Chapter 29

Trinity

Once again, I find myself shackled to the table in the interrogation room. The light buzzes in the ceiling above us. The chair is hard and uncomfortable.

"How many times did you have sex with the Draiger?" the general asks me. The mask seems to mock me from across the table.

"I don't see how that is even relevant," I tell him in a voice filled with exasperation.

What! The! Hell?

"It is relevant. How many times?" he demands.

I roll my eyes. "Three, okay…just three," I tell him.

"Three is three times too many. What were you thinking?" he snarls. "Sex with a Draiger. A Draiger!" His voice gets louder. "We have perfectly good males here on Mistveil. Unless he forced you. Did he force you?"

"No," I tell him. "Octane is a good male. A kind male. He would never do such a thing. I wasn't seeing him like the enemy anymore by the time we had sex. I felt like I knew him." It's true; despite all my bravado in that cave, I didn't see him as my enemy. I didn't hate him, even though I wanted to. I didn't want to feel the things I was feeling.

"Kind?" he snorts. "You say that the Draiger is kind, but he held you captive and threatened to take your baby. How is that kind? He threatened to torture and then kill your mate. That's not kind at all. That is barbaric, which is the true nature of a Draig Dragon. Out-of-control misfits, the lot of them," he sneers.

"Let me think about this." I scrunch up my face for a moment, pretending to think things through. "So, he threatened to torture my mate in much the same way as you actually physically tortured him, General? Frankly, it wasn't the same at all. He merely made threats, whereas you actually tortured him. Who is truly barbaric here?"

Bastard!

"That was different," he splutters.

"Not different at all. It's exactly the same. He never intended to keep my baby. It was all a ruse to get me to talk."

"And did you? Tread carefully, female. The male was found on Mistveil, so I pretty much know the answer to that particular question already." He narrows his eyes.

"Not at first…no." I tell him about the events that unfolded after that. About Octane being injured. How I thought he was dead.

"Four Reds, you say, on Draig Island?"

"Yes," I state immediately.

He snorts like it's an absurd notion. "Are you sure?"

I sigh. "Of course I'm sure. They searched for us, but we got away to the cave. I told you this part already."

"Thing is, you never actually saw them, did you? And then the dragons you saw were very far away. Perhaps you were mistaken about them being Reds."

"I didn't have to see them. I recognized their voices, especially Titan's voice. It was him, Ranger, and Rocky. I am sure as sure can be."

He makes a noise that tells me he doesn't believe me. "So, Octane was injured, and you were detained. You said that they questioned you repeatedly?"

"Yes, they tied me to a chair without food and water," I tell him. "Much like you're doing to me right now."

"Let me guess, you folded." He lifts his brows. "Just like you folded today. You told them everything."

"No, I did not fold," I rasp, having to work hard to school my emotions.

"When did you tell the Draigers about the tunnel?" he asks, leaning forward and glaring at me.

"I didn't tell the Draigers, I told him. I told Octane."

"What else did you tell him?" his voice booms, his eyes are filled with disapproval. I don't need to see his face to know that's how he feels.

"Nothing else. I don't know anything of importance," I tell him, shrugging. "Why won't you believe that?"

He makes a noise that tells me he isn't buying it. He keeps making it, and it's grating on me. Why am I even bothering?

"What then?" he asks.

"I left willingly in order to protect Octane. It was time to go home." I sigh, licking my lips.

"At that stage, you hadn't given the exact location of the tunnel."

"That is correct." I clear my throat. "I'd told him of its existence and roughly where it was situated, but no details." I tell the general about the chopper ride and Octane chasing us down.

"He came after you. I thought you said he wasn't bonded to a human." He eyes me suspiciously. "This part of your story doesn't make any sense. If he came after you, there would have been a human with him to control him. There would have been a rider. That's normal for a Draig Dragon. Did you forget, female?" It sounds like he's smiling, but I can't tell for sure. He seems happy to have caught me in a lie.

"Octane is in control in his dragon form," I state simply. "Therefore, he did not need a human rider."

I see confusion in the general's eyes. "That can't be."

"It's true, I assure you. Octane is controlled. He insisted on helping me off the island himself."

"Of course he did," he snorts. "He wanted to know where the tunnel was located before you left. It was in his best interests to do so." His voice is cold and stern.

"You're wrong." I don't harp on about it because I know I'm wasting my breath. I tell him about Igor and the others arriving, catching us off guard. I don't go into too much detail about what we were doing at the time.

"So, the Red Dragons took you back to Mistveil, leaving Octane alive. That doesn't sound right." His voice is gruff. "This story of yours has holes."

"They wanted to kill Octane. I had to promise to mate with Igor. To be a willing bed partner." Again, I don't go into all of the sordid details. "Only then did he agree to let Octane live."

"Igor is the father of your child? Is that right? You thought that he had died. That's why you were so vulnerable when the Draig seduced you."

I frown. "That's not it at all. Igor and I were not together when he disappeared." I shake my head.

"This Igor lied about using a condom, and you were upset?"

"Yes." There was more to it, but I don't want to rehash all of it again. "We've been over this part." I'm starting to sound frustrated. Maybe this wasn't a good idea. It feels like all my words are being twisted.

"Right." He taps the side of his mask. "What happened when you got back to the house?"

"Bad things," I mutter, feeling the blood drain from my face.

"You will need to expand on that."

"Igor wanted me to make good on my promises almost as soon as we got home." My tone is hollow, which is how I feel inside just thinking about it.

"He wanted to mate with you?" He leans forward, placing his elbows on the table.

"No. He wanted me to give him a blowjob. I explained very carefully to Igor that I had lied to save Octane. That I didn't want to be with him in any capacity. That I didn't want to mate with him or have sex with him. I made it very clear that a blowjob was out of the question."

"What then?"

"He didn't take it well." I chew on my lip for a few moments. "He hit me. He pushed me onto my knees." My voice hitches.

"What did you do? Did you end up conceding?"

"I got him onto the bed. I begged him not to force me. I told him it was rape, but he didn't care. He threatened to punch and kick me in the stomach. He threatened to kill our unborn child." My voice is small. "And so—"

"General! General!" There is a commotion from the hallway.

His head snaps up. "What is it? Can't you see that I am in an interview?" he barks at the guard who just blustered in behind me.

"The prince…your brother…Prince Ice!" he shouts. His mask is skewed, and he is breathing heavily.

"Spit it out already. And this had better be important." The general gets to his feet.

"The prisoner…the Draiger has taken Prince Ice hostage." The male gestures with his hands as he talks. "The Draig Dragon is demanding that we take the female to him. He is threatening to slice Prince Ice's throat if we don't comply. What should we do?" his eyes are huge behind the mask. He can barely stand still.

The general hits the table so hard that it cracks. My heart is pounding so loudly that I hear it ringing in my ears. What now? How can this ever end well? I clutch my trembling hands together, hearing my shackles rattle.

I need to trust in Octane. I'm sure he has a plan.