Page 111 of Gift from the Source
His plans were steps ahead of what we had assumed if he was going there already.
We figured we still had weeks in the making.
“Yes, now he knows. But now we have no idea what our timeline looks like,” Cas says, following my thoughts exactly.
“There may be someone in here who does, though. We need to interrogate the prisoner just brought in. They may not know shit exactly, but they were the highest ranked we’ve come across so far,” Trex says from behind me.
“As soon as Keeper is ready, we’ll do that,” Willow states firmly, glaring at all of us.
A low, dark chuckle falls from Keeper as he pulls her into him for a hug. “Thank you for your protection and concern, Adored. I am ready, though. There will be time to mourn the loss of my people. Right now, we need to do whatever we can to prevent the loss of more.”
“If you say so,” she says quietly, then nods to me.
“Go get him,” I order Trex and his brothers.
Unless I can’t see something in his mind, I have no intention of truly interrogating him. The moment his rune is removed, I’ll be diving as deep as I can into his mind to find out everything he knows.
My brothers know it already and I tell Willow so she’s aware of what’s going on.
There’s no screaming, no snarls, nothing coming from the man Trex, Codi, Dec, and Xander march in here. He’s calm, stoic, and everything about him screams he’s well aware and has accepted his death.
A true loyal soldier.
That is until Keeper steps out of the dark corner, twirling the dagger in his hand.
His eyes widen and…his body almost relaxes.
He nods as though he’s giving his agreement to what’s about to happen.
“Thank you,” he mumbles quietly as Codi sits him down.
The almost inaudible sound takes me by surprise. He’s respectful with the way he follows the commands to sit, stay still. Whatever one of the guys tells him to do, he just does.
His calm and lack of fight, plus the reverent tilt of his head and quietly murmured ‘yes, sirs’ make me uneasy. Even the strongest would say something. Sometimes it’s just taunts to rile us up, but they’re never this polite.
“Something is off about him,”I tell my Nexus.
“I sense it too. He’s almost…relieved,”Willow agrees.“Draken, tell Keeper to be easy with removing the rune. There’s something more about this guy.”
The language of the Keep slips through Draken’s lips and that draws really the only reaction out of the guy. He stares between the two of them in fascination. There isn’t a hint of concern or fear when Draken bends down to unbutton his shirt to reveal his mark.
Willow’s comment is proven correct as the guy literally lets out a sigh and a small smile as the dagger is placed to his chest.
“Thank you,” he says again the moment Keeper steps away from him to add his blood to the dagger to completely sever the connection from this guy and the Summum-Master.
Suddenly, Willow has her finger placed to the man’s temple, and we all growl her name. He falls back completely still, not making any moves as she does whatever it is that she’s doing.
“Shit,” she breathes.
“Did you just go through his thoughts that fast?”I ask.
“No. I sensed another block on his mind even as Keeper was removing the rune. I didn’t want him to lock it up even tighter or anything like that, so I just reacted. I knew it wasn’t the Summum-Master’s, but it was strong,” she says out loud for everyone, even this mystery guy to hear. “He is relieved to be captured. He isn’t really Mastery.”
“Spit it out, Primary,” Cas says impatiently.
“I don’t understand. He’s Dillon and Pran Gale’s informant…and brother,” she mumbles before placing her fingers on her lips. She’s falling deep inside her mind, trying to work something out, and we’re all just as confused.
“My name is Maxima. You may look through whatever you’d like, Leader Tillman. My job is finally done,” he says, bowing his head to Willow first then me.
