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MaryAnne glanced from the goblin back to him. “I don’t understand. You said I’m your mate. How can that make me prey for him or anyone else here?”
“I will explain later,” he rumbled, his eyes narrowing on the goblin. “What is your name, goblin?”
The male laughed. “For what reason? You have no greater magics with which you could ever hope of controlling me to do your bidding.”
“I have no intention of doing anything of the sort,” Raskyuil growled. “I just want questions answered truthfully and an oath extracted by your own magic before the night falls and our duties begin. So you will give me your name if you like your neck whole.”
“Fucking trolls,” the male hissed. “Fine! I am Zagrol of the Bitwinn. On my oath, my name is true.”
Raskyuil nodded and loosened his grip fractionally. “Zagrol of the Bitwinn, answer this truthfully on your oath: have you and yours been hunting humans? Have you captured any within your shadows or hiding any therein?”
The male’s sneering smile slipped. “What use would I have for a female if I already had a human held within my shadows? We take only one, on my oath. You know yourself that the law of the carnival doesn’t permit us to hunt the guests,” he added sullenly. His lips twisted. “We can fuck them, but the infernal gods forbid that we take one to keep.”
“What of children?” MaryAnne asked, suddenly comprehending the direction of his questioning.
A look of disgust came over the male’s face. “I have no desire to hunt a child. What can a child do for me and my betas? We do not desire to rear offspring when we have not yet even rutted. No mate to please with filling her burrow with younglings to tend. Nor are we the depraved sort to take unnatural pleasure. And we have no interest in rearing one and waiting for them to mature simply to slake our desire for a mate. It’s unnatural,” he repeated with a shudder.
Raskyuil nodded, pleased with the male’s answer. There was potential for an ally there. “I suppose you would know if anyone was doing such within the carnival?.
The alpha’s shrewd eyes narrowed on him curiously. “We would know. Our shadows would hear.”
“And you have heard nothing?”
“Nothing,” the alpha hissed in agreement. “On my oath.”
Raskyuil cocked his head speculatively. “You will tell me if you hear or see something? It is my responsibility to keep the carnival safe, and our guests. This includes the younglings who enter here.”
The goblin gave him a hard smile, revealing nothing. “I would tell.”
That was as much as he would get from a wily goblin. It would have to be enough.
“I will have your oath now.”
Zagrol groaned, his lip curling in disdain. “You have had enough oaths. What more could you desire?”
“That you not repeat this conversation to any. Not even your betas. This is between us alone and if your betas or anyone asks you will say that I was warning you off my mate.”
“Very well,” the male growled in agreement. “On my oath, not a word of this conversation shall be made known by me to my betas or any other. You were warning me from your mate.”
Raskyuil nodded. “And so that this does not make a liar out of me, if you value your life at all, or that of your males, you will never dare to hunt my mate female again. Is that understood, or shall I remove something to make my point?”
“On my oath,” Zagrol hastily agreed. “Never again shall me or mine hunt your mate.” His eyes narrowed. “But be warned, troll, just because we don’t hunt her doesn’t mean another won’t. Claim your mate before another steals her. She is of the carnival now and fair game.”
Inclining his head, Raskyuil released him, his eyes following the male as he leaped back and immediately converged into the shadows. MaryAnne pursed her lips as the shadows gradually thinned and returned to normal, and an impatient sigh left her before she looked up at him.
“So let me see if I’m reading between the lines here… There’s a good chance one of these guys around here is going to keep trying to steal me until we mate and you ‘claim’ me, which I’m guessing all boils down to the fact that we have to fuck to remove whatever invisible target I have.”
Clever female.
“In short,” he agreed.
“And you just threatened to kill that goblin and his whole family for me—and my kids as well if he betrays that we’ve been asking about children.”
He nodded, the corners of his lips lifting in spite of himself, pleased that she understood that much. He would protect her and her children at all costs, even if it meant bringing death and destruction down on the carnival.
She nodded to herself. “Okay. Do we have time?”
“Time?” he echoed, his brow furrowing.
