Page 13 of Bound to the Dragon
Madison steps forward. “What pack are you from?”
Her question gives me an idea, but I put myself between her and the wolf.
“Get back,” I instruct her. “In fact, go upstairs. I don’t want you down here in case anything goes wrong.”
“No!”
My head whips toward her. The defiance in her limpid brown eyes is unflappable. Didn’t we just talk about this? “Just let me talk to him.”
“Can’t you see he’s not talking to anyone?”
The wolf hisses at us, and I lash out at him again. It subdues him for the moment.
I turn back to Madison. “Do they have it under control up there?”
“Yes.”
“Are there more captives?”
Before she can answer, there is more noise on the steps, and a line of pack members pushes several shifters along the cement stairs toward the dungeon cells.
“This is your last chance to talk,” I tell the wolf warningly. “If you won’t tell us, one of them will, and I won’t have any use for you, will I?”
Finally, he appears to understand the predicament he’s in and morphs into his human form. Naked and quivering, he glowers up at us, teeth chattering.
“Congratulations on your mating.” His sneer is directed at Madison for some reason.
She balks and steps back further.
I’m not amused. “And this was what? A little present?” I sneer.
“Something like that.”
His smugness confounds me. He has to know his life is in my hands, but it doesn’t seem to faze him in the least, even with the gleam of worry in his eyes.
The other captives are flung inside the cell, their bodies collectively hitting the floor in a pile of hair and fur.
“One of you will talk to me. The rest of you will die.” My voice is emotionless and determined. I mean every word I say.
Whatever they see in my face turns them all human and quivering. In unison, they start talking, but in such a way that I can’t understand any of them.
“One at a time!” My stare stuns them into silence.
I turn to the wolf. “Now, do you have something to say?”
He spits on the floor, but again, he stares balefully at Madison. “Why don’t you ask your mate?”
I resist the urge to look back at Madison. I don’t have to in order to feel the tension radiating off her. What does he mean?
Backing out of the cell, I nod at my enforcers. “Stay with them. Do not let them speak to one another. If they open their mouths, kill them.”
Vigo takes a stand in front of the cells, and I grab Madison, pulling her up the stairs toward the main floor. She barely resists, stumbling alongside me.
“What the hell is going on here? What did you do?”
Madison’s eyes widen. “Me?”
“They seem to think you orchestrated this.” I step closer, my voice low and accusatory.
