Free Branded by Lust: 4 (Night Seekers) by Desiree Holt Page B

better
leader challenged the alpha’s leadership and supremacy and did not win the
fight.
    Being isolated from a pack brought special difficulties with
it. For one thing, the brothers had no support system. For another bonding with
a female had to be very selective. The woman had to be very special not to be
freaked out by the situation and have them committed to an institution. Dating
was one thing. Getting married, mating for life, was a whole different thing.
    The interview with Night Seekers had made a huge difference
in his life in more ways than one. Three members of the team had found their
mates on the first three cases. Jonah Grey was now married to Dakota Furcal, a
human, while Mark Guitron had met Chloe Hanson, a shifter and petite red wolf.
And in the one he and Sophia had just worked in Maine, she had met Clint
Beltaire, who also turned out to be a shifter. In all three instances the
humans had been intrigued and fascinated by the extraordinary circumstances. Of
course, both Jonah and Sophia had received full indoctrinations when they
joined the team. And the matings seemed to be working out very well.
    Sophia had been very forthcoming about Clint, his abilities
and the makeup of Night Seekers. After the initial shock wore off, Rebecca had
seemed eager to learn more…about him and about the team. On the flight from
Texas, with the two of them alone on the plane, she had exhibited a real
interest in his background and his situation. And when they’d made love the
night before she’d held nothing back. When this case was over…
    Shaking off his thoughts, he reached over to cover Rebecca’s
hands with his free one. “You have nothing to worry about, believe me.” He paused.
“I mean that, Bek. Without reservation.”
    Her mouth tipped up in a tiny smile. “Me too.” She blew out
a breath. “But right now we’d better get ready for the meeting. And yes, I
think you should call Jade. I’d hate for someone else you know to be a victim
of the devil beast.”

Chapter Five
     
    Ric Garza sat at his high-tech computer terminal downloading
the photos Rebecca and Logan had sent and uploading them to the big screen on
the wall. Swiping one of the surface computing keyboards, Ric put the photos in
place one at a time, tapping the interactive keyboard again to enlarge them.
What he saw made him want to vomit and he considered himself a pretty hardened
lawman. He thought by this time he’d be used to the gruesome shots of a corpse
after the devil beast had finished with it. But magnified more than a hundred
times and up on the wall in living color it was every nightmare come to life.
    Sophia Black Beltaire, standing behind him, was talking on
her cell. When she disconnected the call she pulled a chair over and sat down
beside him.
    “That was Craig. He got the final reports on the killings in
Maine from the state police. Bobby Lacroix sent him copies of everything.”
    “I’m sure there wasn’t anything new,” Ric commented as his
fingers tapped keys.
    He knew Bobby was the lead detective on the spate of
Chupacabra killings that Sophia and Logan had just worked on with the staties.
Two other killings had nearly muddied the waters and thrown the state police
off the track. But Sophia and Logan had managed to make them see the truth.
Other than that the only thing they’d accomplished was to put everyone on alert
for future forays by the beast and give closure to the families of the victims.
    But as in every other geographical area where the Chupacabra
had killed, the beast they’d killed was apparently only one of many. And they
had no idea where it would strike next. Or how many there were.
    “Any word from his scientists?” Ric asked.
    “Nada. Or actually I should say too much and not enough.”
She shook her head. “It seems every time we give them remains to analyze they
come up with more strange results than before. I’m telling you, Ric. The brain
that concocted these creatures—if indeed