Page 16 of Caretaker
“Rhys and Clayton.”
“I owe them. Give them my thanks. And tell Cory…”
“I’ll tell him you’ll be home soon,” I said fiercely, when he faltered.
Angus’s next question was for Shane. “You’re staying?”
Shane’s answer was so long in coming that I tilted my head back to look at him. The hunter didn’t glance down at me, and his voice was emotionless when he finally replied. “I’m finding it hard to leave.”
Angus grinned and looked so much like his old self that it took my breath. “We were drawn to her for a reason, my friend.”
I frowned. “There was no reason. Miriam brought him.”
“But she couldn’t make me stay,” Shane said, almost reluctantly, and still, he wouldn’t look at me.
“Hey, buddy,” Al said to Angus, and I took my attention from Shane. We could revisit that conversation later.
“Alejandro,” Angus said. “Thanks for coming.”
I was surprised they knew each other, but I shouldn’t have been. The supernatural community was small, and Angus would have met Rhys’s friends.
But it made me more curious about Al. He must have had some skills for Rhys to have chosen him to walk with me into the Byrdcage.
“You smell like sunshine,” Angus told me. His voice was full of longing, but maybe the despair was less.
He believed in me.
“Soon,” I promised. “I swear.”
“Move on,” Beardy growled. He caressed his holstered baton, and I was nearly certain he didn’t even realize he was doing it. But it told me something, that touch.
Beardy hurt the inmates, and he liked it.
Angus took his stare from me and planted it on Beardy and that was the moment I knew they hadn’t broken him. No matter what else they’d done to him, they hadn’t broken him.
Beardy took an involuntary step back, then stiffened and clenched his fists. “You have two seconds to lower your eyes, inmate.”
I frowned. “He’s not allowed to look at you?”
“The first thing the prisoners are taught is subservience to their handlers,” Beardy said, grim but gleeful. “We need them calm and submissive. By looking me in the eye, he’s trying to dominate me.”
“And you can’t have that.” I stood, and Shane and Al slipped up beside me.
“Absolutely not,” Beardy agreed. He watched me a little too greedily, as though he needed me to step out of line. He shot his stare to Angus, and I understood then what he wanted. He wanted Angus to watch helplessly while he beat the shit out of me.
“You know,” I said, “if you attack me, Shane and Alejandro will tear you to pieces. And I will make sure you never work here again.” I pursed my lips, thinking. “Actually, I think I’ll take your job from you anyway. I know you’re not the only asshole working here, but maybe you’re one of the worst.”
He laughed. “Lady, I’m a sweetheart compared with some of the guards. And you’re just making things worse for your freak of a boyfriend.”
“Gaines.” Angus' voice was low and despite his restraints, full of a dark threat.
Beardy looked at him. He narrowed his eyes but said nothing.
“When I get out of here, I won’t forget you.” His smile slid across his face, dark and full of promise. “And you’re just making things worse for yourself.”
I knew Angus. Still, his voice made me shiver with a cold fear. The guard should have been afraid.
And he was—but that just made him angrier.
He blew out a hard breath, then squared his shoulders. “You’re not going anywhere, inmate.” He stared down his nose at me. “And your time is up. You and your boys need to get the fuck out of my prison.”
“We’ll go,” I said. “For now. But first, I’m going to hug my…boyfriend. And you’re not going to try to stop me.”
He hesitated, then gestured toward Angus. “Be my guest. Make it good, because it’ll be the last sweet touch he gets for a long, long time. I’ll make sure of that.”
I flinched and he smiled, pleased with my fear. I couldn’t hide it because I was too afraid that Beardy was telling the truth. That I’d fail. That I wouldn’t find Mrs. Bennett. That I wouldn’t be able to get Angus out.
And more than anything else I was afraid that the guard would kill Angus while freedom was still just a gleam of hope in the shifter’s eyes.
