Chapter 71

Chapter 71

“How do you want to do this, Kale?” came the bored question as Kale was forced to kneel there, watching as the little bastard that wasn’t leaving this house alive absently rolled a silver bullet between his gloved fingertips as he sent Ashley a pointed look.

“Just ask your fucking questions,” Kale bit out, grinding his jaw while he struggled to stay where he was as he watched Ashley slump over onto her side and curl into herself as her hands found her belly and-

He was going to fucking kill Vane.

“What would happen if I gave your mate silver?” Andrew asked, his gaze turning curious as he watched Ashley struggle to stop trembling.

“You don’t know?” Kale asked as he forced himself to look away from Ashley, knowing that he would fucking lose it if he didn’t.

“I mean, I could always find out,” Andrew said with a careless shrug, letting him know everything that he needed to know.

“And I could rip your fucking throat out,” Kale drawled, deciding that he was going to have to have a talk with the Sentinel doctor after this.

“You know, don’t you?” Andrew asked, sending him a curious look as he continued rolling the bullet between his fingertips while Kale struggled to ignore the pain tearing through his chest and side. He needed to shift, but he couldn’t risk something happening to Ashley, not with the men currently aiming their guns at her. As soon as they so much as fucking flinched, he would be on them, and they knew it judging by the way they kept their gazes locked on him.

“That I have a Sentinel to thank for your visit?” Kale asked, shifting his attention to the four men keeping their guns locked on them.

Occultus demons.

After his last encounter, Kale did some research, finding out everything that he could about demons that didn’t give off a scent or make a sound and was able to narrow it down to Occultus demons. They were rare, only the males were demons, and they preferred to live among humans since they were one of the very few demon species that mated with them. They were strong, efficient, and only had one real weakness.

Their females.

They’d do anything to protect them, which explained why they were here. Occultus demons hated shifters and didn’t give a flying fuck about money, which meant that they were being forced to help the little prick. He took in the four men standing in front of him, noting that they all had dark hair, two of them had matching gray eyes while the other two had green eyes, similar builds, and every single one of them looked pissed about being here.

“Sister?” Kale asked, noting the way their jaws clenched.

“My daughter,” the one holding the gun aimed at Ashley said while the other three nodded, their glares flickering in Andrew’s direction before turning resigned as they focused back on Ashley.

“Magnus?” Kale guessed, already knowing that it had to be the mysterious forum poster since there was no way in hell that Andrew and his father could have pulled off something like this on their own.

“His fucking lackey,”the man aiming the gun at Ashley bit out.

“And who is that?” Kale drawled, noting just how fucking pale Ashley was and-

Narrowed his eyes on her when she mouthed, “Shift.”

He was going to spank her ass after this, Kale decided, shifting his attention back to the demons, noting the smug look on Andrew’s face. God, he was going to enjoy wiping that look off the little prick’s face, he thought before glancing back at the problem at hand.

“You should know who it is since he carries your scent, asshole,” the demon aiming a gun at his chest said, making Kale frown as he tried to make sense out of what he was saying and…

Oh, shit.

“Joshua,” Kale said, swallowing hard only to end up glaring down at his mate again when she asked, “Who’s Joshua?”

“I believe that’s Ephraim’s son,” Andrew drawled as Kale noted the calculating look on the demon’s face standing across from him.

Chuckling, Andrew said, “Don’t waste your time. Who do you think set this all up?”

“Set what up?” Ashley asked, looking adorably confused as she struggled to sit up only to give up and drop back down on the kitchen floor with a groan as whatever they’d injected her with continued working its way through her system. He needed to fucking shift to get the silver out of his system so that he could give her blood, Kale thought, debating his options as he glanced from the demons whose blood would probably burn her before settling on the shifter.

“They’re hoping to auction us off,” Kale drawled, knowing that there was no way in hell that they had enough Occultus demons to pull this off and take everyone left at the compound by surprise, which meant…

“Well, not all of you,” Andrew said with a pointed look that Kale ignored as he shifted his attention back to the demons.

“Who was the asshole that I killed a few months ago?” Kale asked, needing to be sure of something before he made his next move.

“Aaron? The little prick thought that he actually had a chance with our sister.”

“Then I would say that you owe me,” Kale murmured absently as the sound of a car pulling into the driveway caught his attention.

“True, but we want our sister back.”

“Which is the only reason why you haven’t ripped the little prick’s throat out,” Kale said as a familiar scent caught his attention. “They’re never going to let her go.”

“Of course, we will,” Andrew said with an innocent smile that had the demon and his sons looking more determined to go through with this.

“But you knew that, didn’t you?” Kale murmured, listening as the newcomer took his time making his way to the house.

When the demons didn’t say anything, Kale nodded as he digested that information. “Why didn’t you split up and two of you go to the mansion?” Kale asked, knowing that if they sent in anyone else that the Pytes and shifters at the mansion would have sensed them coming a mile away.

Then again, they probably needed them for something else, Kale thought. “Who did you send to the prison?” he asked, knowing without a doubt that they would have taken care of the biggest threat first, the men.

“The twins,” the youngest of the brothers said, shrugging it off as his brother to his right added, “The mansion isn’t our problem,” making Andrew frown in confusion.

“But we are,” Kale murmured, knowing that they would have to have a coordinated effort to pull something like this off. He also knew that the demons in front of him didn’t give a flying fuck about any of it.

“You’re our best bet to get our sister back.”

“What the hell are you talking about?” Andrew demanded, getting to his feet as he shot nervous glances at the demons.

“Looks like they got a better offer,” Kale drawled as the front door opened and the last person that he wanted to see walked inside when the demon in front of him said, “Come in.”

Logan.