Kingly Bitten by Lexi C. Foss
Jace
I pulledup the surveillance to my temporary quarters and smiled at finding Calina finally awake. She’d been out for almost ten hours, which had been a benefit with everything else going on.
Rather than head to my region, we’d returned to Ryder Region. Mostly because Damien had already taken control of all the cameras in the territory, making it easier to maneuver the large group of individuals from the plane without anyone noticing from abroad.
Ryder hadn’t been thrilled or all that accommodating. And he was even more pissed now because the little lycan pup was currently with Willow. But he’d given Darius and Juliet a room to relax in, while I’d chosen to stay in the penthouse royal suites with Damien and our new prisoners.
The plane ride back had been informative with Louis, Zack, and their fellow lab survivors telling us all about their time in the bunker.
Apparently, there’d been several others left to burn below. Zack and three others had gone up to the fifteenth level as a last resort, knowing the place was about to blow, while all the others had continued working on an escape in another area.
Poor bastards, I thought, wincing. There’d been no escaping those flames.
Fortunately, it sounded like all the subjects had escaped their confines, and none of them had been Cam.
Gretchenand James—two names I’d learned from a furious Louis—were the primary researchers who’d experimented on him. Calina was the supervisor and Lilith’s personal pet.
And she’d been there since the beginning.
Which meant my little human wasn’t mortal.
I drew my finger along the screen to zoom in on her pretty face. Her expression gave nothing away despite being naked and tied to a chair.
The other two researchers were in a similar state of undress, but in different rooms. Gretchen was down the hall, and James sat a few feet away from me.
Well, he wasn’t exactly sitting so much as slumping.
Damien had gone a few rounds on him, interrogating the half-breed and threatening to hurt the little pup if he didn’t cooperate. We would never actually follow through with such an act, but James didn’t know that.
The results were beautiful, with James telling us everything we wanted to know.
Unfortunately, a lot of his answers were along the lines of, That’s over my clearance level. But Calina will know.
I stroked her image once more, my mind thinking of a thousand ways to pull answers from the pretty blonde. Starting with, What are you?
From what James and Louis had explained, the projects in Bunker 47 were all about perfecting human longevity to provide a more sustainable food source.
For all of Lilith’s faults, I could actually understand her goal here. Our kind had become too glutinous, thereby spoiling our food supply. And she’d been trying to create a way to fortify the humans who remained to make them immortal blood bags.
Of course, just because I understood her goal didn’t mean I agreed with it.
There were other ways to improve our quality of food and the durability of the product.
Damien took a step back, his arms folded across his black sweater. “That lycan half is helping him heal,” he mused, gesturing to the bruising along his jaw.
“Does Calina have lycan in her as well?” I asked, my question for James.
“Her mother’s side,” he rasped. “Father was human.”
I frowned. “Then she should have been born a full-blooded lycan.”
The mother’s genetics would have taken over in the womb to override the mortal side of the equation. That was how it worked at the lycan breeding camps, except it was human females mating with male lycans. Most of the human mothers died because their bodies couldn’t handle the immortal growing inside them. But a few survived, at least until childbirth.
James started to shake his head but winced. “Her host was a human. Incubator.” He swallowed, his one good eye finding mine. “It was before my time. I only know what she’s told me.”
Meaning she could have lied to him.
I studied her on the screen once more, then slid the device into my pocket. I’d just have to interrogate her myself.
Decided, I made to stand, when James added, “If you tell her you don’t work for Lilith, she’ll be more forthcoming.”
His words were a whisper of sound, his body still recovering from Damien’s session. However, my enhanced hearing allowed me to hear him clearly.
I resettled in my chair and leaned forward to rest my elbows on my knees. Either James had deduced we didn’t work for Lilith, or he’d overheard us talking to the survivors on the plane.
“Why will that information make Calina more forthcoming?” I asked, genuinely interested. She’d been quick to deny me earlier after I’d confirmed that I didn’t work for Lilith. She’d also insinuated that I was inferior as a result. So why did James think that would help my interrogation?
“She didn’t follow protocol,” he replied on a wheeze. “She tried to save us against Lilith’s orders.”
“Do you mean the detection protocol?” Damien asked.
“No.” James coughed, his expression pained, but he continued despite his obvious discomfort. “Doomsday protocol. She… she was supposed to kill everyone inside. She didn’t do it. The detection procedure came later, maybe because she failed. I don’t know.”
Damien and I shared a look. It seemed the pretty doctor had defied her master’s orders. Which suggested she wasn’t the obedient little pet that Louis and Zack claimed her to be.
All four of the survivors were resting in another room after indulging in a nine-course meal. So Louis and Zack weren’t here to listen in or comment. I preferred it that way because I wanted to extract my own answers from Calina.
A beeping sound had Damien walking over to his computers in the corner. He’d chosen to put James in his quarters for the interrogation, stating it would allow for a more efficient use of time. It enabled him to ask questions and focus on the data download at the same time.
We were hoping the files Calina had transmitted said something about Cam because no one else seemed familiar with him. Aside from Louis, of course.
“What the…?” Damien trailed off as he settled at his desk, his eyes skipping over the screens as his fingers flew across the keyboards.
Technology had never been my skill, probably because I’d been born in a much simpler time. But I knew my way around a computer well enough to survive.
“These files are encrypted gibberish,” Damien muttered, his dark eyebrows drawn down in frustration. “Either my interception is flawed, or the data export was intentionally mishandled.”
“It’s Calina,” James whispered. “She probably uploaded old files to distract the recipient… t-to make it look like she was following protocol.” He cleared his throat, flinching as he did so, but I could see the wounds continuing to mend themselves.
An immortal half-human, half-lycan hybrid. It was truly a shocking sight to behold. But not as stunning as the one back in my temporary quarters.
