Jaded Blood . Amy Blankenship

feet,” Micah answered with a frown. “It looks like she’s had a hard time of it in captivity though.”

      Taking her into the empty holding cell, Titus gently placed the she-wolf down on the bed. He’d been listening to the conversation between Micah and Tasuki and took a closer look at her.

      He had to silently agree about her treatment while in Lucca’s care. Her fur, while dark and beautiful, was dirty and matted in some places indicating that she had refused to shift back into her human form for quite a while. The pads of her feet were scratched and rough and a few burn marks from the cattle prod were visible as well.

      He knew why she’d refused to shift and admired her stubbornness. If they’d caught her in her human form… that’s when they would have raped her. She’d used the only weapon she had against them… the fact that a female werewolf cannot become pregnant in her animal form. It showed not only her strong will but her intelligence as well.

      Reining in his temper for the time being, Titus exited the cell and secured the door behind him. When she woke up she’d still be pissed off, but at least this jail cell was a far cry better than that cage they’d had her in.

      “Shouldn’t we start questioning the guard that we have and see if he knows where they keep other hostages?” Tasuki asked as he started towards the observation room.

      Titus was about to answer when one of the officers that missed the raid slipped in through the front door and started back toward the holding cells.

      “Where the hell are you going Phillip?” Titus demanded.

      The officer, one of the younger werewolves on the squad, froze and smiled sheepishly. “I missed the raid and wanted to see if she’d shifted to her human form yet.”

      Micah elbowed Tasuki, “See what I mean?”

      Tasuki scowled and crossed his arms over his chest, “Unfortunately.”

      The officer’s reason for stopping by raised red flags in Tasuki’s mind, causing his anger to come back full force. If the she-wolf shifted back to her human form, she wouldn’t have any modesty left because she’d be naked right now. That fact made it very apparent that Micah’s warning about wolf instincts was correct.

      “She’s a living being just like you are, not some damn peep show,” Tasuki growled at the officer before storming into the observation room.

      “Kid’s got guts, I’ll give him that,” Micah muttered.

      Titus arched an eyebrow at Phillip, “I think you have our answer. Until otherwise stated, everyone is to keep their distance from this department… got it? As a matter of fact, why don’t you guard the door and make sure no one else gets the same idea you did.”

      “What do I tell them?” Phillip was dumb enough to ask then took several quick steps back when Titus started toward him.

      “You tell them that I said the first idiot that sticks his head in that door is going to get it blown off,” Titus thundered. He glared at Phillip who practically tripped over his own feet as he hastily made his exit.

      “Has anyone ever told you that you make one hell of an Alpha?” Micah laughed and patted Titus on the back.

      Titus shook his head and added, “We might want to go around locking all of the damn doors and windows just in case we get a couple brave ones. I don’t want to get sidetracked once we start in on the idiot chained in the other room.”

      “We might need to talk about rotating shifts so someone is always here to watch out for her,” Micah offered. “But right now, I think Tasuki might go all crazy on our man in there if we don’t follow him.”

      Titus arched and eyebrow, “Good point.”

      In the observation room, Tasuki gripped the back of the chair and glared at the werewolf on the other side of the two way mirror. He closed his eyes unable to stop the damned memory from coming back to haunt him. It was the last dream he’d had of her… but that had been the last time he had slept.

      This time there had been a cage that loomed in the center of a massive cavern and Kyoko was tapped within its bars. But in the dream it had felt like she’d been stolen from him by a monster. He franticly circled the cage looking for the latch that would free her from the monster that had locked her up, but thick iron bars was all he found. He’d promised to save her… but how could he do that if the damned thing didn’t even have a door on it?

      He’d glanced up and locked eyes with Kyoko just as hands came from the darkness and drug him backwards to his death… he remembered dying.

      Tasuki opened his eyes as the memory vanished. No matter how many times he’d had that dream, it always ended the same way… with him dying and Kyoko still trapped in the freakin’ cage. He ran his hand through his bangs trying to get a grip. No matter how real the memory of the dreams seemed… they were only in his head and he needed to keep them there.

      Looking at the kidnapper in the other room, he decided to take his anger out on the real monsters who had a fetish for locking girls in cages. Why not… he didn’t have anything better to do.

      Micah followed Titus into the observation room to find Tasuki leaning against a chair glaring at the restrained guard through the two way mirror. If looks could kill then the other man would now be a greasy spot in the chair.

      “Can we get an electrical current running through that chair in there and make him dance?” Tasuki asked… only half joking.

      “Tempting, but no,” Titus responded. “Phillip’s reason for coming over here did bring up a genuine concern though.”

      Tasuki nodded, “You need to get some clothes to put in there with her just in case she does wake up and decides to shift back.” He looked over at the two shifters when neither of them moved. “Maybe the female officer that was in on the raid has a change of clothes in her locker. Want me to go check?”

      “No, she’s going to have her hands full getting the other girls checked out by a doctor,” Micah informed him then rubbed his chin when a solution to both of his problems dawned on him. “But I’ve got an idea.”

      “That’s a first,” Titus said then smirked when Micah elbowed him.

      “Ha, ha,” Micah growled. “As I was saying… let me call Alicia and have her bring over some clothes.”

      “Who’s Alicia?” Tasuki asked.

      “Micah’s kid sister,” Titus informed him. “He’s been a little moody since she got herself mated to a Sun God recently.”

      “A Sun God?” Tasuki asked with a confused expression. That was a new one on him, though he didn’t know why he bothered being surprised. You’d think he’d be immune by now.

      “Stop letting everyone know what I had for breakfast,” Micah grumbled and took out his cell phone. As he dialed the number he sighed knowing that Titus was right. He’d definitely been in a funk lately because he missed his sister and Damon was being an ass keeping her hidden for days at a time. This just so happened to be a great excuse to get to see her and find out if she was still happy with Mr. Possessive.

      “You’d have Alicia come clear across town just to bring us a set of clothes?” Titus cocked an eyebrow. “Desperate much?”

      “What the hell is a Sun God?” Tasuki really wanted to know so he could add it to his growing list of things to put on his mental Wall of Weird.

      Micah had been about to hit send on his phone when Titus had questioned his motives. Thinking quickly, he immediately came up with an even better excuse.

      “Actually, I think we can kill two birds with one stone,” Micah smirked. “Alicia told me that Damon has been teaching her how to put people under her thrall.”

      He pointed to the man on the other side of the mirror. “We could probably beat the hell out of that worthless lamebrain and not get as much out of him as Alicia