Page 6

Kendra stared at me for a long time, her mouth dropping open in surprise at the words. After the shock had washed off, her eyes narrowed with suspicion and distrust.

“You’re joking, right?” Kendra said. I could tell by her tone that she was trying to keep a derisive sneer out of her words.

“No,” I replied. “I’m going to let you go free.”

I would have thought she would be relieved or grateful. Instead, she stared at me, her brow furrowed.

“You know, the last guy who said that to me was the one who dragged me to this damn place to begin with,” she said. “He just laughed as he handed me over. So you’ll have to forgive me if I don’t trust the guy who just won me in a fighting pit.”

“I have no interest in slaves,” I said.

“And I’m supposed to believe that after I saw you fight a guy for the chance to win one?”

“It wasn’t my choice,” I snarled, not bothering to keep the annoyance out of my voice. “I had to keep up pretenses.”

She stared at me dubiously. Not that I could blame her. Even if I meant what I’d said with utmost sincerity, she had no reason to trust me. For all she knew, I could be promising her that to get her to be more compliant. I’d only known her for a few hours, and I could already tell she was stubborn and hostile as all get out.

“I have a mission here,” I said. “But I need your help in order to complete it. I need as much information as you can give me about everything here.”

For a long moment, she simply stared. I half-expected she wouldn’t answer.

“How can I trust you?” she asked.

“It’s not as though I have a badge that says, ‘Hey, I’m one of the good guys,’” I pointed out. “So I guess you’re just going to have to take my word for it. Is that acceptable?”

“Not really,” she said. “I’ve found out that a lot of guys lie down here. Weird how that works.”

“I’m here to help,” I repeated, already knowing she wouldn’t believe me. Not yet, at least. “Look, can I ask a few questions?”

“You can do whatever you like,” she said, raising an eyebrow. “Remember?”

I decided to ignore the jab. I knew she wasn’t going to trust me for a long time, if ever, but I still needed the information.

“How many slaves are there here?” I asked.

“How should I know?” she said with a hint of a snarl. “Funny enough, the slavers never talked to me about business.”

I let out a huff, trying not to show too much of the irritation starting to build inside me. I had a job to do, a mission to fulfill. And this woman, instead of helping me, seemed intent on stonewalling me. Still, I kept pushing forward, hoping I could still get something helpful out of her.

“Do you know where they’re held?”

“All over,” she said. “And before you ask, no, I have no idea where beyond the places I’ve been.”

“Okay, where were you held?”

Her jaw worked as her eyes narrowed. At first, I thought she was just being obstinate. Finally, she said, “That big prison-like building near the center of town. There were at least thirty of us in there, I think.”

“Who’s the leader?”

She stared at me, that same skeptical expression spreading across her face. It wasn’t just suspicion there, I realized. It was also fear.

“How do I know this isn’t all some sort of trap?” she asked. “This could be a trick.”

“A trick how?”

“For all I know, this could be some sort of test. You pretend to want to help, to see how much information I give out, only for it to turn out you’re working with the rest of the slavers to see whether or not we’re willing to talk and punishing us if we do.”

I stayed silent for a long moment, trying to make sense of what she just said. “You’re not a very trusting person, are you?”

“Used to be. Then this happened.” She held up her wrists and waved them. The silver glinted in the light, bright and freshly polished. “I’m sure you can understand that sort of thing sort of shatters the illusion that most people are decent.”

I didn’t respond to that. I didn’t know how the hell to respond to that. My jaw tightened as I looked at the shackles. Kendra was only one slave of who knew how many. None of them deserved it, and every slaver and guy in here looking for a slave deserved to be punished for what they did to these girls.

My wolf rumbled, bristling with rage and the desire to do something. I needed to act. I couldn’t just stay here in this house. But if I was going to get anywhere with any part of my mission, I needed to get more information.

And right now, the best source of information I had was sitting on the couch across from me, her arms folded as she scowled.

She doesn’t exactly act like most slaves, does she? I couldn’t help but admire that. Who knew what this woman had gone through, yet here she was. Strong and defiant in a way I doubted anyone would have expected.

I wanted to help all the slaves wandering these streets and locked away in dark cells. But something about Kendra only intensified that urge.

“I’m sorry that happened to you,” I said. “I’m trying to stop it from continuing to happen.”

She blinked up at me with gray eyes, less suspicious than before but still guarded and full of caution. She pushed her red hair back so it cascaded down her back, and the light caught it in a way that made it look on fire.

“Guys will say just about anything if they think it’ll make their slave more docile,” she pointed out, though the harshness that sharpened every word seemed to have been filed down around the edges.

I let out another long exhale. She had a point. But it wasn’t as though I had tangible proof I was there to help her. There was no reason for her to trust me. But I needed her to trust me for this mission to work.

No, it wasn’t just that. I wanted her to trust me. Something about this woman made me desperately crave her trust like it was an insatiable need. I couldn’t describe it other than that.

“I’m part of the Gold Wolves,” I explained. “Do you know who those are?”

“Vaguely.” She gave me a look that indicated quite clearly she trusted me slightly less than she could throw me. “Some sort of special-ops military group, right?” When I nodded, she leaned forward, her face inches from mine, her eyes burning brilliant green. “Then what on earth are you doing hunting for a slave? Don’t you have plenty of women falling over themselves to get a scrap of your attention?”

“I came here to investigate a rumor. I have no interest in having a slave.”

