Savage Nature - Christine Feehan [102]
“But then he came back with a wife. A shifter,” Drake prompted when the older man went silent.
Amos shrugged. “Yes, he brought back a beautiful wife and I knew I had mismanaged everything. I had thrown away my life with Pauline and doomed our lair to extinction. I was born and raised in the swamp. Worked most of my life here. Never left, never thought of leavin’. I thought this was all there were until Renard brought her home with him.”
“The other brothers married someone from the outside, not a shifter, didn’t they?” Drake guessed.
“Buford despised anyone who wasn’t a shifter. He even grew to hate his wife and children—all but Renard—his other two sons because they married non-shifters, and his wife because she wasn’t his true mate.”
“You knew that and you didn’t stop him?”
“I didn’t know it until Renard came to me and told me all the boys were gettin’ out. He said his father was insane. He told me he was certain the old man had killed his mother and that he had attacked his wife one night when he was workin’ out in the swamp. The other women admitted to their husbands that Buford had been doin’ the same thing to them and threatened to kill them if they told.”
“My God. What the hell did you do when everything went to hell and Renard died?” Drake couldn’t keep the accusation out of his voice. He wanted to jump across the room and smash the man. Renard’s wife and son had made it out, but his brothers and their wives hadn’t. “He did do something,” Pauline said. She handed Amos his plate and set his drink on the coffee table. “He ended up with nearly every bone in his body broken and he was in a coma for three months.”
Drake let out his breath. The mire in the swamp just seemed to deepen. The more explanation, the more the questions. “And Tregre wasn’t arrested?”
“At the time, his brother was chief of police.” Amos sighed. “You’re drudgin’ up a lot of shit, Donovan. It was many years ago. I was trespassin’ on their property. They said I attacked him. There was an investigation and Buford was cleared of all charges. There was even an implication that I might have killed Renard. In the end, they didn’ go that far, but I had no other recourse but to back off. Hell, I didn’ remember much for months after. I had physical therapy and my leopard took a long while to emerge again. I told the lair Tregre’s land was off-limits and left it at that.”
Saria slipped into the chair next to Drake, handing him a plate of food. His stomach growled, reminding him he hadn’t eaten in a long while. His mind was foggy, trying to take in everything Amos had told him, and still read between the lines. There was no doubt Buford’s sons might be as cruel and depraved as their father. Buford Tregre was certainly capable of being a serial killer. Hating was what he seemed to do best. And Joshua’s uncles had sons of their own, both old enough to be suspects as well. He shook his head. It was all complicated and he felt like shit.
Saria smelled like heaven, that scent he’d come to know as exclusively Saria. She’d obviously showered, which explained why Pauline had managed to get Amos his food first. He didn’t mind not getting his food immediately, Saria had to be exhausted. She’d been streaked with dirt and probably blood and sweat from him. He’d been thinking about the mess he’d gotten himself into, allowing her to take care of him instead of the other way around.
“Are you all right?” he asked.
She sent him a dazzling smile. “I wasn’t the one who got all chewed up in a fight. I’m fine. And Miss Pauline outdid herself. The food’s fantastic.”
The tension coiled so tight in his gut unraveled. There was something so amazing in the way she enjoyed her food. Maybe it was just the entire package—the way she enjoyed her life. When she ate, she ate, enjoying every single morsel. If she had to protect herself, she did so with the same intensity she did everything else. She made him feel alive—and happy.
He let himself grin back at her like a foolish idiot. “She is a good cook,” he admitted