could
get. A good thing, she said to herself. Unfortunately, distance didn’t affect
in any way the heat burning between them or her insane desire to forget
everything and get naked with him.
Lack of sleep. It has to be that. What else can explain
my weird reaction? This is just not me.
She didn’t react to men like this. Part of her control came
from knowing she could never reveal her shifter side to any of them. And part
of it was that no one had ever aroused her the way Dante Martello did. So fast.
So intensely. Now she knew how people felt when they stuck a hand into a
blazing inferno.
She watched him take a swallow of his coffee, fascinated by
the play of muscles in his throat. It took all her self-discipline to look
away. Drink some coffee. Focus on the situation.
He set his mug down carefully on the table next to his
chair, muscles rippling beneath the black t-shirt he wore.
Stop it. Stop now.
“Can you walk me through everything about Night Seekers
again? The explanation you gave me at The Black Wolf was pretty brief.” That
should settle her, turn her focus elsewhere. Especially considering the
well-funded team was hunting the very legend Reed had been chasing. “Who are
all of you, anyway? Where did everyone come from? What exactly does your group
do? How you do it?”
“If you’ll tell me whatever you might know. Like I
said, I get the feeling there’s something pretty important you’re holding
back.”
She swallowed a sigh. If she wanted access to everything
they had, all their information and their ability to avenge Reed perhaps better
than she could, she’d have to come clean. And take the chance he wouldn’t think
she was nuts and walk out.
“All right. Yes. But you first.”
Patiently, in a quiet voice, he took her through everything
again, only this time in greater detail. She insisted he show her the pictures
once more, even though she nearly heaved up her coffee. She asked him every
question she could think of, desperately seeking some rational explanation, but
in the end she was left with few reasons not to believe Dante’s theory.
Somewhere, a lunatic was breeding the devil beast for—for what?
She cleared her throat. “You said there was something else
different about this particular killing,” she reminded him. “Besides the fact that
it’s only the second time a person has been captured. Or whatever they do.”
He nodded. “Ric Garza and I scoped out the area at
Pedernales Falls State Park this morning. Are you familiar with it?”
She waved a hand. “Somewhat. I haven’t been there but I’ve
read about it. It’s not that far from San Antonio.”
“Right. And it’s a busy place. Hikers, campers. People
taking pictures.”
He paused.
“And?” she prompted.
“And usually the creature goes for more isolated situations.
Even if he finds his prey close to a populated area, it’s usually on the
fringes of it. For the Chupacabra, this is akin to picking out a victim in the
middle of a traffic jam.” He raked his fingers through his black hair. “Why
wasn’t it afraid? And how did no one see this happen? I mean, according to the
reports we read, no one saw or heard a single damn thing.”
A ribbon of cold stroked her spine. “What does that mean? Is
it invisible, for god’s sake?”
“Not at all. We’ve all seen it. And seen the dead carcasses
of each one we’ve killed.”
Regan held out her hands, palms up. “Then I don’t
understand.”
“Neither do we. But somehow it kills and disappears, almost
into thin air.”
Regan’s throat closed up and an indefinable fear crept over
her. She didn’t think Reed had picked up on that in any of his research. When
they believed the Chupacabra was merely a throwback type of beast, maybe a
mutant of some kind, it had been scary enough. Track it, find it, shoot it,
examine it, write about it. Now the terror of something otherworldly gripped
her. She set her coffee down and twisted her fingers together in a
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