Page 60 of Cruelly Bitten

A shudder ran through me, grounding me in reality and making me wonder what he intended to do next.Offer me to the other man? Allow him to beat me? What did I do wrong? Why is he?—

Metal touched the back of my upper thigh.

The scanner.I blinked.He’s checking my ass for an implant.

Oh.

That was the last place for him to examine.Of course.

I took a deep, calming breath and focused on the sharp contours of his face while he worked. The intimidating lines defined his features, his ire palpable. He seemed to want to punish me, yet the device didn’t make a sound.

Because I’m innocent.At least, partly.

Had I been able to reach out to Damien, I would have. But I’d had no reason to set off those alarms or open doors or do whatever else had happened in that short breath of time. What would I have to gain?

And why would I try to escape?

I’d spent over a century pining for my lost mate. He might not be the man I once knew, but he was still Cam. I had a responsibility now to save him and make him remember his own mind. Leaving would accomplish nothing.

He released my neck and tossed the scanner onto the bed beside us. “She’s clean, Michael.” Cam’s hands went to my hipsas he pulled me off him to land near the device on the mattress. I winced a little at the manhandling, but it was his tone that really snagged my attention.

Because he sounded unbelievably calm. It didn’t match the darkness swirling in his gaze or the rigid way he moved as he stood.

Something is coming,my instincts whispered.Something bad.

“That doesn’t make her innocent, my liege,” Michael replied, his long face void of emotion. Either he was oblivious to the hostility simmering beneath Cam’s serene facade, or he knew it wasn’t meant for him.

I shivered.Can I only sense it because of our bond?

Cam had never been a very angry man, even when he’d been faced with Lilith’s proposed changes for society. He’d always been strategic and composed, choosing to use words to deal with matters rather than fight.

But this version of him didn’t seem opposed to the latter.

Unless I’m reading this entirely wrong, I thought.

“She could still be working with Damien,” Michael went on. “I traced the interference to your laptop. It’s quite possible he taught her how to reach him, or how to orchestrate the hack from inside the compound. She needs to be thoroughly interrogated.”

“Is that why you took it upon yourself to begin questioning her?” Cam asked, that eerie calmness still prevalent in his words.

“I started questioning her when I found her wandering the stairwell with your laptop, my liege. She wasn’t forthcoming.”

“Perhaps because you chose violence first.” Cam slid his hands into his slacks as he moved in front of my field of view, blocking Michael from my line of sight. “That is why you decided to crush her ankle, yes?”

Michael snorted. “She twisted it in the fall. I just applied a little pressure to get her to speak.”

“And did it work?”

“No. She refused to give me anything, which further proves she’s guilty. Or, at the very least, she’s hiding something.”

Well, he wasn’t wrong there.

“So you think she’s capable of using laptops and taking down our security system?” Cam pressed. “You think she’s the one who released Sota and Troph?”

I stared at his back while I repeated those names in my mind. They were two Blessed Ones. Fathers to Sahara and Lajos.Is that who I saw in the video feed?

“What would she have to gain by disrupting their lesson?” Cam added, his tone slipping just a little to reveal the darkness. “Are you suggesting she’s here to dismantle the entire operation? That would imply she even knows what we’re doing. Is it public knowledge?”

“Well, no, but?—”