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image she shuffled through. Jove Does 18-4 and 20-1 didn’t look any better in death than Bryant Wilkins had, although at least they hadn’t had their tongues cut out and replaced with catnip. I still hadn’t worked up the courage to share that little tidbit with Harper.
    Finally unable to take any more, she jerked the pictures facedown and let Penn take her into his arms. Normally I wouldn’t have allowed a civilian—arcane or not—into my inner sanctum or to view grisly crime scene photos unless he was a suspect or relative, but I just didn’t have the heart to watch Harper go through something like this alone. Especially considering the less-than-understanding mood my own Hound was currently in.
    I let her mourn for a couple of silent moments before breaking in gently. “Familiar to you, Harp?”
    She gave a jerky nod, face still buried in Penn’s chest. Her voice was muffled but audible when she spoke out loud. “Carlos Mendez and Simon Xavier.” The names clearly didn’t mean anything to Penn, but Scott let out his breath sharply. “B-boyfriends from high school. The only two I dated seriously.”
    This time it wasn’t jealousy I saw in Penn’s eyes when they met mine. It was, pure and simple, fear. Someone was systematically—and violently—eradicating past lovers of his brand-new fiancée. Apparently in chronological order. Possibly to send a brutal message to one or both of them: Cats and Hounds are not to mix. The logical assumption would be that someone from Penn’s family was offing the Cats to warn her off from him, but there’s that whole saying about ASS-U-ME-ing I try to live by. Some jealous psycho stalker could be offing Harper’s ex-boyfriends on the way up the ladder to the juiciest prize: newest flame and Warhound tycoon, Pennington Banoub.
    There was no gentle way to ask my next question, so I just spit it out. “How many people know you two are seriously involved?”
    Penn’s body stiffened, and Harper whirled to face me. Her mouth opened, then closed, and then opened again when realization hit. “You think someone’s trying to break us up.”
    “I think it’s a damned good possibility someone is not at all happy you two are bridging the species divide between Cat and Hound. Just how long have you been seeing each other?”
    Mr. Adonis growled and leaned toward me in a threatening manner. Which, of course, set off my Hound, who growled and leaned toward his not-so-beloved cousin. Hmm, a dogfight instead of a catfight. Harper and I shared an amused expression in wake of all that figuratively bristled fur and raised hackles. Yeah, she was definitely growing on me.
    She patted Penn’s arm soothingly, which calmed him enough to back off. Physically anyway. “If you’re trying to suggest that one of us is in any way involved—”
    Busy soothing my own savage beast—Scott—I glanced over my shoulder and let out a snort. “Down, boy. If that’s what I thought, I wouldn’t suggest it at all. I’d flat out accuse you, and we’d be in an interrogation room. What I am suggesting is that someone else is pissed off about you two being involved, and going to no small lengths to make that pissiness known.”
    His features grew thoughtful instead of confrontational. “Harper and I have been together for more than a year.” Scott muttered something under his breath. “Though we’ve only started making it more open over the past few weeks. For most of that time, only a handful of trusted people knew that we were seriously involved.”
    From Scott’s sour expression, I was willing to bet that Harper had hooked up with the other Hound not too long after his own one-night stand with her. According to him, they’d been casual friends for several years before that, growing closer once they admitted that romance was not in the cards for them. Probably a big part of the reason he was so resentful that she had taken up with his detested cousin. Not only did it sting that she’d done so,