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“I would think that should have earned everyone’s trust.”
“It did in my book. Mia is my best friend.”
As they sat to eat, Rachel lifted her brow. “Tell me everything about Mia and Dominic. And about the blood addiction thing.”
“Good thing we are getting an early start because their story will take a good hour to tell.”
“You’ve got my undivided attention.”
“Dominic’s obsession with Mia started when she rented a cottage in his territory. He caught her scent and spied on her. Immediately smitten, he decided she would be his pet.”
“Yes, start with this ‘pet’ thing.”
Chapter 20
Refreshed after a hot shower and breakfast of fresh buffalo, Lev returned to what he called old Soviet calm. He walked to the situation room displaying his icy demeanor. No one must know he was Rachel’s blood slave. Or was he? Lev didn’t feel any different. Or would the recent blood fix last a while? His desire to keep her, no matter what, must be a red flag of his addiction. Before he opened the door, he sighed in relief. Rachel was in good hands with Cricket as her handler. Cricket’s best friend was Mia, a human, so she understood humans better than anyone in the pack. He entered the situation room. Jesper punched numbers into a computer while Rylee watched over his shoulder.
Rylee turned her attention to Lev and sniffed. “You smell good.”
The alpha no doubt smelled the tinge of Rachel’s blood essence. Raw buffalo he’d consumed didn’t hide that fact. He smiled. “I showered.”
He turned his attention to Katya, the foreign beta chained by a collar to the wall. The attractive woman wore a pair of gray overalls for prisoners. She kept her head lowered and her pulse raced. Thorn, the assassin, wearing the black operative uniform, stood guard over his prisoner and stared straight ahead. Tall, Lev’s height with a massive frame and always in a brooding state, Thorn had a scar that ran from the corner of his left eye to his neck. He’d heard the serial killer werewolf who disfigured Thorn had lost and, like other oath-breaking weres, ended up buried in the oath breaker’s communal grave. A shameful burial mound, no relative or former pack ever visited. The ghosts of the oath breakers were said to haunt the place. Caught in a dark void of despair that would last all eternity.
Rylee spoke. “Lev, I don’t think you’ve met Thorn.”
Lev and Thorn locked eyes. The alpha primal instinct to challenge for supremacy curtailed by their strict lycan law against bloodshed in pack territory. Nonetheless, a rumbling growl escaped their throats. Lev grinned, baring long fangs in what he often heard Cricket called a fang/dick war. “We should have vodka some time.”
Thorn narrowed his eyes. “No offense, but I don’t socialize.” His southern accent gave him a charming voice despite his cold demeanor.
Lev shrugged. “No worries, I tend to be a loner myself.”
“So I’ve heard.”
“Thorn, you’re excused for now.”
He raised his brow. “Ma’am?”
“Your details about the mission have been recorded, but remain at headquarters. We might need your services.”
“Yes, ma’am.” He glanced at Katya who glared at him. Thorn sneered at her then turned to Lev before leaving. “Careful, this one bites like an ornery gator. Best use that mind control of yours.”
Lev nodded and narrowed his eyes at the big hunter from the bayou. His request to use mind control hinted he had a soft spot for the attractive beta. Or was he projecting his own feelings if Rachel had been in a similar situation? Fortunately for Katya, once under his control, she would speak only the truth. The hunter left and Lev addressed Rylee. “Let’s remove her collar.”
Jesper got up, but Rylee shook her head. “I’ll do it.”
Normally, a criminal werewolf was questioned in a caged interrogation room or bound in an enforcer’s dungeon, but the petite beta had no means of escape. Weaponless and, according to Katya’s profile, her wolf form weighed in at 125 pounds. Cricket was smaller, but not by much. Against Rylee and him, she wouldn’t stand a chance, no matter how tenacious she happened to be.
Katya rubbed her throat and sat where Rylee indicated. “So Kat, ready to talk?”
The prisoner glared at the door Thorn had shut behind him as if still angry at him for her capture. “Yes, I worked for Svetlana, but she is gone. I don’t know where.”
Lev tilted his head. “Your English is good, but your accent hints you are from Southern Ural Mountains.”
Katya shrugged. “I was told I was born in the Urals and spent the first year after the change there, but I only remember waking up in Siberia with no memory of my past. Apparently, I somehow knew English. I did a lot of courier work in America and England.”
Jesper interjected. “Anton’s pack often used drugs to erase memories.”
Katya scoffed. “Who cares?”
