She came to a full stop at the doorway, eyes wide, shocked, looking around as though searching for some remnants of whatever she missed.
Then her gaze lit on Kate with Devil’s arm wrapped around her. It dropped to her friend’s neck, her lips parting, eyes narrowing.
“So fucking not fair,” she muttered then.
“Your language is deteriorating, Khi,” Lobo chastised her gently, warningly.
“Yeah, well the Big Bad Wolf’s not exactly here,” she grumbled before turning back to Kate and shaking her head in disappointment. “So not fair, Katie,” she repeated. “You were supposed to tell me if it happened.”
“It happened.” The laughter in Kate’s voice had Devil wanting to smile.
He swore he could feel something akin to, or perhaps far surpassing, happiness, as it exploded inside him.
Kate’s arm tightened around his back as the other moved to circle his hips and hug him close.
“Bitch,” Khileen sighed again before giving Lobo a defiant look.
“While I have you here, could you please do something about the acoustics in this damned place. If it happens outside my bedroom, then it may as well not even be happening,” she accused him with no small amount of anger. “And I simply don’t like it.”
She turned and stalked back to her room. Evidently, this time, she left the door open.
Lobo shook his head. “One of these days, remind me to kill Tiberian. Slowly,” he muttered of his brother. “Very slowly.”
He left the room, throwing his hand up in a silent farewell and heading, Devil knew, for the cells.
Where he was heading himself.
Turning to his mate and lifting her chin with his fingers, he placed a quick kiss to her waiting lips. “I won’t be long,” he promised.
“Better not be,” she warned him. “Because I think I want to bite you again.”
He paused, turning back to her quickly, hunger gleaming in his gaze as Kate stared up at him with definite interest.
“One hour,” he promised.
“You have forty-five minutes,” she decided.
His gaze narrowed.
“Want to try for forty?”
A manly grunt and a snarl, and he was quickly striding from the room, definitely intent on making the most of his forty minutes.
Which was forty minutes longer than she should have had to wait, she decided with a smile as she stared around the destruction littering her bedroom floor. Ah well, it would give her time to move into his bedroom. She liked it better anyway.
EIGHT
There wasn’t much left of the human to question.
The Breed known as Graeme stared down at the bloodied face, split lips, the swollen eyes, and had to force himself not to rip the bastard’s head off.
But, he had the information he wanted.
He’d had the information he wanted hours ago though. It had really taken no more than flexing the feline claws his nails became and raking the sharpened tips, normally hidden in a groove at the top of his finger, over the man’s chest. There were now four bloody furrows that would need stitches soon.
If Graeme decided to allow him to live longer.
The pilot wasn’t in much better shape, though he’d had less information. A fly-by-night pilot that hired his services out for a paltry amount, considering the risk he’d taken this time.
This one, he’d simply turn over to the Bureau of Breed Affairs agent being sent to collect him.
The other, Graeme wanted to keep just a while longer. He had a feeling his friends might come looking for him. Sometimes there was a sense of loyalty among humans that made men do stupid things. Things like attempting to rescue friends who had made decidedly poor choices.
Besides, Devil’s woman wanted certain information for her father. Information Lobo Reever wouldn’t mind having as well. There were several questions regarding his wife’s death that had yet to be answered. Questions he knew the Wolf Breed needed before bringing his brother, Tiberian, back to the States.
Until then, he could simply have fun and take his aggressions out on the human for a while. After all, a Breed that had been driven slowly insane over the years, only to find that sanity rather abruptly once again, needed something to amuse himself with until he had his own plans in place.
“Just kill me,” the soldier pleaded as he struggled to open eyes swollen shut. “Please just kill me.”
The stench of the man’s urine, spilled in weakening terror, offended Graeme’s senses.
“Do you deserve to die?” he asked, flexing then retracting his claws as he fought to keep from giving him exactly what he was begging for. “I don’t think you deserve to die yet. You haven’t given me enough information to pay for such mercy.”
The soldier whimpered as Graeme rolled his eyes in disgust.
Reaching up to rub at his jaw thoughtfully, he pulled back at the last second with a grimace. The last thing he needed was to risk messing up the disguise he’d created. He couldn’t afford to allow his identity to be revealed just yet.
He needed just a little more time before he could shed the Graeme appearance and return to claim what was his.
“I don’t know anything more.” The soldier disturbed Graeme’s thoughts as he sobbed the declaration. “I swear, I don’t know anything more.”
Graeme grunted at the vow. “You stink of a liar.”
Cutting the ropes that bound him to the chair, he dragged the moaning soldier to a cell and tossed him to the cot on the floor. Agony resounded in the human’s moans as he lay completely still.
Maybe he’d cracked a rib, Graeme decided in unconcern. He’d mention it to the medic he’d requested to check the bastard out.
“I was merciful,” he told the man as he locked the cell doors. “Ever been skinned alive? Or dissected alive? I could show you how it feels if you’d like. I know exactly how it’s done.”
And how it felt. How it ripped through the mind because the drugs refused to allow mercy and kept the subject conscious. What it felt like to have some bastard handle his guts with uncaring hands—
He forced the memory back as the killing rage and dark insanity tempted the animal instincts that were far too close to the surface.
The soldier had pissed himself again.
“Damn, son, at least I held my water until they actually began slicing me open,” he muttered. “Show a little courage why don’t you.”
He’d have fared far better had he not screamed like a little girl as Graeme flashed the wicked canines at the side of his mouth in a vicious snarl no more than an inch from his face.
“Medic will be here in a bit,” he called back. “We’ll get you something to eat later, a drink maybe. Then we’ll see what your skin looks like hanging on the wall to dry.”
Hell, how much water was the bastard’s kidneys holding anyway? If he pissed himself much more, then he was going to dehydrate for sure.
“Graeme, stop terrorizing the prisoner,” Lobo ordered as Graeme stepped into the control room and locked the door behind him.
“Boss.” Graeme nodded. “Surprised to see you here.”
Hell, this fucking Wolf was like a ghost or something. He was one of the few men that could slip into the control room and watch him without Graeme sensing his presence.
“Yes, I would imagine you are,” Lobo answered, his hooded gaze watching him carefully. “You know, the Bureau of Breed Affairs has an APB out on a Bengal Breed that was once dissected and skinned alive. Wouldn’t know anything about that, would you?”
Graeme blinked back at him in surprise. “I don’t know about the Bengal part, but I could produce a Lion Breed that’s been up close and personal with it,” he grunted, biting back his fury. “Fuckers damned near drove me crazy.”