“Is that why she sent the files over an unsecure network?” Damien asked, looking at the half-breed. “Was it to delay the file transmission?”
“They would have needed to secure the files before encrypting them,” James replied. “That’s probably why she did it that way.”
“Which means tapping into that data stream is likely what set off the detection protocols,” Damien translated.
“Yes,” James agreed, swallowing.
The half-breed turned silent, telling me his use had reached an end point.
“Well.” I looked at Damien. “I’ll leave his fate up to you. Louis wants him dead, but maybe James can convince you otherwise.” It was an interrogation tactic of a sort, giving the half-breed the chance to try to prove his use to us alive.
“I doubt it,” Damien drawled, playing right into the act of not giving a shit.
Or maybe it wasn’t an act at all.
I stood and met his gaze. “I’m going to go have a chat with Dr. C., see if she can’t provide any useful details on the real files and their intended destination.” From what Damien had said, the receiver identification was untraceable, making it impossible to determine their true identity and location.
“I’ll go work on the other doctor next,” Damien said absently, continuing his blasé approach to interrogating. “There are no rules, right?”
“None at all,” I returned, stepping up to the door. “Just be sure to clean up your mess. I hear Ryder isn’t a fan of wasted blood.”
With that, I stepped out of the room, smirking as James growled in my wake. He snarled something along the lines of a threat, one I was sure Damien would laugh off.
In truth, we all knew these researchers were worth more alive than dead. They served as proof of what Lilith had been doing to her own kind through research and genetic manipulation. Between a statement from Louis and the physical proof of James being a clear descendant created through force in the lab, there would be no questioning Lilith’s guilt.
The stories Louis and Zack had told us about their treatment had made my blood run cold.
And yet, their situation wasn’t that dissimilar to how humans had been relegated to the same societal standing as cattle.
There had to be a better solution here, one that allowed lycans and vampires to maintain the upper hand while working collaboratively with humans to ensure all needs across the species were met.
That was where my cousin came into play—Cam had a vision, one I wanted to see come true.
Which meant I needed to find him.
I walked down the hall to the suite Damien had given me, the quarters designed and maintained for a royal of my standing. Technically, these were all Ryder’s rooms now, but he hadn’t been interested in inheriting his predecessor’s dwelling. Instead, he’d picked a random suite on a lower level, leaving Damien to claim and redecorate the penthouse for his own needs.
Ryder had also given Damien the human harem on this floor. As he was recently mated to Willow, he didn’t have need for such things.
I had my own harem back in my region. Not that I’d tended to them recently.
The whole royal harem designation was designed to be a perk for those in charge. I found it to be more of a nuisance, as it required my time. And lately, I hadn’t been all that interested in indulging my baser needs. At least, not with a group of too-willing humans.
There was no challenge left in this world, thanks to Lilith’s antics.
Although, the female glaring at me as I entered my suite seemed to suggest otherwise.
And how intrigued was I to see such a look on a beautiful woman’s face.
No supplication. No bowing. No my liege or Your Highness. Just a glower filled with annoyance. It was refreshing and irritating all at the same time.
I shut the door behind me and secured us inside with a flip of the lock. “Hello, little doctor,” I murmured. “Sleep well?”
She didn’t reply, her blue eyes—actually, no. Her irises were blue green now with little flecks of brown. Stunning. Yet another fascinating trait I wanted to know more about.
I sauntered toward her, taking a chair along with me, and set it across from her. Her jaw ticked as I settled into a relaxed pose with my ankle crossed over my opposite knee.
“You look well rested,” I continued as I allowed my gaze to roam over her nude state. “Aroused, too.” Her nipples had beaded in the cooler air, the rosy tips a luscious beacon that begged for my tongue.
Maybe I’d give in.
But only if she gave me what I wanted first.
“James says you’ll be more willing to talk if I confirm that I don’t work for Lilith, but I already tried that route, and you essentially called me inferior.” I canted my head to the side. “Do you still feel that way?”
Her nostrils flared. “What did you do to James?”
I arched a brow at her, impressed and irritated by her haughty tone. “Perhaps I wasn’t clear here. I’m the one interrogating you, not the other way around.”
“You need me alive because of what I know,” she said. “And I need to know if James is okay.”
“And if he’s not?” I wondered out loud, honestly curious.
“Then you might as well kill me because I won’t give you a damn thing,” she bit back.
Both my eyebrows shot upward. Had I misread their connections? I assumed he was with the mother of his lycan pup, but maybe he and Calina were romantically involved. Except, no, that didn’t feel right. They’d had no palpable chemistry earlier. He’d merely obeyed her command. And it hadn’t been Calina he’d worried over, but Gretchen and their child.
“Are you trying to negotiate?” I asked, attempting to discern her strategic play.
“I’m telling you that I’ll cooperate, but only if James and Gretchen are left unharmed.”
“Well, too late for that,” I admitted.
“Then too late to negotiate,” she countered.
I searched her expression for any hint of vulnerability and found none.
She meant every word.
“How do I even know you’re worth negotiating with?” I inquired. “You sent that transmission of bogus reports. But other than that, I have no proof of your ability to give me anything useful. You can’t even tell me about Cam.”
I was baiting her, and the flicker in her gaze told me she knew it.
But rather than call me on it, she considered me in a manner similar to the way I observed her. “King Jace,” she said as though tasting my title and name. “I’ve never heard of you.” She glanced around the room. “And this isn’t your room.”
“How do you know that?”
“The scent is too fresh,” she replied almost absently. “If you lived here, your woodsy cologne would be a fixture in the room, not a fragrant afterthought.” Her multicolored irises refocused on me. “James and Gretchen are still alive. If they remain that way, I’ll tell you everything I know. But you’ll need to set them free first. Those are my terms. Take them or leave them.”
