Page 51 of Son of a Witch

Tor sniffed. “I’ll take it up with Raze.”

My men never stopped entertaining me and bringing me laughter amid our chaotic and dangerous lives. I couldn’t wait to share more laughs and memories with them upon our release.

Except they dodged the question of what they wanted. I think they just wanted to cheer me up. Damn the dark nasty voice within that stirred doubt, whispering that they might not want and didn’t know how to tell me when I was upset.

Whatever happened in the end, I hope they didn’t make me regret my choice to stay here for them.

CHAPTER18

Astra

“We’ve had confirmedsightings of prisoners,” the warden advised the gathered team, pointing to the map spread across the table. “Here and here.”

Knoxe, Pascal, Tor, and I huddled on one side of the table, Serena and Loco on the other. A team divided in more than one way.

“Are they armed?” Knoxe moved his finger along the map, tracing something, earning a glare of Serena.

Those two were still edging for top dog. Knoxe couldn’t let go, and I didn’t blame him. He’d worked so hard, trained the team to perfection, shooting them up the bounty tally, only to lose his position.

As for him and me, we were still not talking after my little discovery mission. Keeping a secret from Knoxe to protect Raze was one thing, but sabotage to protect me was a whole other level. Staying in this place endangered me as much as releasing me. Where was the logic in that?

“We don’t believe so.” The warden addressed Serena as if to show Knoxe his place. “But we’re not taking any precautions. Tomorrow you will depart on a mission, accompanied by two sentries as back-up. That’s all we can spare.”

Two sentries. With electrically charged spears. They could come in handy. Most of our weapons were designed to take down gantii, not humans.

“Someone had supplied the vamps with Guardian technology,” Knoxe continued. “What if those same people were behind the breakout?”

Vancor rubbed at his clean-shaven jaw. “Vartros checked the inventory. If anything was stolen, it wasn’t from our supplies.”

Fuck. Then where did the vamps get the weapons?

Knoxe finished studying the map. “When will we return to normal duty?”

“Not until every last prisoner is accounted for and returned to this facility.”

Double fuck. That could take months, if not years. Some of the prisoners could have skipped this world to venture into the gantii worlds, making it even more difficult to find them.

Tor stared at the map, eyes glassy, lost in his thoughts.

“We were on a very important case, sir,” Knoxe reminded the warden. “Very close to earning enough bounty points to get parole and release.”

“As a reward to those teams that stayed and demonstrated loyalty, I’m offering double bounty points for every inmate retrieved and returned. Believe me when I say you’ll earn enough to warrant your freedom.”

“Yes, but when will we get out?” Knoxe eyeballed me, Pascal, and Tor. “You want every last inmate returned. What if that never happens? Will we have to stick around to wait for that?” All excellent questions. We needed to know the conditions attached to these bounty points. “Or will we be eligible as soon as we achieve the necessary points?”

The warden’s brow pinched. “We need every last hunter we can get right now. We’re down nearly one hundred men and fifty sentries.”

“Meaning you won’t let us go.” Tor. The first words he’d spoken during the meeting. Hopeless. Lost. Miserable. Out of all of us, he had the most to lose, since he’d most likely be grounded and unable to win bounty points. I squeezed his shoulder. “You can’t afford to let us go with dwindled numbers of Guardians.”

The implication of his words upped the pressure compressing my ribcage, and it ached like never before.

The warden kept cool under the direct line of questions. “I didn’t say that, Mr. Helms.”

“You didn’t have to. It’s pretty clear. We won’t be seeing the light of day anytime soon without wearing these.” Tor jabbed a finger at his black Guardian’s bracelet, which kept us bound to this prison and institution.

I glanced at my father, our gaze locking, worry passing behind his eyes. Nothing frightened my father except being locked up.

“I promise that we’ll come to an arrangement in due course.” The warden tried to glaze over the terms but failed. “Right now, our priority is preventing any further harm from the inmates, and I need your help to do that.”

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