Page 171 of The Alpha's Second Chance Mate

“I’m pretty sure that since you managed to get yourself caught, Kyle would rather you were dead than give up the information. Maybe we’ll even let it slip to your boss that you gave us some nice, juicy shit. Then, we’ll set you loose. I wonder how long itwould take Kyle to find you. You know the old saying? What do snitches get?”

“I think that’s stitches,” Trent said from behind me. “Though, I doubt there will be much left of you to sew up.”

The belligerent look on Scotty’s face vanished, and his face paled. “Wait, no, you can’t do that.”

“Oh, we can,” I said. “If you cooperate, then maybe we’ll be a bit more pleasant.”

“You should really think about your options, buddy,” Langston said, picking up a hammer from the workbench. “Things could go very badly for you. You have multiple options here, none of them good.”

“Yeah?” Scotty said, swallowing hard.

“Yeah,” Langston agreed. “One? You refuse to help us and are a dick about it, so we—” he slammed the hammer down on the table, the sound reverberating through the room like a gunshot, and Scotty flinched “—persuadeyou.”

Like the caged animal he was, Scotty began to sweat, eyeing the hammer in Langston’s hand.

“Second? You don’t give us what we need, but you are a bit more pleasant to deal with. In that case, we do as Mr. Garrett here says. We turn you loose and make sure Kyle knows you helped us. Third? We simply let you go and do nothing.” Langston shrugged nonchalantly. “Problem with that one is, Kyle will never believe we let you go without getting some information out of you. He’ll assume you spilled your guts, and you’ll end up equally as dead as you would if you did lie about your assistance. That leaves option number four.”

“And what’s that?” Scotty asked warily.

“You help us. Give us the information we want and need. When we’re satisfied that it is both helpful and accurate, we let you go, and ensure that Kyle won’t find you.” Langston gazed at Scotty hard. “So? What do you choose?”

Scotty licked his lips and blinked rapidly as he worked over his options in his mind.

Finally, he nodded toward me. “How can you help me? Everyone knows you’re broke as fuck. Helping me escape would cost some pretty good cheddar, and you ain’t got it. Kyle brags about how he fucked you over financially all the time.”

Gritting my teeth, I suppressed the flash of rage. I didn’t like my money woes being spilled for everyone to hear. It was silly to worry about it at that moment, but it was still a sore spot. I opened my mouth to tell him to worry more about himself than my wallet, but Langston spoke before I could.

“I’ve got money,” he said. “Money and contacts. I’m the son of the richest alpha in my state. Trust me when I say I have the ability to help someone disappear. Even from people like Kyle.”

I was grateful for Langston’s offer, but also ashamed. Ashamed because I had to rely on someone else to fix this mess. Also, I hadn’t realized just how well-off Langston was. I could tell from his clothes and demeanor that he came from money, but the richest in the state? That was saying a lot.

Tamping down my jealousy of his financial situation, I turned my attention back to our prisoner. He looked intrigued.

Scotty chewed the inside of his cheek. “I want it on paper.”

“My guy,” Porter said with a laugh. “We’re in a basement threatening you with a hammer, and you want fucking legal documents?”

“I want proof that you’ll do what you say, that’s all,” he said. “Put it in writing, and I’ll tell you everything I know.” He met my gaze. His bravado was gone now, and all that remained was fear. “You gotta get me away from him.Please. You do that, and I’ll give you what you want.”

The terror coming off the kid was almost palpable. We all knew what Kyle was capable of, and it looked like his men did as well. As dumb as it was, I couldn’t help but hope that this same fear was what drove Dallas to help Kyle. Maybe, if I was very lucky, my brother was only doing these awful things because he was afraid of what Kyle would do to him otherwise.

“We don’t need lawyers,” Langston said. “Cole and I are both alphas. Our official written word is as legally binding as anything. Porter, grab us some paper and a pen.”

“You got it.” Porter jogged up the stairs, returning a minute later with the items.

Langston put the paper on the workbench and began to write. “If—and only if—the information you give us pans out will we work on extracting you. Understand?”

Scotty nodded so vigorously, I thought his head might pop off. “Yeah, yeah, good, all good.”

“If I even think for a moment that you’re lying,” I added, “the deal’s off. It behooves you to be as honest as possible from moment one. Cool?”

He nodded again, looking like a man on death row who’d been granted a reprieve.

Langston signed the bottom of the paper, and I scrawled my signature next to his. He held the paper up so Scotty could scan the document. When he was finished, his shoulders sagged in relief.

“Okay,” Scotty said. “What do you all want to know?”

I dragged a stool out of the corner and sat in front of him, eye-to-eye. “Start with this crazy fucking drug that turns humans into wolves.”

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