Page 13 of Angel Captive

The bitter taste in my mouth wouldn’t leave me throughout the fucking night and into the next morning. Riley looked at me like I was some fucking war hero. But I’d done nothing while dozens of my kind were mutilated. During the battle, it was only because I’d been so close to death that I'd survived. I had been too injured and had to heal before they could experiment on me. By the time the Roulex realized they couldn’t reproduce our kind any artificial way except with a male and a compatible female, they’d stopped the useless sacrifices.

I squeezed my eyes shut as Riley ate the soggy toast quietly as though she were trying not to wake me.

Once she knew the truth about me, she wouldn’t want anything to do with me. And it shouldn’t bother me as her even being here was fucking dangerous to both of us. Even more so because I couldn’t get the memory of how she felt in my arms or how soft her lips were out of my head. I wanted to kiss her again. Shit, I wanted to taste her everywhere and do a whole hell of a lot more than we had. But then I’d be giving in to the Roulex and I couldn’t do that.

Even now my balls ached, and my cock tented my pants. I had to resist her allure and I’d let my guard down and gotten too close. And the Roulex would’ve sprayed her down with pheromones to try and entice me. Except, if I didn’t, my entire people were in danger. I could do this. Just had to maintain my distance.

Ignore her. Pretend she wasn’t locked in here with me like I’d done to so many women before.

My stomach growled and I sat up, not looking at her. I grabbed the extra flimsy plate from the front of the cell and chomped down on my slice of bread.

She drank her water, looking at me from over the rim of her glass, but she didn’t say anything.

Good. She could figure out that I was no good as a cellmate or a potential mate and they’d move her on—anger rose in me hard and switch.

Shit.

She was no one. A human. Wingless and hornless and she shouldn’t matter to me.

In quick bites, I finished my food and gulped down the water, then tossed the empty cup and plate out the bars for the guards to clean up.

“So, I take it you’re not a morning person,” Riley said, breaking the silence.

I didn’t answer her. It was best if we kept our distance. Couldn’t let her get too attached so when they dragged her to another cell, maybe I wouldn’t try to rip their heads off and claim her myself.

Fuck! What was wrong with me?

Riley pulled apart her bread, putting one tiny piece in her mouth at a time like she was stretching out the meal. She drank her water and stood. Her gaze going back to the top of the bars.

This time I couldn’t resist. “What are you looking at?”

“How well can you fly?”

“As well as any of my kind,” I said in a prideful voice. Did she think I wasn’t capable of flight because of the condition of my wings? “I will heal and—”

She turned back to me with a frown. “I mean I know your wings need to repair themselves with your accelerated healing, but how much time will that take? Could you hover in the air with them?”

“Why?” How would knowing that help us in our locked cell?

“It won’t work unless you can be still in the air for long enough.” She tapped her finger to her chin. “We could take breaks for you if you needed. But I’d need at least three to five minutes up in the air.”

I shook my head not following her. “There are no currents in here and nowhere to fly either.” Though the ceiling was high, it wasn’t enough to gain enough altitude and I wasn’t a spaceship that could float in space. I needed wind and movement.

“Tell me again about the elevator. How far is it and do you know how many floors there are in the prison?”

“Eight that I know of.”

She chewed on her fingernail. “Okay, we’ll need to assume there might be more then. Any idea how old the elevator is? I mean, is it new tech?”

“It’s a box that goes up and down on cables.” How was I to know the age of the thing. My wings ruffled. “We have no use for elevators.”

“What about inside it? Steel doors and how do they access each floor—is there a code or a key or—”

“The guard’s palm prints on panels.” Now I understood what she was trying to find out, but not why or how it would help us in here. “Some of the other floors and cells have them too, others like the ones on this level are older with special keys to lock and unlock them that the head guards wear on a chain around the neck.”

A chill swept through me. Almost like the Roulex had built this underground level first, perhaps even spying on us before they decided to reveal themselves and attack.

Riley pushed her hand through the bars, reaching for my discarded cup and plate. “Here, we’ll need these.”

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