“She was in her late twenties or early thirties, reddish-blonde hair, probably five-foot-five or six. She was a bit dirty and had some good bruising around her cheek and on her arms and legs, but otherwise seems healthy. She wasn’t tied down or anything—she was sitting on a shitty cot they had for her to sleep on.”
It was Abi. That was where she was being held. I breathed out a sigh of relief and leaned over to rub Maddy’s back. She looked relieved but still worried.
“She did have what looked like a LoJack on her left ankle,” Marcus said.
“A what?” Maddy asked.
Sebastian piped up. “A LoJack. It’s an ankle monitor. Basically a GPS so you can find where someone is. They use them on guys who are on limited-release probation. So the cops know where they are at all times.”
“Right,” Marcus said. “They want to keep track of her if she does manage to escape. Hey, let me hand you off to Darren. He heard something you need to hear.”
The phone changed hands. A different, slightly deeper voice took over. “Yeah, so I was scoping out the living room upstairs while Marcus was in the attic. I heard these guys saying something about the girl in the basement. They said they wanted to move her to ‘the other house, so they’d all be in the same place for thebig night.’ I’m not sure what they mean by that, but it sounds like she’s getting moved soon.”
“Is there anything else you can tell us?” I asked, hoping for as much information as possible.
“We did see about six guys in that house. All of them were armed. Other than that, we told you everything,” Darren said.
Six men to keep one girl prisoner. They were probably well-trained and armed. I chewed at my lip for a second, contemplating that scenario. “Thank you. You guys lay low for now. I’ll text Luis when we have a plan.”
Once the phone was hung up, Sebastian was the first to speak. “We need to move. Now.”
I held up a hand. “Hang on. We need to talk about this first.”
“No way. You heard them. They’re gonna move Abi somewhere else. They’re probably moving her to where Maddy’s parents are, and that will consolidate their forces. It’ll be easier to break one person out. Why not move in right now?”
“Because,” Felipe said, “all we have there is Luis and two reptile shifters versus six armed guards. You want Luis to go inwith a couple of guys who can turn into fucking geckos or some shit?”
“He’s right,” I said. Sebastian needed to understand what was at stake here. “We can’t get there, and I don’t have any favors to call in where they are. I’m not going to get Luis and those two guys killed. Not when we still have some time to come up with a plan. Besides, they still need to check the second safe house.”
Sebastian looked upset, but he slumped back in his chair and shook his head. I could see he was mad and that he really wanted to be able to try and save Abi. I was glad that he was fighting for her, but this was too precarious to go off half-cocked.
Grabbing my phone again, I started typing and said,“I’m going to tell Luis to head to the other safe house. They can get there in a day or two if they go now.”
“We should fucking go in now,” Sebastian hissed under his breath, staring out the window. He really was pissed. I couldn’t believe he was pushing me so hard on this. Sebastian was usually the easiest going of all my friends.
Without looking up from my phone, I shook my head sadly. “I know, man. I totally understand, but we have to do this the right way.” After my message was sent, I looked at Sebastian, locking eyes with him so he’d be sure to get my full meaning. “We need to know the layout of the other house. Once we get that, we can formulate a plan that can be put into place. Synchronize and go in at once. Do you want to get in there and save Abi, only to tip off the royals? If we get Abi, they might kill Maddy’s parents.”
Sebastian paled and looked like he was going to be sick. “I didn’t think about that. Sorry, you’re right.”
I nodded at him, smiling sadly. “We’ll save her. I promise, but we have to be smart about it.”
Maddy hadn’t said much. As I glanced over, I saw her left hand under the desk. Her fingers were changing from claws back to human fingers. I grinned. She was controlling it. If she could control that, then she really was getting close. Maddy caught my gaze, and the determination in her eyes almost startled me. It scared me. As much as I hated it, I knew there was nothing that would stop Maddy from getting her family back. She was hell-bent on not being a fragile princess or a damsel in distress. She wanted to fight. I had to make sure I was ready for that. I’d be damned sure.
62
MADDY
The next few days would only add to my anxiety. I was sure of it. Waiting the hour for Luis to give us an update had been bad enough. Now we had to wait for them to travel to the next safe house. Then we’d have to redo what had just happened. I was not looking forward to that. After everyone had left, and the house was empty, I decided I needed to get my mind off it by practicing my partial shift.
Nico came down from his office a few minutes after everyone was gone and found me sitting in the living room staring at my hand.
“What are you doing?” he asked as he plopped down on the couch.
My fingers turned to claws, then back to my fingers. I’d been able to do that consistently since first doing it out by the creek, but I wanted to go further. I shook my hand and glanced at Nico. “Working on shifting.”
He gave me an appreciative smile. “You’re doing really great. I saw you doing that in the office earlier. What do you want to try next?”
“Well, I want to do my whole hand.”
