“They were androgynous. They smelled of ancient magic. The kind that I haven’t scented before but have heard stories about. I am not old enough to remember the Great War, but I remember talks of a beast who could force people to live in fear,” he choked out.
“What did the scent smell like?” I asked, leaning forward, elbows on the tabletop.
“They smelled of old oak groves, wet earth, and the scent of fresh death,” he replied, trying to fight the serum.
“Were you able to catch onto an accent or anything?” I bent down, taking in his micro expressions for any signs of lies, my death magic still in play.
“No. They sounded like anyone and everyone,” he said cryptically, but I didn’t think he was being deceptive on purpose.
“How tall were they?” Medb asked.
“They were taller than me. I’m about six foot six, so I would guess around seven and a half feet tall,” he replied.
“What did they ask you specifically?” I demanded.
“They said, ‘I have a proposition for you, young one’ in a voice that sounded like they have known me for years. ‘Should you accept, I will make sure your family no longer has to struggle to make it in this realm. We are concerned about rapidly losing people to theCatervae Pax.They are stealing some of our best warriors and our best healers. We have spent many millennia working to protect ourselves from the other realms, yet when we needed them most, they left us. It is our duty to protect those we love. If you can help us get our people back, I will be sure to reward you and your family,’” Borom started in that monotonous voice that ensured the truth potion was working. “I asked them what they needed from me, and they said that they just needed me to find people who would be interested in helping their cause. They needed people who weren’t well-known in communities to infiltrate St. Louis, to drug knownPaxmembers, and bring them back to the Shifter Realm for questioning.”
“How did you get people into St. Louis?” I asked, standing up to pace the room while I tried to make connections. I was becoming more concerned by the second about the abductions, and wondered if there were some we had missed. The woman who was abducted a couple days ago wasn’t from St. Louis. She was visiting family who lived here. We needed to find her before her life became forfeit, if she hadn’t already succumbed to the torture I was certain she was going through.
“I was able to find people who weren’t alive during the Great War, and some who were, but were able to cloak whothey were. We spent the time preparing them to handle people who were stronger than they were. We found humans in the Shifter Realm who wanted to become Shifters and convinced them that they would be brought into the fold if they went back to Earth,” Borom confessed.
“That’s good to know, but I want to know how you were able to portal peoplehere?”Medb asked.
“I—I don’t know. That was part of the information I wasn’t privy to. I was only told to gather folks and send them to a certain destination at a certain time. I was ordered to stay back from their training grounds,” Borom replied, starting to struggle a little more. The serum was quickly wearing off, and I was desperate to finish this conversation before that happened.
I stopped pacing, turning to face him. “Where were you sending them?”
He gave us directions. I conjured a map and outlined every place in the Shifter Realm where they’d directed people.
“Can you tell me the names of the individuals who you were directing to these training grounds?” Medb questioned.
The serum ran out as his struggles became more pronounced. Medb grabbed him, forcing him to look her in the eyes, “I will only say this once, Shifter. If you think this person was willing to save your family, think of what we will do if you do not give us the information. I can see the desperation in your eyes to protect your wife and children at all costs. But if this unnamed person could protect you, they would have already. I know who your family is, and I will not hesitate to use them as leverage against you. Tell us everything you know before I cut out your tongue.”
He grunted as he kept his mouth shut. Blood oozed from between his lips where he had bitten into his cheeks to prevent himself from speaking. I allowed my shadows to begin breaking his toes, since his fingers were already, if very slowly,healing. He screamed, blood flowing out of his mouth. He hadn’t chewed his cheeks; he’d bitten off his own tongue. It dropped to the floor with a wet splat, and he stared at us defiantly. My stomach turned. It’d been a while since I’d seen gore of this magnitude.
Medb moved back, shaking her head. “Adaela, gather the troops. It seems like we’re going to need to grab Borom’s family while his tongue grows back.”
I stood up, moving toward the door. “On it.”
As I stepped out of the room, I found Vada and Loki walking out with Daji in front of them. She stared at me defiantly—a look I was getting to know all too well again after not seeing it for years. Vada was smirking, and I gathered that she was more successful in her interrogation than we had been.
“I’m going to find the Elves. The Shifters have been busy.” I nodded to Daji. “I’m guessing you might’ve been more successful, since she’s leaving the interrogation room with her life.”
Daji spat at my feet, and Vada suddenly had her up against the wall, throwing the full force of her succubus powers at Daji. What was with these fuckers spitting at me? She moaned out loud, trying to paw at Vada, but Vada avoided her reach as she calmed down. Vada was feeding on her powers. “I’ve been as kind to you as I can, considering the circumstances. You will not look or spit at my mate like that again, or you will die like your friend has.”
Daji stopped struggling, and as her features softened, shecomplied. Vada motioned to the guards to take her back to her cell.
“Do you need any help?” She reached for me to grab my hand, and I took a step back, eyes wide at her casual use ofmate. Her brows scrunched together, and I shook my head, not ready to talk about it. Maybe the others hadn’t heard her. She saw the blood on my hands and reached out again. I once again averted her touch.
“It’s not mine. I’m just going to wash up, then go meet with the Elves. We probably shouldn’t talk about this here, but we’re going to need to get the gang together and chat about what we’ve found out,” I said, trying to avoid the elephant in the room. We were mates, but I hadn’t had time to really sit down with my feelings about it. I was on edge about Borom, and that was bleeding into my feelings about Vada. I was attracted to her, yes. I was questioning myself on whether I could trust her in this capacity. Would the Fates really give me another mate? Or had Sabine lied to me?
We hopped onto the next elevator, Loki and Medb staying behind to chat with the guards about what we were going to do with Daji and Borom. Vada smiled, then pushed her body into mine until I was back against the wall.
“Are elevators going to become our thing?” she asked, bending down to place a searing kiss on my lips. I opened for her, wrapping my arms around her shoulders, and a leg around hers. She set me on fire, and I didn’t want to put out the flames. Her hands slid up my sides slowly, moving toward my breasts. She delicately cupped one, and I groaned into her mouth at the electric shock from her hands touching my body. I pressed in closer to her when I heard the elevator ding and a throat clear. Neither of us moved away from each other, each laughing at getting caught once again. The secret was going to be out before I’d like it to be if we couldn’t keep away from each other.
Vada stepped back, turning to face the doors. She wrapped a hand around the back of her neck and smiled sheepishly. “Ah, Samael, how are things going for you?”
“It’s going. It looks like you’re going places, too,” he said, eyes alight.
