Justice shook his head. “There are many of us.” The male turned his head. “Get Destiny in here but keep Ted and Paul out. No humans. Species only.”
Tiger left. 880 stared deeply into the male’s gaze.
“You didn’t know there were more of us?” Justice asked.
It hurt to speak so 880 held up two fingers.
“You were kept away from our females except for one. Is that accurate?”
He nodded.
An emotion close to pain twisted the male’s features as he spoke. “There are many of us, 880. We were freed from Mercile cells. We are in control of our lives.”
880 tried to shift his arm but couldn’t since it was restrained. A soft growl burst from his lips. The other male noticed the movement and glanced up before meeting his gaze again.
“We’ll get those off you. We just didn’t know if you were dangerous or not. We didn’t want you to get hurt or to hurt us if you woke not knowing you aren’t amongst enemies.”
“The female?” He wanted to know where Alli was and what she’d done to him. “The two males?”
“I’m sorry.” The male leaned in closer. “Your mate was killed. We rescued the two males who were witness to it and they survived.” Anger deepened his voice. “We weren’t able to recover your mate’s body. I’m so sorry. It was gone by the time we located you and the other males held with you. The Mercile employees who would speak during interrogation said her body was removed and destroyed. They burned it.”
He knew his mate had died. “The technician.”
The other male drew back a little. “Dr. Allison?”
“Alli.” It hurt to get the words out, speaking hurt his throat, but he wanted to know about her.
“She is a human doctor who works for us. You were rescued some months ago and brought to us after you were in coma. After your mate was murdered you attacked the bars of your cell and it caused massive damage to your body. Even though your injuries healed, you wouldn’t wake.” He licked his lips and took a deep breath. “Dr. Allison didn’t mean any harm but she stole you from us. She believed you scenting another female would lure you from your deep sleep and perhaps pique your interest. We refused to allow it, concerned that you’d want the female whose scent you grew to know.
“She will be punished for taking you. We can’t condone the risk she took that our enemies would locate you. There are humans who hate us but we are safe from them here. She took you away from us, where we couldn’t protect you.”
880 tried to understand the information he’d been given. A lot of it didn’t make sense to him, the sketchy details overloaded his mind, and he still had a hard time grasping that his people had been liberated and so many had survived. Mercile no longer had them at their mercy. He was tempted to believe it was all a scheme to gain his trust for some new experiment but he refused to consider that males of his own kind would meekly submit to helping the vicious humans fool him. He stared into the other male’s steady gaze.
“Truth?”
“It’s all true.” Justice leaned in again. “I know what you must be thinking. This isn’t a game and they aren’t forcing me to lie to you. No female will suffer if I don’t say something they made me repeat. We are free and Mercile is no longer in control. Your hellish life as you knew it no longer exists.”
The approaching footsteps drew his attention and 880 turned to watch the male named Tiger enter the room, along with a new male with altered features. Both of them smiled at him as Justice backed away.
“Unlock him, Destiny.”
The new male hesitated, shooting 880 a dubious look.
“It is safe. He isn’t feral. We’ve been talking.”
“I am now called Destiny.” The male approached his bed cautiously and withdrew keys. “I will unlock your restraints. We mean you no harm.”
“He knows,” Justice stated. “Just set him free.”
The ankle cuffs were removed first and finally his arms were released. 880 attempted to sit but his body responded sluggishly. Justice and Destiny gripped his arms—he allowed it—as they helped him into an upright position. Tiger shoved pillows behind his back before they all withdrew a few feet to watch him.
“You have been sleeping for months.” Destiny spoke. “Your body needs to recover but you should be fine. We’ll get you on solid foods to help you quickly regain your full strength.”
880 lifted the blanket to stare down at his body. He could see his belly had shrunken, his skin tight over his bones, and he growled when he saw his dick. Something was taped to it and a tube trailed out of sight over one thigh. His head jerked up to shoot them an accusatory glare.