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I banged on the steel door twice and waited.
I listened to the running water, the scraping of graters, and the hum of an old ventilation system. Bugs repeatedly flew into the bulb of the floodlight hanging above me.
Not a full minute later, the heavy door was slid open just enough for the noxious fumes inside to escape and for me to see inside.
Piles of human skin sat ready to be processed and either discarded in the old dumpster I knew was out back, or un-haired, degreased, desalted, and then soaked in water.
Luther stepped out and quickly closed the large room off again, still wearing his plastic overalls and face mask.
“Didn’t I tell you it would work?” He pulled his mask down to reveal a wide ass grin.
“You should probably commit this moment in history to memory, considering it’s the first time you’ve been right about anything in sixteen fucking years.”
He threw his head back and laughed.
“Actually, My Liege, if the blonde chained up outside my stable is the infamous Calista, I’ve been right about two things. If I remember correctly, I was adamant you’d find her eventually.”
“You’re right. I’ll add a golden star to your special chart.”
“I’ve sincerely missed you and all your royal asshole remarks.” He laughed again, holding a gloved hand over his heart.
“Yeah, now we’ve caught up, go take those fucking chains off my girl.”
“Come on, Dhal has the key.” He grinned and set off towards his house. “You sure you don’t wanna leave Tito behind?”
There was no love lost between the two of them. Tito just wasn’t a well-liked individual these days. I smirked in amusement at his anger on my behalf.
“Nah, his ass is mine to handle. I’ll send Grimm to collect him. And I want whoever it was that knocked Cali’s tooth out. You can have Janice for the kid. It’ll save you a body.”
He stroked his chin and nodded. “Yeah, that works for me.” I knew he would accept the offer. He’d been teaching his niece how to flay on cadavers and could always use another one.
We walked in silence. I laughed to myself. Cali would be mad as fuck. Knowing she was safe and would soon be back by my side where she belonged calmed the beast inside me.
I swear I could breathe easier, knowing my beautiful girl was coming home.
I should have come to see Luther first, but my feet had carried me to her. The pull was magnetic. It was only after I checked her over that I realized I needed a key to get her chains off. If I didn’t already know Luther had only done what was necessary, I would have crushed his fucking spine for tying her up.
“I like her.”
“Uh huh, so do I,” I replied, feeling the need to state what was plain as fucking day.
“She’s tiny a little thing––”
“If you’re trying to make a point, make it,” I warned.
“Hey, chill, man. I value my life.” He held his hands up in surrender and took a small step away. “I was going to say she has spunk. If she’s anything like what I’ve heard, you two are gonna be fuckin great together. This is what we needed.”
I didn’t have anything to add to that. Shit was weird and way too far out of my comfort zone.
Cali represented a lot of things I’d never had before. I was not accustomed to discussing her. She wasn’t some random fuck. I had balls big enough to admit she mattered to me.
Luther knew she would play a pivotal role in my life, but this felt way too much like an opening for a heart to heart, and I didn’t do that bullshit.
We walked in silence for a few minutes. Away from the spotlight, the rest of property was blanketed in darkness, but from what I could see, Luther was still doing a bang-up job of maintaining it.
“You have a good system.” It was the closest thing to a thank you he was going to get. He’d had his trap-house set up for almost nine years now. The place was wired to alert him when anyone entered.
Usually, he had scouts nearby to go in and wrangle the people up but, Cali wasn’t just people, she was mine.
