Bet none of them thought Shiloh was weak now.
“Here’s the thing,” Shiloh kept his tone conversational, “I’m no genius, but what I lack in intelligence, I more than make up for in…other ways.” He leaned forward and dragged the tip of the blade from the rise of Bai’s right cheek down to his chin, slicing such a fine line, that blood didn’t immediately well until seconds later.
The alpha trembled with rage and fear, but didn’t pull away.
Credit for holding his shit together in the face of death.
“Not willing to talk?” Shiloh hummed. “I get it. All your friends are dead. Your operation is in shambles. What’s there to live for, really.”
“They weren’t my friends,” Bai surprised him by stating tersely. “And the operation was already about to be busted. All you did was speed things up.”
“Prince.” Tullius, who’d been searching through Bai’s multi-slate, scowled. “He’s I.P.F.”
“No shit?” Shiloh chuckled. “Well, this just got more interesting. What’s an Intergalactic Police Force agent doing on Glyph?” He waved the dagger at the room. “Don’t tell me you were working a drug case? Seems kind of beneath you.”
The I.P.F were a universal agency that protected the galaxies and helped uphold Intergalactic Conference law. If one of them had been sent here and instructed to infiltrate a minor gang like Lady Luck, there was clearly something bigger going on that Shiloh wasn’t aware of.
And, frankly, had no interest in.
He sighed. “I’m assuming you’re after the supplier?”
“A shipment of elixir heading to the Crystal Sea galaxy was pirated six months ago,” Bai replied, shocking Shiloh yet again by suddenly being so forthcoming. “Small time dealers just like this one have been cropping up all over. I’m just one of several sent to try and get answers.”
“Find any?”
“Yeah, but that’s my business.”
“Did this pirate have anything to do with that stunt two weeks ago?”
“No, that was Ricky’s plan.”
“Who?”
Bai chucked his chin toward a body in the corner, his mouth tipping upward slightly.
“Ah. Not a fan?”
“Ricky was the real leader of the gang,” Bai said. “He was using me as a cover after things went south with you.”
“Why you?”
“I’m the newest member.”
Made sense.
“Why was he after the prince?” Tullius demanded to know.
“The Eumia controls the main city. He wanted to negotiate and start dealing at some of the clubs. His bright idea was to leverage the Dominus’ brother. At first, his idiot followers got the wrong one, so—”
“Wait.” Shiloh held up a hand. “Are you referring to Elm Erskine?”
“The artist.” He nodded. “Yeah.”
Kian would be happy to hear that that little part of the mystery had been solved.
“What’d they do with him once they realized he wasn’t who they were sent for?” As of this morning, there’d been no word that Elm had been rescued, which meant he was still missing.
“I don’t know,” Bai said. “I’ve been trying to find out myself, but Ricky clammed up whenever it was mentioned. He looked scared. The guys who kidnapped the artist never came back either.”
