“I could lose my job!”
“Or you could lose your mother. Your choice.”
Dear Lord… “You know it’s not going to be easy to do that without getting caught, right? Most places have cameras.”
“Well, that’s where your special skills come into play. We not only know who you are, we knowwhatyou are,” he said in an ominous tone.
His implication stopped her words in her throat. Was he talking about her being a dragon shifter? How could he possibly know that?
“I—uh…I don’t know what you’re referring to.”
“Smart girl. You didn’t try to deny that you’re fairly unique. Not exactly one of a kind, but probably one of a tiny handful—your mother being one too.”
Oh crap. He knows our secret, but how?Her mother was the one who impressed upon her the need to keep their supernatural natures absolutely private. She wouldn’t have told anyone—unless maybe under torture…
“I demand to speak to my mother. Right fuckin’ now!”
“Oh, you want Mommy’s permission to talk about your powers?”
“Kind of, yeah.”
“Okay. We’ll put her on the phone, but only for a second. Not long enough to exchange any secret signals or anything.”
Secret signals?“What does that mean? We don’t have any secret signals.”
“That’s good. You won’t be chatting long enough to use them anyway.”
Kristine had heard of family members who’d picked a code word to indicate they were in trouble and to follow certain previously agreed-upon instructions. Such tactics were usually used with little kids. Right now she wished she and her mother had some kind of code in place. They’d have to set something up later,ifher mother came home.
“Honey?” Her mother’s voice came over the phone.
“Mom? Are you all right?”
“I’m okay,” she said, her voice trembling. “Do whatever they say. I’m afraid they’ll—”
Then the monster who had her mother came back on the phone. “See? She’s okay…for now. We’re watching your place. If we see cops or any kind of monitoring equipment entering the building, she’s toast.”
“But what if they’re here for someone else? There are a dozen apartments in the building!”
“Not my problem.” He ended the call.
Kristine slid to the floor and cried her eyes out.
