Deb staggered to her cot and collapsed, her eyes glued to the floor. “She keeps making excuses for why we can’t go after him.”
Knowing this window wouldn’t stay open long, I moved to sit beside her. “You don’t have to put up with this, you know. You’re in the perfect position to do something.
“At first she planned to kill you. It was after she discovered your secret and how she could use the information to control you that she enlisted your help, wasn’t it?” I hoped I was right. “From the beginning, you knew how wrong this all was.”
“Are you a witch?” Deb looked up, but kept her gaze diverted from mine.
“Sort of, but mostly just another women being held against her will. A woman in love with the wrong man, at the wrong time.” Yes. I’d die for Zane, I thought, but not if we could find a way to live.
I dove into her mind again and found a wounded, war-scarred woman ready for change, now resolved to helping me, but uncertain how.
Now was my chance.
“If you want out of this hellhole, here’s what we need to do …”
An hour later, we had our plan in order. I’d also learned some valuable information about the mating mark.
I needed to be outside, tonight, during the full moon.
It was then the mating magic would work. Proclaiming my love for Zane would seal our union. He had no choice in the matter, he was already marked. If he couldn’t forgive me later for my dishonesty, that was fine, we’d deal with it. Right now, we needed the added abilities that authentic, love-bonded mates received, like unlimited telepathy.
Granted, I already had the skill, but the distance between us was just too far to allow for any communication. I’d been trying with no success since my capture. Deb was worried that my human condition might keep me from gaining full powers. I felt certain it would work. I might be human, but I was also something more.
Besides, we had to try. I was running out of options.
It was my chance to connect with Zane and my team back home. Worst case scenario, I still had my cell phone.
When Deb entered her debriefing upstairs, she would convince Jazmine to let me out with the others. She’d tell Jazmine how terrified I was and that seeing the mutant masses howling together during a full moon would send me over the edge.
A full moon was the one time the compound was open for all the women at once. The special event meant a bonfire outside and a chance to run the grounds. Pent up mutants were difficult to keep under control. Jazmine was no fool. She knew she had to give a little to get a lot.
After the mating ritual, which could be completed quickly and quietly, I would reach telepathically for Zane, and then call out to Valamir, in hopes he still had me on his vampire radar, however that worked.
After all, if Alcuin was right, my blood was his obsession, and I needed someone to get Jazmine’s wig to Plum Beach and into the hands of Detective Davis or Officer Tate, fast, while keeping it far from Agent Green’s twisted agenda. I still didn’t know the agent’s role in all this, but it wasn’t to help our cause. It was obvious that he was in Plum Beach to thwart the murder investigations.
A few minutes later, the door clanked open, revealing a smiling Connie and Dillon. Turning to face Deb, he put on a more formal face. “You ready?”
Ignoring me as we’d discussed, Deb grabbed her belongings and bid Connie a brief farewell.
“Good riddance!” Connie barked at the closed door. “Now we can breathe.”
“At last,” I agreed, pacing the room as I prepared to share the plan.
Before I could say anything, Connie hurried to the third dresser and pushed it aside ¯ the scraping sound, like fingernails on a chalk board, was forgotten at the sight of an oversized ventilation shaft.
“Told you we could count on Dillon.” She grinned, her eyes twinkling with mischief. “Hope you’re not claustrophobic.”
Stunned to find a possible escape route so near, I rushed to crouch in front of the grated metal plate. “I don’t want to end up in some creepy boiler room.” I shivered, overcome with the heebie-jeebies.
“Where does it go?” I asked, peering inside.
Imagining myself belly down, army crawling through the shaft, wasn’t something I was eager to attempt, regardless