“So, Sinclair Denali,” Zen begins as we make our way around the rec yard, keeping to the fence line. “I’ve heard some things about you.”
AKA, she’s been asking around about me just like I’ve been asking around about Rook.
“Yeah?” I say noncommittally. Several of the other inmates and guards watch us as we walk, but I have no idea if me walking alone with Zen around the yard is supposed to be significant or something. I haven’t been here long enough to know all the ins and outs.
“Your lounge of cockatrices is a humble size but strong. Your matriarch and patriarch have ruled for over fifty years. You were set to be next in line.”
“I was,” I answer with a nod, not really knowing where she’s going with this.
She stuffs her hands into the pockets of her gray uniform pants. “It’s weird that your matriarch would sell you off to a rival pack leader for mating, instead of allowing you to choose your own patriarch to mate with within your own lounge and groom you for leadership.”
Again, not a question, but Zen is careful with her wording. She makes it sound like we’re just having a friendly convo, when really, she’s showing me how much she already knows about me. I’m not sure if it’s a warning, a challenge, or something else.
“Yeah, my mat and pat are a real piece of work.” That’s putting it mildly. I have a very…combustible relationship with my parents—my mat in particular.
Zen gives me a sidelong glance. “I’ve heard rumors that the Denali lounge owes a lot of money. It’s one of the reasons why you were given to Alpha Bowen. Maybe to settle a debt?”
Anger causes my feet to stop in their tracks and spin to face Zen. “Where did you hear that?”
Instead of being affronted by my snippy tone, she just shrugs. “Like I said, there’s better sources to get information from than Up-Chuck.”
I have no idea how she heard something like that, but it pisses me off. “That’s bullshit. My lounge would never borrow money, especially not from Alpha Bowen,” I say, although doubt trickles into the back of my mind.
Is that why my mat and pat drew up a mating contract without even discussing it with me first? But why? We had money of the white and the black variety. At least, I thought we did. Our lounge has always been stable. We have businesses and all sorts of schemes in place. Why in the world would they have been in debt? And why the fuck would they have reached out to Alpha Bowen for help?
The cockatrice alpha is rumored to be a power hungry whoremonger with a thirst for war with other lounges. Every year, he always takes over another cockatrice lounge, forcing them to merge into his own. The moment my mat informed me that I was to mate him, I knew that I was doomed and that I was going to have to be very creative in order to get out of it. That’s why I chose Nightmare Penitentiary; I’m out of reach, but it’s not a situation my lounge would be forced to go to war over.
“Do you have a point to this little share and tell?” I ask Zen, crossing my arms in front of me.
She breathes in deeply, closing her eyes slightly before opening them again. “Your anger is very potent. Tasty, too.”
That catches me off guard. She must be some kind of fae or demon to be able to feed off that. “What do you want, Zen?”
“Nothing,” she says simply. “Yet.”
I narrow my eyes. “Yet?”
“Mm-hmm. You think I took you in because of your bright hair and affinity for cafeteria food?” she asks, shaking her head. “Cockatrices aren’t all that common, but they are wily. You could come in handy,” she answers cryptically. “You also have a price on your head.”
My eyebrows shoot up. “What?”
She nods in affirmation. “Seems Alpha Bowen wants you. Bad. He’s offering a lot of money to the person who can break you out and bring you to him. And word in the prison is...there’s someone on the inside who’s taking up the offer.”
A sick feeling churns through my stomach. I mean, I’m not stupid. I know that all the attempts to break me out were because of him. But I didn’t realize he would get all obsessive about it. I mean, ordering his shifters to fetch me from jail is one thing, but putting up a breakout bounty on