Page 56 of Forbidden Bonds
“When an alpha meets an omega,” Peters says smoothly, “he can take some of her traits, her gift. Are you familiar with this?”
Cohen’s head snaps around.
“His emotions are volatile,” I say shakily.
“Sometimes they manifest the same, and sometimes they manifest differently,” Peters continues.
“He’s thinking about my death… How someone took me from him… How we might have been together… He’s thinking about Rhett, the alpha who dared to take what was his.”
“He would be mindless after losing a mate,” Cohen spits out.
I have to give the interrogation specialist his due. He is calm and composed. But I dare say he has done this before.
“Scraping out your brains to aid us is his only motivation and focus right now,” Peters says. “When we’ve ripped every useful thing from you, and you’re utterly spent, we promised him that he may kill you. Ripping every secret from you, and then ripping the life from you, is what he lives for. Make yourself comfortable, Cohen. You’re in for a bumpy ride.”
The interrogation continues.
And the next day, and the day after that. They allocate us quarters, and we stay there in between.
Cohen doesn’t want to give the answers, and yet they come anyway. He’s weakened. Not quite broken, but certainly not the man I once knew.
He speaks of things I don’t even understand, but I repeat whatever I see. All of it is recorded so that it may be analyzed and pored over.
After a while, the words blur out. They leave his mind and exit my mouth, and I disconnect from the process. And at the end of the sessions, Rhett tells me how brave I am and how he loves me. It feels like fate brought this complex man into being just for me.
Woodrow updates us regularly on the successes that the information yields, and it helps me to stay the course.
“Today was our last session,” Woodrow says as we gather once more in the briefing room with Interrogation Specialist Peters. “You’re free to return to your home. We already have a lot of information to work through. And while we’re far from done with Cohen, your part is over.”
“For good?” Rhett demands.
“To the best of my ability to commit to that, yes,” Woodrow says. “But if something specific comes to light and if we feel it is vital to a military operation or the security of our people, then we may need to call on your unique skills, Larissa.”
“That is such a cop out,” Rhett says. “That gecko sanctuary is always in need of a cash injection.”
Woodrow rolls his eyes. It’s such an unexpectedly candid display that I laugh.
“What the fuck?” Rhett mutters, glaring at me like this somehow betrays him.
“Son, if you were in the military, I would have knocked your attitude into shape. But alas, you skipped the discipline that alphas invariably benefit from, even if they do go off the damn script down the line.”
“I have discipline,” Rhett mutters, still scowling.
“You have focus,” Woodrow says dryly. “It is definitely not the same thing. And trust me, your protectiveness toward your mate goes a long way toward mitigating your annoying-as-fuck gecko obsession and proprietary use of other people’s money. Where did the gecko fixation even start?”
Rhett suddenly grins. “You mean you haven’t guessed?” He’s positively gloating while keeping his thoughts on a tight lockdown so I can’t cheat. “You ever look up my tag number? You know, the one they used instead of a name when they scraped all the alphas from Lyus.”
Woodrow’s brows pull together. “I may have. It appears to have slipped my mind.”
Peters suddenly chuckles.
“What?” Woodrow mutters, scowling now. “What am I missing? It’s just a bunch of numbers and letters.”
“Five of them,” Rhett says, smirking now.
Peter taps on his data tablet and slides it across the table toward Woodrow.
“G3CK-0,” Woodrow reads out. He shoves the data tablet back. “That’s it?Thatis where the name comes from? Do you even like geckos?” He snatches the data tablet back and stabs his finger at it. “It says you’re deceased?!” His brows crawl up into his hairline as he pins Rhett with a look. “Was it not enough that you already doctored your record to remove all mention of your agoraphobia?”
