“Where else does that dealer frequent?” Brandt demanded. “How did you find him originally?”
“I…I…” the beta swung his gaze between us as he scrambled for words. “He, uh, he came to town, asked around about the parties. He, um, he was the one who suggested using the blockers to make it all more exciting and anonymous.”
At this point, I did give in to the urge to shake the guy. He yelped, but I ignored him. “Did he give you any other way to contact him?”
“A number! He gave us a number, okay?”
No, it wasn’t okay. None of it was okay.
“You are going to give us that number,” I hissed, “and you’re not going to warn him that we’re coming for him.”
“The anonymous orgies are over either way,” Brandt added grimly. “The Unlocking events were never intended to be this way.”
“You can’t police how people enjoy themselves,” the beta found the balls to argue.
On some level, I agreed with him on that point. There wasn’t anything wrong with consensual adult fun. But the anonymity added levels of complications and questions about whether things could be truly consensual…not to mention how very unsafe it was to use chemical solutions from an unknown source.
“You’ll have to find other ways to get your rocks off,” I retorted, backing Brandt up despite my mixed feelings on the concept as a whole. Still, I lowered the beta to the ground, even as I lectured, “The Unlocking process exists first and foremost to advance shifterkind and restore balance to our world. The ruts and orgasms are a happy side-effect. And those blockers aren’t safe. That dealer could have put any number of harmful chemicals into his product.”
Our captive rolled his eyes, and I had half a mind to pin him against the wall again, but Brandt demanded, “Just give us the number. And if I get any inkling that you have warned him off,I will find you, and I will not be as kind or understanding next time.”
“He’s saying he’ll shift and eat you,” I explained, watching the guy’s eyes widen. He looked to Brandt for confirmation and paled as Brandt nodded.
If I hadn’t been so intent on finding the man who had set Sage up, I might have found the whole situation amusing.
Who knew Brandt and I would eventually find common ground over the threat of violence?
Chapter Twenty-Four
Movement from the next cell over from mine caught my eye as I lay on my sad little cot feeling sorry for myself. I was convinced that I was wasting away, the depressive state caused by being separated from everyone I loved making me feel lethargic and sickly.
I’d hate to think about how awful I’d feel if Serge, Dex, and I had actually bonded,I thought to myself, not for the first time. None of the bonded couples living in Shifters Sanctuary had tried to test Eric’s theories about bond sickness caused by extended separation, but we’d all been subjected to his rambling thoughts over the years.
I imagined if I felt this way from everyday loneliness and homesickness, it would be way worse if I’d had magical ties to my bondmates stretched or, considering the cell I was in was designed to resist magic, severed completely.
Just the thought made my stomach roil, though I didn’t think I was going to throw up again. At least, not right then. I didn’t have anything left inside me to bring up, as I had stopped even trying to eat the slop the guards brought in.
Turning my head in the direction of the movement which had caught my attention, I watched as a little red squirrel slipped through the bars of the ‘window’ (and I was using that term loosely) of the next cell over. The creature paused on the little ledge created by the brick and scented the air, then tilted its tiny head in my direction. It chittered for a moment, then scurried down the wall and through the open cell door, though I thought it would have obviously fit through the bars themselves, and raced to stand outside my locked cell gate.
I sat up slowly, watching as it tentatively reached a paw towards my cell, then screeched and pulled it back as soon as it barely got a claw between the bars. Within moments, a man stood where the squirrel had been, and he shook his hand out as though he’d been burned.
“Fucking dark magic,” he complained, and I blinked at the unexpected accent while he glared at the bars, “can’t believe they’re using this shit on you.”
He spoke like we knew each other, and I squinted as I took in his curly auburn hair and pretty hazel eyes. He was petite, with a thin nose that turned up at the end, and sharp cheekbones. The crescent moon birthmark visible on his naked right pec marked him as another omega. But for all that I stared at him, I couldn’t place him.
“Who—” I started, and he facepalmed.
“Forgive me. I’m Jamie. I’m a friend of Sergio’s. Obviously, he would’ve preferred to be here instead of me, but I’m the only one who could sneak into the yard and through the bars.”
I had to take a moment to breathe and properly process his words, having gotten caught on the idea that this very pretty little omega was “friends” withmyalpha.
Meanwhile, he was still talking.
“—says you should hold tight and not do anything stupid like taking a plea deal.”
I bristled a bit more. This complete stranger had no right to tell me what to do. “Why should I even trust you?” I blurted, interrupting him. And it was a valid question. Definitely not a bitter one, driven by irrational jealousy. Nope. Totally valid. Because he had appeared out of nowhere, had said he was friends with my alpha (though there was no proof of that), and what if…well, what if this was the message he was passing on because hewantedme to spend longer behind bars? After all, Sergio, Dex, and I weren’t bonded yet. This lithe, pretty omega could take advantage of my prolonged absence and replace me.
Okay, okay, Iknewthat was a bit melodramatic. So sue me, I was going a little stir-crazy being left to my own devices in such a limited amount of space.
