Keri Arthur - Tempting Evil

Jack swore. "That's not good."

"Oh, it gets worse."

"How much worse?"

"I'm about to find out." I rounded the corner of the building and walked onto the soft grass. The night breeze stirred around me, filled with the scent of animals and captivity. Up until that moment, I would have sworn that captivity didn't have a smell, but there it was, filling the night with an odd sense of frustration, desperation, and hopelessness.

Odd that such things had aromas.

Odder still that I could smell them. I might have the nose of a wolf, but until that moment, fear, lust, and death were the strongest emotions I'd caught.

Though technically, death wasn't an emotion, fust a passing that lingered, a sadness staining the air.

"Merle and Moss have a spirit lizard houseboy. He's apparently sensitive to the use of psychic power."

"I take it he knows you were reading Merle and didn't report it?"

"Yes. But he did want a meet."

"Any chance it's just for sex?"

"If he's sensitive enough to catch auras, I have no doubt he's mightily aroused and needing relief. But there's no way known I'm going to be a good fuck-puppy when it comes to him ."

"Riley—"

"His dick has spines, Jack."

"Oh."

"Oww is more like it." I grinned faintly. "But I think he wants a whole lot more than sex."

"It wouldn't hurt to have an ally in that place."

"If he can be trusted."

"Rely on your instincts. I do."

Only trouble was, my instincts had been wrong before. And this time, there was no one near to bail my butt out. "I'm heading to meet him now."

"Be careful. Keep the line open."

"Natch." I glanced up as high metal fences came into view. "I'm almost there."

"Just be prepared to kill him if things go wrong."

I didn't answer. If things went wrong, I'd do what I had to do to preserve the mission and keep everyone—including myself—safe. But killing wasn't something I wanted to become comfortable with—even if that's exactly what Jack wanted.

I walked up the small knoll and stopped. The zoo stretched before me, metal and wire entwined with desperation and anger. The things inside might be caged, but they certainly weren't accepting or passive. Which pretty much explained why so many guards went missing. Any misstep was taken as a chance of revenge.

I scanned the cages, taking in the array of creatures, then headed left, to what looked to be the main entrance. Cages containing blue creatures with wings gave way to spiny trolls which in turn gave way to fish people. Few of them slept. Most of them were awake and watching.

Their misery resonated deep in their eyes, deeper inside me. I hated it—hated that I was feeling it. I couldn't do anything for these things from nightmare and imagination. They'd been bred for death, and that's exactly what they'd get, whether from Starr or the Directorate. It wasn't fair, but life often wasn't.

I hated that, too.

Iktar stood, arms crossed, near the main gates. The light above the gates caressed him, making his skin glow blue-black and his eyes eerily luminescent. His cock was nowhere in sight.

Thankfully.

I stopped just beyond the pool of light. "Isn't this a little dangerous? They have cameras monitoring the zoo surrounds, don't they?"

He nodded. "And laser sensors. But whenever Moss and Merle take women, I am given time to come here."

My gaze went past him, and for the first time I noticed shadows in the shadows. More spirit lizards, and of both sexes. "For relief?"

"Yes." He smiled. "As you saw, I am incompatible with human flesh."

"And why would they give you time? You are nothing more than a weapon—a tool to be used—to them."

He smiled, but anger surged in his eyes. He hated captivity. Hated what he was doing and who he was forced to serve. This was no lab-born creature. He was something more. Something far more.

"They value my skills in protecting them when they are otherwise occupied," he answered steadily, voice devoid of the fury so evident in his eyes.

"So why does Moss use you to 'ready' his women?"

"Moss enjoys the taste of fear. I am not his only weapon to draw out such an emotion."

Meaning I had to be thankful Merle had stolen my "services." He might be a boring lover, but at least boring was survivable. While I didn't mind being tied or the occasional bit of spanking, if Moss had tried anything much nastier, I might have been tempted to knock his lights out. And that pretty much would have been the end for me and the mission.

"Those monitoring the cameras might think it a little suspicious that you're meeting me here, though."

"They would, if the camera was working. It isn't."

I raised my eyebrow. "Convenient."

"They are knocked out regularly. It is only a small inconvenience to Starr's people in the long term, but it does give us the means of a little revenge."

Meaning the guards—and the regularity with which they went missing. I shifted my stance and resisted the urge to demand such attacks stop immediately. Rhoan might be acting the part of a guard, but he was also a guardian, the best we had besides Gautier. If he could take on five vampires at the same time, he could handle these nightmares—at least long enough to get the hell away from them.

"What do you want of me, then?"

"I want to make a deal with whoever it is you're working for."

"Depends on what he's offering and what he wants," Jack said.

"What makes you think I'm working for someone?" I asked.

Iktar smiled. "Most women quail when presented with the sight of my genitals. You got ready to fight. That speaks of training. Whether military or something else, I don't care."

"I'm not military."

He shrugged. "As long as your people are willing to deal, it doesn't matter."

"So what do you want and what are you offering in return?"

"What I want is all my people out of here."

My gaze moved to the shadowy forms merged with the darkness. "Your people?"

He studied me for a moment, his featureless face expressionless, yet dark eyes somehow managing to be judgmental.

"How much do you know about Starr and his cartel?"

"I know what this zoo is," I said. "I know the origins of many of the creatures here."

That surprised him. "How?"

My smile was cold. "Let's just say I've had firsthand experience with Starr's objectives."

Some of the tension seemed to run from his shoulders. "Then you know of the labs."

"Yes."

"And you would also know that Starr gathers live samples for his DNA experiments."

"Yes."

He nodded, seemingly pleased. "Then you would not be surprised to discover that many of those behind us are not lab-born, but those collected as specimens."

I glanced at the creatures behind him again. "How did you all get here?"

His smile was grim. "The good thing about spirit lizards is that, aside from gender differences, we all look alike. We had hoped that replacing the lab-born and coming here would provide an easier escape. We were wrong."

My gaze returned to him. "And could you tell us the location of the labs?"

He shrugged. "The building we were kept in had no windows, and we were drugged before we were taken from that place. None of us have any idea where we were or how we got here—though I will say it didn't seem as if we were out for very long."

Not very long could have been ten minutes or ten hours. It all depended on your point of view. And surely if the labs were only ten minutes away, the Directorate would have noticed. They'd been watching the place for ages. "Then what are you offering in exchange for our help?"

"Whatever it is in my power to do."

Which really wasn't telling me much as I had no idea what he could and couldn't do. I studied his featureless face for a second, then said, "If you are able to move around this place so freely, why haven't you done something to release your people?"