Rising Storm (Westin Force #2) - Julie Trettel Page 0,26

life I didn’t even care that I was naked in a room full of men. I knew with Painter there none of them would dare touch me.

He struggled to get the shirt on me while I began my rant fueled by pent up frustrations.

“You have a mole in here. Can’t you see that?”

Kyle bit back a grin and I growled at him. Baine’s jaw dropped and he shook his head trying to signal me to be quiet. I wasn’t stupid, I knew who Kyle Westin was. It was impossible to not notice the ultimate respect he was granted by everyone. No one had to tell me he was high Alpha of Westin Force.

“I’m not talking about that fat idiot Archie. Though if you’re checking people out, I’d start with him. Keeley was one of your rescues when you found me. Sure, she looks like a sweet innocent little bunny, but she’s bad news and she’s tight with the captors, the Raglan. She’s mated to the worst of them even. I saw her here in your headquarters with my own eyes talking with him the other day, just before the mission. It’s not a coincidence I promise you. She has a way of getting information out of people without them even realizing it. That’s your real mole. I’d even put money on her no longer being here.”

Kyle looked to Patrick and nodded. “Take Silas and Tarron, oh, and T. For some reason Archie opens up to her.”

“See, he’s a sucker for females. That’s dangerous,” I said.

Grant laughed. “She could have a point there.”

“We’ll look into it,” Patrick said. “Thank you, Emma. It may be nothing, but it’s at least a start. I know we’d all feel better confirming it’s not one of us on the inside.”

“Take a seat, Emma. I want to hear more about Keeley. You said she’s mated to one of the Raglan?”

I nodded. “Roger. He’s the worst of them all, but she’s almost as bad.”

“What do you mean by worst? Can you explain?”

I snorted. “You really want details of the level of torture he’s capable of? How he doesn’t just take blood and run experiments. He has been known to carve out a shifter’s heart while they’re still alive. He takes pleasure in testing our pain tolerances. I never shifted from my gorilla and I still bear the scars of his work.”

I turned around and pulled up my shirt to show them my scars. They were lighter because of my expedited healing abilities, but they had been frequent enough, that he never let them fully heal.

“I know they’re there. I can feel them on my skin even in gorilla form. They are the worst that most endured. There were only a few of us that could sustain animal form with the constant pressure to shift for testing purposes.”

I turned back around, and Kyle nodded at me. He wasn’t smiling anymore. He was angry, they all were, but none as much as my mate. Painter’s fist was in a ball and he was knocking on the table. He probably didn’t even realize it, but it was a classic gorilla tick, a sign of high stress.

“Keeley assisted in many of the sessions with Roger. I mean like actively participating, not just an innocent bystander. She’s also a pathological liar. She’s good, manipulative, and absolutely can’t be trusted. If she’s behind this though, she won’t be around now that her job is done, unless Roger is trying to get her settled in here as a permanent spy on the inside. And I don’t think it’s coincidence that they used an old mole tunnel either. I can guarantee she got Archie talking about those tunnels and relayed the information.”

Kyle turned to Grant. “Check it out. See if there’s any cause for concern down that line.”

“Want me to bring him in?”

“Yeah, let’s do that.”

Grant left us and Kyle turned his attention back to me.

“I understand you’ve been hesitant to come out of your gorilla. Thank you for making an exception and giving us this information. We’d like to ask you some questions and get as much information of what life was like inside even away from these sessions. Anything you can remember or tell us, but first can you do me a favor?”

I hesitantly nodded.

“I’ve been studying up a bit on gorilla habits. I know for me as a wolf, my mating signs mirror similar traits to most wolf habits. Can you please scoot a little closer to Painter and just rub your