Page 12 of Curvy Hostage Mate (Gold Wolves Black Ops #4)

He shrugged. “Slave? Mate? Whatever you want to call her. She’s mine.”

“Pretty sure that’s not how things work,” I said. I kept my hands pinned to my side. Even then, I could feel my fingers twitching, wanting to curl into fists. It took all of my self-control not to lunge at him and tear him to shreds.

He gave a revolting grin that showed sharp, crooked, and yellowing teeth. “So you don’t deny that you have her?”

“Pretty sure that would be a waste of time and breath,” I said, folding my arms. “You wouldn’t be here if you didn’t know that. That doesn’t mean you’re getting your claws anywhere near her.”

“I will,” he said. The casual confidence and smug air sent shivers down my spine, even as I forced my face to remain impassive. “You don’t have to worry about that.”

I snarled, taking several steps forward until I was just in striking distance. Declan let out a soft growl of warning to me that I ignored.

“Leave now before I tear out your throat,” I warned.

Cain let out a derisive scoff that somehow still managed to sound smug.

“I’m here to make a deal with your boss.

Not you.” He turned to Declan. “You need to get better control over your men. Seems like they’re inclined to run all over the place and do whatever they want.

I thought you spec-ops boys were supposed to be disciplined.

” He grinned, showing razor-sharp teeth.

“I can give you a few pointers if you’d like. ”

Declan had always been the most level-headed of all of us. He kept a steady gaze on Cain, his face inscrutable.

“Why don’t you tell us exactly why you’re here, and we can save the lessons for another time?” Declan said. “Because I can’t imagine you came here thinking we would just hand over a girl without some sort of leverage you think you have. I would like to hear what it is.”

“I know two of your men are in the Underside,” Cain said. “Trent and Nolan, aren’t they?”

Silence filled the air. Declan glanced at Jackson, then at me, then back to Cain.

Cain tutted as he lounged in his chair, kicking his feet up on Declan’s desk. “There’s no need to be coy, gentlemen. They hid themselves well. But they didn’t know I have witches who monitor any sort of communication between the Underside and the outside world. It’s a precaution, you know.”

Which explained why I hadn’t heard from Trent and Nolan in a few days. I was honestly surprised Cain hadn’t killed them yet after everything Morgan had told me. Letting them live and wander around didn’t seem like his style.

I barked out a laugh as comprehension dawned. Cain’s eyes narrowed.

“You don’t know where they are, do you?” I asked. “It’s a bluff.”

Cain snarled, eyes flashing, the first flash of genuine anger I had seen him display since coming in.

“We might not have them right now, but it’s only a matter of time,” he said. “We’ve blocked off the portal, so no one can get in or out without my say-so. They’re trapped in the Underside. They can only hide for so long.”

“What’s to stop us from killing you right now?” Declan asked, his tone casual while making the threat perfectly clear. “You walked right into my office like you owned the place. You’re a wanted criminal. The Council would shake my hand for getting rid of you once and for all.”

One of Cain’s men let out a low, threatening growl, his fingers mutating into claws. The other man held up a hand, muttering an incantation before a bright ball of flame appeared, hovering above his palm and casting a sinister, flickering shadow across his face.

“Besides the fact that it would create so much unnecessary bloodshed?” Cain asked conversationally. “Because I have outstanding orders for my men still in the Underside to kill all the slaves if I don’t come back in a timely manner.”

Silence filled the air as all three of us stared at Cain, still acting like this was an average Tuesday. He examined his nails as he waited for one of us to regain our voices.

“You’re joking, right?” Jackson blurted.

“Do I look like I’m joking?” Cain asked.

“What exactly is it that you want?” Declan asked, his lips a tight, thin line as he glowered at Cain.

“I thought I made it perfectly obvious.” Cain stood and leaned over the desk.

Declan met the aggressive gesture with blank impassivity.

Only the people who knew Declan well would have been able to tell that he was absolutely livid, barely restraining himself from ripping his claws into Cain’s throat.

“I want my mate,” Cain stated.

“She isn’t your mate,” I snapped back, unable to control myself. “No ceremony, no mate. And she doesn’t seem particularly keen to go back to you.”

Cain turned to look at me, his eyes flashing with rage.

“Whatever you want to call her, she’s mine,” he snarled.

“I want her back. I’ll even sweeten the deal.

You can keep the sister. By all rights, I should be demanding her back, too, since you stole her from me as well.

I’ll let you have her, and I’ll walk out of your life for good.

I’ll even tell my slavers not to prowl for new girls for a hundred miles around this town.

You get a nice little bubble. All you have to do is give me Morgan without a fuss and agree to leave me alone, and we’ll call it even. ”

“And if we don’t?” Declan asked, his voice still neutral despite the barely contained rage.

“If you don’t, then I’ll kill all the slaves under my control, as well as your men, once we find them, which will only be a matter of days,” he declared.

Jackson’s jaw dropped. “You can’t be serious,” he said. “You’re actually threatening to kill all your slaves? That’s destroying your entire operation.”

Shrugging, Cain said with unnerving indifference, “I can always buy more girls. I might lose a bit of gold, but there’s plenty more where that came from.”

