As she watched the footage, she caught a few glimpses of the hunters themselves. Black-masked and black-clothed. It was impossible to tell who was who.
The dark landscape was illuminated by the thermal and night-illuminating capabilities of the video. She could see the male Breed, a Lion Breed if the brown eyes and tawny-colored hair were an indication, as he attempted to keep the female in front of him.
Both Breeds were cunning and swift, but the hunters had them surrounded. They played with them. They built the rage in the male and the fear in the female until the first shot was fired.
Cassa flinched at the sound and the sight of the bullet as it impacted the male’s back. There was a moment of stunned agony, of resignation on his face, before he went to the ground.
The female raced to him. Tears tracked down her face as a roar of rage tore from her lips. Her canines flashed in the darkness as the hunters advanced on her, their laughter echoing through the night.
“She’s a pretty sight,” one of them called out.
“Let’s not damage her too bad quite yet,” another suggested and Cassa nearly cried out in agony at the familiar tone. “I have a few plans for her.”
Another jeered. “I still say it’s like f**king an animal.”
“It’s like f**king a wildcat,” Douglas laughed back as he moved toward her. “Let’s get her down. He can watch while I f**k his pretty little pu**y.”
Cassa tore herself out of Cabal’s grip, turned her back on the video and had to fight to hold in the sickness rising in her gut.
She was trembling, shaking her head as she cupped her hand over her mouth and swore to herself she wouldn’t throw up.
Behind her, the sound cut out. There was silence in the room, but all Cassa could hear were the screams as the hunters tried to pull the female Breed from her mate.
If the female Breed had mated, then any other males’ touch would have been agony. Such agony that it was like daggers tearing through the flesh. Cassa knew. Something as simple as the brush of another man against her in a crowd was so discomforting since the mating heat had begun that she avoided it at all costs.
The day she had ridden from the park back to the inn on the back of Dog’s Harley, she had been careful not to touch him, and he had made certain he hadn’t touched her.
The agony that female mate would have endured, because of Douglas, sliced through Cassa’s soul like a dull knife. Her husband. And he was still alive.
She shook her head as Cabal tried to pull her to him again. She couldn’t allow him to touch her now, not yet. She needed to think, and she couldn’t think if he held her. She needed his comfort, needed his touch too much. She wanted to burrow into him and forget that reality existed.
He had tried to shelter her from it, she realized that. He had wanted to protect her, and she had refused to allow him to do it.
Was it better to know? she wondered as she swallowed back the tears that filled her chest. Or would innocence have been better?
“Why is he still alive?” Her voice was hoarse as she realized that she wanted Douglas dead. Not for what he had done to her, but for what he had done to the female Breeds. The mates that had dreamed of nothing but freedom, safety.
She turned to Cabal, glaring at him, demanding an answer.
“Why?” she repeated. “Why is he still alive?”
She remembered as though it were yesterday. Watching that stake hurl through the air, burying into his spine and sending him to the metal floor as he screamed out in agony.
The screams had cut off. Blood had pooled on the floor. How could he still be alive? Why was he still alive?
“You let him live,” she whispered painfully. “You let him live, didn’t you?”
“He deserved to suffer.” The statement was more a growl, a primal snarl of complete rage as he glared back at her, the amber glints in his eyes like fire in a background of forest green.
“You let him live.” She had to fight the tears, and still two fell. “All these years, he’s lived while you ignored me. Is that why?”
His jaw clenched. “That has nothing to do with why I didn’t claim you, Cassa. It didn’t matter if he was alive or dead.”
“He was my husband,” she cried out. “He is my husband.”
Fury contorted his face and narrowed his eyes.
“Like f**king hell!” he yelled back at her. “That bastard was never your husband, Cassa. He made certain there were no true ties. The marriage wasn’t legal because the minister that married you wasn’t a minister. He wasn’t licensed to marry anyone, and Watts knew it.”