Yes, Jonas, please drop it, Cassa moaned silently. She was becoming aroused by his voice, despite her best efforts not to do so. She was worried that whatever that pill did, it would be little defense against the scent of her need. And she was definitely needy. In the eleven years since her husband’s death, she had never been so turned on as she was when she was around Cabal St. Laurents.
“Fine, consider it dropped.” She heard the shrug in Jonas’s voice. “The heli-jet will be ready to fly you to Glen Ferris in the morning. Investigate Banks’s disappearance further. We might get lucky and you’ll find a suspect while you’re there.”
“Keep hoping,” Cabal grunted. “Trust me, if they’re hiding a feral Breed in their midst, they’re not going to turn him over simply because I ask nicely.”
The residents of Glen Ferris would be more likely to shelter and protect a feral Breed, no matter the risk to themselves. Hell, they’d been doing it for years; there was no reason to believe they wouldn’t do it now.
“You know how to ask nicely?” There was a wealth of sarcasm in Jonas’s voice.
“Go to hell.” There was a wealth of arrogance in Cabal’s.
Cassa wanted to laugh at the confrontation, even as she filed away the surprising information that had come her way. Everyone suspected that Banks was dead at this point. It had been a week since his disappearance, and there were no leads on what had happened to him. The river had been dragged, search efforts were still ongoing, but there wasn’t a clue to his whereabouts.
David Banks had gone for his evening walk one night in the little town of Glen Ferris, West Virginia. He hadn’t been seen again. His body hadn’t been found. There was no trace, no clue where he might have gone or what might have happened to him. Until now.
“I’ll return to hell, you check on our nosy reporter.” Jonas’s voice echoed with command once again as Cassa gave a small start of fear. “She was too jumpy at the reception tonight. Make sure she’s where she’s supposed to be rather than someplace where she shouldn’t be.”
Cassa sensed the air of hesitation that filled the area on the other side of the shrubs.
“Is she becoming a problem?”
She definitely didn’t like the flat, cold tone Cabal used now. He’d claimed he owned her the morning of his escape from that pit, and he took every opportunity to remind her that he could enforce that claim anytime he chose.
“She’s always a problem whether she’s here or at Sanctuary,” Jonas answered.
Cassa’s eyes narrowed. She was never a problem at Sanctuary. The Feline Breed stronghold was homier and a damned sight more welcoming to her than the Wolf Breed compound she was in now.
“You don’t know how to handle her,” Cabal injected.
Handle her? No one handled her, period.
“Only with a whip and a chair,” Jonas growled. “Callan and Merinus give her much too much freedom in Sanctuary. She thinks she deserves it elsewhere.”
“And this is my problem how?” Cabal argued. “She’s a reporter. You should have known better than to allow the invitation she was given to stand.”
Bodies shifted. Cassa was dying to look over the top of the shrubs, but she leaned to the side instead, to try to get a view through the open foliage of thick branches.
The glimmer of light from a nearby building revealed the two men. Jonas was still dressed in his tuxedo. Cabal though had changed into jeans, T-shirt and a rain-resistant jacket and boots. His black-striped golden blond hair dripped with the misty rain and fell long to his shoulders.
His shoulders were broad, his waist lean, his thighs muscular and his legs long. Standing there in the rain, he looked like the animal he was. In his prime, ready for action. Sexy as hell, mouth wateringly male.
She breathed in slow and easy, and felt the familiar slick warmth between her thighs.
“Just make certain she’s in her cabin, and well guarded, if you don’t mind,” Jonas ordered in a drawl heavy with mockery.
“And if I mind?” Cabal asked carefully.
Jonas’s teeth flashed in a hard, cold smile as the chilly rain dripped along his face and saturated his short, clipped hair.
“Then I might make you part of her protection detail rather than sending you to Glen Ferris. Come to think of it, that might be a good idea after all.”
Cabal’s brilliant green eyes narrowed, and Cassa could have sworn she saw the glitter of the amber flecks within the green as he stared back at the other Breed.
“I’ll check on her.” The hard fury that echoed in his normally cold voice surprised Cassa and sent a chill racing down her spine. Fine, so he didn’t want to be anywhere near her. She didn’t want him anywhere near her either. She would consider herself lucky if she didn’t have to run into him again, period, and she didn’t appreciate Jonas sending a babysitter to make certain she was in place.
She had to get back to her cabin before Cabal arrived there. If he found her missing from her cabin or, God forbid, sneaking around in the rain, she could just imagine the consequences. She’d lose every privilege she had gained in the past years where Sanctuary was concerned. Not to mention the fact that she would have to deal with yet more of his arrogant I own you bullshit. She almost snorted at the thought of that.
She slid back from her position silently. Heart racing, she fought to move slowly, carefully.