soon.”
“Okay. I love you, Zain,” my mate said, her eyes blinking furiously to stem the tears that threatened to rise.
I sent her consciousness back to her body then allowed my own to flow back into my vessel. Naima’s words should have elated me. She had never actually said those three words before. Despite the fear crippling her, my mate had meant them just now. However, she had spoken them thinking that this could be her last chance to do so. My woman didn’t think she would survive the night.
I felt my consciousness heavily fall back into my naked corporeal vessel, which I had put in stasis while hunting in the Mist. I jerked up into a seating position, but a wave of dizziness forced me to lie back down. It always took a few seconds for my soul to mesh again with my human body.
I grabbed some clothes, not bothering with underwear, and threw them on while accessing the camera feed of the base through Naima’s computer. The agents had done a good job locking down the living quarters section, the observatory, the offices, the cafeteria, and the gym. The Mist flooded the hallways along the cells where Naima and the others were trapped, the armory, the garage, and the four holding areas where the Beasts and Sparks had been detained for me to feed.
Darryl, wearing Tate’s appearance, was near the holding area, luring Beasts towards the cells. My blood turned to acid in my veins as I knew exactly what he intended to do.
I called Peters’ phone.
“Peters,” he answered.
“Darryl is going to try and break into the room,” I said without preamble. “I will try to slow him down, but you can’t stay there. Take my woman and the others into the tunnels leading to the exit. You know the maze, right?”
“Yes,” Peters responded.
“Good. Take them to one of the other holding cells, as far as possible from this one. Repeat as needed if he chases you. He won’t be able to take the pain of breaking through multiple doors.”
“The Nightmares?” the agent asked.
“Leave them. Moving them during the crossover might kill them,” I said, cursing inwardly that they hadn’t completed their birth.
Maybe if I could delay Darryl long enough, they might awaken in time.
But they will be too clumsy to control their new human vessels and deal with gravity.
My heart sank further at that depressing thought. I couldn’t say how effective Darryl was combatting in his ethereal form. But he had certainly mastered combat in a human vessel. Whereas it was the opposite for me.
I froze, struck by a sudden realization.
“Can you see the camera feeds?” I asked Peters.
“Yes, we have a laptop here,” he replied, thankfully keeping to the strict information of importance.
“I am in my room. I will come out in my ethereal form. As soon as I’m in front of the confinement wall, open it just long enough for me to get to the other side, then shut it down,” I ordered. “Open the path to the training room. That’s where I intend to fight Darryl. Once I get him there, send backup.”
“Understood.”
“Peters… Do not let any harm come to her,” I said with a barely veiled threat.
“I’ll protect her with my life.”
I didn’t answer and hung up before returning to lie down on my bed. I allowed my ethereal form to come out, leaving my human vessel behind. As a Transient that had not yet been bound to the Mortal Plane, it was an easy task. Remaining contained was normally the challenge. I glided to the door, opened it, and slipped into the hallway. Without the Mist to facilitate my movements, it felt a little like walking with heavy weights attached to my ankle—if I’d had any in this form.
As I closed the distance with the reinforced walls that blocked off access to the rest of the base, Peters activated it. It no sooner started rising up than the Mist greedily rushed in to invade this section of the hallway. I swiftly slid under the partially opened confinement wall, my speed aided by the fog. The moment I cleared it, the agent lowered it. The handful of Sparks and the Beast that I had spotted on the camera feed, greeted me on the other side. While the Beast had a sliver of awareness, it wouldn’t attack unless it felt threatened. Right now, I had no intention of stirring that pot.
Gliding at maximum speed, I raced down the hallway towards the holding cells. The pained