Chapter Thirty-Three #3
“So we’re done?”
His voice was so hopeful. I grinned, and his face went slack at the expression.
“We are.”
I stepped past him and opened the door. I left him alive, just as I’d implied I would.
Rhydek waited in the corridor. He had heard it all and his expression was grim, but he knew as well as I that what we’d learned would be enough.
For now.
Zharrek strode past us, heading for the open kennel door. He was the only varku allowed within Korvashan, and it was odd to see him without Rhydek’s omega, especially since he was her protection when Rhydek wasn’t around.
Rhydek must have noticed my questioning gaze because he lifted one shoulder.
“Watching him eat makes her sick now, so I’ve started bringing him here to eat,” Rhydek said by way of explanation.
The rebel’s scream was brief, although the crunching of bones lasted a while longer.
“He’s lucky it was a feeding night, or it would have been Veyr’sahl Vorrada.”
I huffed at Rhydek’s remark, unsure whether the rebel would have found the quick death by the varku to be a mercy. It was too late to ask if he’d rather be stripped and released into the night.
Letting out a sigh, I glanced out at the stars once more.
For the first time since I'd begun investigating the rebels, the end seemed near. It wouldn’t come that night, and perhaps not even the next, but we would find them.
Their hiding places would be searched, their connections traced, and the rebellion that had seemed to be woven throughout Korvashan would become a lanced boil that we could cut out.
I looked at Rhydek once more but he didn't look relieved. In truth, neither was I, because every moment it took to find the others was a moment our omegas were at risk.
“Who could it be, feeding them information?”
Rhydek's expression hardened as he shook his head.
“It could be too many.”
I sighed. Neither of us said the obvious.
There was something we were missing. Some connection we couldn't see yet.
Rhydek looked toward the second cell.
“He may know more.”
I followed his gaze and the darkness inside me stirred. I wanted to go in, wanted to tear every secret from him, but the anchor in my chest throbbed with discomfort, and then a thread of confusion snaked in.
Elaina.
She was awake, and I wasn’t there.
Rhydek didn’t miss the way my head snapped toward the nearest entrance to the tunnels.
“Go.”
I raised a brow at him but he jerked his head.
“I can question the other.”
“Are you sure?”
It wasn’t that I doubted Rhydek’s ability to be merciless, but he had a reputation of being fair, even if he was equally hard on everyone.
“I can handle it. They hurt my korravai too.”
Another pulse came through the bond. The prisoner no longer mattered, and Rhydek had a right to revenge as well.
I nodded and Rhydek's mouth twitched before he turned and headed for the second rebel we’d caught. I ignored the scream the pitiful male let out the moment Rhydek opened his cage and started toward the stairs.
The wind struck the moment I left the protection of the kennel, but I barely noticed the pain when sand snuck through at the edges of my clothing. Only six rebels were hidden below if the one I’d questioned had been right.
Six.
Not dozens. Not an invisible army hidden throughout Korvashan.
Just six frightened, angry Morraki, and three names we could hunt down. Someone had wanted the Humans frightened, hurt, killed, and had used fear to accomplish it without exposing himself, but we would find him. We could end the risk to our mates.
My pace quickened. I could feel Elaina more clearly as I descended. She was awake and irritated, and the emotion put a real smile on my face.
Irritation was better than worry. She would be angry that I'd left without telling her, and she had the right to be.
I would tell her where I had gone. There would be no more secrets between us, I'd promised her that.
I was still learning what the promise required, but the bond was eternal, and we would figure it out.
I reached our door and opened it. Elaina stood in the middle of the room wrapped in a blanket, curls wild around her shoulders.
She glared at me as my grin widened.
“Where the hell have you been?”
I chuckled as I crossed the room. She opened her mouth, probably to continue yelling at me, but I picked her up instead.
“Drazien!”
Her legs automatically wrapped around my waist, and I buried my face against her neck to breathe in her scent. There was no lingering dust or blood covering her sweetness, and my shaft stirred as I drank it down.
My rethari.
Her irritation softened through the bond, but her arms didn't circle my neck.
“You snuck out while I slept.”
I nodded against her before pulling back to meet her gaze.
“I did.”
I could see her struggling over what to ask next, but all I did was reach up to brush her curls off her face.
“Did they talk?”
My lips ticked up on one side. My rethari was too smart for her own good, but it was the bloodlust leaking into the bond that made my shaft thicken and rise.
“One did, but he’s not able to any longer. Rhydek is confirming with the other.”
Her expression sharpened and I felt a questioning push through the bond. Apparently she decided she didn’t need the details, and I was only too happy not to admit how close I had been to losing all control.
Leaning close, she passed her lips over mine, her breath fanning against my skin and making my kethra shine.
“Then take me to bed and make me feel safe again.”
What my omega wanted, she got, so I headed for our nest.