Page 72 of Owning His Mate

She has no idea what kind of pain I can inflict to get the answers I need, nor does she know the lengths I will go to in order to protect my mate.

I tilt my head to the side, roaming my gaze over her. How is this tiny female the source of Savannah’s nightmares? How did she learn to do that? Was it taught to her at the facility she was kept in? Is she working for them? I dismiss that thought immediately. Savannah’s fear can’t be faked, but she is a very powerful little girl and that needs to be controlled.

I sniff in a deep breath, trying to catch her scent. She smells human, but there’s something else I can detect beneath that. “You’re not wolf, and you’re not tau. What are you?”

Her lips kick up into a smirk that I want to wipe off her smug fucking face. “I don’t owe you any answers.”

I count backwards from five, trying not to explode. She can’t tell me anything if she’s dead, but it would soothe my wolf to bathe in her blood.

“Savannah brought you here. That’s quite a talent for a girl so small. You should be afraid of what the rest of them can do. Their coven is strong.”

“Any animal can be taught to perform with the right motivation,” she counters.

Something in that tone of voice sets my nerves on edge.

Animal.

Is that truly what she thinks we are? We will never be worthy of anything from these people—her, the Order, and whoever else is out there truly believe that we are less than them because of our DNA, because of things we have no control over. None of us asked to be born different. I would love to be human, for me and Apryle to live a normal life without fear of being harmed because of what we are.

But that’s not how it goes for us.

“Is that your assessment?”

“That you can be taught tricks or that you’re animals?”

“Both.”

Her smile is sadistic and makes a chill race up my spine. There is crazy dancing in her eyes and acceptance that she is probably not getting out of this alive. She’s not far off the mark. If she’s a threat to my mate, I’ll end her right here and now.

“You want the truth? Fine. I’ll give it to you. I believe that your kind was never meant to exist. You’re an abomination created from Revna’s purity.”

I arch my brow at her. “Great, you’re clearly batshit off the wall nuts.”

She stands, moving slowly and gingerly, as if her body hurts. I’m sure it does. There’s not a mark on her that I can see but magic doesn’t always leave evidence.

I tense, ready for anything. Strength-wise, she will never overpower me, but I’ve come to expect the unexpected.

She steps closer to the bars, the corner of her mouth kicking up. “Your kindare quick to throw labels like that, but I have never known a group ofanimalsto be so in the dark about everything.”

“You know Revna doesn’t exist, right? She’s just some fairytale made up to explain how we exist.”

Throwing her head back, she laughs, and my skin crawls. “This is what I mean. You are so stupid. It’s a wonder you’vesurvived as long as you have. Do you truly believe those stories are not real?”

“I would rather believe that than in deluded nonsense.”

She paces the floor of her small cell. She called us animals, but in this moment she is the one who looks like a caged lion. “Revna exists. She is the one true entity in this world. She gave us everything. She loved us, taught us how to use nature to create things—vast, impressive things—but it was never enough. Ungrateful, the lot of you. She should have punished you worse.”

Her rambling sounds unhinged, but to understand what these people want, I need to learn their motivations. That means getting inside their craziness. “Punished for what?”

“You turned your back on Mother, and you let them hurt her. Now, Revna is crying for freedom. She’s in the dark, alone, begging for help.”

“You want Mother free,” I say, keeping my voice as soft as I can manage.

Her head snaps in my direction. “Motherwillbe free. We just need the right solution.”

“The right blood, you mean?”

A shiver runs up my spine at the look she gives me. There is something deeply unsettling about this female, and it is not just the fact that I know she tortured a child.

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