Page 11 of Curvy Hostage Mate
“Yep,” I said. I paused, then added, “Technically, it was from underneath her guards’ noses, but the sentiment is the same.”
“Without consulting us, and without any sort of plan?” Nolan said.
“Pretty much.”
There came a long pause as Nolan and Trent processed the new information.
“Tell me,” Nolan finally said, “have you always had a death wish, or is that a recent development?”
“It wasn’t exactly planned,” I admitted.
“Recent development, then,” Nolan said with a frustrated sigh. “That at least explains why security has increased a hundredfold, and why all the guards and people who work for Cain are on edge all of a sudden.”
Apprehension prickled up my spine. I had known I’d jeopardized the mission. But it sounded like my actions might have had even more of a lasting impact than I had thought.
“What’s the status?” I asked.
“Not good,” Trent answered. “Cain’s not letting anyone in or out at the moment.”
“How is Morgan holding up?” Nolan asked. “She okay?”
I glanced at the closed door. “As much as she can be,” I hedged.
“Where are you?” Trent asked.
“One of the safehouses.”
“You should take her to Falcon’s Reach,” Nolan said. “She’ll be safe there, and Kendra will be ecstatic. She’ll stop giving us all evil glowers when we tell her we haven’t come up with anything to save her sister.”
I rubbed my face, trying to keep the creeping headache at bay. “I can’t,” I said. “If Cain finds out that we were involved, the first thing he’ll do is come to Falcon’s Reach. She’s safer out here in the wilderness.”
Nolan let out a puff of air. “It would have been easier if Kendra had made more of these.” His finger tapped their compact right where the camera might be. “At least then they could talk.”
And at least then, Morgan might believe me a bit more, I thought. I had considered showing her this device in the hope that she might recognize it as Kendra’s handiwork, but had decided against it. Right now, based on how things were going, it felt like trying to force her to believe me would only make things worse.
“How are things down there?” I grunted, trying not to think about the glares Morgan had kept shooting me.
“It’s a shitstorm,” Nolan said bluntly. “Cain’s livid and raised all hell when he found out Morgan’s missing. He’s basically razing the dark market, sending his cronies out at all hours searching every nook and cranny for her.”
“He’s blocked the portal and scouring every inch of the place,” Trent explained. “It won’t be too long until they find us. I doubt our disguises will last long.”
“Well, you know, if we’d planned this out ahead of time, we might not be in this mess,” Nolan pointed out in a singsong voice.
I let out a low growl of annoyance, and Nolan threw his hands up. “Hey, look, I’m not the one who decided to kidnap the woman Cain decided to make his mate. That one’s on you.”
I grit my teeth. “I couldn’t just stand by and let—”
“Yeah, yeah,” Trent cut me off with an almost dismissive flap of his hand. “We get it. You had to do it. I’m not interested in splitting hairs on whether that was a good decision or not. All I’m interested in right now is figuring out how to keep this fromgetting out of hand, or worse than it already is. This place is the worst.”
“Which is what Chris, Will, and I have been telling the rest of you since we got back,” Nolan said. “We need to take this place down. Brick by brick, if we have to.”
“There’s probably a simpler way,” Trent said. “But I’m more than happy to do that if it comes to it.”
“Okay, so you guys have a plan just yet?” I asked.
“Besides the vague ‘take this place down’ one we just gave? Nothing yet,” Nolan muttered. “But Cain hasn’t figured out who we are yet, so that’s something. I want us to stay down here and do some more recon. We can start undermining the operation while we’re here, and we can keep you updated on any search information that comes our way. Right now, he thinks Morgan’s still in the Underside. Slaves can’t portal out unless they’re with a shifter, so he’s assuming she’s bunkered down somewhere.”
I took a deep breath, closing my eyes. “That’s something. It’ll give us some time. Okay, keep me posted on everything. Let me know if there is anything I can do from here.”
