Page 30 of Kingly Bitten

I supposed that meant I no longer considered him a threat. Or perhaps my focus on more pleasurable avenues had distracted me from the lethal surroundings.

“It’s my understanding that formalities at least require a greeting of some kind.”

“I see,” I replied. “Then, hello, Ryder. What a lovely surprise. What brings you to Damien’s floor?”

His black eyes glimmered with deadly intent. “He mentioned prisoners and interrogation in his latest report. I think he meant to keep me apprised, but I took it as an invitation.”

“We can’t kill them,” I said immediately, aware of Ryder’s penchant for slaughtering first and asking questions later. That was how Lilith’s head had ended up in a freezer. “They’re proof of Lilith using immortals for her research.”

“And we need three of them to accomplish that proof because…?”

“One captive was Lilith’s lead researcher at the bunker. She’s useful to us alive, and we need the other two doctors—who she seems to fancy as friends—to use as leverage to encourage her cooperation.”

“And the little lycan pup my mate is falling in love with downstairs?” he pressed.

“A bargaining chip that makes the two doctors chatty,” Damien drawled as he joined us in the hallway. “Or it was one until James overheard that comment with his lycan hearing.” He gestured his chin toward the door he’d just come through. “Not soundproof. Which is interesting, considering Silvano’s former use of these quarters. But I digress.” He looked at me. “How’d it go with Dr. C.?”

“She’s currently evaluating her options.” I couldn’t help my amused tone, something both males caught on to immediately.

“And those options include?” Damien asked.

“A server farm,” I replied, effectively changing the topic away from my little game of verbal chess with Calina. “She claims that all her files were updated to it daily, and she can help us track the source as well.”

“Or she can use our resources to send a message to the intended recipient of those files.”

“Yes,” I conceded. “But she sent that person shit files for a reason. She also broke protocol. As a result, I don’t see her being very eager to reconnect with Lilith’s former partner. Assuming she had one, I mean. That still remains unclear.”

“Did she mention anyone of interest?” Ryder asked.

“Not yet,” I admitted. “But I’ll see if any photos jog her memory.” Or, more accurately, I would see if she visually reacted to any photos. Because something told me a little bite wasn’t enough to convince her to cooperate. And that was fine. I could do a lot worse and still make her enjoy at least part of it.

“All right, so these researchers have been experimenting on lycans and vampires for a century, some longer than that, and our solution is to keep them alive for show-and-tell later,” Ryder summarized.

“So you did read my notes,” Damien replied. “Good to know.”

“Are you going to let the alliance members eat them after their testimonies?” Ryder asked, ignoring his new sovereign’s side commentary. “Am I going to be stuck playing father to this pup for eternity? Because my mate won’t let anyone kill him now. She’s in love. And I’m not breaking her heart.”

He pulled a device from his pocket and brought up a video of a pretty white wolf curled around a tiny ball of fur.

Damien grinned and clapped Ryder on the shoulder. “Congrats. You just became a dad. Want a hug?”

“No.”

“Good.” Damien dropped his hand and looked at me. “Tell me about the server farm.”

“I can’t. Calina hasn’t agreed to help us yet.”

His eyebrows rose. “Then why the fuck are you standing out here?”

I arched a brow, not at all appreciating his disrespectful tone.

He cleared his throat. “Sorry, King. Just excited by the prospect of playing in a server farm.”

“Stop calling meKingand I’ll forgive you.”

“But it has such a good ring to it,” Ryder interjected, his tone deadpan.

I didn’t bother to acknowledge the side commentary. “I’m giving Calina a few minutes to assess her options. In the interim, I intended to share the information with you so you can work with James or Gretchen to corroborate her claim.”