Page 23 of The Last Ultimatum: Part 2

“What the hell is this?” I asked.

“Damaged goods is what I’ve been told.”

“These have already been processed out. Follow me.”

He led us out of the large docking area of dead bodies about to go into the large crematory in the corner of the room and into a room lined with cages filled with people—my people.

“I think I’m going to be sick,” I warned them.

“Relax. It’s all shocking at first. The trick is not to think of them as people. Give them humanity and it all becomes quite uncivilized.”

Tilly

Chapter 8

The woman came for me again the next day. I learned her name was Helen. She seemed to take a liking to me, but if she thought this tactic would get me to give up my mate, she was very mistaken.

I wasn’t tied to that table again and Egan never even showed his face. Instead, she brought in a tea cart and we sat and had a nice chat. Her sob story hadn’t changed much since the first time I heard it and honestly, I was struggling to determine if she was telling it to try to soften me up or try to settle her own conscience.

What would Lachlan think? This seemed like something that was probably more in his territory from what bit I knew about my mate.

I thought of him often and despite the horrific circumstances I found myself in, I still dreamed inappropriate dreams of him each time I laid down and closed my eyes. Maybe it was just my brain’s way of a distraction. I wasn’t sure. But with his parents in the room and Egan creepily watching me and occasionally making comments over the intercom, it made for a very awkward situation.

“How about we go for a stroll? I could certainly stretch my legs. How about you?”

“Um, sure.”

She walked me down the hall and past an open door. Bodies were piled high and a fire was going in what looked like a giant oven. They were cremating the bodies, I quickly realized.

My stomach lurched.

“Oh dear. I’m sorry about that. No need for you to stress. If you continue to behave, that won’t happen to you. I told you, my son has taken a fondness to you.”

She closed the door and moved on like nothing had happened.

What sort of sick and twisted people were they?

Perhaps even more disturbing were the number of workers we walked by on our little stroll.

I tried to commit everything I saw to memory. If there was a way out of this place, I wanted to know and be ready for it.

Just as she was about to turn around, a familiar scent crossed my nose. I couldn’t quite make it out, but I knew that I knew that smell.

“What’s down here?” I asked.

“The holding area where you were when you first arrived,” she explained.

“Can I see it?”

“Best you don’t. Why don’t we get you back to your room?”

But I had to stall. I needed to follow that scent.

Mate, a voice in my head whined.

No! It couldn’t be. There was no way they got to Lachlan. I couldn’t allow myself to believe it. He was going to come and rescue me. It was the only thought keeping me sane in here.

But what if he wasn’t coming?

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