Jackson shook his head in disgust. “You’re insane.”

“No, just willing to take risks to get what I want.” Standing, Cain pushed himself away from the desk, adjusting his shirt.

“I’ll give you some time to think about it,” he said as if he’d just proposed a business deal, not threatened the lives of at least a hundred women. “I’ll come back in a few days.”

He strolled toward the door. Just as he was about to waltz out, he paused. “Give Kendra my regards, by the way.”

He slammed the door shut behind him and his men. None of us moved as we listened to the footsteps tramping down the hall, not saying anything until we heard the elevator ding.

“What a fucking asshole,” Jackson snarled.

“That’s a simplification,” I muttered.

Declan let out a warning growl. “Insult him all you want. We’ve still got a big problem on our hands. Even if his threat to kill everyone turns out to be a massive bluff, we have to treat it as serious until we know otherwise.”

“We’ve still got men in there,” I said. “They won’t let him get away with it. We just need to get word to them somehow.”

“Trent and Nolan can’t protect all the women,” Declan said.

“They’re resourceful, and I know they can hold their own.

I’ll talk to Kendra and see if she can’t find a way to get around whatever monitoring Cain has on communication.

We’ll do our best to get in touch with them and relay the information, but there are still all the others to think about. ”

“I think he’s bluffing,” Jackson countered. “He may be a psychopath, but no one would destroy that much product. They may be women, but that’s how he sees them.”

“Based on what Morgan’s told me, I wouldn’t be surprised if he was just trying to mess with her emotions,” I commented.

One of the reasons I have no intention of telling her anything about this.

Declan stared at me, still unsmiling as he continued to scrutinize me. Then he seemed to come to some sort of conclusion.

“Jackson, I need to talk to Chris alone for a bit,” Declan said. “Go check to make sure Cain has left the building. See if we can’t find someone to tail them to find out if they’re holding up somewhere nearby, or if they’re going back to the Underside.”

Jackson nodded. He glanced at me once, but didn’t say anything. He turned and walked out the door.

The instant the door closed, Declan said, “You have her. That wasn’t a bluff?”

“Yes, I have her,” I answered.

Declan closed his eyes, taking a deep breath before opening them again. “Tell me the whole story,” he ordered.

I did. Declan listened with his trademark stoic expression, arms crossed as he nodded along.

I tried to read his expression, to figure out just how up to my knees in shit I actually was.

I couldn’t get a good read on it. Still, he needed to know, so I kept going, despite the growing anger burning just behind his eyes.

“You do realize how incredibly stupid and risky all of this was, right?” he asked after I finally finished.

“Very,” I muttered through gritted teeth.

“You jeopardized the mission, put Trent and Nolan on Cain’s radar, and took the one thing Cain would be hellbent on getting back.”

“Well-aware,” I retorted.

“Why did you do it?”

I blinked, some of my defensiveness crumbling at the question.

I wasn’t sure what I had been expecting, but not that question.

The weird thing was, I didn’t know how to answer Declan.

It had just sort of come over me. There had been a strange sort of connection to Morgan, then impulse took over.

She’d been in danger, and I’d wanted to help.

Only that didn’t explain everything. I didn’t know how to explain how I had felt about her, how I still felt about her. I didn’t know how to articulate how much I’d hated the thought of seeing her and doing nothing, of having her fate be out of my control. How I couldn’t just stand idly by.

And it was Morgan. Any other woman, I might have been able to keep my composure. But something about seeing her had made me lose it in a way I couldn’t explain.

Declan was still waiting, and I didn’t know how to explain. I wasn’t sure I wanted to. I’d never been good at showing emotion. And this was complicated.

“I was trying to help Kendra,” I finally said, the defense sounding weak even to my own ears. “You know how stressed out she’s been about Morgan.”

“I’m pretty sure Kendra would have been okay with us waiting to get her sister out of it if it had meant keeping Cain off our scent and getting him out of the picture for good,” Declan said flatly, about as polite a way of him saying he thought my explanation was complete bullshit.

“I… didn’t want Morgan there any longer than she had to be,” I said. “She’d already been through enough. All the girls there have been, but none of them are tied to Cain. I saw her, and I needed to help her.”

Declan nodded. “Do you regret it?”

The question took me by surprise. I’d expected yelling, or him to call me a massive idiot. Maybe he just assumed I already knew all of that.

“Not in the slightest,” I responded without a moment of hesitation.

“Is she worth it?”

“Without a doubt,” I growled.

Another nod. Declan let out a puff of air as he lowered his hands to the desk, knitting his fingers together.

“I’ll do what I can from here,” he said. “In the meantime, keep her safe.”

“Thank you,” I said.

“Don’t thank me yet.” Declan gave a feral, angry grin.

“You’re still in deep shit for ruining a mission and putting two of your team at risk.

And we’ll have words about that. But right now, we have enough on our hands without adding extra punishment.

We’ll circle back to all of that once we take care of Cain. ”

I nodded. Whatever punishment Declan decided on for me, it’d be fair.

“Let me know how we can help,” Declan said as I turned to the door. “Though, the less you tell me right now, the better.”