“And yet, you fought for me and won.” Her face was stone, that sharp, pointed jaw jutting out in a way that made her look almost regal, even as she gave me a death glare.

I tried not to close my eyes in exasperation. This was going to be harder than I thought.

“Not intentional. That sort of just… happened.” How the hell was I supposed to explain to her that I had followed her to the pits and gotten roped into the fight. I hadn’t even known she was going to be the woman I “won.”

Kendra’s eyes burned as she glared at me. I didn’t blame her; it wasn’t as though she had a whole lot of reason to believe me. But it did make my life a lot harder if she refused to help.

Except it wasn’t just that—I wanted her to believe me. There was just something about her. I couldn’t explain it beyond that. All I knew was that I wanted her trust. Her trusting me seemed like the most important thing in that moment.

Her lips pursed as she looked me up and down with unadulterated skepticism. “For all I know, this is some sort of trick to get me in trouble,” she said.

I let out a growl as I stalked closer to her. She stood her ground, her eyes remaining locked on me.

“Listen,” I hissed, “I don’t care what you think. I’ve still got a job to do. The less you help me, the longer the assholes in charge of this place are going to get away with everything they’re doing, and more women like you are going to get caught in the crossfire. I want to take these assholes down.”

She stayed silent, regarding me with interest, her head tilted as she mutely stared up at me, that defiance still plain on her face and distractingly attractive. If she hadn’t been a slave, I would have had an overwhelming urge to pull her against me and see what her lips tasted like.

I rounded on my heels and marched away, willing those thoughts to go away.

“Cain.”

I blinked, turning to look at her. “What?”

“The ringleader. His name is Cain.”

“What do you know about him?”

Her jaw worked, and she ran her fingers through her hair as she stared off into the distance. Something that wasn’t quite fear radiated off her as she bit her lip and stared out the small window at the street beyond.

“He’s ruthless. Strong enough that he set up all of this. Besides that, not much. He doesn’t interact with the slaves much. I’ve only met him once.”

“When did they bring you here?” I asked.

“No.”

“Then when?”

She glared, but didn’t answer.

Letting out a deep, exasperated sigh, I crouched so I was at eye level with her. She stared at me distrustfully, but kept my gaze. Despite everything, I had to admire her tenacity and defiance. I wanted to reach out and touch her, but I managed to stop myself.

“I can’t do anything about the collar or the bracelet,” I said. “Not here, anyway. But I know a couple of witches near my town who will be able to help, I’m sure.”

Blinking those gray eyes at me, she looked up. Her scent, chocolate and smoke, distracted me momentarily. I had to force myself not to inhale deeply.

“You really want to help me?” she asked, skepticism still tainting every word.

“I do,” I said. “I don’t want a slave. I don’t like the idea of slaves. I’m here to take all of this down.”

“We’re still married,” she pointed out, distrust filling her eyes and hardening them again. “You can get rid of those, but that doesn’t change the fact we’re tied together.”

“One thing at a time,” I said. “Right now, the most important thing is getting you out of here.”

“What about all the others?” she asked.

“Some of my team should be here soon, if they aren’t already. I’m going to relay everything to the Gold Wolves,” I said. “I’ll send one of them back with you. I plan on staying here and learning more about this operation. I need to find a way to earn their trust so I can meet Cain and learn enough to take down this entire thing.”

“You’re not going to be able to do it,” she said. “He’s too dangerous.”

I raised my eyebrows. “You don’t know how dangerous we can be. Don’t count us out quite yet.”

“Yeah, don’t take this the wrong way, but I’m not going to take your word for anything. I know you can fight, but that’s the only thing I know for sure about you.”

She had a point. I didn’t have any way of proving any of this, not until I actually carried out my promise. I reached out to touch her, but stopped myself.

She looked at my hand, then back at me, a speculative expression on her face as she cocked her head, her hair falling down one shoulder. We stayed like that for a long moment, each studying the other.

“I don’t know if I believe you,” she said. “But I don’t have any choice but to go along with whatever you have in mind, so I guess that more or less comes to the same result.”

Part of me wanted to reach out, to take her hands and hold them. But considering she still looked ready to murder me, I figured I would keep my hands to myself.

“We’re going to get you out of here, I promise,” I said. “As soon as Chris or Nolan gets here. You’ll be free soon. We’ll take you through the portal, and you won’t have to see this place or anyone in here ever again.”

“Joy,” she muttered. She shifted in her seat and glanced away as if lost in thought.

I frowned, tilting my head as I studied her. I would have thought she would be relieved about leaving, not sullen.

“Do you want to stay here? Because you don’t seem like you’re particularly happy here, but you also don’t sound particularly excited about getting out of here and being set free.” I tilted my head as I studied her. “Any particular reason why that would be?”

She didn’t answer at first. I didn’t expect her to, based on the way our conversation had gone so far, but one could hope.

Finally, after what felt like entirely too long, she took a deep breath. “I want to leave,” she said. “Just not yet.”

I nodded. “And I’m going to guess that you aren’t going to tell me why or anything like that.”

She gave a wry grin that drove my wolf insane. “What do you know? You’re a fast learner.”

I tilted my head. “You’re not exactly what I thought you would be like.”

She gave a coy, amused smile that drove my wolf wild. It took all my strength not to pull her to her feet and press my lips to hers. I wanted to know how she tasted, to know if it would drive me as insane as her scent.

“I’ll bet you say that to all the girls,” she said.