Bengal's Heart by Lora Leigh

God’s help, it will end here. You should know, the past never dies. As long as there is a memory, there is life. I hold the memories. I hold life. And I’ll take yet more.
    I’ve tasted their blood and now I hunger. I’ve warmed myself with their fear, and I’ve laughed in joy at their deaths. And there will be more.
    Six down.
    Six to go.
    Tell the world. There is no honor, there is no hope. I am what was created.
    Tell the world. Grief ripped through her chest at the thought. If she actually went on the air with a story showing a Breed kill, the consequences would be horrendous. The world, unstable as it was in its opinion of Breeds, would turn against the creations instantly.
    Their safety depended on the world believing in the justice and the honor that Breed Law demanded. It depended on the goodwill of citizens who were as fickle in their loyalties as they were in their trust.
    She pushed her fingers through her hair and swallowed back a curse before saving the file and encrypting it on her laptop. She couldn’t risk its discovery, not yet, not until she figured out exactly what was going on in Glen Ferris.
    The story involved more than just the deaths Jonas and Cabal had spoken of the night before. It involved much more than the Reverend H. R. Alonzo’s execution at the hands of the very creatures he preached as abominations and the scourge of God. This involved the preservation of an entire race of individuals fighting for survival.
    HR was executed just after midnight. She looked at the time on the laptop. It was just after one in the morning. One hour.
    She covered her face with her hands and blew out a hard breath. She couldn’t report this, not yet. But she couldn’t let it go either. She needed to know more.
    Jumping to her feet, Cassa jerked the silken robe from her shoulders and tossed it to the bed. She threw open the doors to her closet and pulled out jeans and a sweatshirt, before striding to her dresser for socks and underclothes.
    Glen Ferris, West Virginia, was perhaps a nine- to ten-hour drive. She could make it. She’d be dog tired by the time she got there, but she could do it.
    Twelve hours, she guessed, before she could even get started finding the location. And if the body were still there? The ramifications of what she was preparing to do began to flash through her mind.
    She dressed quickly, threw several outfits into a bag and grabbed an additional, already packed overnight bag from her closet. She shoved hiking boots into her bag as well as a pair of flat dressier shoes. She laced sneakers onto her feet, then grabbed her purse and cell phone.
    She was hitting speed dial as she packed her laptop.
    “Marv, it’s Cassa, wake the hell up,” she snapped into her news director’s answering machine. “I don’t have all night here.”
    She tapped her foot, waited until the machine beeped, then hung up and called back.
    “What the bloody fuck do you want, Hawkins?” Marv Rhi nard snarled with sleepy ill humor as he answered the phone.
    “I’m out on a story,” she told him as she zipped up the laptop bag, pulled the strap over her shoulder and headed for the door. “Have Shelley cover me. I’ll call you and let you know what’s going on as soon as I know.”
    “What’s the story?” Marv was definitely awake now.
    Cassa didn’t fly off on wild-goose chases, and he knew it. If she was dumping her airtime on her stand-in, then there was a reason, and usually a damned good reason.
    “I’m not sure enough of the details yet, Marv,” she informed him as she locked the door and moved down the hall to the elevator. “I’m heading to Glen Ferris, West Virginia, now. I’ll call you once I’m there.”
    “It’s those damned Breeds.” Frustration filled Marv’s voice now. “Do you know those bastards are causing hell’s own mess from one end of the planet to another? There was a report last week that Wyatt threw some scientist into a volcano. I needed you in Hawaii to check