17. CHAPTER 17
CHAPTER 17
Oddly, Glyn was shocked at the stark difference of what he’d imagined the cells would look like and what they actually were. When he’d heard the Yosi talk about the one human they’d managed to imprison who was part of those taking and selling shifters, he’d imagined a jail of some sort. That didn’t even come close to what awaited them when they emerged from an elevator that had taken them down several floors.
It wasn’t even the last floor. Apparently, there was an underwater entrance to the manor as well. His penguin was very curious about that, not that it mattered, but still.
There were a total of eight cells, four on each side of the room. They were more or less carved out of rock on three sides but instead of bars going across the front, it almost looked like glass. Yosi informed him it was actually six inch acrylic that was indestructible in order to stop any shifter they contained from escaping.
He had to admit, hearing that, the knots in his stomach began to unwind. He hated the idea of his mate talking to this man, but if it meant not having to go to North Korea, he’d take it. That the human man couldn’t get out of his cell and try to attack Cayman, eased his anxiety to a huge extent.
Because he was in the last cell on the right, the man hadn’t seen them, although based on his sitting up on his cot, he’d heard them. Glyn could see him only because there were monitors lining the ceiling. Because he was the only prisoner at the moment, they all showed him and not the other cells.
“Stay here, okay?” Cayman asked at the bottom of the stairs.
Feeling more reassured that his mate would be fine, Glyn nodded. Then he smiled when Cayman quickly kissed him before heading to the cell the human was in.
“What’s his name?” he whispered to Yosi, who had taken them there.
“Christian Levy,” Yosi whispered back. “He was captured in Peru when his group tried to attack a shadow of jaguars. Unfortunately, they did manage to take quite a few kids, but because even shifter jaguars are fairly isolative, Christian’s team had a difficult time taking anyone else.” Yosi actually smiled when he said, “And most of his men died.”
Good. Fuck them all. Glyn had never thought like that before he’d experienced the hell of being taken and sold, but now that he knew what it was like, those assholes all deserved to die as far as he was concerned.
“Good morning, Christian,” he heard his mate say, drawing his gaze back to the monitors overhead. They now showed a split screen of Cayman and Christian.
The prisoner just stared at Cayman blankly. He had no idea how his mate planned to get him to talk, but Glyn didn’t doubt he would. As far as he was concerned, there was nothing his mate couldn’t do.
There was a chair in front of the cell that Cayman sat on. He didn’t say anything more as he waited for a response. Hell, Glyn was ready to call out ‘good morning’ just to be polite. It had to have been at least fifteen minutes before Christian finally said, “What do you want?”
There wasn’t anything obvious in Cayman’s expression, but Glyn could tell his mate was happy about Christian speaking. He honestly couldn’t have pinpointed what made him know that, but Glyn did.
“Nothing,” Cayman said.
“I’m not saying anything,” Christian told him.
Cayman shrugged. “Okay.”
Silence once more filled the room as the two stared at each other. At one point, Christian closed his eyes as if trying to block out Cayman. His mate shifted slightly and had Glyn’s eyes not been glued to him, he might have missed it, but again without an obvious sign, he would swear Cayman was ecstatic that Christian was trying to block him out.
He had no clue how any of this would get the guy to tell Cayman anything, but Glyn assumed it would. At least, he hoped that was what it meant. Because he needed the assholes behind selling shifters to be stopped in order to keep his mate by his side instead of going on dangerous missions.
He had no clue how long they all sat there in silence, but it had to have been at least a half an hour, possibly longer, when Christian sighed and opened his eyes. “What the fuck do you want?” he barked out.
“Nothing,” Cayman told him, without explaining why he was just sitting there staring at the man.
Glyn still didn’t quite understand how not asking any questions was going to get him answers, but he had to admit, based on what Saber and Yosi had told them about the previous interrogations, Christian was far more agitated and vocal. He may not have said much, but he’d absolutely refused to speak before.
They’d only gotten his name from fingerprints. They had no clue where he lived, only that he’d been born in Mexico. His parents were dead and he had a brother that was three years younger than him.
Silence once again descended but it only lasted about five minutes that time when Christian said, “I don’t know what your game is, but I’m not telling you shit.”
Cayman didn’t respond.
“I mean it, you asshole.” Christian’s voice had gotten louder. “I’m not about to rat out anyone so you can just leave me the fuck alone.”
Cayman remained silent.
Christian once again shut his eyes. But his breathing was harsh and erratic. His fingers twitched as if he wanted nothing more than to wrap them around Cayman’s neck. His whole body jerked once, then he pushed up from the stone slab that was his bed and started pacing the width of his cell.
Four steps one way, then four the other. He’d done it six times when he whirled to face Cayman once again. “What the fuck do you want?”
“Nothing,” Cayman told him once again, his demeanor not changing in the slightest.
Christian pounded a fist on the acrylic. “Then leave me the fuck alone.”
It was the first time Cayman responded to a non-question. “No.”
That was all he said. He hadn’t given any reason for being there. Asked no questions. Just sat there staring at the man.
Glyn had to admit, if it had been him in that cell, he would have freaked out too.