41. Cillian

Zeke eyed Briss with nothing but hostility as he clambered onto the back seat of the truck next to Zena. The night was cool, but the bodies all crammed together quickly made the atmosphere uncomfortable. As the truck trundled on its way along to the grim concrete world of Tange again, I spun around in my seat.

“Why was Matilda in danger then? I left her with her mate,” even though the very idea sounded bitter to my tongue.

“I don’t know, I was sent back out to the human border the instant you left. I came back last week as usual to report and noticed she wasn’t around.”

It was impossible to keep my face straight and voice calm. “So where was she then!”

Briss coloured pink, the first time I had seen anything fluster his usually placid, tanned face. “I heard…she was being kept in the cells. Well they’re old storge rooms but prisoners have been placed there in the past.”

“What the hell!” I shouted, slapping the dashboard, “I only left her there because I thought she wanted Tange! How the