Page 94 of Bosse
Now he stood to receive complete control over the Lammogo just for handing the mage a Gallize mate. He hoped to trade the second woman for an additional favor.
Once again, Krol wondered why the mage wanted this specific shifter mate. It could be nothing more than that Magdelina carried an offspring from mating with a powerful bear shifter.
Over the two days he’d invested bringing her to his castle, he’d felt power oozing from her. Gallize were rumored to be outside the norm for any shifter groups. He’d thought it was nothing more than idle gossip to build fear in others. Laughing to himself, he’d certainly put fear in her when he warned her against making any foolish attempt to attack him or his men.
He’d threatened to gut her and take the unborn child.
Magdelina leaned forward before the door to their wagon closed. Her eyes did not hold the fear he expected. To be honest, she acted far more confidently than he’d expected.
She told him, “You will not touch this child if you think to bargain with the mage who sent you after me. I am clearly far more valuable with a cub on the way. If you harm my baby in any way, I will unleash everything in my power against you and your men.” She sat back, never pulling her gaze from Krol.
He swallowed hard. How could she know he bargained with a mage?
Could she read his thoughts?
Locking his jaws tight, a muscle pulsed in his cheek. “I have treated you well.”
She arched an eyebrow, mocking his claim. “My mate will tear every limb from your body while you still breathe, then use his filet knife on the rest of your worthless hide.”
“Shut up, bitch!”
Losing his temper had been a mistake. She smiled brightly and leaned back, looking for all the world ready to travel.
His eyes slid to the other woman sitting next to her. They both harbored power of some sort, though the Gallize female had to be the stronger of the two.
Should he separate the women?
The one called Rez had made no attempt to escape and had harmed none of his guards or the servant he assigned to feed her daily. She’d been a meek prisoner.
If those two were going to attempt an escape together, they would have done so the moment he announced the servant called Alifair would face his wrath upon returning.
That bitch had been the one to help Bosse escape.
If not for Beast, Krol might never have known who had been behind the cage break.
Beast made no sense to anyone but Krol. That shifter could barely talk in his half-human form and could not communicate the first time Krol questioned him. It wasn’t until after Krol had asked every shifter in the cages if they could recognize the human scents around Bosse’s cage because he had found none except from the guards who had been on duty and one servant who had no backbone for releasing a shifter. That redheaded servant cried buckets of tears when asked her name.
The shifters had confirmed what he’d detected. The only human scent belonged to the young servant called Linota.
Eriko had told him he questioned that servant and the one who was now locked in the bedroom upstairs, Alifair. Linota had bawled through the whole interview until he gave up.
The one Krol now knew as Alifair had given Eriko the correct answers, but something had made his man suspicious.
Krol asked the guards how often the servant with two different eyes came down. They said daily to deliver their meals.
But none of his shifters had smelled a human scent from her, only a mix of cinnamon and cardamom. That’s when Krol realized he’d never paid attention to her scent, not with so many servants in the castle.
He questioned Beast again, this time asking if he had picked up the scent of the one who had helped Bosse escape.
Beast had shaken his head, no.
Krol would have stopped there, but Beast pulled his lips back, exposing fangs in what might be a grin. Trying to gain information from Beast was akin to figuring out a puzzle. It required asking the right questions.
Krol had been patient and asked, “Was there a lingering scent of any kind besides the two guards and the redheaded servant Linota?”
Beast shook his head no—another grisly smile.
Krol asked one more question. “Would you recognize the natural scent of the female servant with two different colored eyes?”
