Page 22 of Enforcer’s Little Warrior (Little Paws Haven #3)

Romy

It made him braver with Bash right there at his rear, but the stench of death Romy inhaled through his nose made bile burn the back of his throat. He led them anyway, deeper into the maze of corridors that held cells where they’d held them captive. All that remained in the empty unlocked rooms was the fear that permeated the place. It seeped deep into rock, ensuring the tales of the captured, the dead, the tortured, lingered on. Along with the soiled mattresses thrown on the floor were the threadbare, stained blankets that had never held back the cold.

When Romy reached the cell they had held him captive in, the burn in his throat worsened. Every swallow was painful with how the shards of the past swam through his mind. He struggled to keep his thoughts to himself, knowing sharing them would destroy something precious between him and Bash. Romy understood his mate would never forgive himself for not finding him sooner, not protecting him from the evil that roamed these passageways.

“You don’t have to go any further,” Arlo said, touching his shoulder, bringing him to his senses and the reality he stood crying, staring blindly into his prison.

It took several attempts to get his mouth to work. “I do.” He turned away, seeing Bash had moved up ahead, a wolf beside him indicating why he’d moved on by the way the large, dark head moved, scenting the air.

The wolf nosed at Bash’s leg and then was off running toward the clinical area where tests got carried out. Romy gave chase as Bash ran after the wolf.

What is it?

Little Bumper, stay back, the wolf has caught the scent of something fresh.

Cosmo appeared at Romy’s feet and passed as fast as lightning flashing through the sky. Next came Nomad in his panther form with Harley, who hadn’t shifted. They moved with such speed, Romy had no way of keeping up, he fell behind as others passed him.

Chest heaving, panting, his nose wrinkled as something struck him before his brain could figure out what. He slowed, inhaling the smell of death and something more pungent. Before he could register what it was that set him off. A huge hand came out of the darkness, much like his nightmares, and gripped his throat in a punishing hold that stopped him from making a sound.

“I missed you,” Raul whispered in his ear, licking up the side of his face, leaving a trail of spit running down his cheek. The smell of decay intensified and made Romy gag.

Daddy!

Daddy!

Help me! He screamed in his mind before lights danced in front of his eyes and his brain became foggy from the lack of oxygen. He fought the darkness, clawing at Raul’s hold, attempting to draw in air despite knowing it would come with Raul’s awful stench.

Fight.

Fight for me, Little Bumper, floated through his mind along with Bash’s terror, forcing him to focus.

He kicked out wildly as he dangled in the air. Raul’s tremendous power, too much to fight. He swung out blindly, clawing at anything he could reach. Raul’s laughter chilled him to his core.

Where was everyone?

A noise barely registered in his foggy brain, when Romy landed with a thud, his knees buckling and his ass bounced painfully on the ground, rattling his bones. He blinked, dragging in deep gulps of air to see Raul planted to the opposite wall, pinned on the end of Bash’s rhino horn.

“Don’t kill him,” Arlo shouted, coming to a stop at the side of Bash, he was breathless as Romy. “We need to interrogate him.”

There were shouts, other noises coming from different directions, but Romy never looked away from his mate. I’m okay. Listen to Arlo. You can kill him after they have finished with him.

Romy knew his mate would hear him. Would understand what he was saying. Killing Raul was the only way Romy would have peace, just they needed justice too by finding out everything the fucker knew first—if Bash hadn’t done too much damage.

Bash’s rhino made a sound that was terrifying before he relinquished his prize. The second he pawed his way backwards, the ungainly rhino came around and nudged at Romy gently.

Romy shifted, didn’t think twice, his clothes in tatters on the ground around his hooves as his horn touched his mates despite the gore covering it.

They both needed the moment.

Bash

Being able to smell Romy beneath the scent of the being whose guts clung to his horn, was the only thing that kept Bash from ramming the creature until there was nothing left but bits and excitement smeared along the floor. Bash still couldn’t figure out what he was yet, not that it mattered a great deal as long as he’d be able to deal the killing blow. He’d leave that bit of the interrogation to those who specialized in unraveling secrets. He was an Enforcer; he was just there to smash and trample things.

