The older man gave a small derisive laugh. “Actually, there are a lot of problems, but they’re all yours now, not mine. The broken ribs are worth it. And call me Amos.”

Drake glanced at Pauline. She hadn’t said a word, but she obviously knew Drake and Jeanmard had fought.

“She knows everythin’,” Jeanmard said. “I never lied to her, not once in all the years she waited for me.” There was genuine love in his voice. “I knew she was my mate—my leopard recognized her—but she had no leopard and I was afraid our lair would eventually disappear. It was a mistake. My mistake. I wanted to keep all the shifters here instead of sendin’ them out as I should have.” He groaned as he moved to try to ease his position a little. “I did my duty and I never cheated on Adrienne. My loyalty was the only thing I could give her. She was a good woman and good mother. I loved her in my way, but she deserved more.” He looked at Pauline. “You deserved more.”

Drake felt the older man’s sorrow. The look between the innkeeper and the old leopard was so intimate, he had to look away. To love like that and yet sacrifice for the good of a species. What a wasted effort.

“Every choice in my life I’ve made,” Pauline said quietly, “I made each one, knowin’ what I was doin’.” Her voice was firm. She stood up. “I’ll get you a plate of food if you think you can eat now, Amos.”

Saria was like Pauline Lafont—a woman who would stand by a man in spite of his mistakes. Drake waited until Pauline had slipped into the dining room.

“That woman is humbling. She’s magnificent.”

Amos forced himself into a sitting position, his face going gray. He clenched his teeth to keep from moaning and Drake didn’t add to his indignity by offering to help. Amos breathed shallow for a few moments before forcing a small rueful grin. “Yes, she is. Saria is quite a bit like her.”

“I was just thinking the same thing.”

“I hope you do better by her than I did Pauline.”

Drake stretched out his legs. His bum leg was one big ache, and he wouldn’t be surprised if he found he was black and blue from thigh to ankle. His very bones hurt. “I think I’m too damned old for this fighting crap.”

“I know I am.” Amos glanced toward the dining room and lowered his voice. “Tell me about the Tregre boy. What’s he like?”

“He’s a good man. Rock solid. I put my life in his hands on a daily basis and I know he’s going to be there for me, no matter how bad it gets. That’s the kind of man he is,” Drake answered without hesitation. “So you answer me this—what the hell happened in that family and why didn’t you stop it?” Amos sighed. “I went to school with Buford Tregre. He was a bully then. Mean as a snake. All the girls were terrified of him. Even the teachers were careful of him. His father was a mean drunk and no one ever saw his mother. They were part of the lair—we knew they were leopards, but they stayed to themselves. Mostly they lived off the land, huntin’ and fishin’. He dallied with Iris Lafont, Pauline’s sister, promised marriage, but in the end he kicked her out to marry a shifter, and then kept her tied to him by continuin’ to lie and saying he’d leave his wife for her. He was a no good son of a bitch and treated women like shit. As for his wife, once she set foot on Tregre land, no one ever saw her again.”

“And no one checked on her? I thought families here were close.”

“No one is close with the Tregre family. No one.”

“And his sons?” Drake prompted. Someone was killing in the swamps and it had to be stopped. There was no question whoever was doing it was a shifter. He still hadn’t checked out Amos Jeanmard or his son. He was not disclosing information to the man and as long as he was staying at the inn where Saria was, she would either be in his room, or one of his men would be sitting outside her door in the building, and another outside.

Amos frowned. “I don’ know what to think about those boys.” He rubbed at his chin, his frown deepening to a scowl. “Like their daddy, we didn’ see much of them. Like I said, Buford was a mean drunk and he ruled with his fists. I don’ think they had much of a childhood and they didn’ go to school much. The three of them were close though. You fought one Tregre, you fought them all. Renard was the oldest and he had it the worst. He looked out for his mother and the other two boys. When he went away for a while, it shocked everyone. I think that’s when the old man got worse.”

“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.”