Nico and Luis both shared a look. I could see it dawning on them that Tiago and I were right. Nico smiled faintly. “This is good, though. It buys us a little more time. The governments will be hesitant to do anything if it looks like the crisis is winding down.”
The three of them talked it out more while I fell into my own thoughts. I couldn’t get the image of Gabriella out of my head. Sitting in her cell, staring at the wall in some zombie-like state. They probably had her drugged out of her mind to keep her pliant and consenting to their pokes and prods. Or was something else causing her to act that way? Something about the shifting drug they’d given her? It worried me. Something about it didn’t seem right. Finally, I sat forward and interrupted the conversation. “Can we tell where that video of Gabriella is from?”
Luis looked at me, blinking in confusion as his mind tried to catch up to what I was asking. “Uh… I think the locations on the file log. I can find it. Why?”
“Because we need to get her out of there. My birth mother, I mean. Gabriella. We can’t let that bitch keep her locked up like that.”
“How the hell are we going to do that?” Nico asked. “We all almost died the last time we infiltrated a royal stronghold. Who’s to say we’ll succeed again? We have to have a really good plan before we go in there. We aren’t Navy Seals, as much as I wish we were.”
“I think I can help with that,” Sinthy said as she came down the stairs.
We all turned to see the young woman coming toward us. She looked well-rested after settling in and taking a nap. Luis frowned at her. “What? How can you help us with that?”
Nico made an irritated face and glared at Luis like he was an idiot. Sinthy smiled and narrowed her eyes. “Um… I’m a witch?”
Luis’s face went red with embarrassment, and he gave a grudging nod. “Point taken.”
“I can teleport anywhere. If we have a location, I can get us there,” Sinthy explained. “The only problem would be if the area already has magical protections around it.”
“Do you think the royals have gone that far?” Tiago asked. “Could they have enlisted their own witches?”
Sinthy snorted a derisive laugh. “Zero chance. The royals have had enough dealings with witches to know they won’t work for them. My parents are a prime example. Any time they’ve used one of us for their personal gain, there’s always been a problem. Similar to the way the Jews who were forced to work in Nazi factories purposely sabotaged the things they were building. The royals would be too terrified to let a witch be in charge of security like that. They’d be too worried about some hidden back door they built into the spell to screw them over. Plus, they’re inherently afraid of us. They know that if we weren’t so rare, we would have already toppled their little shadow government.”
“What you’re saying is if we can get the location, you can sneak us in?” Nico asked.
Sinthy nodded. “I’m part of the pack now. Whatever my alpha commands, I will do.”
Nico sighed and raised a hand for her to stop. “Nope, this isn’t that kind of pack. We’re more like a family. I won’t ever command you to do something. I can ask, and you can agree or disagree. But I’m not some liege lord here.”
A glint formed in Sinthy’s eye, and she smiled as she pointed at him. “And that, my dear Nico, is why my mother said I would fit in here. In that case? Yes, I can get you in—of my own volition. But there’s no need for all of us to go. Get me the exact locale, and I can pop in, grab Maddy’s mother, and pop back out. Those assholes won’t know what the hell happened. In fact…” Sinthyshrugged and grinned. “I’d love to see the video when they see her vanish with me.”
“Hang on,” I said, feeling a little thrill of fear. “I don’t think it’s safe for you to go in there all by yourself.”
“Right,” Nico added. “If you get caught or hurt, how will we be able to help you?”
Sinthy gave Nico a withering glare. “I may look young, Nico, but I assure you I am older than I look. I am more than capable of completing this on my own.” Her face softened. “Though, if you truly want to be involved, one of you can go along as backup.”
“I’ll go.” The words were out of my mouth before I even realized I was going to speak.
Nico spun and gaped at me, fear and surprise written all over his face. “No way. Not happening.”
“She’s my mother, Nico. Why can’t I go?” I snarled. Was it because I was a woman? Was that it? If so, I might actually bite him. Not enough to draw blood but enough to let him know I was serious. My wolf growled.
“I know what you’re thinking,” Nico said, probably reading the feelings boiling in my mind. Being mated was great but being able to feel each other’s emotions was sometimes disconcerting. “This isn’t a male-female power thing. It’s about what’s in your veins.”
I looked at him dumbly for a moment, confused. Then Tiago laid a hand on my wrist. “He’s right, girl. You can’t give them more ammunition.”
Understanding washed over me, and I was suddenly ashamed of how I’d reacted. Nico, seeing my reaction, put a hand on my back. “They used your blood to make that poison. If they get you, they’d have more than enough to synthesize more. It’ll be enough for them to push everything over the edge. We can’t give them that chance. It needs to be me. I’ll go.”
I couldn’t argue with what they were saying. I looked down at my hands and the tiny blue veins running under the surface of my skin—all that pain and danger right there beneath my skin. It was like my body had betrayed me. Until this was over, I had to be even more careful not to let the royals catch me. Because now it wasn’t just my life on the line, but those of every shifter on earth. The responsibility was like a crushing weight that made it hard to breathe.
Sinthy gestured to Nico. “Are you sure? Again, I truly think I’m more than capable of doing this alone. But if you insist, we can leave anytime.”
Nico nodded. “I’m sure. Luis, can you double-check her location?”
“Yeah. I’ll make sure the newest upload shows her in the same lab. Come on.”
We all got up and followed Luis and Nico back to the office. Luis pulled up the feed from Gabriella’s room. The newest clip had been auto-saved less than ten minutes ago. Luis pointed at the numbers and letters at the bottom of the screen. “She’s still there. These symbols must be the location of the lab.”
