Page 184 of A Broody Mate for the Human

“When are you turning eighteen?” Annalise asks.

“In less than a month.” She smirks. “Then I hope for my very own hot heartthrob to appear and fucks me into the new year!”

Annalise snorts. “Thanks for the vivid image, Elise.”

Elise waves us goodbye before hurrying away. Meanwhile Annalise and I keep listening to my father. He keeps bombarding Troi with questions while Troi starts to look more and more drained. “Alright,” I say. “Time for backup.”

“You can’t kill him,” Annalise says. “I know you want his head, but don’t kill him off yet.”

“Why not?” I ask her.

Annalise stares at Troi, furrowing her brows. “A feeling,” she says. “Something feels off.”

I reach out my hand to pull her closer and kiss the top of her head before joining my father with his interrogation. Troi looks beat up although my father has barely touched him. He has just toyed with him to scare him. Troi raises his gaze when he sees me, fear filling his eyes.

“I’m not happy with your answers,” I tell Troi shortly.

My father tilts his head, crossing his arms in front of his body. “Funny. I just said the same.”

“I really don’t know any more,” Troi mutters. He tugs at the silver restraints that tie him to the desk.

“I have looked into your finances,” I say. “There are large sums of money being transferred to you regularly.”

“Oh, really?” Dad raises his brows. “That’s interesting.”

“It’s just a donation,” Troi blurts out.

“A donation for what?”

When he stays quiet, Fenris comes forward in my mind, annoyed to his core.He is pissing me off,he growls.He already hurt mate. What’s stopping us from hurting him!?

Please, go ahead,I say dryly.

Fenris’ eyes gleam dangerously, and I can feel his power surging through me. I reach out my hand to touch Troi’s arm, ignoring the way he tries to flinch away from me. My father and I both know how to help shifters reconnect with their broken bonds to their animal spirits. It’s a rare talent we have. But it works both ways. Broken bonds can be mended, healed bonds can be strained.

Troi’s eyes widen in horror while Fenris and I push against his mind, slowly invading it. Blood drops down his nose, his breath going more rigid.

“I don’t know who it is! They send me money, and in return I take care of a list!”

Eh,Fenris groans, sounding disappointed.He broke so fast!

“A list?” dad asks. When Troi is silent again, I can feel my father’s alpha aura pushing through. He is starting to get impatient. “Just spit it out,” he growls while Troi sinks back into his chair, his fearful eyes looking at us. “I’m losing my patience.” He turns to me. “Do it again, Liam.”

Before I can even touch Troi’s hand, he already succumbs. “It’s a list with names,” he hurries to explain. “With instructions what to do with them. Some need protection, some a place to stay for a night, and some are supposed to be killed.”

“Are you telling me that you work for a crime syndicate?” I ask. “Because it certainly sounds like it.”

Troi looks at me confused. “No… it’s probably just a rich person with an agenda.”

“Come on, you can’t be that stupid,” Dad huffs. “Liam is right. You were working for a criminal without even knowing it.”

I lean back, looking at Troi thoughtfully. Annalise was right with her feeling… as usual. I wish I could just rip Troi’s head off his shoulders, but my mate is right… I might still need him. He is stupid and greedy, but maybe he has seen more than he thinks.

My father and I quit the interrogation after Troi gave us some of the names from the so-called list. I bet most of them are just aliases, but it’s still worth checking them. We send Troi back to his cell before we join Annalise again. “What do you think, Annie?” Dad asks her.

“I think he really has no clue,” she says. “I also think he was just a pawn, and someone took advantage of him. Probably played into his pride. He is the type of guy to be easily manipulated.”

“Do you think Ezra’s pack is in danger?” I ask my father.