You’re more than that.

Romy’s thoughts mingled with his and Bash nuzzled his mate, gently rubbing his cheek against Romy’s until his mate's scent masked some of the disgusting stench clinging to his horn.

You’re a protector. You’re courageous and you encourage me to be more than I think I am, so you shouldn’t diminish yourself because that might piss me off.

I wouldn’t want to do that.

No, you wouldn’t, or our homecoming won’t be as fun as it could be.

Do you have something in mind?

Several things.

Bash really liked the sound of that and hoped that their return to the crash would mean a chance to finally start settling in and bonding with one another without being under constant threat of life altering interruptions.

“We need to question him here,” Arlo declared as the rotten heap at his feet groaned, blood still spilling through the hole Bash had made in his belly when he’d gored him. “I’m shocked he’s still breathing.”

“A little to the left and it wouldn’t have been an issue,” Bash declared once he’d shifted and stood naked and glaring down at the wretch who’d tried to take his mate from him.

“He bleeds….so beautifully,” the creature rasped. “and his screams…”

He might have said more if Bash hadn’t stomped down on the back of his head, driving his face into the stone floor of the cave, shattering several teeth.

“What part of do not kill him yet, didn’t you understand?” Arlo grumbled as he backed Bash away from the creature again.

“Then he’d better watch what the fuck he says and only open his mouth to answer the questions we ask, or I swear to the goddess I’ll take great pleasure in shattering his skull and kicking what’s left of his teeth down his throat in the process.”

“I hear you, just remember what’s at stake,” Arlo cautioned him.

Bash nodded and turned his attention back to the man on the ground. “Who do you work for?”

“What makes…you think…I’m not in charge?” The creature asked before spitting a glob of blood and tooth on Arlo’s foot. Now it was Bash’s turn to keep the other enforcer from destroying him, and really, where the fuck were Nomad and Harley? Weren’t they trained to extract information without killing?

“You’re too stupid to run anything, even a slaughterhouse, which is exactly what this place smells like,” Bash snapped.

“Oh… there was plenty… that took place… before a slaughter.”

“Why?” Arlo growled. “What is it about Romy and the other rare rhinos in particular that makes them such a target for your cruelty?”

When he didn’t answer at first, Bash knelt and rummaged around in one of the packs that had been dropped, until he came up with one of the rock hammers they’d been carrying with him. While they didn’t need it to enlarge any of the seams in the cage, it was great for smashing bones. Bash took immense pleasure in shattering the creature's fingers and the delicate bones in his hand until he finally started screaming out his response.

“We’ve already… succeeded in blending Avians…” the creature howled, choking in between words as breathing grew more difficult. “Rhinos, rare rhinos, there is something in the DNA that makes it easy to infuse with the genes of others. Some say it’s the magic in their horns… but more tests… we needed more of them. None of the little ones survived as long as that one.”

When the creature got the words out, all eyes immediately turned towards Bash’s mate.

“It doesn’t matter what he carries in his blood!” Bash snapped, fury surging through him at the thought of his mate being experimented on for a fucking theory, and one based more in superstition than fact. “Each creature you harvested from was an individual with a right to live their lives free from interference. Now tell us what the council hoped to get out of this.”

“Enforcers… with no allegiances… except to them… a nearly unstoppable army… with the strengths of several breeds… but none of the limitations. In short… they were creating… the strongest shifters in the world.”

“Guess what, they’ve failed.” Bash grumbled with satisfaction. “Unless they bred a being with bones made of titanium, they aren’t strong enough to withstand a horn.”

“Or the hooves of the entire crash stomping over them,” Arlo pointed out.

“You tell yourselves that,” the creature hissed, his voice nearly above a whisper now. “But do you truly believe it?”