She opened her eyes to stare at the dying fire. A month, huh? Well, some things were worth the end result. For now, she needed to sleep. Then she’d push her stubborn, dominant, Alpha mate to the end of his rope so they could move on from this odd place they seemed to be stuck in.
God, she hoped they both survived.
* * *
Talen slipped from the cabin out to the misty day, taking note of the wolves stationed around the area. He gave a head nod to one of them before continuing down the worn path to a building set deeper into the territory.
“I wondered when you’d show,” Terrent said, leaning against the rough-worn planks, his scuffed boots crossed. Today he’d donned a ripped gray T-shirt along with older-than-old jeans.
“Did you wait for me?” Talen asked, stretching his neck.
Terrent nodded. “Sure. They attacked you and your mate . . . I figure they’re yours for now. Then I’ll discuss their hunting my friends in my territory.” The wolf bared his fangs.
Talen grinned. “Thanks for the guards.”
“We always have sentinels roaming the property, but I figured a couple extra around your cabin would be a good idea since your mate was just threatened.” Terrent shoved open the door and stalked inside. “Maggie will probably head over there shortly. She misses her friends at Realm headquarters.”
“They miss her, too.” Talen followed his friend into a storage area complete with ropes, gardening tools, and what looked like a bunch of empty flowerpots.
Terrent kept going and kicked open a trapdoor. His boots clomped as he started to descend.
Talen glanced down, surprised to see wide cement stairs. He followed. The rock walls on either side of the stairs were well lit with mining lights. After minutes of descending, he reached a tunnel cut into the mountain.
Doors to several cells had been secured to rock and cement walls.
“The first one, the guy I think was in charge, is in here.” Terrent released several locks on a red steel door before yanking it open.
Talen nodded and stepped inside. He gave a low whistle. “Impressive.” While rock made up the floor and walls, a bulletproof-glass wall separated his area from the prisoner’s area, which had a cot, a toilet, and a sink. “You’ve put some time into this.”
“I had hoped never to need it,” Terrent said, stalking to the northern wall to open a silver panel.
“What’s that?” Talen asked, glancing back at the demon staring at him through the glass.
Terrent shrugged. “I have the cell rigged to send electrical shocks through it if your pal there tries a mind attack.”
The wolves didn’t mess around, now, did they? Of course, the safeguards at Talen’s headquarters had plenty of such options.
He stepped closer to the glass, and once there, he could discern small holes for communication. “Who sent you?” he asked.
The demon pushed from the bed and stood, his eyes black, his chin up. “Fuck you.”
Terrent flipped a lever, and the cell lit up. The demon hissed, and his fangs dropped, pain emanating from him until Terrent disengaged the lever.
“This is boring for me, and I don’t want to see you destroyed,” Talen said calmly. The demon was much younger than he had originally thought, and he really didn’t want to hurt the kid. “But you threatened my mate, and I want answers. Start talking now.”
“Listen. We were hired for a job, and that’s it. I don’t know or really care about you,” the demon gasped, blood flowing from his nose. “We didn’t do anything to harm you or your mate and just had a job to do.”
“Who hired you to get the samples?” Talen asked. He wasn’t surprised that there were immortals out in the world who wanted to end all research into a virus that negated bonds.
The demon blinked. “What samples?”
Everything in Talen stilled, stretched, and then went silent. “Excuse me?”
The demon frowned, wariness settling across his smooth face. “Ah, is that what was in the cooler you wouldn’t let go of? We were wondering. What kind of samples?”
Talen stiffened. “If you weren’t after the samples, why did you attack us?”
The demon bobbed his head. “We didn’t exactly attack you. All right, we kind of did, but we didn’t do any harm. It was one little job, man.”
