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I stifled a groan and prayed that her act of rebellion, however well-intentioned, hadn’t moved her to a higher rung on this guy’s shit list. But he ignored her as he pulled a tablet from a cabinet between my cell and Diana’s and flicked through several screens, typing out what I would have guessed were notes on our conditions. Between bursts of typing, he lifted his gaze and studied each of us briefly before dropping his head and continuing to type.
Audrey continued needling him, but the hunter paid her no mind as he focused on his task. I caught her eye, but she only smiled at me and shrugged. I swore the woman was fearless.Being raised as a rich brat had its disadvantages in situations like this.
The dark-haired asshat from earlier reentered the room, holding out a phone.
“Kyle, it’s for you.”
Kyle? There were probably millions of Kyles in the world, but something about this one was familiar. And I’d heard the name recently. For the life of me, though, I couldn’t remember where.
He grunted and took the phone from the guy’s outstretched hand, but waited to speak until his lackey hurried out of the room like he had somewhere important to be and very little time to get there.
I continued to sift through my memories to remember where his name fit in, but with the drug still in my system, my thoughts were a jumbled mess of images and voices. Although I was still alert and standing, the drug was affecting me. I was groggy, my reflexes sluggish.
It also didn’t help that my shoulder was aching. Because the wound was from a silver bullet, it would take longer to heal. I did everything that was mentally possible to redirect myself from thinking about the pain, trying to recall everything from the bylaws of Blackwood Creek to multiplication tables. No way was I going to wince, even though my skin, which was normally ten or so degrees hotter than everyone else’s, was on fire. I would rather die than show these bastards any kind of weakness.
I picked up the bandages from the cold concrete floor and did my best to wrap my injury. A doctor would have to stitch it up properly, but the bandages would do for now.
Kyle put the phone to his ear. I was surprised he didn’t leave the holding area. He had to know shifter hearing meant we’d easily hear both sides of the conversation. But he stood as though he didn’t give a fuck what we overheard.
“Yeah?” he snapped, his voice less than reverent.
“I heard the extraction of the Blackwood alpha was a success.” The glee in the voice on the other end of the line chilled me to the bone. As did the fact that they had specifically targeted me, not just any shifter.
“Yeah, it was. He’s here in holding.” Kyle’s voice remained flat and uninterested.
“Was Victoria there?”
At the mention of her name, every cell in my body froze. I lifted my gaze to Audrey’s, whose eyes were wide. The hunters not only wanted me but Tori, too.
It was telling. But until I figured out why they wanted us, I wouldn’t know what it meant.
One thing was now certain. I needed to figure it out, then somehow get word to Tori.
That they had mentioned her on this call and made sure I heard it put me on high alert—especially since Audrey and Tori didn’t have the most solid relationship. What if she threw my mate under the bus?
My heart pounded at the possibility, and the fear had me in a viselike grip.
The fear dissipated when Audrey narrowed her eyes at Kyle and snapped her lips firmly shut. I could feel anger and confusion flowing from her in rippling waves.
“No, she wasn’t there,” Kyle said. There was a pause, silence from the other man. “Is that all?”
While Kyle’s voice sounded bored, his body told a very different story. At the mention of Tori, his shoulders had stiffened for a fraction of a second before relaxing. If I hadn’t been watching him closely, I would have missed it, but I wasn’t the kind of guy who missed much. And right now, I needed to know as much about what was going on as I could find out. Nothing was going to escape my notice.
“Giselle will be arriving at the compound soon,” the voice on the other line said. “Make sure you have one of those shifters selected and prepared before she arrives. Keep the monsters in line until I can return to the States. I plan to be back by the end of the week.” Kyle remained silent. “I’m sure you can manage till then.”
“Got it.” With nothing more to discuss, Kyle ended the call.
I didn’t like the sound of that. And Tori hadn’t been paranoid. She was right. These hunters were after her specifically. What I couldn’t understand waswhy.
I had quietly hoped it’d all been in Tori’s head, that the hunters weren’t actually after her. That she’d eluded them once, maybe twice. I’d thought her paranoia had taken hold, a symptom of her being on the wrong edge of feral, which was why she’d been on the run for so long.
After all, it wasn’t typical for hunters to target a specific shifter. They didn’t care which shifter they caught and took whoever they got their hands on.
So, what was it about my little mate that had them going after her and terrorizing her? My mind raced as I tried to piece things together, but nothing I came up with could explain why they wanted her.
Fury coiled through my veins. It was harder to keep it leashed now that I knew Tori had been frightened, alone, and on the run from these people for years. She’d been forced to leave home at seventeen because of them. She should have had friends, gone to college, traveled—whatever she’d wanted to live a carefree life. She shouldn’t have lived a solitary life, fearing capture and torture.
Worse, they had made her afraid of a part of herself. These fuckers were the reason she was damn near feral.
