Chapter 17
Archer faced a one-story home and stared at an empty hummingbird feeder swinging from the porch. “So this is Breed jail.”
Krys peered inside a curtained window, his hands cupped around his eyes.
“I want you men to watch yourselves,” Tak ordered them while eating his last bite of beef jerky. “This is one of those fun formalities in your world that I have to partake in. No sense in pissing off the law with an ill-timed joke.”
“Says the man with all the jokes,” Krys remarked as he rejoined the group.
Montana fanned his face with his cowboy hat. “I still think Robyn should be here.”
“She was in the bathroom most of the time,” Archer reminded him. “She saw less than we did.”
The four men milled around in the front yard. The house looked to be at least fifty years old. Archer knew it was a guise but couldn’t help but wonder where they kept prisoners. Chained to the beds? Locked in the basement? Then he wondered if he could keep his cool if he laid eyes on Noah.
“By the way, I want everyone to leave Cecilia alone,” Tak said, switching subjects. “Hope and I talked about it before we left and think it’s best to schedule our visits. An unexpected knock at the door this afternoon triggered her.”
Archer rubbed his forehead. “I keep thinking about what she said earlier—how she was analyzing everything precipitating the fights, trying to figure out what she did wrong. He really fucked with her head, and I don’t understand how they can set a guy like that free.”
“We’ll see what they say about the matter.” Tak steered his gaze to the left, hands anchored on his hips. “As for Cecilia, she needs to learn to trust again. That’s not a switch you can flip on and off. If she can’t, her animal might stay buried. I’ve seen Shifters go mad when their animal retreats. Maybe our kindness will help her feel safe and that won’t happen. So don’t be a jackass and knock on her door.”
Archer kicked a rock. “She seems too smart for a guy like him.”
Montana put his hat back on, shielding his stern expression from the sun. “Men target impressionable women because they’re easier to break than the strong ones, but they’ll break them nonetheless. They’ll ostracize them from friends and family, but it doesn’t sound like she had either. That made his job easy. They make them completely dependent, controlling what they eat, how they dress, where they go. Some use fear tactics. But a lot of them are master manipulators.”
“How?” Archer asked.
Montana shrugged. “It starts off with compliments and suggestions. The woman begins thinking his ideas are her opinions. They use reward-and-punishment systems. It could be as simple as withdrawing affection for breaking rules. I’ve seen girls and even men come out of those relationships messed up evenbefore it escalated to violence.” Montana rubbed the scar on his left hand. “It doesn’t always end well. I bet when she started selling those books and making good money, that set his ego on fire.”
Tak smoothed out the Henley shirt that Hope had insisted he wear to the meeting. It was too tight for his torso, and he looked like one of those action-figure toys with clothes painted on.
While he knocked on the door, Archer spotted hidden security cameras in the trees. The house was on private property, away from public roads, making it the perfect cover. Public businesses were not only subject to law enforcement snooping around but also human civilians.
The door opened.
“You blokes wouldn’t happen to have a pizza on you?” a young British man with a pencil-thin mustache asked. When he smiled, his fangs revealed he was a Vampire, even though one of his irises had a sliver of blue that bore a resemblance to a pie wedge.
Montana leaned in close to Tak and quietly asked, “Are we in the right place?”
The lean man braced his arm against the doorjamb. “You’re Tak of the Arrowhead pack, mated to Hope Church, and these are your best blokes. You have an appointment, and you’re most definitely in the right place.”
Archer pondered on what kind of jail hired workers who wandered around in white briefs. The only other thing that covered him was a slightly arched tattoo across his chest that saidCursed.
“I’m Peter,” he said, stepping away from the door. “Ignore my appearance—I do. We had the coppers out here once looking for someone. When a man answers the door in nothing but his underpants, it’s easier to believe he’s the homeowner and not aguard who’s underpaid, undervalued, and shockingly underdressed.” Peter slammed the door once they were inside. “They won’t even give me a decent chair.” As he turned away and led them to the back, Peter reached behind him and pulled his bunched underwear out of his ass.
They weaved left through a kitchen until Peter stopped at a door markedPantry. Then he turned. “Would you gentlemen like a refreshment? I’m supposed to offer you water. If you’re feeling peckish, we have a package of crisps I bought fifteen years ago in the cupboard.”
Tak folded his arms. “No, but why don’t you put those fangs back in your head, Vampire?”
“No need to get testy,Shifter.” Peter grinned wider, displaying his fangs. He threaded his fingers through his disheveled black hair, which fell to his shoulders, and said, “Afraid I can’t do that. As in… ever. A slight defect on the day they first punched out—I was never able to get the bleeding things back in. My maker had weak blood, hence the blue sliver in my eye. It’s made getting a decent job impossible, so here I am, doomed to reside in this spectacular place they call Storybook. I guard prisoners while I myself am a prisoner of circumstance.”
“Is that why you’re cursed,” Krys quipped, jerking his chin at the tattoo.
“Thisis what happens when you lose a bet and don’t have the money to settle it. It wrecks the whole ensemble,” he said, gesturing to his underwear. Then he opened the door. “We better crack on. Your carriage awaits.”
They filed into a spacious pantry with shelves on the left and right walls. Once inside, Peter shut the door behind him. The light stayed on, and when he pushed a button behind a can of chili, the room shook.
Archer held out his arm to get his balance as the floor dropped, and they started movingdown.
