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“She was stupid enough to walk away from the possibility of ultimate power,” Quinton says. “Trying to stop me from bringing the shadow realm to earth is the wrong move. First, she attempts to send shadow beings after my men. Then she sends you, a weak, average wolf. The woman is a moron. Of course she needs protection. But she lost the privilege of mine when she turned against me.”
“I’m sure she’s devastated,” I say wryly.
I can read between the lines here. Maybe it’s because I understand men, but I can fill in the details of what really happened. He found a way to access some kind of power from the shadow realm through whatever means. He used that power to “create” Kian, Malix, and Frost, of course, which is why they’re formed of shadow realm magic. But that wasn’t enough for the alpha. He wanted more, so he went searching for more—and when his little feral shifters grew up, they became a part of that plan, too.
Quinton’s obsession with finding a way to bring the shadow realm to earth must not have sat right with his mate. She tried to stop him, he got angry, they fell out, and Felicity packed her shit and left, taking her friends with her. Now, she’s trying to stop him, just like I’m trying to stop Kian, Malix, and Frost.
The lady and I have things in common.
“Perhaps I could be convinced to let you go,” Quinton offers suddenly, yanking me from my thoughts. “If you’ll deliver a message to Felicity.”
My heart leaps, hope surging through me. Is he seriously about to let me go? There’s a pretty good chance he’ll have some of his wolves follow me, but if I can get away from the village, I’ll have a better chance of fighting off one or two shifters.
I keep my face carefully neutral, not wanting to betray the thoughts racing through my head. “What’s the message?”
Quinton smiles, although his eyes stay as hard as dark, glittering gems. “Tell her it’s not too late. She can still give up her foolish vendetta against me. If she returns to me now, all will be forgiven, despite everything she has done. We are mates, after all. We should be together. On the same side.”
There’s something almost like longing in his voice as he speaks, and it occurs to me that despite his harsh words about his mate earlier, he misses her. I guess that shouldn’t surprise me. Mate bonds are strong—strong enough to keep drawing your heart toward someone, even if every other part of you hates them.
I’m well acquainted with that fact.
“All right.” I nod. “I’ll tell her all of that, if you let me go back to her.”
“Good.” The alpha cocks his head, his eyes narrowing. “How did you end up in Felicity’s pack, anyway? You were never one of mine—not one of the defectors who joined her. So where did she recruit you from?”
Fuck. Is he testing me?
My brain scrambles to sort through all the scraps of information I’ve learned about Felicity from the feral shifters, but it’s not much. I don’t even know where her pack lands are, or how long ago she had her falling out with Quinton and left him.
“I was packless for a long time,” I say carefully, trying to keep my answer vague enough not to raise any red flags. “My path crossed hers by chance, and she offered me a place in her pack. I took it.”
“And you agreed to help her in her fight against me?” Quinton presses, his eyes glittering dangerously as he watches me. “Is that her plan? To recruit other shifters and create an army to try to take me down?”
I don’t know if it’s better to say yes or no to that question—unsure of which answer will make him less likely to kill me. I hesitate for a moment, and the stout alpha fixes me with a hard look.
“Answer the fucking question, or maybe I won’t let you go after all.”
Shit. Shit, shit, shit. Every question he’s asking puts me closer to talking myself into a corner. I don’t actually know anything about Felicity, and one wrong answer will reveal that truth.
“Yes,” I say finally, because I have to say something. “That’s what she’s planning.”
A strange look passes over Quinton’s face, and he takes a step closer to me. “Tell me, does she still bear the mark of her first defiance? Does she still have the scar I gave her on her cheek?”
My stomach clenches. Why does it not surprise me that this asshole physically assaulted his own mate?
“Yes,” I repeat. “Of course she does.”
Quinton’s expression shifts again, anger mixing with cold satisfaction in his features. He shakes his head. “My mate has no such scar. And you clearly don’t know her. You weren’t sent by her.”
My blood ices. Goddammit. I should’ve seen that trap coming, but his lie was—unfortunately—so fucking believable that I walked right into it. There’s no use trying to backpedal or deny it, no point in trying to continue the ruse.
“Fine. I don’t know her,” I admit, licking my lips and trying to keep my breaths even. “I’ve been working on my own mission that has nothing to do with her. But knowing what your mate is all about, I’d be happy to work for her if I ever got the chance. Anybody who opposes a power hungry asshole is a good person in my book.”
Quinton growls, jerking his head at his guards. “Get her out of the cell.”
One of his silent men steps forward, brandishing a key that he uses to unlock the door to my cell. The second guard moves forward to grab me, but Kian is faster, his large shoulders bumping the man out of the way.
I glare up at my ex-mate, letting my anger smolder in my eyes. He grabs me by my biceps and hauls me off the cot. I thrash against his arms and consider putting a knee in his balls to finish what I tried to do last night, but before I can even try, he sets me on my feet outside the cell door and gives me a shove. The other two men take hold of my arms and hold me in place.
Quinton punches me.
His form is perfect, so I don’t even see it coming. I take the blow on my jaw, my head whipping sideways from the force. My vision tunnels as pain radiates up my temple and down my neck. I momentarily lose control of my knees and collapse against the two shifters behind me, dangling by my arms.
Kian still stands in the door to my cage. He’s squarely in my sights, his face devoid of emotion, and it’s only my hatred of him that helps me regain my footing.
The coppery tang of blood fills my mouth. I swallow it back before probing my cheek with my tongue.
“Nice right hook,” I say, more pain rippling over my jaw. The words come out like my tongue’s wrapped in cotton. “Did your mom teach you how to throw a punch?”
Quinton steps forward, his expression menacing. As big and strong as he is, he’s hardly two inches taller than me, so his “loom” isn’t quite as scary as, say, Kian’s. “If Felicity didn’t send you, then what the hell are you doing in my village?”
I bare my teeth at him and try to hide the fact that my head is still swimming. “Prospecting for gold.”
His lips curl back, showing his teeth. “Are you after my stone?”
That makes me raise an eyebrow. I was joking, taunting him because it’s my instinctive response in situations where I feel out of control, but he took my words to mean I was coming for something very specific. A stone?
“Maybe I am. Maybe I’m not.”
He snarls, snatching a handful of my hair. “You wouldn’t even know how to use it. A weak bitch like you? The shadow realm magic would eat you alive.”
“I could find Felicity,” I shoot back, grinning even as my eyes water from his grasp on my hair. “She could teach me. She sent shadow beings after your men, right? So she obviously has some access to that power.”
He mentioned it a few moments ago, but of course, I was actually there when the shadows showed up. Twice, in fact, and the first time, the damn things poisoned me. So it stands to reason Felicity has some grasp of how to use shadow magic just like her mate does. Not that I want to play with fire like that. Using the tools of your enemy to try to defeat them is a risky prospect at best.
