Alex stepped closer to Nate, his wicked grin growing. “Can you guess what Nate’s mother was, Laina?”
“What the fuck are you talking about?” Nate said.
Laina kept her eyes on Kyle, willing him to be okay..
“Half ogre. I almost think the senior Kingsley had a goal of sleeping with every type of supernatural there is. What other explanation is there for bedding an ogre?”
“Hey! Fuck you.” Nate crossed the room in a huff, his fist connecting with Alex’s chin. He might as well have punched stone. Nate cried out, shaking his hand in pain, but Alex only smiled wider. Surging forward, he clutched Nate by the lapels and dragged him across the room, tossing him into a cage between a row of floggers and a rack of canes. Ignoring Nate’s struggle and protests, Alex locked him inside and stored the key in his pocket.
“You should know,” Alex said, eyeing Nate, “that I rarely keep my promises. I’m kind of a bad guy that way.”
“Let me outta here, Alex. We had a deal.”
Alex shrugged. “No. Now, silence yourself, or I’ll remove your voice box.”
Nate distractedly rubbed the base of his throat.
“I need your brother for what I’m planning to do to this one.” He pointed his thumb in Laina’s direction. “Considering we are in your playroom, Nate, I’ll assume you understand that sometimes playthings need to be broken. Laina here has always had an indomitable spirit, even as a little girl. But when I’m done with her, she’ll obey my every command.”
“Not fucking likely,” Laina hissed.
Alex fixed her with a wicked grin. “You’ll come around, after I make you kill the man you love.”
All color drained from Nate’s face. “What do you want? Money? I can make you very rich.”
Alex laughed. “Your money is worthless to me, as are you. And you’ve broken the rules.” The amulet around Alex’s neck glowed to life. He snapped his fingers. Nate’s protest turned into a cough. His lips moved as if he were trying to speak, but nothing came out. A growing panic seized the heavier brother, and he banged against the bars, eyes red and chest heaving.
“Don’t make me remove your arms as well as your voice,” Alex said softly. “Here’s how this is going to go down. I’m going to kill Laina’s brothers, Silas and Jason. Meanwhile, Laina is going to shift right out of those chains. She’ll be hungry, and Kyle will be easy prey. You get to watch, Nate—that is, if she doesn’t make short work of those bars and kill you too. Goddess knows she’s strong enough.”
Kyle scrambled to his knees. “Laina, what is he talking about? Who is this?”
Alex chuckled wickedly and tipped an invisible hat in her direction. “That’s my cue. The sun is rising. This is going to be a good day. A very good day.”
He climbed the stairs and exited the dungeon without ever opening the door, leaving Laina staring helplessly at the look of confusion and betrayal on the face of the man she loved.
ChapterThirty
“What’s going on?” Kyle glanced between Laina and Nate, his head reeling. He’d never felt such pain as he had moments ago. It was like every bone in his body had splintered at the same time, and although he felt better now, there was still a lingering ache in his muscles, a pain that didn’t hold a candle to what was going on in his heart. “One of you start talking.”
Laina’s voice trembled with her answer. “H-he could come back at any time. We have to get out of here. See if you can reach one of those silver…things behind you to pry your chains off the wall.”
As much as Kyle needed to know what was going on, he couldn’t argue with the pragmatism of Laina’s suggestion. The man who’d just left the room had carried a certain Hannibal Lecter quality that Kyle had no intention of getting to know better. Besides, it was possible that what he’d said to Laina was nothing more than the ramblings of a madman.
Kyle tugged at the chains binding him to the wall while he scanned the room. A Wartenberg wheel hung from the rack closest to him on his right. Damn, his brother was into some sick shit. But maybe, just maybe, his perversion would be their salvation. The steel handle ended in a flat edge.
He reached with his toe and knocked the tool toward him onto the floor. Once it rattled to a stop, he slid it closer, until he could pick it up with his bound hands. He dug the point of the handle behind the metal plate of the iron ring bolted to the wall and attempted to pry it away from the marble.
“Nate, why the hell did you help that guy?”
Nate gasped like a fish out of water.
“He can’t answer you,” Laina said. “Alex took his voice box.”
“You can’t take someone’s voice box by snapping your fingers.”
“You can if you have a magic amulet. And Alex does.”
Kyle sighed. “You need to start talking, Laina. What do you know about this? You said his name was Alex. Was that the Alex you told me about? I thought you said he was dead.”
