Captive: Hopeless

Chapter 34 - Subtility

Why did it feel like they were in a mob movie when Cat took a red marker and crossed out six of the thirty names on their list, one by one, starting with Linda Tolliver and following the list down?

"That worked better than I would have thought," Claudia murmured.

It was tough, lines were crossed, but sometimes collateral damage was necessary in battle, and this was perhaps the greatest war of all. Kay shifted in her chair.

"One of our spies reported that Megan paid an unofficial visit to Azera today," Cat said, and a frown creased Kay's brow.

"Why?" she asked, feeling the two women would not be very fond of each other.

"Carduran sent his daughter to talk some sense into Azera, get her to calm down and stop killing their allies," Adrian mocked, and they turned to face her. "Megan might even offer to investigate their close associates," she ventured, but the way she said it was more certainty than speculation.

There was a secret involving Adrian and Megan, one of those things people knew and never mentioned, leaving Kay in the dark.

"Why would Azera allow it?" Marcus asked reasonably.

The way he watched Adrian revealed that he didn't know all the facts either, and this made her feel a little better, although she could barely look at him. There was not as yet no time for them to speak, and although Kay unobtrusively avoided him, it would not work for long.

"Azera wants to stay on Carduran's good side, and she can't do this without him," the alpha female clarified, and it made sense.

"Megan is much more thorough and methodical. She won't be as easy to fool as Azera, and we will need to be very careful from now on," Adrian warned, and the certainty in her voice was enough for them.

"Azera will still search on her own; she trusts no one. We must ensure our hints are discovered by her and not Megan, preferably with enough leeway for Azera to act on her own discretion," Kay said with the same type of certainty that Adrian had of Megan's actions.

"This arrived in the mail today," Darius said with a small, satisfied smile as he placed a portable hard drive on the table.

"All the information on Linda Tolliver's computers is on this, and apparently, she didn't trust anyone either. There are things on here that pertain even to her best friends, Azera, and strangely enough, a few juicy facts about Megan and Carduran.

"Linda was concerned that once this was all over, Carduran and Megan might try to murder Azera," Marcus explained, and it sounded plausible.

"They need her now for her manpower and influence because the dark fae will not listen to a couple of vampires. Once the war is over and they are in power, they won't need Azera, and she will not need them. Paradise would not last long," Claudia said, writing something in her folder.

"Yes, but we won't allow Paradise to happen. I suggest we chip away at the foundations of this unholy union until it topples," Darius suggested. The determination in his eyes said clearly enough that he had no intention of losing this war.

Adrian glanced at him, and his eyes softened. They were having a silent conversation, and a small heartbroken smile tugged at the alpha female's lips. The suspicious sheen of moisture to her eyes.

Kay turned away, and she saw that the three other women were watching their alphas too, and they knew what caused the sadness that affected them, and it was making them unhappy too.

"How about we subtly influence Azera into thinking Carduran and Megan are turning on her?" Darcy suggested, and Kay shook her head.

"Azera knows that and that they won't dare do anything until the war is over. No, she does not trust them, and they do not trust her as a rule, but in this one thing, they are in accord. Neither party will do anything to jeopardize their one chance at ultimate power. We need to keep doing what we're doing and not openly meet with my... with Thane, as we pretend to keep our noses clean." Kay said, and they all nodded.

"With all the information on that drive, we can cause quite a lot of mischief, but we must be careful about it. We must make our actions appear random so that no one suspects we have Linda's hard drive; it might raise questions we could not answer."

***

Darius noticed that he was not the only one looking at Kay like a proud parent. The succubus had no idea how far she had evolved from the girl they rescued from that dungeon.

***

Sometimes she felt like her entire life, not just the part when she thought she was human, had been lived by someone else. Some other girl, and then the nightmares would come...

Only Cat knew how much time she spent in the gym. Late at night and sometimes until the early morning hours, training relentlessly and beating up punching bags to run from her dark memories and terrifying nightmares. She persisted until her body was too tired to dream and slept for a couple of hours.

She didn't sleep much as a rule and didn't seem to need to, but required at least three or four solid hours to function normally, which didn't always happen.

The others seemed to run well on four to five hours of sleep, but they went to their private rooms at around twelve and were rarely seen until about six—Cat called it 'private' time.

For Kay, it was a lot of time to spend alone. She could only watch so many movies, read so many books, and spend so much time on the internet before becoming restless and needing a physical outlet for her energy. Even so, she still could not turn off her night light or breathe in the enveloping darkness of a closed room.

The walls closed in on her, and she experienced an intense terror that made it feel like her heart would burst, and her lungs closed up, rendering her incapable of anything but mindless panic.

Ice-cold sweat broke out on her skin. Dread twisted in the pit of her stomach, and she'd hyperventilate. Adrenaline kicked through her veins, and she invariably found herself incapable of moving.

It was a secret she kept to herself. She did not want to see pity in the eyes of the others, not wanting them to understand how much Azera had emotionally crippled her.

PTSD, I guess. Newest Version ©2014-2023 All rights reserved. If you find this on any other platform but Wattpad under @CSDreamer, please report it. No part of this book may be copied or reposted without the author's permission.