Riley frowned at the door. “He…”
“Billy,” I shouted. “Come back with the key!”
Latching onto the bars, Riley shook the door, but it didn’t budge. To keep the experience authentic, we’d used real steel bars. A real door with a lock, though we’d had a spare key made.
It hung on the hook by the door.
“Billy,” Riley yelled. “Come back!”
Billy didn’t return.
And despite our shouts over the next hour, no onestepped inside to check out the jail or help us out of this awkward situation.
“Imagine,” Riley said with a shake in her voice, peering around. “A sheriff and his deputy, locked inside their own cell.” She stared at the door with an expression I couldn’t quite read.
After whatever she’d been through, I doubted she needed to be trapped in a confined space. My protective instincts screamed at me to fix this immediately, to find some way to get her out before claustrophobia or panic could set in.
“It’s alright,” I said. “I’ll figure something out.”
Tourists passed by outside, and we yelled for help, but with a fake stagecoach robbery being reenacted on Main Street, as the bangs and shouts proved, they didn’t hear us.
“Do you have a phone on you?” Riley asked. “I left mine with my things.” She pointed to her purse sitting on my desk.
“Mine’s also on my desk.” Lying in a parallel line with my blotter. “I only take it with me when I leave the jail. I was excited about technology at first, but it got tiring after a while.”
“I can understand that. With all this to enjoy,” she gestured to the town in general. “Who needs to connect with the outside world?”
We did right now.
“What are the chances someone else will come by to get locked up?” she asked.
I shrugged. It was early evening on a weekday.
“Maybe one of your brothers will visit.” Hope edged into her voice. She sat on the bunk, placing her clasped hands on her lap.
They trembled.
“Are you alright?” I asked, stepping closer to her.
Looking up at me, she nodded. “I’m sure someone will let us out soon.”
I sat beside her on the bunk. “I’m sure they will.”
Despite the circumstances that had led to this moment, being locked in a small space with my newly discovered mate felt like the most dangerous situation I’d ever encountered.
Chapter 4
Riley
Some guys would’ve been snarling. Smacking at the cell door. Bellowing or swearing or threatening to rip little Billy apart.
Dungar just smiled ruefully at the door, his expression making my heart do a strange little flip. The gentle way he’d interacted with Billy stirred emotions in me I hadn’t felt for anyone before.
“You’d make an incredible father,” I said, then realized how that sounded. He might not want kids.
Dungar’s dark eyes widened as he turned toward me. “Thank you. I’ve always hoped to have younglings someday.”
The word “younglings” made me smile. So charmingly orcish. I immediately tried to picture small, green-skinned children with Dungar’s careful movements and thoughtful eyes. His tusks and thick, dark hair.
