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A total fucking lie, but hey, if it set the female at ease, she’d deal with Mari’s anger later.
“You know you’re kind of a terrible liar,” Mari grumbled, tapping her nose.
Thana shook her head. “No, I’m actually really good at it.”
She touched Mari’s shoulder. The three of them fled the FDR Vault, reappearing inside the safe house Savage had bought years earlier for victims of abuse he’d helped. The Boss of her Family ruled most of New York with an iron fist, controlling arms, drugs, and money in and out. They didn’t quite work on the right or left side of the law. Savage was a law unto himself. He controlled the shit of the world, keeping the truly bad and ugly under control. Gray. He works in the gray areas that sometimes bleed red. All right, a lot of times there's blood and death, but they control the fallout. Women, children, and the innocent were never used or put in danger.
“You are safe here. If you want to go somewhere specific, we can arrange it later. This place is secure. It’s not the Ritz by any stretch of the imagination,” Thana laughed, taking stock of the room. They didn’t keep lavish apartments for such, but they were clean and had at least one bedroom with two double beds, a dresser, a bathroom, and a small living room that opened to a kitchen.
If they needed to use one of the safe houses, it was because the injured being couldn’t travel. Shifters, vampires, and others were tough, healed quickly, and their metabolisms ensured that whatever injuries they sustained were little more than scratches in no time. Thana placed more than her fair share of poor fuckers in safe houses, knowing they’d be up and out with little to no scars to show for the battle they’d faced.
“The encounter down in the dungeon was different from what I expected,” Mari whispered.
Thana spun to face the young woman. “What do you mean?”
Mari dropped onto the bed farthest from Thana, trembling. She twisted her hands in her lap. “This isn’t the first time I’ve been captured.”
Severin’s head jerked back. It was the first sign he’d been listening. Thana twitched her hand, a warning for him to stay quiet.
“The first time was four years ago. My twin brother and I were both taken from a group home. We were seventeen then. We’d thought we were undefeatable, but we were wholly unprepared for what attacked us. They kept us for over a month, locked in separate rooms, then put us in a large common area with cots for beds. The first time I saw my brother again, he didn’t recognize me.” Mari’s breath shuddered out.
“Where is your brother now?” Thana couldn’t imagine a world without her twin brother, Thane. The pain and anguish on Mari’s face struck Thana to the soul.
“Pax. His name is Pax. They took him from the common room on the third day. I...haven’t seen him since, but he’s alive. I feel him.” She pressed her fist to her chest. “I search for him every day. He is what keeps me going, searching for him, knowing he’s out there and possibly in pain.”
“How did you get out?” Thana asked.
“The guards didn’t show up for our daily breakfast drop as usual. When lunch didn’t arrive, we all decided something must be wrong. By dinner, they still hadn’t arrived, and for us, that was more than concerning. They hadn’t given us enough food to survive for days without it. We didn’t have reserves stored inside us. We had water from the bathroom, but we didn’t know how long it would last. To keep panic from rising, we decided to work toward finding a way to escape.” Mari began to pace the small room.
Severin settled against the only dresser, his aura flaring hot. “How did you get out after they left but not when they were there?”
Thana fought the urge to scold him. “That’s a good question, Sev.”
“We all had the same goal...to get home to our families.”
Oh, she spoke a partial truth. Thana glanced at Severin, watching his reaction. His red eyes narrowed as he stayed silent. She didn’t mistake his silence for weakness. No, her male waited and watched.
“So, how exactly did you accomplish breaking out, may I ask?” Thana held Mari’s gaze, exerting a little pressure as she spoke.
Mari’s hands went to her temples. “Don’t you fucking dare use your powers on me.”
Thana pulled her power back. “I’m sorry, it’s instinctual, Mari. The unknown to us is like our Kryptonite.”
“The protective wards that kept us locked in, outside the actual locks, began to weaken. On the fifth day, we finally realized we could break down the door to the main room and found ourselves in what looked like an old hotel lobby mixed with a military hospital. The computers were turned off, and papers sat in trays as if they were waiting for the handlers to return. I went through them looking for information about Pax’s whereabouts, but I couldn’t find anything except the names of our handlers and their scents.”
“So you what, went to all the abandoned hotels looking for them?” Severin asked with clear disbelief.
“Obviously it wasn’t that easy. I’ve been more proactive.” Mari sat. She frowned as if the world rested on her shoulders.
“What do you mean by proactive?” Thana had a sneaking suspicion she knew what Mari meant.
“You know exactly what I’m saying, Thana dear.” Mari’s eyes flashed a suspicious gold.
“What are you, Mari, and don’t tell me you’re human. You might be humanish, but that’s not all that you are. If you tell us everything, we can protect you better, and even help you find your brother.” Thana thought reasoning with the other female would loosen her tongue before Severin removed Mari’s.
“Obviously, you know I’m not like you two, and I’m not completely normal. My father was unknown to us, but my mother said he was different. How different I don’t know, but she was human with a bit of witchery, for lack of a better term. She didn’t practice or anything like that, but she could see auras and felt connected to the Earth.” Mari looked away, then back at him.
“Hmm, a witchy woman who happens to have twins with a male that is something else. If I were to guess, I’d say the male was part shifter. I’d wager you and your brother were gifted the good from both of them,” Severin said bluntly.
