Mattheus wanted to say something.
He kept shooting Mala meaningful looks from across the room whenever he caught her eye, looking at her and then Tanya as if she could do something to make the woman leave the room.
They never got a chance to talk in the end, and before she knew it she was back at the university for another day of classes and soon after that, making her way home.
The day had gone by so fast, leaving hardly a moment for her to collect her thoughts.
Jon had told her to hold on to the pictures so they were safely tucked away in her purse, away from the eyes of anyone who would want to find and destroy them. Her immediate thought was to go to the police with them but Jon had quickly put a halt to that.
They didn't know what they were up against for one.
If Wellington truly was behind it, he had done a good job so far of making sure that anyone who tried to vouch for Auden's freedom was killed or scared into silence.
A trend had emerged.
If they were a shifter- a prompt death.
If they were a human- scared with the threat of death. That was usually enough to ensure their silence without any other drastic measures.
The only human who had met a grisly end had been Auden's mother. She had mated a shifter, making her just as bad as them.
The only shifters who had been spared were Auden and Blake. They were forced to suffer because of the acquitted actions of their parents, put in a place that was only marginally better than death.
So, considering all of this, the general consensus was that it was better Jon and Mala to wait. She didn't know how long she was willing to wait for since her patience was wearing thin. There was only so long she could stay passive before she would feel obliged to do something.
Jon needed to fill her in on a plan of action and soon.
Time ebbed away and she couldn't get her mind off the pictures. It was like they were burning a hole in her purse but she didn't dare take them out in case Tanya walked in the house.
It was reaching midnight and the woman still wasn't home, something that was incredibly out of the norm. Usually Tanya didn't go anywhere without letting Mala know either where she'd be, or what time she'd be home.
Sleep evaded Mala, worry causing her to wait up in the living room for the human's return.
Concerning Tanya and Zoe, she still didn't know where they stood. From what she could gather, it seemed like their testing was separate from the penitentiary's- something private between the two of them.
Either way, it had to stop and she would speak to Blake or Auden about it as soon as she could to find out what they knew about it.
There was a scuffling at the apartment door, the sound of jangling keys and the lock being turned. It caught Mala off guard, propelling her to jump up and race to it, upset that she hadn't noticed the noise beforehand.
She opened the door to be assaulted by the stench of alcohol and stale vomit, an unconscious yet still inebriated Tanya being carried by a human lady who had a shaved head and angry red lips.
She shoved past Mala and carried Tanya to the couch, wheezing with the effort it took to roll her friend into a comfortable position.
"Is she okay?" Mala asked, not knowing what else to say when the woman turned back to face her.
Her response was a disgusted sneer and her question being ignored.
"Tanya's rooming with a shifter? Gosh, no wonder she wanted to get blackout drunk."
Placing her hands on her hips, Mala narrowed her eyes and took a step forward. "Yeah, thanks for the smart observation. You can leave now."
Although the human flinched at her movement, she didn't stop spewing her hate. "You wouldn't believe how much Tanya hates your kind." She said smugly, as if the thought of hurting Mala's feelings was her greatest joy. "Dirty animal. You should be locked up with the rest of them."
Consequences be damned, Mala couldn't find it in her to care anymore and in a split second she had her hand wrapped around the human's throat, just firm enough to scare her without choking the breath out her lungs, "what do you know about being locked up, huh? Been listening into things that you shouldn't have?"
The lady gulped, terror flashing through her eyes as she went dead still. "Nothing. I know nothing." Her eyes widened as the grip constricted and she was backtracking on her words. "Let me go and I'll tell you whatever you want to know. Please, don't hurt me."
"I don't think animals listen to bargaining." She tightened her grip an iota more and the woman's legs shook. "Get talking or I'll tear you apart and eat the meat off your bones while you're still alive to feel it." She threw in a fangy smile to exaggerate her point, innate nature pushing her to teach the pathetic human a lesson.
The woman's eyes started rolling to the back of her head so Mala slapped a heavy hand across her face, the sting bringing her back into consciousness.
"I don't know anything! All I know is that her co-worker is in some cultish group and the prison she works at is doing tests on shifters. She tells me about the medical experiments as well and how much she enjoys them- that's it, I swear."
"Cult?"
The lady took Mala's grip loosening as encouragement and violently nodded her head, "yeah. Tanya tells me how the woman is obsessed with male shifters-"
"In what way? Like..."
"I don't know. Sexually or something. She wants them to throw her around like some sort of rag doll."
Mala could have laughed if she wasn't so keyed up.
Of all things, Zoe had to be one of those SHL crazies. Her interest in Henderson made much more sense now. He was big, gruff and a true embracer of his raw shifter dynamic. She probably had vivid delusions of the supremacist taking her for a wild and violent ride on his bed.
That was never going to happen.
"What about the other tests?"
"Just messing around with their bodies and brains to see what makes them shifters. Scientific stuff."
"I see."
The lady was shaking, "please let me go. I told you what you wanted to hear."
Mala released the woman and watched as she scrambled out of the door without a second glance back.
It was with sadness that she looked back down at Tanya. She had been starting to like the woman, only to find out that her feelings towards shifters were hatred rather than fear.
She needed to find somewhere to shift before her distress got the better of her.
With that in mind, she left the apartment into the dead of night, making sure to shut the door softly behind her.
---
"I got a hold of a guy who makes people disappear."
Mala was briefly confused at Mattheus' outburst. It hadn't been what she was expecting.
"What?" She looked between him and Jon for an explanation. "I thought we were going to use our evidence to get them out?" She said, stressing the word 'evidence' so that they knew what she was talking about.
Jon shook his head. "We decided it's too risky, even with the evidence. Wellington has been at this game for over ten years, we have no chance. We'll have more luck sticking with the original plan and breaking them out."
"Who's we?" Mala shot back, feeling like she had been left out of the loop. "And how do we know that the evidence isn't enough?"
Jon regarded her tiredly, looking like he thought she was overreacting, "the SRLP tracked down a guy who gets shifters out of prison. He's charging about ten grand, give or take, but I think he's worth using so I got in contact with him. This guy's a professional and'll do all the hard work for us."
A sickly feeling was forming in Mala's stomach. She didn't feel good about his proposition at all.
"But we could do this the legal way." She argued. "Go to court or something. All we need is a couple more days to gather a bit more evidence, if anything, and-"
"In a couple days, you and your mate could be a hundred miles away from this place." Jon interrupted, face set resolutely. "What will going to court do? Give us six months of wasted time until Wellington accuses us of doctoring the photos- and then what? We lose everything."
"We have a chance. I'm sure of it." She pleaded with him, willing for the man to understand her point. "At least this way, we can actually have a normal life. Once your contact breaks everyone out, there's no going back. Think about it!"
Jon scowled, "listen. You're either in or out. Drop out now and I'm sorry, but you can't know anything else."
She had two seconds to decide if she would join him.
"I'm sorry I can't do it." She made up her mind, praying that she had done the right thing. "If you get out this way, that only means a lifetime of running away from the authorities. I'm going to try this the legal way and get Auden the proper freedom he deserves."
Jon nodded, face relaxing. Mala understood the look as resignation, hearing the goodbye as it made its way out of his throat.
This was it then.
"Good luck, Mala. I hope it works out for you."
"You too. Thanks for everything."
The room descended into silence and Mala realised that, once again, she was alone.
She had to formulate a plan to have Auden's freedom in the next few days before Jon and Blake escaped, otherwise she knew her opportunity would be lost.