Especially because this female wasn’t like Othar or my handler.
Handler glanced at me as he dumped our trays. It was a shame, wasting the food, though I couldn’t bring myself to feel too guilty with how horrible it’d been.
He waved a hand, and we started for the exit. A set of double doors opened at our approach, automated somehow. I hid my curiosity well enough.
“She’s one of the few females here. Most don’t make it to this compound because they aren’t strong enough, but Storm is brilliant—I’ll give her that. And she’s a shifter, which means some believe she should be in the cages. But that also means some of the males here want a pussy they can sink their cocks in, and she won’t put out. Pretty sure she’s only into chicks, and not enough males here go for both.”
I had no idea what most of that meant, but I supposed I could figure it out. Othar wanted to fuck Storm, but she wanted nothing to do with him.
Understandable. I doubted there were many who would want to touch him, especially after the show he tried to put on in the dining hall. How anyone put up with him was beyond me.
When males wanted to prove their worth back home, they had to fight for it. Not whip out their cocks and compare them.
I shook my head as we entered one of the many long halls making up the compound. “Where are we going?”
We came to a stop at theelevator, which I had to admit, could be a helpful device back home.
The thought of my world made my stomach twist.
“We’ve been instructed to go down to the cages,” he said,crossing his arms with a grimace. “I fucking hate it down there.”
I didn’t need to ask why, though it was strange. Sometimes, I had to wonder if hereallywanted to be a soldier in the false king’s army, if he even believed at all in what he was fighting for.
My handler spared me a look as the doors to the elevator opened. Without a word, he stepped in, and I followed. There was no one else in the brightly lit chamber. Handler hit a button, taking us down into the mountain.
That was the only significant detail I’d gleaned from my time with the rest of the false king’s army. Most were unaware of where we were, and those who were deeply loyal didn’t talk about it. But there were some—arrogant, foolish, like Othar—who spoke without care of who might be listening.
So, all I knew was that we were in a mountain somewhere, hidden beneath its peaks, deep below the earth. My power was muted somehow; I supposed thanks to whatever the false king used to keep my fated hidden within these walls. But I also had a feeling it was more than that. My ability to see through the dirt and stone was unusable here, and it felt like a kind of blindness. I’d rarely used it in my own realm. It was never needed, unless we were searching forthraxnests to eliminate.
But now that I needed it, I couldn’t reach it.
The doors to the elevator opened, my handler eerily quiet now. His annoyance over Othar and his comments seemed to be gone, replaced with a cold, calculated mask he wore when on duty.
“Keep quiet and don’t draw any attention to yourself,” he said, voice harsh. “I don’t want a repeat of this morning. Ask your questions later.”
I pressed my lips together, even though I knew I needed to learnsomething.
I didn’t care about the different creatures down here. What I cared about was finding my fated and learning what the false king planned for my people.
There were dozens of soldiers milling around the prisondoors. It set my Primal on edge; my other side rose to the surface, his presence rippling across my skin. It took all my strength to keep him buried and not let him out in front of these creatures.
I knew my fated claimed I wouldn’t die, not with our mate bond revealing itself, but she wasn’t here. And I wasn’t sure if her promise still held any weight.
“What the fuck?” Handler muttered, coming to a stop.
I halted behind him, my eyes searching the soldiers. I recognised none of them; the winged one wasn’t present. I’d seen him briefly before; always with the same red-eyed male. The winged one had the same dead look as those under the false king’s spell. My Primal fought with me each time to seek him out, to find out where our fated was, but I controlled those urges.
My Primal remained close to the surface as my handler pushed through the crowd. They fell silent, any conversation they might have had about why they were at the cages ceasing. Unrecognisable fear rose within me.
Handler pushed into the prison without a word or looking back to make sure I followed.
What we found within made my blood run cold.
Because in the centre of the prison, in a cage barely hidden by the creatures around her, was a poorly dressed female. A female I recognised instantly. There was no way to hide the sweetness of her scent or the rage that came with seeing her in chains.
My fated, locked in a cage, for all to see.
And not a soul did anything about it.
