“Wait, all of them?” Sloane stared at him.
“They all died in either accidents or in prison after being arrested for the murder of their Human mates.”
Sloane’s eyes widened. “Dylan. Something in my gut told me something wasn’t right with how he died.”
“Yeah. Of course that’s just Humans who sought medical treatment after being marked. There’s no telling how many more Humans there are in the city who’ve been marked and didn’t go to the hospital.”
“Like you,” Sloane replied softly.
“Like me.”
“It makes me wonder if any additional tests were run on those Humans, and if they also came back inconclusive.”
Dex nodded somberly. “I’m willing to bet they did. Alicia Reynolds had been marked by her Therian husband. She suffered seizures, her tests were inconclusive, and then she was killed. Dylan was charged for her murder and ends up killing himself.”
“He was on suicide watch,” Sloane said thoughtfully, stroking Dex’s arm. “But I’m following you.”
“So why am I still alive? Why are you still alive? I doubt it’s because TIN’s been keeping such a good watch on us. I think it’s because I never went to the hospital.”
Sloane stilled. “You think someone’s been killing them off?”
“And using the hospital records to do it. It would explain why they haven’t come after us.”
“What about Wolf?”
“That was about my mom and the file. He never mentioned anything about my being marked, and there’s no way he wouldn’t have known.”
Sloane sat up. “You said Wolf told you he’d been instructed to kill you after retrieving the information.”
Dex followed Sloane, sitting up. He planted a kiss on Sloane’s bare shoulder, needing to touch him. Always. “True. But if it was because I was marked, wouldn’t they have made another attempt to kill us? Maybe Wolf didn’t tell them.”
“Why?”
“I don’t know. Sparks said the guy was one of their best. That he was the job. You know how these spooks are. Maybe it wasn’t in his contract, so once the
contract was void, he had no reason to tell his employer anything. Wolf didn’t strike me as the kind of guy who gave intel out for free, especially if they fucked with him. It would explain why no one’s tried to kill us.”
“Yet,” Sloane said with a sigh. “So what’s our next move?”
Dex thought about everything he’d learned so far. Too many connecting factors to ignore.
“Maybe my mom’s file and these deaths are connected after all. If these couples were murdered, it could be because of whatever my mom was collecting evidence on. The deaths started around the same time.”
Sloane rubbed his hands over his face. He kept his voice low. “Okay, let’s say you’re right. Why are they after the file now, after all this time? Not having it hasn’t stopped them from killing these couples.”
“True. But remember these are just couples who went to the hospital. What if the file contains more names?” It suddenly struck him. “Shit. The list. The one Shultzon mentioned. It lists all the First Gens from the First Gen Research Facility, the ones with anomalies. I bet if we ran those names through Themis, not only will we get hits for Therians who marked their Human mates and are now dead, but we’ll get hits on other Therians with Human mates, ones who may have possibly bonded and not visited a hospital or doctor.”
Sloane’s expression grew anxious. “What if we’re wrong about them being killed? What if these anomalies we carry in our blood makes us kill our mates? What if we somehow fuck up our mates and then go feral and kill them?”
Dex cupped Sloane’s face. “Stop. That’s not what’s happening here, okay? There has to be more to it. Without that file, we got nothing but theories.” He released Sloane and ran a hand through his hair. Thinking. “My mom was smart. She knew the danger she was facing by collecting that information. She would have made sure the file and the list were secure. Who knows how many agencies were after that information, yet everyone came up empty, even my dad. You heard him. Before the funeral, my parents’ house and his were broken into and ransacked. I bet whoever was after the information then is after it now, and for some reason, they believe I have it.”
“What about TIN?” Sloane ran his fingers through Dex’s hair, soothing. It felt so damned good.
“You mean our absentee fairy god-Therians?” Dex let out an indelicate snort. “What about them?”
“You know they’re hiding something from us.”
Dex closed his eyes, giving himself over to Sloane’s sweet ministrations. “They’re not hiding something, Sloane. They’re hiding everything. Sparks knows a hell of a lot more than she’s letting on. I mean, I know they need to live up to that whole ‘we don’t exist’ image, but we know they exist. We’re the ones in the middle of this. The least they can do is answer our questions.”