“I didn’t threaten it.” Pratt pointed towards where Cortez and York stood. “They said it, I just answered which one would be more accurate.” Pratt shrugged as she walked away, stopping a few feet away, “What. The. Fuck. Is. This?” Pratt stared at a small area of the wall before moving to the side.
Ian, Carter and Highlander flanked Pratt as they looked at what she was pointing at. Pratt moved to the side only to stop when she heard a click.
“Don’t move, lass.” Highlander grabbed his wife’s shoulders to hold her in place.
Gene, Cortez and Alvarez had just stepped out of the room at the same time as a click sounded, causing the panel in the wall to close, locking them out and the others inside the room. As soon as the large wall panel shut, two small wooden panels on opposite walls opened with two large snakes came out of each panel.
“Oh my God!JOE,” Pratt screamed, literally terrified as she watched the large snakes fall to the ground, crawling closer to them.
“Look at me, lass, Look. At. Me,” Highlander ordered his wife in his best command tone.
Pratt stared into her husband’s eyes, trying to fight her fear that was growing by the second. Suddenly four shots rang out in rapid fire. Highlander yanked Pratt into his arms as Ian and Carter surrounded her.
Several minutes later, the wall panel for the entrance shattered open as Cortez, York and Alvarez had set a small enough charge to blow the door but not harm anyone inside the room. The three men got Pratt out of the room and out onto the balcony to get some fresh air to help her calm down.
“Is it safe to be on this balcony?” Pratt asked as she gulped air into her lungs, shaking in Highlanders arms.
“We eliminated all the threats that were apparently waiting for Candy to get home.” Carter announced softly as he kept watch outside, watching York run to the SUV to grab something.
“Hey guys, I found another hidden room.” Cortez peeked her head out onto the balcony.
“Fuck that. You guys have fun. I’ve had my fill of hidden rooms for the day.”
“I think this is what the bad guys were looking for.” Cortez walked away before anyone could respond.
Alvarez looked at the three men, then to Pratt, “Looks like Candy liked to film her scenes.”
“Fuck,” Pratt groaned into Highlander’s chest.
6
The group walked into the guest bathroom where the second hidden room was found. Pratt, still reeling from the incident in the other room, stayed inside the bathroom itself, as close to Highlander as she could.
The second room, smaller than the hidden sex room held a tv screen, a DVD player, a large shelf that was full DVD cases. Cortez hit play on the DVD player, causing sounds to echo out into the room.
“Holy fuck! Is that Ruiz?” Pratt stared at the TV in shock.
“He doesn’t look coherent. That doesn’t look like lust or desire on his face.” York noticed Ruiz’s eyes in the video.
“Wouldn’t put it past her to have drugged him to get this far as alpha as Ruiz tries to be. Especially when he went after Pratt trying to take her out.” Cortez ignored Pratt and York’s gestures to stop her comments, not seeing Highlander getting pissed behind her.
Highlander leaned down and whispered into Pratt’s ear, “That’s ten, lass.”
Pratt tilted her head toward her husband, “Hand or paddle?”
“Do we get the pleasure of watching?” Carter looked at the couple with a smirk on his lips. Seeing Pratt start to panic and walk out of the room as fast as she could, Carter stepped back towards Highlander. “Did I say something wrong?”
“Nae, ye didn’t know. My lass has an immense fear of public punishments. It’s the reason we haven’t joined any of the clubs.”
“I blame her parents for that,” Gene informed the two men, angrily.
York and Cortez looked at each other a little too long, catching the notices of Ian and Alvarez. When Cortez realized that they were being watched, she grabbed a box and started putting some of the DVDs from the shelf into the box and walked out of the room.
“Renee, look at me lass.” When York didn’t look up at Highlander’s request, Ian walked over to her and placed a hand on her shoulder.
“Detective, please help us understand what put the fear into her eyes like that.”
York sighed, then looked at Gene. “She never told you about it either, did she? Shit! She probably never told Dominick or Highlander either.”
