Bengal's Heart

◆ 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 the 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.”

Patrick 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 mountain was alive with terror, running feet and shouted orders.

She wasn’t going to make it. Oh God. She wasn’t going to escape this. There was no way to get far enough ahead of them. No way to save herself.

“Enough!” A hard bicep wrapped around her waist as agony streaked through her from behind.

This was pain. This was the most horrendous pain she had ever known. Every place that the hard male body touched burned in agony as she kicked, shrieking in fear and fury as she was tossed to the ground.

Rolling to her knees, she fought to find her feet. Sliding against the snow and mud, she rose shakily, only to face Douglas.

A second later a hard strike against her face sent her back to the ground again as she heard a furious growl echo around her.

“Touch her again, Watts, and I’ll kill you myself,” Delgado warned him. “We didn’t sanction harming another Breed’s mate.”

“My wife!” Douglas screamed. The next second Cassa barely deflected a kick aimed to her ribs as she rolled out of reach. “She’s my wife. She’s not that dirty fucking Breed’s anything.”

“Don’t touch her again.” Brim moved between them.

Another shot was fired. Cassa glimpsed Brim flinching as she made it to her feet again and started running.

Down the mountain. She just had to make it down the mountain. Then to the road. Maybe they’d all kill each other behind her.

“You fucking bitch.”

Douglas tackled her from behind. They crashed to the forest floor as Cassa fought. She kicked, screamed. Her nails tore at his face, and for one incredible second she thought she’d actually be free.

“Fucking Breed whore.” A hard fist to the side of her head froze her.

Stars erupted behind her closed eyes, and for a second Cassa swore she was going to lose consciousness. Then rage kicked in. Pure, unfettered rage. It boiled through her stomach, raced through her brain and sent adrenaline surging through her system.

Years of brief, almost amusing episodes of “training” with Breeds rose to the forefront of her mind. They had made a game out of teaching her this little trick and that little trick to get herself out of trouble. Several of her “instructors” had claimed with rueful smiles that someone had to teach her, considering the fact that Cabal was gone so often.

Cabal had arranged that training. She sensed it. She knew it. Bracing herself against the ground with one foot, she kicked out with the other. She didn’t try any sissy moves. She didn’t go for the cool little ninja maneuvers. She kicked out hard and swift, her boot slamming into Douglas’s crotch and stealing his breath as she prayed she’d crushed his nuts.

She was only dimly aware of the enraged roars that filled the night. Along with feet crashing through the forest, the sound of a heli-jet and someone screaming out orders.

Coyote howls, there might have even been a Wolf in there. Human screams. She heard several of those. The night became centered, the cold disappeared. Cassa came to her feet in a smooth jump, facing Douglas as he slowly straightened.

His face was white, his eyes were filled with inhuman rage.

“You’re a whore!” he screamed. “A dirty stinking animal-fucker.”

“And I’m loving every minute of it.” Her croon was harsh, filled with her own fury.

He had once made her go to her knees and beg for mercy. This man who had taken vows with her, who had sworn to love the young woman she had once been. He had made her beg and then he had slapped her so hard she had blacked out.

There had been no mercy.

“I’m going to kill you.” His arm lifted.

Too much happened at once. Too many impressions, too many sounds. An animal scream of pure demonic rage echoed through the night. Cassa went flying, thrown to the ground by a shadow with amber eyes, as a gun fired.

Rage was a scent. It was a feeling, like rain washing through the night. It was the smell of blood and a scream like nothing she had ever known.

Rolling to her knees, she pushed her hair from her face and stared in shock at the sight that met her eyes.

There were lights now, streaming down from the heli-jet that hovered overhead. Dressed in shadowed colors, his face streaked with black, his eyes glowing amber in the night, Cabal stood over Douglas’s writhing form.

Screams poured from Douglas’s throat, raw, brutal, agonizing screams. His upper body writhed on the ground, his hands clawed into snow stained heavy with blood.

“You fucker!” he screamed, pain burning in every word as tears spilled from his eyes now. “Do it, you son of a bitch. Motherfucker. Do it. Kill me.”

Cabal roared in his face as Douglas covered it with his hands and sobbed in pain and fear.

“Don’t take me back.” His screams were rough now, demented. “No. You can’t take me back. Please.”

Cassa stared at Cabal in shock. The marks on his face weren’t face paint. They were tiger marks bisecting his savage features. His hands were tipped with claws, bloodied now, and his eyes glowed gold in the night as he turned, his gaze raking in a slow circle before falling on Patrick.

“Azrael.” His voice was a harsh growl. An animalistic sound that had Cassa flinching.

Patrick inclined his head as he stepped back. “Another day, Bengal.”

The night swallowed him as Cabal roared his fury and started after him.

She couldn’t let him leave. She stumbled for him, her leg going out from under her as a startled cry left her throat. Pain streaked through her now, a burning hot lance of fire tearing through her body as she went down, collapsing on her side.

His mate. Cabal jerked around, his gaze locking on her pain-filled eyes, his senses registering more than pure fury now.

Blood. His mate’s blood. He rushed for her even as the others moved to where she had fallen.

Del-Rey, the Coyote Breed alpha. Wolfe was there, alpha of the Wolf packs, even Callan and Tanner were racing for her as they tore through the forest.

“Cassa.” He slid to the ground beside her, fear suddenly tearing through him.

He had raced here for her. He had used more than what he had once thought was every ounce of strength he possessed to find his mate. Had he failed her in the end?

“Baby.” He knew the sound of his voice was demented, he saw the shock that filled the Breeds around him.

He had never told even his brother Tanner of the gifts he shared with such a very few other Breeds. The claws, the markings, the heightened senses. The ability to run and track as no other could. He was a primal Breed. He had hidden it, knowing that even other Breeds feared the primals.

His claws retracted, the strong human nails sliding back into place as he touched her, his hands racing over her chilled flesh until he found the wound at her side.

“Cabal.” Tanner was there.

He stared up at his brother for a brief second before his shaking hands touched the blood at her side.

“Get her ready to fly!” Jonas was there. Breeds were pouring through the woods. Some were securing Douglas despite his screams as he fought to find sensation in his legs.

The impulse regulator in his spine had been dissolved. The temporary fix to his legs had been deactivated by Jonas. It had melted through flesh and bone, leaving him now with no hope of finding sensation there again.

“Cabal.” Her sweet voice was weak, her fingers latched onto his arm. “I’m sorry.”

He shook his head. “Sorry?”

Pain was like a burning brand in his chest now as he stared into her white face.

“Your family,” she whispered tearfully. “He used me to kill them. I trusted him. Oh God.” She lowered her head as sobs tore from her. “I’m sorry.”

“No.” Gripping her chin, he lifted her face, his eyes locking on hers. “So many lived because you fought for them,” he swore to her, revealing something he had revealed to no one else. “You saved four, Cassa. They thrive. They fight to survive. You saved us.”

She stared back at him, confusion filling her face before it cleared. The tears still fell as she lifted a shaking hand to his face. “I love you. I loved you for so long.”

“Cassa, stop.” Fear raked hard and deep inside his soul. “Tell me later. I’ll hold you close. I’ll keep you warm, baby, and give you the words I’ve feared for so long.”

She shook her head. “I just love you, Cabal.” Her voice was weaker, more distant.

“Cassa. Stay awake.” Terror gripped him now, a terror unlike anything he had known, even in the labs. “Stay with me, Cassa.”

Her fingers, stained with her own blood, touched his face.

“Hold me now,” she whispered, her lashes drifting closed. “Just hold me now.”