added with another bow. It seemed impossible that anyone would buy such bullshit, but the mental workings of a nutcase were difficult to fathom.
“Very well. And take the other one. He’s not nearly as entertaining as he promised to be. In fact, not that anyone in this room deserves such largesse, he can be passed among you loafers this evening after I’ve had my next taste of him.”
Crap! Now he decides to be sensible?
A short mew of distress caught his attention and it took a great deal of willpower for him not to look at Mateo. With another bow, he replied, “Yes, Master.” He paused in the middle of turning. “May I ask a favor, Master?” When Dracul gave him a curt nod, he continued. “I would like a turn with the cunt myself. I’m old enough, and I want to find out what it’s like to sink into all that tight heat.” He tried to give a lascivious smile and decided he was so not cut out for this.
It was as if time froze while he waited for a reply. The fucker gave away nothing of what he was thinking before suddenly cackling like cartoon witch. “Why not? You deserve him more than these useless morons. You get first crack.”
“Thank you, Master.” One more bow, as deep as he could make it without falling on his face, and he went to lift Dafydd. He was dead weight, but Merlin had grown a lot in the last few months and had nearly the strength of a warrior. He was able to sling the unconscious man over his shoulder without stumbling on his ass. “What are you waiting for?” he snapped at Mateo.
The human stood with more grace than Merlin would have thought possible under the circumstances. Then he lifted his chin and held his head high as Merlin herded him out of the room. He took a quick detour to the medical supply room before leading the way to the cell. Other than the occasional moan from Dafydd, it was a silent journey. Mateo’s fury was a palpable wave that hit Merlin’s back. He wanted to reassure the boy, but it wasn’t possible for a couple of reasons. One was that the surveillance picked up sound, even though the idiot monitoring everything never kept the volume on. Still, there was always the chance.
The other problem was that he didn’t know yet how he was going to do it. He only knew that there was no way he could sit back and watch the humans tear Mateo to pieces. And they would, too. There were so many of them and they were keyed up for lots of reasons. They would rip him to shreds, as surely as Dracul had just done to three of their comrades. Merlin had to think of something. All he could do, though, was, before he left the cell after tending to Dafydd, pull a struggling Mateo into an embrace.
“I can’t wait for tonight, slut.” He said that for the monitor. “Trust me,” he added in a whisper before leaving.
Fuck. What the hell was he going to do? It was too much to hope that somehow Alex and the others would suddenly drop through the ceiling. They were at least two days out from mounting a rescue. Until they did, it was all on him.
* * * *
Alex was almost second-guessing his decision to hold an all-hands meeting, including the humans, to announce his revised plan on the raid. Everyone sat around the living room, pretending to eat breakfast when they were really chewing on their palpable fears and digesting his words. They were also looking at him as if his brain was oozing out of his ears, which was possible, given that it felt as if it had been shredded. As he’d laid out his thinking, it had certainly sounded as if he’d lost his grip on reality. But he wasn’t going to take it back, because he’d promised Quinn, and the boy had been right. Damn it all. Quinn was the only one not surprised by any of this, and he sat pressed against Alex’s side, his hand on his knee, giving it a gentle squeeze of support.
It was Malcolm who spoke first, giving words to the others’ thoughts, no doubt. “Are you out of your fucking mind, mun?”
“Language,” Will rebuked, as Annika was with them, feeding her dog bits of bacon and acting as if she were oblivious to the bomb Alex had lobbed