Something tells me being hunted by these men would be a different experience than when the hunters were after me, and I shiver at the thought of what they would do when they caught me. As much as I hate to admit it, I doubt I would try too hard to escape.
I rub a hand down my face, then release a shuddering breath, struggling to get my brain back online. If they insist on staying, we need to have some ground rules. I almost smirk at the thought.
“If you stay…” I narrow my eyes on them, and they each unconsciously straighten under my attention, their chests puffing up, their shoulders pulling back. “I expect you to obey me. If I say retreat, we fucking retreat. If I say run, we run. Treat everyone as a threat—no letting your guard down to flirt with a pretty girl.” I grit my teeth at the very thought, barely holding back a growl.
“If you can’t listen to my rules, then you need to tell me now.” I glare at each of them, searching for any hint of rebellion. “I won’t have you put others in danger just because you’re an ass. Understand?”
Tyler cocks his head but barely pauses before he nods. Garth studies me hard, as if he’s trying to read my very soul. He dips his chin in acknowledgment, but I don’t mistake that for agreement. It’s probably the best I’m going to get, though. Honestly, I expected him to object. For an alpha like him, allowing anyone else to be in charge is a minor miracle. They don’t take submitting to others easily, so I’ll take even the smallest concession.
Dante is a different matter, a scowl darkening his face, as if I asked him to shove his cock into a blender. He purses his lips, a furrow dipping between his brows, obviously disliking someone like me having any power over him.
I’m not sure what bothers him more—that I’m a stranger, or that I’m female.
I suspect both.
He crosses his arms and glances away. I would say he’s pouting, but the rigid lines of his body indicate he’s deeply uneasy. I almost relent, but his life isn’t worth a little discomfort.
I’ll have to tread carefully. The last thing any of us can afford is for him to go rogue because he thinks he knows better. If we were just dealing with the outside world, I would allow them to take the lead. They know more about this place than I do.
But the Orion are like a different species. They don’t relent, they don’t quit. They’ve been trained that nothing else matters but achieving their objective…not even their lives. While these men fought well, it’s a different experience to go up against someone who doesn’t hold back for fear of dying. The Orion have trained their whole life for one goal—completing their job at all costs.
I glance between the men and focus on my prisoner first. “Are the Orion behind the missing people? Is this a trap?”
“I work alone.” The man in question narrows his eyes slightly, as if offended to be associated with the others. Then he shrugs, the chains clanking with the movement. “I’ve met with them a few times, but I doubt they’re intelligent enough to pull off something so big without drawing the wrong kind of attention. They are more brute force soldiers geared toward smash and grab.”
His honesty is more than what I was expecting, and I’m immediately suspicious.
Intelligence gleams in his ice colored eyes, but not deceit.
I want to believe him.
I’m not sure if that makes me a fool or not.
As for trusting him… I trust no one, not even the others.
Sure, our goals might align for now, but we’re allies at most.
My wolf huffs in irritation with all this talking nonsense. She whirls, slapping me with her tail as she throws a tantrum, sulking when I refuse to thrust out my tits, flutter my lashes, and lure them in for a tryst.
I want to call her a hussy, but I bite back my annoyance. She’s been locked away for most of her life. She deserves the freedom to shift whenever the urge takes her. It’s just hard to let down my guard. If we’re captured, we’ll be locked in a collar for the rest of our lives, never taking to fur and claws again.
Speaking of collars, I glance at the Orion again—or more precisely, his bare neck.
“What happened to your collar?” I ask suspiciously. I’ve never heard of anyone successfully removing it in a way that didn’t include death. A vulnerable look enters his eyes for a second, but it’s gone almost before I catch it, and I wonder if it was just a trick of the light.
He digs into his pocket, then pulls out a slightly tarnished chain. It’s not a necklace, like some are assigned, but a thick choker, done purposely to remind him that he’s nothing more than a dog forced to come to heel.
The skin around his neck is lighter, and my stomach sours when I realize it’s scar tissue. The silver in the chain has burned into his skin over and over, until a thick layer of scars formed. From the tight circle, I doubt he was able to stick even a tip of his claw under the necklace. When I squint a certain way, I swear I can see runes etched into his skin, but I’m distracted when he speaks again.
“It fell off when you hooked it with your claw,” he says, seemingly confused how any such thing was possible. A snarl twists his lips when he gazes down at it, his hands curling around the links, and it’s obvious he wants nothing more than to throw it as far away from him as possible. He restrains himself and reluctantly slips it back into his pocket.
His silver eyes latch on to me, his expression serious when he searches my face. “No one else can know that you have this ability.”
Even though he warns me, his distrust wafts off him like he stepped into a pile of shit. I might have freed him, but it’s obvious he doesn’t trust his good luck. I don’t blame him. Kyperian is not a place where anything happens without consequences, usually of the nasty variety.
Determined to use the situation to my advantage, I point out the obvious. “If you go back” —mindful of others listening, I refrain from mentioning anything regarding Kyperian— “without the collar around your neck, they won’t hesitate to kill you.”
I don’t feel an ounce of remorse for his situation. Sure, he might not have killed me when he had the chance, but I didn’t kill him either.
