around her, he had turned away instead.
She rose quickly to her feet, blinking back her tears as she turned and stared around the forested little park once again.
Why the hell had she come back here anyway? Why hadn’t she just packed her shit and returned home once she realized the problems she was going to have with the story she was investigating?
It wasn’t as though she was actually going to report the damned murder anyway, unless someone else did. Her loyalty to the Breeds was so well known that it had begun affecting her professional standing.
It sucked to be an unwanted mate. But it just might suck worse to be an unloved mate.
Her teeth snapped together at the thought of love. She had never allowed herself to think of Cabal in terms of love. She had deliberately forced herself to never think in those terms. Unconsciously though, perhaps she had thought in those terms anyway. After all, she knew how mated couples loved, she had seen it, envied it over the years.
What had made her think that simply mating her would make Cabal love her?
Because she loved him?
She shook her head and turned around to stalk back to the parking lot. As she neared the pavement, her gaze was caught by the car pulling into the entrance to the park and the curly red hair of the man driving.
She almost smiled.
She had left a message on the reporter’s cell phone as she left the hotel earlier, though she hadn’t expected him to show up rather than calling her back.
“Look what the cat dragged in.” A quiet smile crossed Myron’s freckled face as he opened the car door and stepped out of the car. “I heard you were in town before you called. Heard you were being shadowed by some Bengal with an attitude too.”
“News travels fast.” Cassa shoved her hands into the pockets of her leather jacket as a capricious wind tugged at her hair and whipped it across her face. “Is the Bengal why you haven’t checked out the rumor?”
She had expected to hear from Myron earlier. She hadn’t called before now because she knew his wife, Patricia, could be a jealous little shrew. She liked Patricia, but she didn’t want to be the cause of yet another fight that Myron had to deal with because she had called.
“The Bengal might have had something to do with it.” A rueful grin tugged at his lips as he pulled his denim jacket closer and gazed around the park rather than meeting her eyes. “This place has been getting a lot of attention lately. Ever since Banks’s disappearance, you can count on seeing at least a couple of Breeds a week here. Not to mention the government types that have made an appearance.”
“Government types?” Cassa tilted her head to the side as she stared back at him, noting the somber sadness in his pale blue eyes.
Myron shrugged at the question. “There was a government agent roaming around a few days before your Bengal showed up. Just after he arrived, a team of Coyotes showed up. I didn’t know Banks was that damned popular. Personally, I think the world is a better place without him.”
Cassa watched him in surprise. “What did you know about Banks that no one’s telling me?”
Myron snorted at that. “Plenty. You don’t live here, Cass. I’ve tried to tell you about small towns and you never want to listen.”
Myron had always said they were a law unto themselves, and that it was that simple. That they band together to protect themselves or fight the enemy. They were independent and head-strong.
“So what are the good citizens of Glen Ferris banding together to hide?”
He shook his head before plowing his large hands through the shaggy, fiery curls that covered his head.