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“Their soldiers are known as Shepherds.” Adryan snorted and rolled his eyes. “Fucking dumb, but whatever,” he murmured.
“And what?” Cian hedged. “These soldiers abduct Otherworld species and humans for what purpose?”
Adryan grimaced, or what I supposed was as close to one as an arrogant asshole like him could muster. He leaned forward and braced his forearms on his thighs. “I assume they hunted your female down because they wanted to use her to get to you.”
“And what do they want with us?” Odhran asked when Adryan hadn’t answered Cian.
Adryan leaned back and kicked his booted feet up onto the coffee table. “They hunt the Otherworld down so we can be their exhibits.”
I felt my eyes widen and my eyebrows lift once again. I asked Adryan, “Like… like a zoo exhibit?”
“Give the girl a prize for her correct answer.” He winked. “I told you they were fucked-up.” He sighed. “Let’s get real. Your clan of Lycans keep to themselves up in the fucking Highlands,” Adryan said matter-of-factly.
“Canna deny that,” Cian said and glanced down at me, his eyebrows pulled low, his expression one of intensity.
“I think the Otherworld was getting too close back in the ’50s, and that’s why the Assembly disappeared underground. We figured out they drugged and kidnapped our kind and used us like fucking sideshows.”
“That’s horrendous.” I hadn’t meant to say the shocked words out loud.
“Yeah, sounds about right. If you have enough money in the human world, and a hell of a lot of power, influence, and connections, you can get anything you fucking want. And what the Assembly wants is us. The Otherworld.”
“How did ye even find out about them back then?” Odhran took a step toward Adryan, but it was clear he was invested in this. There was some strange expression on his face that could only be called personal. I saw a flicker of an expression cross Adryan’s face and wondered if he’d caught on to Odhran too.
“Had a male escape them and made his way to us. Unfortunately he died shortly after. But he told us enough.” He paused, and I felt like he did it for effect. “If someone has even more money to burn instead of just taking a walk down the halls to gawk at caged creatures they’d only thought were in fiction, they can pay for what is known as Sessions.”
I felt the air in the room grow even thicker.
“For an even more exorbitant amount, they’re able to watch acts of torture, rape, or even participate in it themselves.” Adryan’s face showed nothing, but there was dark rage behind his eyes. “Really corrupt motherfuckers, the kind who would be okay with selling women and children… or worse, if you get my fucking drift.”
He snarled those last words, and I gasped and covered my mouth with my hand. Good God. How could anyone do that to anyone?
“I’m not sure who runs that shit show, but it’s absolutely someone of high power in the human world. Judge, billionaire mogul, hell, fucking trust-fund baby with too much time on their hands.”
“Fooking Shepherds,” Odhran growled. “Like they’re tending to a flock.”
The low rumble that came from the other male was so loud I found myself inadvertently moving toward Cian. He wrapped his arm around my shoulders and snapped out something angry and loud in Gaelic to Odhran.
Odhran was breathing hard and lifted his hand to rub it over his jaw. He kept saying things in Gaelic, low and rushed things that were clearly meant just for him. But the way Cian’s face paled had me even more worried.
“They don’t give a shit about humans that I know of, unless they’re personally connected to us,” Adryan said, clearly not caring about the breakdown Odhran was going through right now. “Must have put two and two together, seeing you with your mate. Wanted to use her to control you, I presume.” He shrugged. “Smart. We all know a mated Otherworlder would do anything to protect his female.”
Cian cursed, and I looked up at him, knowing my expression conveyed one of worry, fear, and a whole lot of what in the hell is going to happen next?
Adryan clapped his hands together and stood. “I have another property close to this one that currently holds all our tech shit to get down to the bottom of this. I’m more of an eye-for-an-eye, hand-to-hand-combat type of guy, real old-school, if you get my drift, but in this day and age, you can’t get past the whole advancement of technology.”
“Do you think these people are still close, the ones who tried to take us?” I asked.
He shrugged. “Couldn’t say for sure. They are smart and stayed hidden all these decades. I assume they were alerted to Cian and Odhran landing and thought they’d be easy targets. But I’m not sure how’d they know about you two coming in. Seems weird, right?”
“But they don’t bother you?” I questioned.
He grinned. “Darlin’, no one fucking bothers me if they want to keep their head on their neck. But I’m assuming they were going for low-hanging fruit when they went after the Scottish wolves.” Cian growled. “Calm down, man. I didn’t mean ’cause you’re easy pickings in that sense. Meant they probably know how secluded your kind stays, so you wouldn’t be on to them. Ain’t no way those fuckers could sneak up on my ass. I’m too paranoid for my own good, and I know about them.” Again with the grin. “I’ll text you the address where you need to be tomorrow night so we can get this shit settled.”
I swallowed, this massive fear suddenly spiking in me at the idea of Cian going up against these maniacs known as the Assembly and the fucked-up things that could happen.
“Stay in the house. It’s mystically protected, so it can’t be tracked by Otherworld or standard means. You’ll be safe here.” Cian gave a nod but didn’t say anything. “Until tomorrow night,” Adryan said smoothly. “Enjoy your mate, Lycan.” Just as Cian growled and went to attack, Adryan was leaving and smiling as he went.
And we were left in the aftermath of all the shit he’d just dropped on us.
