Killean glanced at the closed door behind him. He could feel Simone out there, suffering. But the only chance they had of making it out of this mess was for him to learn more about what was going on here and the weaknesses of this place. After his betrayal, he would return to Ronan with as much information as he could gather.
Killean strode forward, pulled out the wooden chair, and settled onto it. Questions spun through his mind, but he’d never been much of a talker. Smelling like a Savage or not, he would draw Joseph’s attention if he started peppering him with questions about his plans and who was the real mastermind behind this. No one in the Alliance believed Joseph was working alone in this.
Killean remained mute while he folded his hands and rested them on his bare stomach. Joseph’s mouth quirked in an amused smile that vanished when a knock sounded on the door behind him.
“Come in,” Joseph called.
The door opened to reveal the second woman Joseph had spoken with. In her pale hands, she clutched a glass decanter full of blood. Placing two glasses on the desk, she poured the liquid into them. Killean’s nostrils flared when the scent of it hit him.
“We’ll go hunting in a bit,” Joseph said as he pushed one of the glasses toward Killean. “Until then, this will have to suffice.”
Killean rested his fingers on the glass to push it away; instead, he found his hand gripping it, but he didn’t recall giving his fingers the command to do so. Refusing will only make Joseph suspicious.
But that wasn’t why he was holding the glass. No, he was doing that because the blood called to him like a siren called the ships.
What am I becoming?
What you made yourself into.
It was the truth, but before killing, he’d been sure he could control himself better than this. He felt no control as he lifted the glass and sipped the room-temperature blood. It was not the live, warm vein he craved, but it helped to ease some of his burgeoning hunger.
The first woman returned with a set of clothes. When her gaze raked over him, it lingered on his crotch, and she licked her lips. Killean didn’t acknowledge her stare or try to cover himself. Like almost all the women he’d encountered over the past hundred years, she held no interest for him.
The only woman who had ever mattered was chained to a wall in the next room.
Joseph’s serving woman, or whatever she was, placed the clothes on the desk in front of Killean; he ignored them. He wouldn’t give Joseph the satisfaction of putting them on now. Killean took another swallow of blood and steadied the trembling in his fingers when he set the glass on the desk.
“Leave us and the blood,” Joseph commanded the two women.
The woman set the decanter on the desk and followed the other one out of the room.
When the heavy metal door closed behind them, Joseph clasped his hands before him. “Does your abrupt change of loyalty have anything to do with the fact Ronan and the hunters are working together?”
Killean kept his face blank while his mind reeled from Joseph’s question. How did Joseph know they’d formed an Alliance with the hunters? But he supposed any of the hunters chained up out there would willingly spill the information if they believed it might save them.
Idiots.
Killean hadn’t planned to reveal this information to Joseph, but if the Savage already knew about the Alliance, then he would use it to his advantage.
“I have never hidden my dislike of the hunters,” he said.
“No, you haven’t,” Joseph agreed. “We rarely worked together, and even I knew you harbored a greater dislike toward them than the rest of us. Perhaps it has something to do with your scars.”
Inwardly, Killean seethed at Joseph’s attempt to analyze him; outwardly, he remained utterly composed.
“Ronan should have taken your feelings into account when agreeing to work with them,” Joseph said. “It cost him one of his most loyal and vicious fighters.”
“There is no stopping Ronan when he sets his mind to something.”
“Very true. So, tell me, where is Ronan hiding now?”
Killean had expected questions such as this and prepared for them. He hoped he was a better actor than he believed. “And how would I know? As soon as I left, Ronan would have changed locations. Maybe before he became mated he would have stayed, but he’d never risk his mate by keeping her somewhere Savages could find.”
“Then where was he, Killean?” Joseph inquired with a lethal gleam in his eyes.
Killean smiled as he leaned back in his chair. “I’m sure you can understand that, for now, I will be keeping some things to myself, Joseph. I will not divulge all my info to you as I’m sure you have plenty you will keep from me too. Unless you intend to tell me your exact plans for those hunters and all the others you’re turning into Savages as well as where we are?”
Killean practically saw Joseph’s desire to destroy him burning behind the Savage’s eyes. But instead of trying to attack, Joseph leaned back in his chair and rested the tips of his entwined fingers against his chin.
“While I still have some knowledge you want, I have a better chance you’ll keep me alive,” Killean continued.
“I plan to keep you alive anyway. Two fallen Defenders working together to bring down Ronan is far better than one, but I understand your reasoning.”
“Good. Once we establish a more mutual trust, we can discuss this again.”
Joseph smirked. “That shouldn’t take long. Do you really think Ronan moved?”
Killean wasn’t sure, but he doubted it. They’d just established a shared compound with the hunters; it would be difficult for them to pick up so many lives again and relocate them, but Ronan would do anything to keep Kadence safe.
Maybe he was wrong, and they had left, or perhaps he was only hoping Ronan had enough faith in him to delve into this world of Savages and return from it without betraying the Alliance.
He didn’t know if he deserved any faith as he gripped the glass and brought the blood back to his mouth.
Simone lifted her head when the hunter beside her shifted. She looked toward where she’d seen Killean vanishing into the room where the Savage who’d done this to her always went. She hoped they both choked on the next person they ate.
“Simone,” someone croaked; their voice was so dry it could have belonged to a mummy recently roused from the dead.
Gradually turning her head, she met the gaze of Dallas as he stared at her from inhuman, white-blue eyes. She’d forgotten he was the one chained beside her. Those eyes should freak her out more than they did, but she couldn’t bring herself to care about the strange color on the man she’d briefly considered her leader. When she left Nathan behind, it was to follow Dallas to a stronghold he established in New Hampshire.
She never should have left Nathan and the others, but her battered pride compelled her to go. Pride, a sin she’d believed herself above experiencing, and something she never realized she possessed until Nathan chose a vampire over her. She’d never been in love with Nathan, but she’d spent most of her life with the expectation she would marry the leader of all the hunters. All those in their stronghold had believed the same thing.
But the blow her life took that day was nothing compared to the devastating mess she found herself embroiled in now. Even if she had been prideful when she was raised better than to give in to such a shameful emotion, and when she should have been happy Nathan found love instead of wallowing in the imagined life she lost, she didn’t deserve this.