Page 11 of Bitten

The guardsman moved in closer. “Whether or not it was yours, we’ve got you on tape transporting an illegal substance. Carries a big jail sentence… possibly even an exile.”

True panic hit Caelian. Bad decision on top of bad decision had led to this. He’d known it was just a matter of time before he’d be fingered for his actions. He hadn’t wanted to do it… but the other option hadn’t been any more palatable. “Look. I borrowed a little cash to try and start a business… which failed. Either I paid them back or did as I was asked—or they’d kill me. I didn’t have the money, so I had no choice. I don’t use drugs. I didn’t sell any. I just brought in the bags through the terminal. They said it would be easy money and it would repay my debt.”

“How’d you get past?”

Caelian closed his eyes. “Man, if I tell you that, they’ll kill me.” The Midnight Suns were not people to mess with.

“Exile sound better to you?” the guardsman asked.

Life outside amongst the humans? There’s no way he’d pass for one of them. His pointed ears? His smaller stature? Together with his inability to keep his damned mouth shut when he needed to… he’d end up caught and sliced into all kinds of little pieces. But nark on the Suns? He’d be eaten alive. So which was truly worse? He could maybe hide out in the woods outside Midnight’s barrier… the dead zone between their world and the humans’. “Dead or exiled. Maybe I choose exile.”

“And what if I can protect you?” the guardsman asked.

Caelian stared at him. Could the King’s Guard truly keep him safe from the Suns? Caelian eyed the two shifters, weighing his chances. Living outside the barrier… or trying to survive inside it…

“Well?”

“I want the promise in writing,” Caelian finally said. “And protection. A damned good spell, it needs to be. These people have money to buy top of the line spell breakers, so I need better than good. I need unbreakable.”

“I have something else in mind,” the guardsman said before nodding to the big guy with him. “Let’s get him somewhere a little less public.”

An hour later and they had Caelian’s confession and their written promise they’d protect him. He’d outlined how he’d been instructed to go through a certain line with a certain officer when bringing the bags in and had been allowed to pass right through. Since Caelian wasn’t on any of the watch lists and wouldn’t have set off any alarms in the terminal, he’d been in and out in no time, drugs in hand.

He’d left the bag in a locker, as instructed, and walked away—debt paid free and clear.

Only free and clear wasn’t exactly the case.

The guardsman, Theis as he now knew, came back into the interrogation room and took a seat across from Caelian, who sat feeling anxious as hell and wondering if he’d made a terrible mistake.

Another bad choice.

“So, I’ve discussed what you’ve told me with my bosses… they’re rechecking the tapes now, trying to confirm everything you’ve said.” Theis sighed, pinching his nose. “They told me to take you down to holding b—”

Caelian shook his head. “You said you’d protect me!”

“Wait,” Theis said, lifting a hand. “I saw in your file that you have some skills we need… and I talked them into letting you prove you’re on our side.”

Caelian sat up straighter. “Skills?”

“You read and write the old languages, correct?”

Numbness slipped through Caelian. He was quiet a moment. “That was in my file, huh?”

“Yep,” Theis said.

“Or did my grandfather set this shit up?”

Theis smiled. “We talked to your grandfather… he told us where to find you.”

Caelian sat back in his chair. “This wasn’t even about the drugs, was it?”

Theis’ smile grew. “Nope.”

“Fuck.” He’d given them everything they needed—everything they’d had absolutely no idea about.

“You still broke the law, Caelian. You transported illegal contraband into the city.” Theis paused. “You ratted yourself out.”

“You can’t hold me for this. Without the drugs, there’s no proof of anything. You have to release me.”

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