Anger causes my feet to stop in their tracks and spin to face Zen. “Where did you hear that?”
Instead of being affronted by my snippy tone, she just shrugs. “Like I said, there’s better sources to get information from than Up-Chuck.”
I have no idea how she heard something like that, but it pisses me off. “That’s bullshit. My lounge would never borrow money, especially not from Alpha Bowen,” I say, although doubt trickles into the back of my mind.
Isthatwhy my mat and pat drew up a mating contract without even discussing it with me first? But why? We had money of the whiteandthe black variety. At least, I thought we did. Our lounge has always been stable. We have businesses and all sorts of schemes in place. Why in the world would they have been in debt? And why the fuck would they have reached out to Alpha Bowen for help?
The cockatrice alpha is rumored to be a power hungry whoremonger with a thirst for war with other lounges. Every year, he always takes over another cockatrice lounge, forcing them to merge into his own. The moment my mat informed me that I was to mate him, I knew that I was doomed and that I was going to have to be very creative in order to get out of it. That’s why I chose Nightmare Penitentiary; I’m out of reach, but it’s not a situation my lounge would be forced to go to war over.
“Do you have a point to this little share and tell?” I ask Zen, crossing my arms in front of me.
She breathes in deeply, closing her eyes slightly before opening them again. “Your anger is very potent. Tasty, too.”
That catches me off guard. She must be some kind of fae or demon to be able to feed off that. “What do you want, Zen?”
“Nothing,” she says simply. “Yet.”
I narrow my eyes. “Yet?”
“Mm-hmm. You think I took you in because of your bright hair and affinity for cafeteria food?” she asks, shaking her head. “Cockatrices aren’t all that common, but they are wily. You could come in handy,” she answers cryptically. “You also have a price on your head.”
My eyebrows shoot up. “What?”
She nods in affirmation. “Seems Alpha Bowen wants you. Bad. He’s offering a lot of money to the person who can break you out and bring you to him. And word in the prison is...there’s someone on the inside who’s taking up the offer.”
A sick feeling churns through my stomach. I mean, I’m not stupid. I know that all the attempts to break me out were because of him. But I didn’t realize he would get all obsessive about it. I mean, ordering his shifters to fetch me from jail is one thing, but putting up a breakout bounty on my head in Nightmare Pen? That’s just crazy. And someone on the inside…that can only be one person. Rook.
“Thanks for the heads-up,” I say before I start to turn around.
“Sinclair.”
I stop, barely suppressing a sigh. I knew it couldn’t be that easy. Nothing is free in here. Least of all information.
Zen steps forward to be in front of me once again. Her dark eyes hold mine, her lotus flower tattoo glimmering slightly in the sunlight. “The next time someone tries to break you out, we can help each other.”
She holds my gaze meaningfully, and I nod. “Deal.”
I’m not sure if she wants out or if this is an excellent enterprise opportunity, but as long as I get to stay in here, I don’t care.
With a nod, she turns and walks away, and I let out a breath. Feeling my tail flick inside my pocket, I frown as my eyes immediately shift over and up, where I see Rook standing in the guard tower, looking down at me from the window.
I clench my teeth, digging my hands into my pockets so that I can grip my rebellious tail and hold it still.
Even if it is a coincidence that another cockatrice works here, that doesn’t mean he hasn’t heard about Alpha Bowen’s price to get me back. And what better person is there to break out an inmate than a well-trusted guard?
I turn and stalk away, my footsteps angry as I kick up dirt behind me.
I lift my chin with determination. So that colorful hot fucker is going to try to make money by breaking me out? He can fucking try.
5
The lock release on the metal door of my cell buzzes like a hive of pissed off bees. I jerk awake and stare at the door as an over-muscled guard who happens to be on mynot a fan of melist leans in. He glares at me, and I glare right back. He just interrupted an epic dream I was having where I rode the face of a mystery man while his tail did all kinds of delicious things with my ass.
I close my eyes, ignoring the expectant look on the guard’s face, and try to invite the dream to come back and ravish me the way a girl deserves to be dream-ravished. Something slams against the metal bed frame that’s attached to the stone wall, and I cover my ears from the ringing noise it creates.
What the hell?
I sit up quickly and eye the asshole guard with the smug look on his face as he reholsters his baton.
