Page 118 of Crossed Fates

Single. Single. Single. Single. Single.

Long. Long.

Single. Single.

Long. Single.

Long. Long.

Long. Single. Single. Single.

Five minutes,I translated, recognizing the Morse code on its third round.Nathan’s here.

What?Alaric had recognized the Morse code as well, translating it in time with me.I don’t get the last set. MB?

Madam Bishop. My old code name from my KBO days. Nathan is obsessed with chess. He gives all his agents code names based on pieces and locations of those pieces. I’m Madam Bishop because I have a tendency to shift diagonally in a case.It was his way of calling me unpredictable and also lent to a joke about distance when I’d told him I wanted to go freelance and cross realms.He’s here, Alaric.I had no idea how, but I felt it within my bones that my alpha had come to help me.

Bortex hears it,Alaric said.He just asked Todd to go check it out.

Distraction it is,I decided, releasing a scream as I pretended to wake up.Gotta give them five minutes.

I sure as fuck hope you’re right, Alaric replied as he released a bellow of his own.

Me, too,I thought.Me, too.

Alaric

“Already?”Bortex mused. “That’s a shame. I really thought it would take hours for your entire pack to fall, but maybe they need to be closer.” He walked forward to play with the machine pulling blood from both of my arms and considered it for a long moment.

The vamp stood just behind him, forgetting all about having to go check on the tapping as Makayla released another bloodcurdling scream—a sound I never wanted to hear from her ever again.

Bortex nodded in approval at whatever he saw on the monitors, or maybe at her agonized yell—I wasn’t sure.

Regardless, we had them thoroughly distracted now.

No, not just distracted…amused.

“I’m going to fucking kill you,” I seethed, not needing to try at all to feign my pain. My veins were on fucking fire from his messed-up contraption. And Jude didn’t look much better. The vamp had been torturing him with some sort of bone crusher, taking out each digit one at a time. He only had his pinky left intact.

But Jude proved to be a badass to his core, the male not once screaming. He just stared ahead, his expression mostly resolved despite the bruises blemishing his jaw.

However, now, he glanced at me, his eyes conveying some sort of unspoken message.

I think Jude knows Nathan is here, too, I told Makayla.

His dark eyes flicked to Bortex. “You owe me a suit,” he said, then spat some blood out of his mouth. The vamp had hit him a few times to warm him up.

The hybrid blinked at him. “Excuse me?”

“When this is done, I want a new suit,” Jude informed him.

Bortex huffed a laugh. “When this is done?”

“Yeah,” Jude replied, rolling his head around and cracking his neck. “This suit isn’t cheap. And your idiot torturer ruined it.” He looked down at his sleeves. “Unacceptable.”

Leave it to Jude to care more about his suit than his bodily harm. The man’s pain tolerance was admirable. It made me wonder what supernatural substances he took to bolster his reserves, because he certainly wasn’t reacting like a human. Bortex wanted details on E.V.I.E.’s technology and access to the company’s servers. Jude hadn’t so much as flinched in response. He hadn’t spoken until now either.

And yet that shock wave hadn’t taken him out earlier.