“Sloane, you need to prepare for possible psychological repercussions. Dex wasn’t just kidnapped and interrogated. He was tortured.”
“Oh God.” Sloane doubled over and propped his hands on his knees. A wave of nausea washed over him, and he breathed deep, feeling Ash’s hand on his back. They’d tortured Dex. His jaw muscles clenched, and he closed his eyes.
“Sloane, don’t,” Ash stated firmly, and Sloane tried, he really did.
A deep feral growl rose up from his chest, and he straightened, moving his gaze to the TIN operatives blocking the door. Sloane charged, his fangs elongating, his eyesight sharpening, and his claws piercing his fingertips. The operatives were instantly on him, attempting to restrain him. His arms were seized, his waist, while another arm wrapped around his chest and then his neck. Sloane readied himself to take them all down when Sparks’s quiet words stilled him.
“There’s more.”
Sloane glared at the blond Therian restraining his neck. “Let go of me. Now.”
The blond Therian narrowed his eyes before glancing behind Sloane to Sparks. They released him, and Sloane turned, the sting brief as he withdrew his fangs and claws. He waited for her to continue.
“We have a bigger problem.”
Un-fucking-believable. “Bigger than having someone come into our home, drugging us, kidnapping Dex and torturing him?”
“Yes. I know who took Dex.”
Sloane balled his hands into fists at his sides, the word spoken through gritted teeth. “Who?”
“Dex said it was a wolf Therian who called himself Mr. Wolf, but that’s just one of many aliases. He’s a freelance professional. One of the best.”
“He’s obviously not that good if Dex got away from him,” Ash muttered.
Sloane turned his head to stare at Ash. His friend frowned at him.
“Hey, I’m glad Dex got free. I’m just saying, if a Human can get away from him, then he can’t be that good.”
“Hence my concern,” Sparks offered. “No one gets away from Wolf. No one. Especially not a Human. He’s also not one to play with his quarry. He liked Dex. Which I find equally as interesting as Dex escaping. Wolf doesn’t get personal. He’s cold, detached, does what he’s contracted to do.”
Sloane didn’t even know where to start with how much everything she’d said disturbed him. “You think maybe he let Dex go?”
Sparks shook her head. “Apparently Wolf was as surprised as Dex when he broke free.”
Sparks went pensive, like she wasn’t sure how much to divulge. Funny, considering she was about as loose with information as Ash was with compliments. Just as Sloane was about to growl at her to get on with it, she met his gaze.
“Sloane, Dex was restrained with Therian-strength zip ties. He shouldn’t have been able to break through them.”
Sloane frowned. “I’m sure there’s an explanation.” Humans, no matter how strong, couldn’t break through Therian-strength zip ties. There were tricks they could use to snap Human ones, but not Therian ones. Someone like Zach or Ash could snap through a Therian zip tie if they really wanted to, but even then not without a significant amount of effort and skill. But a Human? Not possible. Something went wrong there. “Maybe Wolf made a mistake?”
“It’s unlikely. He doesn’t make mistakes. Either way, we’ve run several in-depth tests on Dex. I’ll know more soon.”
Tests? What kind of tests? He was about to ask, but Sparks cut him off. She wasn’t about to reveal more on that. Damn it, and here he thought the THIRDS was a pain in the ass when it came to divulging information. Then again, at least the THIRDS didn’t deny their existence.
“Now on to problem number two. Dex knows his parents were murdered and who ordered the hit.”
Sloane stared at her. “Wolf told him?” He let out a groan at her arched eyebrow. “Shit. You told him?” Fan-fucking-tastic. “You know Dex is going to want to question Shultzon.” This just got better and better. Sparks didn’t appear fazed.
“So be it.”
“You’re going to let Dex see Shultzon?” Ash shook his head in disbelief. “Do you really expect him to keep his cool? You should have seen him when we went to talk to him about Sloane. I thought he was going to plant one in Shultzon’s face. He was pissed. And not hissy fit pissed, fucking scary pissed. I’d never seen him like that.”
Sparks didn’t appear concerned. “We’re more than capable of containing the situation, Ash. Precautions will be taken, and Dex will be notified when we’re ready for him. Perhaps Dex can get some new answers out of Shultzon.”
“I don’t like this,” Ash said, bringing Cael in closer against him. “If you think you can control Dex, you’re out of your damn mind.”
“That’s why Sloane will be there when Dex is brought in to interrogate Shultzon.”