Page 46 of Turn That River Red

I wonder what he’s planning todo.

And I wonder, distantly, what that might mean for Mercy.

Not your concern, I tell myself as we wind deeper into the bunker.She’s human. Your obligations are to your own kind.

“If I had to guess, they’d be in here.” Mercy’s echoing voice jars me out of my thoughts. She stops in front of a doorway and pushes it open, releasing a rush of stale, cool air. “The last time I was down here, Mrs. Harrison had me drop off a box of old files in this room.”

She reaches inside and hits a light switch, flooding the room with more sallow lighting. The room is bigger than I was expecting, a cavernous labyrinth of cardboard boxes. Mercy spins around, her skirt flaring up so I catch, ever-so-briefly, a flash of her calf.

It really is like I’m a fucking teenager again.

“This is going to take all night,” I tell her.

“So we’ll just have to come back.” She arches an eyebrow, and I get a strange, tight knot in my chest—because she wantsto be here. Even if it means sneaking out and breaking the rules.

She has no idea what I am. If she did, she would not be this excited to be trapped in an underground bunker with me.

But her big, bright grin sloughs away any doubts I have. She doesn’t have to know what I am or what I’ve done. We’ll have our fun together, I’ll leave her with some good memories, and that’ll be the end of it.

“That’s risky, you know.” I stride up to her, loving the way she gazes up at me with that worshipful expression. I cup her face, rubbing my thumb over her lips?—

Which she parts, drawing my thumb into her mouth. Her eyes never leave mine.

Fuck, I really do need to get her out of my system.

“Are those files even down here?” I ask her, using my killing voice so I can feel her squirm against me. It works. “Or was this just a ploy to get me alone?”

Mercy releases my thumb, giving me a glimpse of her pink tongue in the process. I want it on my cock, want it plunging up into my asshole. I want to make her do things the good Reverend Gunner wouldn’tdreamof.

“They’re down here,” she says primly. “And I think I know where.”

“You said you weren’t even sure they were in this room.”

Mercy grins and pulls away from me, disappearing down one of the aisles of boxes. I take the opportunity to adjust my cock, which has grown uncomfortably hard. I’m already thinking about the things I want to do down here—a reward if she gets the file, a punishment if she doesn’t. I don’t even know which I’d prefer.

“Are you coming?” she calls out.

I’m about to, I think, but I don’t say anything, just follow her scent through the dim light. I find her on the far side of theroom, kneeling next to a stack of boxes. She looks over her shoulder at me. “Help me with these.”

“You think the files are over here?” I hoist up the top box, an easy weight given my Hunter’s strength. Mercy’s eyes go wide, though she doesn’t say anything.

“Um, yeah, I think so. It looks like they’re connected to the adoption program, anyway. And you said she was adopted in the ’90s, right?”

“Yeah. Early ‘90s.”

She shoves a box aside and drags another one out. The way she’s positioned highlights the thick curve of her ass, like she’s situating herself just for me. Like she’s putting herself in a position to be fucked.

“Oh my god, I think—” Her voice is muffled as she burrows deeper into the boxes, lifting her ass even higher. I have to bite back the urge to tell her to freeze. “I think I found it!”

She falls back on her heels, breaking the pretty picture of her submission. But she also drags out another tattered old banker’s box, scraping it across the floor to bounce against my feet.

“There you go,” she says, a little breathless. “Adoption files from 1990 to 1995.”

Well, well, well. It seems my little human might get rewarded tonight, after all.

“Not as many as I thought there’d be.” I’m surprised at how well I keep myself composed, especially when Mercy sits down on the floor, her skirt hiking up around her thighs. I lower down into a crouch and pull the lid off.

“We don’t do that many,” she says. “At least from what I understand.” She hesitates, chewing on her bottom lip. “I heard it isn’t—well, it isn’t exactlylegal.”

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