Before Sabrina could open her mouth, she felt a gentle breeze brush against her skin. Normally, she’d jump away and try to figure out what was going on, but a sense of calm and trust came over her like she could tell Neena anything, without fear.
She shook her head to try to break the feeling, but the sense of calmness only increased to the point where Sabrina was as languid as if she’d had three orgasms and an hour-long hot bath. She frowned and said, “What did you do to me?”
Neena smiled. “Don’t worry, my dears, it’ll wear off soon. But I’m on a tight schedule and this is the easiest way to speed things along. You’ll both thank me later.” She lowered her hands and took out a pastry. “Now, tell us about your employer.”
Sabrina didn’t feel compelled to say anything, but the false sense of trust loosened her usual secretive nature and the truth just spilled out. “I’m working undercover for the Feiru Liaison office in Mexico City.”
From the corner of her eye, she saw Jorge shake his head, as if to knock away whatever Neena Chatterjee had done to them. “But that means...”
His voice trailed off, and Sabrina decided to bite the bullet and tell him the truth. “I’m human.”
Jorge wasn’t sure how to reply to Sabrina’s confession. He felt a little betrayed and somewhat concerned, but he could barely frown because of what Neena Chatterjee had done to him. Standing up was a chore. Arguing would take too much energy.
But if nothing else, he could make his voice work and ask questions. He needed to hear a hell of lot more from Sabrina to believe what she’d just told him. “You’ve been human this whole time? How is that possible? The Fed League does blood tests to ensure everyone who joins is at least half-Feiru.”
Sabrina squared her shoulders. Considering she was a weak human in a room with a Shadow-Shifter and a who-the-hell-knew-what crazy magic user, she was brave. He nearly whispered, “Good girl,” but then he remembered what she’d just said and waited for her to explain.
He didn’t have to wait long.
“I’m not about to spill all of the Feiru Liaison office’s secrets, but we’ve found a way around the blood tests. I underwent the necessary treatment, and I passed without a hitch.”
His first objection answered, Jorge realized the enormity of her confession. He managed to take a step toward her, but he faltered and barely managed to keep from falling over. “You were already in the Fed League when I joined. Just how long have you been undercover? Has everything been a lie?”
“It’s been about two years. But no, not everything has been a lie.” She darted a glance to Neena—who was chomping on a pastry of all things—and then back to him. Her voice was low when she said, “I hate causing people harm, let alone like participating in assignments that result in deaths. But your friendship was the one thing I never regretted. You helped to keep me sane, Jorge Salazar, and I hope you won’t hate me for keeping this from you.”
He hadn’t expected that confession.
He ran a hand through his hair and said, “I can’t deal with all of this right now.” He pointed a finger at Neena. “Stop eating that damn pastry and tell me why you’re doing all of this. You seem to have more information than me or Sabrina about Watkins, the Fed League, and even the Feiru Liaison officers. So why the hell aren’t you doing all of this yourself? Is this just a game to you? Because let me tell you, this is our fucking lives, and I, for one, don’t like people playing with them.”
Neena chewed the last bit of pastry in her mouth and brushed the crumbs from her hands. “I know you had a rough time of it with the Collector, but you’re going to have to work on those manners of yours. You can be alpha and pushy all you like with anyone else, but you’ll soon learn that I won’t tolerate it.”
He growled. “Manners? What the hell do they matter? Being nice is what ended up getting me fucked up in the first place.”
Neena sniffed and looked toward Sabrina. “I’m not sure how you straight women deal with men. Frankly, they’re too much work.”
Sabrina’s mouth dropped, but Jorge didn’t care about whether Neena preferred men or women. He was tired of the lies and answer dodging.
He stumbled over to Neena and grabbed her arm. Before he knew what was going on, he felt a prick in his side and the room started to spin. “What the hell?”
He fell to his knees and then tumbled to the carpet. Neena’s voice was faint when she replied. “You’re going to take a little nap while I talk with Sabrina here. I’m sure she can have a rational conversation without needing to bang her fists against her chest like a caveman.”
Sabrina’s face came into view. “Jorge?” She put a hand on his cheek and her touch helped to ease his anger. “What did you do to him?”
“Don’t worry, he’ll be fine. The nap will actually do him some good.”
He tried to reach a hand to touch Sabrina’s thigh next to him, but he lacked the strength to move. The last thought he had before he blacked out was that Sabrina was going to be left alone with the crazy woman, and he wouldn’t be able to protect her.
Sabrina caressed Jorge’s cheek, but he didn’t respond. He was out cold.
Anger welled up inside her at what Neena had done to Jorge. She’d been too sluggish to stop Neena from injecting him with some type of drug, and now he lay on the floor, helpless. She’d just have to protect him until he woke up. He might be angry at her for keeping secrets, but the look he’d given her right before he’d passed out told her volumes about how much he didn’t hate her.
Despite learning she was human, he still might even want her.
However, she’d never get the chance to talk with him about it if they both ended up dead.
She tried to think of how she could trick the woman behind her. Because of her fear for Jorge’s safety or her anger for Neena attacking him, Sabrina had no idea, but whatever Neena had done to her earlier was starting to wear off. The best she could do was pretend to still be under the effects of the woman’s magic and find a way to restrain her.
She still had the gun gripped in her right hand. If she could just knock the woman unconscious, she could tie her up and get answers that way.