Sniffing, she lifted her head to give him a look that said she wasn’t impressed with his offer. “My pride is after the ones who caused it.”

“Yeah,” Carson said gently, “but the more trackers we have, the more chances to find them and hopefully get a cure.”

“We are lions—”

“And I’m a wolf,” Fury said, cutting her off. “If I need raw brutality and force, I’ll call you. But if you’re looking for someone who did you wrong, nothing tracks better than one of us.”

Carson put his hand on the woman’s arm. “He’s right, Anita. Let him see if he can help us find the culprits before they prey on someone else.”

She tightened her hand in the lion’s mane before she got up and stepped away.

Fury approached the table slowly. “Is he fully animal or does he retain any human rationale?”

Carson sighed. “We’re not sure.”

Those words wrung a deep sob from the woman.

Fury ignored her and approached the table. The lion growled low as Fury neared him. It was an animal warning. The wolf inside Fury rose to the forefront, but he tamped it down. While the wolf might want to fight, the man knew a lion would tear him up. Sometimes it was good to have human abilities, even if those sometimes went to war with his wolf’s heart.

“Easy,” he said in a level tone as he balled his hand into a fist to protect his fingers. If there was nothing inside the lion but animal, it would respond to any hostile or fear pheromones it smelled. He held his hand out slowly so the lion could catch his scent and intent.

The lion swatted at him but didn’t hurt him. Good. Fury put his hand on the lion’s back. Leaning closer, he felt the muscles shifting, but they weren’t bunching to attack. He breathed in and smelled the scent of Carson, Margery, the female lion, and others. But it was the lightest smell that sent him reeling …

A wolfswan.

Fury looked at the lioness. “Have you been around any other Lykos?”

Anita indicated the wolf by Carson. “Sasha.”

“No,” Fury said slowly. “Female.”

Anita scoffed. “We don’t mix with other breeds. We are purists.”

Maybe … but there were other scents he picked up on, too. Jackal, panther, and wolf. “When were you around a jackal?”

“Never!” she spat, indignant at the mere suggestion. The jackals weren’t exactly anyone’s favorite breed. In the land of outcasts, they were the omega animals. The ones everyone avoided and picked on.

Sasha moved closer. “I smell it, too.”

Carson exchanged a worried look with Margery. “Anita, tell us everything you can remember about the ones who attacked your mate.”