Page 28 of Into the Fire: After
“Yes,” Lin answered from above me. “Understood.”
The door closed. Lock engaged.
“What,” I growled into the pillow as Lin folded himself around me on the bed, “the fuckis going on?”
Lin whispered so quietly into my ear I could barely hear it. Hopefully any cameras or mics in the room wouldn’t either. Told me all he knew from the moment Taryn had smuggled him afucking memory cardto Limpdick Motherfucker appearing to retrieve it, to Lin’s demand we be housed together.
My mind spun. Partially from lack of food and rest. Mostly, though, it raced in circles to make sense of it all.
Taryn had been captured with a piece of equipment someone on the inside wanted. Someone who, by all measures we currently possessed, was actually an ally.
I nearly laughed. My fucking sunshine daredevil. I was going to kick her ass for this.
And if Brooks had known about this…if he’d helped her Trojan Horse her way into this hellhole…
“If I break your beta’s nose when we get out of here,” I grumbled, “sorry.”
Lin’s spark of pleasant surprise in the bond was the last reaction I expected. A grunt was my only question, but he knew me too well. His grin came through in his voice. “You said ‘when.’”
When we get out of here.
This apparent plan, however idiotic and ridiculous and dangerous it was, whatever it was meant to do—it had given me hope.
No. Determination.
Wewouldget the fuck out of this place. Wewouldfind Taryn and get her out.
And Iwouldput a brutal, unequivocal end to all who’d touched her.
Eleven
Taryn
Todaywasdifferent.Dayeight, maybe, or nine—somewhere around there—Dr. Pretentious-as-Fuck Hilt himself strolled into my room, perusing some papers on a clipboard as he towered over me on my bed. That alone was enough to set my skin crawling. I’d hardly seen him since he’d instructed me to count all the pieces he could carve my alphas into if I disobeyed. He’d hung mostly in the background, talking to techs and nurses as I was moving from room to room for tests.
Now, though, he sat at my bedside, like an actual doctor about to actually see to my health. His brow furrowed behind his glasses as he flipped to the next page on his clipboard.
Finally, he deigned to look up at me. “All of your test results so far are acceptable,” he said in a voice that almost sounded bored. “When did you last have sexual relations with a man?”
Blood rushed to my cheeks, my brain warring between reveling in memories of my heat and pushing any hint of mypack out of my consciousness. “The night those goons raided the house.”
Hilt hummed. “Excellent. Your bloodwork shows no pregnancy, which is good for us.”
A shiver went up my spine, considering all the horrific scenarios of what could’ve happened had I actually been pregnant. A tiny sickly baby floating in a liquid jar…a pale child who’d never seen the light of day laid in a bed just like this…
It turned my stomach to imagine.
Hilt continued, oblivious or apathetic to my disgust. “When was your last heat?”
I stared at him, almost laughing. “However long I’ve been here ago, plus like three days.”
He leveled me with an exasperated look. “Before that, Ms. Maddox.”
I rolled my eyes. “Four months, ish.”
“How many heat partners?”
“Three.”
