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Dane

T he satyr didn’t make a sound as she fell on the cold linoleum floor. She was tougher even than some orcs we’d brought up to be interrogated. It wasn’t because satyrs were resilient. They broke easily enough. She was the daughter of Ajisai, former leader of the wood clan, a most fearsome warrior.

And though Morgan had made it clear she wasn’t to be killed; I would wipe them all from our planet if I didn’t get answers about my son’s whereabouts soon.

Her slitted, golden eyes dilated in the harsh florescent light as I tugged the bag off her head, and it took her a moment to register where she was and who held her.

When her vision cleared, her gaze narrowed on me, dark lashes obscuring the hate in her eyes.

Good. I wanted her to know who made her bleed.

She spat at my feet, and I grinned, looking up to meet the eyes of each of the AFF initiates. “You see. They are animals, uncouth and untamed.”

Several heads nodded, and I tipped the toe of my boot under her chin and forced her gaze up. Dark green blood stained the side of her face, still not fully healed from her last interrogation. I’d gone too easy on her, and every day my son was missing was another day he could be dead, or worse.

“Satyr. Tell me where my son is. Tell me where your friend took him.”

She couldn’t hide the grimace of pain as she leaned back and iron cuffs slid down her arm, sizzling across tufted skin.

But if she was afraid of a repeat of last time, she didn’t show it.

She clenched her jaw tightly, glaring at me, ignoring everyone else in the room, and meeting my gaze with a confidence I’d rarely seen in anyone.

She had balls, I’d give her that.

Pulling my hand back, I sent it crashing across her face. The heat of her soft cheek blazed in my palm, and she fell hard, taking some time to recover before positioning herself in my direct line of sight and narrowing her eyes at me again. Still, she said nothing.

I stood to my full height, spinning to face the room. “When dealing with a stubborn animal, you must be firm. Remind the creature of its place.” I met each of their eyes in turn. “But also, be willing to show kindness, lest it forget that its master ultimately wants what’s best for it.”

One of the newest initiates, Alex, had a hungry look in his eye as he stared with a sick sort of satisfaction at the green blood welling on the satyr’s newly split lip.

I would need to keep an eye on him. Breaking the creatures was a job that required finesse and if I hadn’t let my emotions get the better of me, I wouldn’t have taken such a harsh approach with this one.

I made a mental note to have Alice reassign him to a mundane duty that wouldn’t put him near enough to the creatures to do permanent damage.

We needed most of them alive. For now.

I knelt down beside the satyr, Juniper, she was called, and ran a hand over her cheek. It burned where the imprint of my hand remained, and I chuckled as she flinched from my kindness when she hadn’t from my violence. She was a fighter, and they were my favorite kind to break.

I marched down the hall at a clipped pace, resisting the urge to punch something.

“Dane.”

I ground my teeth, schooling my features before spinning to face Alice. “Yes?”

She halted behind me, too close, and a chill rushed down my spine at her stealth. It was her best quality and my least favorite. “Were you successful? Did you find out where Jack is?”

I resisted the urge to roll my eyes. Her obsession with my son was unnatural, especially considering I’d seen his dismissal of her more than a few times. “No. She is refusing to speak.”

Alice wrapped her arms over her chest, hugging them against her torso and making herself seem smaller. “I have an idea.”

I studied her, noting the pink tinging her cheeks and the jump of her rapid pulse at her throat. “Go on.”

“What if you brought her up to the compound? Made her feel safe. If someone could get close to her, maybe they could get information from her.”

“Like you did with the high fae?” I scoffed.

Her pink cheeks flamed crimson. “Sally was only here one night. I had no time—”

“You let your feelings for my son cloud your judgment. She would have never trusted you.”

Alice squared her shoulders, standing taller, and met my gaze. “Jack’s not here now, so there’s no risk of that happening again, and I want him back as much as you do.”

I narrowed my gaze on Alice, meeting her stare for long moments. When she didn’t look away, I nodded. “Very well. Tell Grif to have her brought up. She rooms with you.” I leaned closer, getting into her space. “And make sure you don’t let your true feelings for the creatures show.”

Alice’s brows lifted, and I half expected her to break into a giddy laugh and throw her arms around me.

She was young. Too young to act as my spy, but she tested far above the others who had joined my ranks in terms of psychological prowess and deception.

She was my best option when none of my interrogation efforts had been successful thus far.

My gaze darted past her as Connor, commander of my Central Park perimeter guard, appeared at the end of the hall, and I dismissed her with a nod, turning to him. “What is it?”

He watched her go, waiting until she was out of earshot. “We’ve seen movement from the orc general. His second led another attack. They hit the AFF building in the Bronx. Successfully retrieved all the prisoners being held there.”

“Damnit,” I swore. “How did they get by us?”

“They have help from wild animals.”

I rubbed my forehead, heat boiling in my veins.

Another fucking prison raided. Another success on their side.

I was growing tired of the orc who had managed half a dozen successful attacks in as many months.

And no matter how many new recruits I brought in or how many men I stationed around the prisoners, they got by us every time.

“What do you mean, animals?”

Connor took a step back, sensing my rage. “All I know is, there’s animals sniffin’ around the place each time before it happens and then they come out of nowhere, when we’re least guarded and take the fairies out with minimal casualties.” He scratched his head. “Honestly, I can’t figure it out.”

I growled in frustration. They’d started as a nuisance, but they were quickly becoming a thorn in my side. “Get Grif. I want a demonstration staged tonight. How many prisoners did we lose?”

Connor swallowed. “Fifteen.”

“Then we take thirty. We show them that every time they attack, we make them pay for it.”

Spittle landed on Connor’s face and he swiped it off, eyes widening, but he only nodded, turning and jogging down the hall.

Teeth grinding together, I slammed a fist into the wall.

Our staged raid had gone well. We’d incited the people—driven them to act—and soon they had taken up their own makeshift weapons and brought down the creatures remaining in the park themselves.

But we needed more. We needed something bigger to truly shift the tide.

But the cost of these incidents had never been my flesh and blood before and that was a price I wasn’t willing to pay.