“Shut up already!” someone shouts from the cell on the left. “These wolves are beasts and are just going to kill us without a second thought.”
This causes the sobbing person to cry harder, fear emanating from their cell. I instantly recognize this person as the female hunter whom Hannah and I had captured and sigh.
“Who do we interrogate first?” Theta Aidan asks.
“The female,” I answer, motioning for him to unlock the cell. Theta Aidan quickly complies, moving to the first cell and pulling out a set of keys. The scent of fear grows thick, annoying me to no end. How dare she feel fear when she was the one who kidnapped Saben?
“Please don’t kill me!” the female hunter begins to beg as Theta Aidan steps inside.
He says nothing, and I wait patiently while the sound of someone struggling comes from the cell. Moments later, he walks outside with the female hunter thrown over his shoulders.
“The interrogation room is this way,” he states, walking past me.
I follow him, my eyes on the female hunter, who silently cries with a look of indignation and fear. She keeps her gaze on the floor, not bothering to fight back, and I nod in approval.
Theta Aidan comes to a stop in front of a lone door, using his free hand to push it open. He sets the female on her feet and steadies her until she catches her balance.
“Sit in the chair,” he orders, pointing to the lone chair in the room.
The female hesitates, glancing at the chair and then down the hallway behind me. In the end, she complies and waddles to the chair, carefully lowering herself onto it. I notice her hands, spotting the casts on her wrists, and remember that Hannah had broken them upon her capture.
“Dr. Grace says the breaks were clean, so she put a cast on them,” Theta Aidan explains after noticing my stare.
“You provide medical care for your captives?” I ask, impressed once again.
“We do. It makes it easier to interrogate them if we show a bit of kindness,” he answers, stepping inside the interrogation room and leaning against the wall.
I nod, stepping into the room and shutting the door behind me. The hunter flinches at the loud sound, wincing as she jostles her broken wrists.
“Are… are you going to k-kill me?” she asks as I begin to walk around her, her voice quiet and filled with fear.
“That depends,” I answer, coming to a stop in front of her and slowly releasing the power inside my blood. “Do you plan to cooperate with us?”
She shivers at my words, her body crumpling in on itself. I wait, pulling my power back slightly while Theta Aidan watches on. “I will tell you everything I know about the hunters if you make mea promise,” the female says, lifting her head to look me dead in the eyes.
“What is it that you want?” I ask, slightly amused by this show of foolish bravery.
“I want you to find my mate.”
41
Julian
“What?” I ask, my mouth agape. Did I just hear her correctly?
“I said I want you to find my mate,” the female hunter repeats, her gaze falling to her lap.
“Hold up,” Theta Aidan says, pushing off from the wall and coming to stand beside me, looking equally confused.
“You have a mate?”
The hunter nods, her head dropping as she looks at her lap. I take a deep breath, confirming that she is completely human. My frown deepens, and I wonder if this is a ploy to garner sympathy from us.
“Tell us how you have a mate, and I’ll consider it,” I answer, sensing the flicker of desperate hope seeping from her body.
“Okay, but I need to tell you how I found him first,” she readily agrees, and I motion for her to continue, Theta Aidan crossing his arms with a look of distrust on his face.
“You see, I was born into a hunter family in Timmins, Ontario. Although I went to school like normal humans do, I was trained after school to hunt and kill vampires and werewolves,” she begins to explain, her eyes welling with tears again. “My father was the leader of our Hunters Association up there, but he wanted more power, so he arranged a marriage between me and Steven, the man you killed last night. When I turned eighteen, I was sent to him, and we were married before I could even object.”
