Tamera swatted at him. “You love her, idiot.”
“Do I?”
She just giggled.
“Katerina must have called you to come meet us here. She’s on her way over now.”
To his amusement, Tamera colored prettily. “We, uh, didn’t have our phones with us. We went for a walk in the woods,” she said, ducking her head.
From her blushes and Kester’s Cheshire-like grin, Liam deduced a little more than walking had been involved.
“We’re staying here in the bed and breakfast, too,” Kester told him. “We’re looking for a house, but haven’t found one yet. So… shifter business?”
“Yes. You know about the clouded leopard in the zoo?”
Kester nodded, sitting down beside Tamera again, and pulling her close. “Yes, Katerina’s been keeping us updated. This is about her?”
“I called Maroulla on the drive home and gave her a full report. She’s contacting the Council, and will call me back. In the meantime, you all need to know what’s up.”
“That doesn’t sound ominous at all,” Katerina said as she came through the doorway, Troy a step behind her. Like metal to a magnet, she headed across the room to the buffet table containing beverages and plates of cookies and brownies. “It’s too late for coffee, I’d never get to sleep,” she said, sounding regretful. “There’s hot cocoa and hot cider, though. Troy?”
“Cider for me,” he said, making himself comfortable on the other loveseat set at an angle to the one Kester and Tamera occupied.
“Okay.” A moment later Katerina returned, handing Troy a steaming cup of cider and a napkin holding two brownies. “One sec, Liam,” she said over her shoulder as she returned to the buffet. “I just have to get a cider for me.”
“Okay,” she said, coming back and settling in next to Troy. “What’s up?”
Liam took a seat on a Victorian style chair with slender curved legs. “You’ll remember I told you when they apprehended that family of Rogues, there was evidence of another sister?”
They all nodded expectantly, and Katerina hurried to ask, “She’s been found?”
Liam grimaced. “In a way. She’s the clouded leopard I was called to the zoo to examine. She’s not a Rogue, and I’d say she has a pretty strong moral compass. She’s so afraid she’ll turn Rogue like the other women in her family, she managed to slip into the zoo with the other leopards. She’s been there almost a year now. Her leopard is so despondent, she’s stopped eating. But she refuses to leave, for fear she will attack someone some day.”
“Oh, the poor thing!” Tamera spoke up in quick sympathy.
“That poor thing’s aunt almost managed to kill one of my sisters and nieces,” Kester reminded her, “plus Beatrice attacked Katerina and Troy at their home.”
“But that’s her aunt, not her,” Tamera frowned at him. “Katerina, what do you think?”
Katerina had shivered at the mention of the traumatic events of the month before, and Troy’s arm tightened about her. She appeared torn.
“I don’t know what I think,” she said frankly. “On the one hand, yes, I feel sorry for her, but then I remember Beatrice and I can’t help but feel afraid all over again.” She swallowed heavily, and looked at Liam. “You’re sure she’s not a Rogue? Really, really, one hundred percent positive?”
“I am,” Liam responded without hesitation. “But also, it’s not up to me. I’ve laid the situation and my impressions before Maroulla. She and the Council will make any decisions on what’s to be done.”
Kester stirred. “We were taught that Rogues are manipulative; like a psychopath would be. Are you sure she’s not putting on a show?”
Liam shook his head decisively. “She’s not, I’m completely sure of that. I was in my Changed form and spoke to her mind to mind. As we all well know, it’s almost impossible to hide our thoughts and emotions when communicating in that fashion. I did consider the possibility, but her depression and her fear of becoming a killer go far too deep to be faked. I’d say she was also afraid of her mother and aunt, growing up. She remembers her maternal grandmother and grandfather with considerable affection. From what we could tell, her grandparents had no idea about what Beatrice and Valerie—that’s the mother—had become.”
“But…” Katerina paused, frowning as she gathered her thoughts. “I mean, I hear you, but how can we be sure she won’t turn Rogue in the future?”
“How can any of us?” Tamera countered with a frown. “If she worries about it, isn’t that a … a… contraindication? Contradiction? Whatever. I’m just saying. I mean, I’m new to learning all this, too, but I’ve been getting a crash course on Rogues, everyone is, from what I can tell. And one of the things they really stress is that Rogues feel no remorse, no empathy. Psychopaths. This woman hasn’t even done anything, and is feeling remorse for what she might do in future. That hardly shows a lack of empathy; in fact, it sounds like she’s highly empathetic.”
Troy entered the discussion. “We’ve always been told that being Rogue wasn’t genetic, and yet here we have five women in two generations who’ve gone Rogue. Five out of six turning psycho isn’t very good odds, and does point to some genetic factor.”
“Or nurture,” Liam shot back. “She was clear that her mother and aunt encouraged the sisters to go Rogue, and brought them up to believe it was their destiny, or whatever. The maternal grandmother was married, and happily so. The grandfather died at an old age of natural causes… and yes, we checked,” he added. “Maroulla had the family’s name and address in Florida, and she was able to find the obituaries for both grandparents.”
“Wow, this is getting complicated,” Katerina complained, rubbing her forehead. “So she’s brought up with her sisters believing it’s okay to mate with a man and kill him and any babies… which obviously this Valerie didn’t do, by the way, contrary to everything we were taught about Rogues… maybe they only kill male babies? … but this one daughter manages to not buy into it?”
