“Any idea when I might be getting out of here? It’s been a long few days.”
His brows draw together and he frowns. “No, sorry. I don’t think your Alpha has arrived yet.”
“I see, and, um, when is Doyle expected?” I ask.
“I’m not sure.” He shrugs. “Sorry.”
I don’t have much to work with, but, as best I can tell, this guy doesn’t seem to be in on the lie. That doesn’t necessarily mean I can trust him, but I doubt I’ll have many other chances to talk to someone so it’s a risk I’m going to have to take.
“I’m Neil,” I say. “What’s your name?”
“Taylor.”
“Are you from around here?”
He nods. “Yeah, I grew up here. This is my pack.”
“I see.” I nod slowly as I gather my thoughts. “There have been a lot of changes recently, right? How has it been living under the triumvirate’s thumb?”
“Much better than it was under the former Alpha,” he says, chuckling. “He was… not a very good one and his mate was awful.”
“So I hear.” I pause, letting the silence draw out. “Because of the whole selling shifters thing, right?”
His eyes widen a bit, but he nods.
“But the new guy? He’s okay?” What I really want to ask is if this Alpha is a money and/or power-hungry asshole like Doyle, but that would be showing my cards.
“Yeah. Solomon is…” A pink tinge creeps into Taylor’s cheeks. “He’s a good Alpha.”
I hide a smile behind my hand. Looks like someone has a crush. That actually might bode well for this Solomon guy being on the up and up rather than beholden to Doyle.
“That’s good, great even,” I say, half to myself. Studying the young man’s face, I take a deep breath and go for it. “I’m going to level with you here, Taylor. Doyle is not my Alpha and he’s not one of the good guys. In fact, he and your former Alpha, or at least the former Alpha Mate, knew each other.”
“That’s…” His brows draw together with confusion and he tilts his head to the side. “What do you mean?”
“I mean Doyle was one of the former Rockcastle Alpha Mate’s ‘customers’.”
He blinks, opening and closing his mouth a few times.
I continue, “I wasn’t kidnapped or, at least, not by some feral shifter. The shifter Doyle claims is feral is my fated mate, and he was held prisoner by Doyle for years before we were able to escape. He’s actually from Rockcastle and he’s looking for his brother. That’s why we came here. I don’t know how Doyle found us but—”
“You’re talking about Blake Shiflett,” whispers Taylor, eyes widening. He breaks into a wide smile and bounces on his feet a little with excitement. “That’s amazing! I can get you out of here, just let me go get—”
“Hold on,” I say quickly. “Some of the praetorians are on Doyle’s payroll, one of them straight-up admitted it, and there’s no way of telling which ones are compromised.”
“Don’t worry,” he says, flashing me a confident grin. “I know exactly what to do.”
Twenty-Seven
Blake
Theworldcomesbackin stages, each sense returning one by one and joining together in a jumble of consciousness. I feel like I should be used to the sensation of disorientation and lost time by now.
I’m not. No matter how many times I’m drugged and electrocuted, it takes just as long for my mind to reset, for me to come back to myself, as it did the first time.
The only bright side to the current situation is at least this time I know I haven’t killed anyone. My mouth is sour, but free from the taste of blood, and my fur is clean. But that doesn’t really matter. I’m still collared. Still caged. Still helpless. And if I don’t find a way out of here, Doyle will do the same to Neil.
And worse.
