Dangerous Territory

Twenty Five

She was burning up.

A combination of the stress, excitement and recent bite had ended up sending Mala into a mating haze- and if she was in one, that meant that Auden was too.

It was bad.

It could have been hours or it could have been days but staring at a white wall while your body burned and leaked and shivered was a key way to lose all perception of time.

Tanya was in the room with her now, saying something that she couldn't be bothered to listen to.

She didn't even notice when the woman came in since all her focus was directed inwards to the bond, that strong, golden chord that said her mate wasn't far away.

Mating hazes were reserved for shifters that had either met their true mate and had one too many cases of the blue balls, or those that had received the bite, but hadn't consummated the bond through intercourse. It was nature's backward way of telling a compatible couple that it was prime time to reproduce.

While Auden wasn't with her, she was an unsteady, heated mess, highly sluggish and highly emotional, but she knew the moment he walked through the doors, it would be all systems go.

Of course, he wasn't going to walk through the doors to her room. Wellington had made it clear that they'd never see each other again and she had no reason to disbelieve him.

She wondered if she'd ever be let out.

They'd put her in one of those rooms. The one with the glass and the double bed and the separate bathroom that was so small it was almost unusable.

From the inside it felt like being in a display case or a museum exhibition stand, a cage even.

She wondered how her mate was faring.

She wondered what the prison had told her father. If they'd told him.

She wondered if Cameron had gotten the message.

Tanya was still there, notebook in hand, staring at her with a sad expression.

"What did you say?" Mala finally pushed out, gaging that the human woman would leave if she got the questions over and done with.

Her voice was slightly slurred and she was beginning to feel tired enough to slip into a coma, her body trying to conserve all her energy for a mating that wasn't to happen.

"I heard about the mark." Tanya said, placing the notebook down on her lap.

There was no point in putting up a placating façade anymore. She had nothing much left to lose. "And what? You want me to tell you how to get marked so that you can enlighten Zoe? Give it up already."

Tanya audibly swallowed, "I'm not surprised you know about Zoe." She said, sounding nauseous. "But that's not what I was going to ask."

"What is it then?" She snapped with the last of her energy, "Because I'd appreciate it if you'd leave me alone right now. I don't have time for this."

The truth was, she had plenty of time. For all she knew, she'd either live pitifully and die in this room or they'd murder her in the next few days. In the meanwhile, she had lots of empty time and nothing to do with it.

"You can't live without your mate, can you?"

Mala sighed.

Tanya took her simple response as the answer. "And because he marked you..." The lady paused. "You did all of this behind my back but I can't really blame you-"