Page 29 of Brock’s Mate

That took her aback. Then she said, “But you capture humans to make them into… mates.”

Brock’s mouth hardened. “No, we don’t. We never Turn someone without their consent. It breaks one of our strictest laws—and it usually carries the death penalty.”

Whoa. If he was telling the truth—and that sixth sense was telling her he was—then that made Jered and his gang outlaws. Desi gave a soft whistle. “No wonder Jered is so anxious to get me back.”

“Yeah. If anyone on the Wolf Council or Shifter Council finds out—”

“Hold up,” Desi said, not sure she’d heard right. “Councils? You all have a government?”

“We,” Brock said, gesturing at the two of them. “Yes, we have a government. With laws and police. A government that I used to work for. If they find out what Jered’s done, he’s screwed. And if they find you running around out of control and causing trouble, so are you.”

“What about what you’ve done?” She waved her hand at the cell. “Imprisoning me? Isn’t that against your laws?”

“Nope.” He fucking smirked at her, the ass. “That’s completely legal. New shifters can’t be allowed to run around loose until they can control their Changes and have agreed not to out us to humans. If you’d been trapped or killed last night, you would have Changed back to human at some point, and then every shifter everywhere could have been completely fucked.”

It made sense, but she still hated it. “So my rights don’t matter.”

“Not against our survival as a whole. Welcome to the shifter world.”

Great. Another trap. Every time she loved or trusted someone, it turned out to be a trap. Not that she loved or trusted Brock. But she’d liked him.

And now he had her locked in a cage. But if he was telling the truth, there was also a way out.

“Okay,” she said. “So what do I have to do? How do I learn to control the wolf? I mean, other people have done it, right?”

Brock sighed. “New shifters who consent to be Turned are the responsibility of the person who Turned them. Ones who are Turned without consent get found—usually pretty quickly—and turned over to the Shifter Council. A lot of them are insane, because the Change is so physically and emotionally disorienting, especially when you have no clue what’s happening. A specially trained healer works with them to try to get them to accept the animal and learn enough control to be allowed to go live their lives.”

Desi was watching his face. “But not all of them make it.”

Brock shook his head.

“How many?” Desi asked. “How many make it?”

Brock looked away. “Seventeen point three five percent.”

Desi’s stomach went cold. “That’s… oddly specific,” she said. And it was not very many. She had about a one in six chance of getting out of this cage. At least, of getting out the easy way.

Brock shrugged. “It’s what I do. What I used to do, anyway.”

“No offense, but your success rate sucks. Ever thought of going into a different line of work?”

That got a huff of rueful laughter. “Yeah well, the percentage was a lot less before I got there.”

So he was good at it. Maybe she’d lucked out after all, and been found by someone who could teach her what she needed to know. “So why aren’t you still doing it?”

His lips went tight. “High burnout job.”

She guessed so, if the success rate was that low. But she’d beaten worse odds. “So what’s it going to take to convince you to take one last job?”

“Nothing,” he said. “I’ve already decided to do it.”

She’d figured as much, since she was here. She just didn’t understand his motivations. “Why?” she asked.

“Why do you think?” He met her eyes and she got that feeling again, like there was some kind of connection between them.

Oh, hell. She said, “I’m figuring you think I’ll be so grateful, I’ll be your wolfy sex toy.”

Might as well just get it out there.