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Derek began to shake his head and open his mouth to speak but Jade silenced him by grabbing his jaw with one hand to hold him still as the other hand pressed the blade she’d pulled from her boot into the soft skin beneath his chin.
“I need you to understand something, Derek. The only thing keeping you alive is what you can tell us about the people you helped. I cannot kill you outright because the law governing Alpha’s seeking retribution only lets me kill people who have directly harmed my bonded mates. The lawyers have informed me that you do not qualify.”
Something like hope flickered in his eyes until Jade spoke again.
“However, there is nothing that would penalize me for taking my pound of flesh and dropping you off at one of the Jackal’s clubs for them to decide what to do with you.”
“You wouldn’t do that. It would risk them finding out about you all and everything here.”
Fucker. I couldn’t let that threat stand.
“Bold of you to assume you’d have a tongue to speak with or hands to write with when we throw you to the wolves.”
The sour notes of fear in his scent now flooded the room and satisfaction thrummed through the bond from Jade and, more distantly, Trevor.
“Or… you can tell us what you know, everything you know. I’ll still take my pound of flesh but then we’ll turn you over to police custody. There you would have the chance to get a deal for protection.”
I shook my head and played into the very real desire I had to just see this man suffer.
“What if he lies or withholds information? Better to just hand him over to the Jackals. We can find what we need, now that he won’t be able to fuck it up for us.”
“I won’t lie. I’ll tell you whatever I know, I swear.”
Jade sucked her teeth as if she were considering it and stood, walking around Derek to stand next to Trevor. The rat tried to turn to see them but the restraints would only let him turn his head half-way, either side. I could see his chest heaving with panic as Jade and Trevor started to discuss him like they were speaking casually over coffee in the break room.
“Even people who can resist an Alpha’s bark, under normal circumstances, can’t do it while their brain is overstimulated or concentration is broken and when the Alpha is especially dominant.”
“Pain sure makes it hard to concentrate.”
“That is very true. And, one way or the other, he’s going to be in a lot of pain.”
“Plus, our Beta happens to also be bonded to one of the most dominant Alphas I’ve ever met.”
Miles. I didn’t think they’d told him about finding a mole, or much else that wasn’t need-to-know. He didn’t like being involved in Drake business but, for Shae, he’d burn the world down.
“Please. I didn’t have a choice. They threatened me and I owed them money from their clubs.”
The echoes of the conversation between Shae and Dayton, the Beta who’d been forced to help with the Jackals’ experiments, rang in my ears. He’d been threatened and beaten as much as the others had, yet still helped the other victims as much as he could. I moved, without consciously deciding to, and struck Derek on the side of his face. The impact of my fist against his cheek was loud in the mostly silent room. The screech of his chair as it tipped back on two legs was accompanied by Derek’s wail before Jade, unbothered, stretched a foot out to steady it back on all four.
“There’s always a fucking choice, you piece of shit. You could have come to Trevor. You chose to betray him and betray Drake House: that was your choice.”
He moaned in pain, while tears and snot started to run down his face. Jade’s mild reprimand came through in the bond. I’d let my anger cloud my judgment for a moment. I knew better than to hit someone’s face that hard when we needed them to talk, especially that close to the jaw. If I’d broken his jaw, it would set us back.
“Talk, Derek. What did they tell you to do?”
“T-they told me to make sure you didn’t get close to finding the warehouse. I didn’t know w-where it was for sure, just a g-general area.”
“So when Ethan and Cole found something you, what, hid the trail?”
“Or planted a false one.”
“But then you got sick and we sent you home that last day.”
His whimpering and crying was pathetic as he nodded, then kept going.
“When you found your Beta, they had someone break into my apartment. I told them I’d help keep you off their backs if they’d let me live.”
“That’s why you came in that night? Why you stopped Cole’s search?”
