me show you to your new workplace, Ricky.”
New workplace. Oh, man, this couldn’t be good.
Paul and Regan led them outside, flanked by other guards. Oliver was surprised to see a large moving truck parked on the asphalt between the barn and the other stable-like building. More figures milled about, male and female, all dressed in black fatigues or similar clothing. He hadn’t heard any of the activity from inside the house. Too distracted by Ben being back, he supposed.
If he needed more proof that they were probably (definitely) in over their heads…
Someone rolled up the back door of the moving van and hopped into the cargo compartment. A moment later, a young woman appeared, blinking at the dimly lit compound.
Oliver stopped breathing.
She couldn’t be out of her teens by much—if she even was. Her clothes were ripped and dirty and her hair was knotted. Everything about her body language screamed of fear and uncertainty. And then he saw the cuffs that bound her wrists together in front of her.
Ben squeezed his fingers again, hard enough to hurt, and that made Oliver suck in a breath. Another young woman appeared, then a young man, followed by another. In all, Oliver counted ten—enough to fill the cages inside the barn.
Paul let out a satisfied sigh. “Beautiful, aren’t they?”
Oliver managed to make an affirmative noise without opening his mouth. He was worried he’d puke if he did.
“They’re all prey shifters,” Paul continued, an unsettling glint in his eye. “Submissive and compliant.”
“Excellent.” Ben’s voice was rough, but with any luck, Paul would think it was because he was excited. “Sir, can I ask what you plan to do with them?”
“They’re here until we find them new homes.” Paul shot a grin in Oliver’s direction. “And that’s where you come in, Ricky. You’re going to show them your moves on the stage. It will keep you occupied and give them a skill to wow their companions. A win-win all around.”
Winning wasn’t the word Oliver would have used to describe the situation.
He listened in a daze as Paul explained that the men and women were housed in the barn overnight, but then taken into the smaller stable-like building—the rec room—to spend the day. According to Paul, it was less cruel than leaving them in the cages all day. After all, they were animals at heart, and cages weren’t healthy.
Oliver thought he might puke anyway if Paul kept talking. Finally he sent them off with an invitation to Oliver to return at mid-morning to start their lessons.
Oliver didn’t remember the walk back to their room, but when the door clicked closed behind them, he fell forward into Ben’s massive chest. He couldn’t stop shaking—why was he shaking so much?
Ben rubbed his arms. “It’s okay, Ol.”
“Not even close,” Oliver managed, his voice shaking just as hard as the rest of his body.
“No. I know,” Ben said with a sigh. “We’ll get them out.”
Oliver nodded against Ben’s chest, because yeah, not rescuing the shifters had never crossed his mind. “It could have been me,” he whispered.
“What?”
He lifted his head. “I could have been one of those kids.” Because even if they were legally of age, they were still kids. Jesus. “I lived on the streets for a few months when I was sixteen. This old egret lady saw me one day and took me in. ‘Birds of a feather!’ she used to say all the time, and then cackle like it was the greatest thing. Her name was Edith. She saved me.”
“What happened to your parents?”
“They didn’t like that I was gay.”
“Jesus.”
“It’s okay,” Oliver rushed on. “I’m okay. I reconnected with some of my other family years ago, people who accept me as me. But if Edith hadn’t been around to help…” He swallowed and his throat clicked. “It could have been me in a truck like that.”
“They talked about ‘product’ at lunch today. I thought it was guns. Not people. Never people.”
“When I saw the cages in the barn, I knew it was going to be bad. We need to call it in.”
Oliver retrieved the cell phone Jeremy had smuggled to them the night before and opened a text to the number he’d memorized. He tried to think of a clever code-worded way of saying what he needed to say, but in the end, he just went for the truth.
“Product” is captured shifters waiting for “new homes.” Please advise.
It took only a minute to get a response. Timeline to move them?
Unknown. But he’s asked O to teach them