3. CHAPTER 3
CHAPTER 3
It had been two weeks since the tiger shifter had given him hope of being rescued but so far, nothing. Not even an inkling they might be freed. Even worse, they’d been forced to increase their productivity. More bombs.
Not good. Hell, it was a nightmare.
The thought of what he was being forced to do…possibly hurting people was…No. He couldn’t think like that. He just…couldn’t.
In the past, he’d known evil existed. At times he even thought he’d witnessed it. But that was nothing compared to what he was experiencing.
“Are you okay?” he asked softly as the one person he’d always thought of as the devil, Hugh, dropped to the ground in a heap after a grueling day.
“No,” he spat out viciously. “I think I’m dying.”
Considering they were being contaminated by a deadly element, that wasn’t surprising. As shifters, they were able to fight off a lot of the effects, but the constant exposure, and now for twelve hours a day instead of nine, yeah, they were all wearing down.
If they didn’t get freed soon, they’d all be dead. Which he would have thought might concern their captors, but they’d just brought in another forty new shifters two days earlier. Worse, they’d laughed about having an ‘endless’ supply.
Glyn’s brother, who was across the room because they didn’t want their jailers to know they were related, rolled his eyes at the dramatics. Biting his cheek to not laugh, Glyn said, “What makes you say that?”
“There isn’t a part of my body that doesn’t hurt,” Hugh bitched.
The thing about Hugh was that, even though he owned and helped run his family’s fishing ships, he actually had never, not even once, worked on a ship. His feet had been firmly planted on the ground…no, that wasn’t accurate. It was more like his butt had been planted on a chair his entire life. Hell, his parents had gotten him out of gym class in middle and high school because the teacher was ‘too hard on the kids.’ No one else had ever had that privilege.
Admittedly, they were being worked to exhaustion, but death? Yeah, no. Well, unless the radiation got them. Then all bets were off. The actual ‘working part,’ was hard, but not impossible. Mostly. Sort of. Okay, so yeah, he was fucking tired. But again, not to the point of actual death.
The tiger shifter, who Glyn wasn’t entirely happy with at that point, dropped down next to him. “He’s here.”
Wait…what?
“Who is?” he made certain to keep his voice pitched low enough that only the tiger shifter would hear him.
“The one who is going to get us out of here,” he said. “Be ready. Tell those you trust but no one else. Because of where we are, it will be difficult enough to get the fuck out of here. No point alerting the guards.”
Then he got up and moved to a dolphin shifter. Based on his body’s reaction, the tiger had told him the same thing.
The problem? How in the fuck were they supposed to get out of North Korea? Don’t get him wrong, he believed in the new Council Chief’s ability to lead, but against a country that was as hostile as North Korea? Just no.
Still, if the tiger shifter was right, he had to tell his brother. Looking pointedly at Jarvis, then slightly tilting his head toward the tiger shifter, he gave a brief nod. His brother’s eyes widen just enough to let him know he got the message but not enough for the humans watching them to notice.
He’d believed the tiger shifter at first. But two days later, he feared he’d been dead wrong.
But then he’d smelled it. Brine, salt and sand. It was intoxicating. It took every bit of control he had not to whirl around and find where it was coming from. But he wouldn’t risk it, because he knew his mate was there. No way was he about to alert the humans someone that important to him was there.
He just didn’t understand how? The humans hadn’t brought anyone new there recently.
Where was he? It took everything within Glyn to not search wildly around. He just didn’t understand how his mate was there.
Why?
Was he another prisoner he hadn’t been around to scent?
He prayed the answer was no. Like seriously was willing to get on his knees and pray. Obviously, he didn’t because that the humans would notice, but…fuck…he didn’t know how he would handle it if his mate was forced to make weapons.
Eyes were on him. That much he felt. But Glyn refused to look around and discover where his mate was.
Then he stood from where he’d been lifting the rocks infused with uranium and knew, without a doubt, his mate was beyond the fence that surrounded the property. He couldn’t see him but he was there. Hidden – Glyn hoped. Who was he kidding? He prayed with every molecule in his body the enemy couldn’t see him.
“That’s him,” the tiger shifter said so softly he’d barely heard him. Then again, that might have been because he’d been too focused on locating and seeing his mate to hear him.
“He’s one of our best,” the tiger shifter said as he once more passed by him and jolted Glyn to continue loading more rocks into the bin.
It wasn’t often they were allowed outside. Only when a shipment of uranium came were they given this small freedom. Originally, Glyn had thought it would be the one time they’d be able to break free. Boy, had he been wrong.
Not only were there guards standing over them, but there was extra security at the gates, the truck and snipers on the roofs of the three buildings that surrounded the entrance of the building they were located in.
Yet, somehow the tiger shifter, as well as whoever was to rescue them, who also was Glyn’s mate, thought one man was going to free all of them????? Nope. No fucking way was that happening. Not after everything he’d witnessed. Needing to save his mate, Glyn looked in the direction he was located and subtly shook his head.
He’d been hoping to warn him away, but somehow, and he seriously had no idea how he knew it, his mate became more determined to save Glyn. Just fuck!
“Call him off.” Even though he’d kept his voice low so only the tiger shifter could hear him when they passed by again, there was a definite growl in it.
“No,” the tiger shifter didn’t even hesitate in his answer.
The thing was, as much as he wanted to argue with him, Glyn knew it was pointless. The mission was about more than him, or his mate, for that matter. There were hundreds, possibly a thousand, of shifters there. Some were kids. Even if he hadn’t been there, his mate would have risked his life to save them.
As much as it pained him to admit, he was proud his mate was such a fierce man, but…
He wanted to cry. To scream. To beg for divine intervention. Yet, he knew it wouldn’t do any good.
But it was his mate. How could Glyn just ignore that if he was caught, he’d most likely be killed? The thought of losing his mate before even getting the chance to meet him was too much to bear. Yet, he didn’t have a choice.
He stumbled, but the tiger shifter was right there and quickly caught him before he’d fallen, which would have likely caused one of the guards to put a bullet in his head. The North Korean’s didn’t tolerate weakness of any kind and falling down would be enough provocation to take action.
There was nothing he could do.