Bound by Magic (The Baine Chronicles #2)(59)

But only if he thinks to look for you.

My heart sank at the realization. Iannis was leaving for the capital tomorrow – he likely wouldn’t even notice I was missing. Someone else might, like Annia or Captain Galling, and they might try to alert the Chief Mage, but how long would that take? He’d be on the other side of the continent by then.

“Any idea how long I’ve been here?”

“Since this morning. I watched them bring you in.” The tigress cocked her head. “I’m surprised you’re awake so soon. It usually takes a full twenty-four hours to recover from a full-strength injection of the serum.”

Huh. Well that was something. Maybe being a hybrid made me more resistant to some shifter-specific drugs. I could only hope that was the case, because I had a feeling they were going to dose me up again so they could toss me in the fighting ring. Otherwise they would have just killed me.

I patted down the length of my body as best I could with my shackled wrists, trying to determine whether or not my captors had left me with anything useful. But aside from the serapha charm, they’d stripped me of all my weapons and pouches. I wasn’t too concerned about my chakrams or my crescent knives – when the Chief Mage had recovered them for me, he’d spelled them so that they would return to me if lost or stolen. But this was the first time I’d been separated from my weapons since then, so I had no idea how long it would take for them to make their way back.

Rather than worry about something I had no control over, I turned my attention towards something I did. “Do you know if a young jaguar female was brought in here?” I asked the tigress. “Sometime in the last couple of days?”

“I think I remember seeing someone like her being dragged in. She hasn’t been taken out for any fights yet.”

Relief swept through me, and I sat up, mentally calling out for her. “Mika, can you hear me?” I shouted, projecting my voice to everyone in the room. “Mika, are you here?”

There were a lot of grunts and grumbles from the other shifters, who were evidently not happy with me shouting in their heads. But a female voice spoke in my head, small and hesitant, but clear.

“Yes, I’m Mika. Who’s calling for me?”

I nearly collapsed with relief. “It’s Sunaya. Sunaya Baine. I’m your mother’s cousin.”

“Oh!” I felt her joy for just a moment, and then she recoiled. “Wait. You’re the illegitimate one that the Chieftain kicked out, aren’t you? The one who turned out to be half-mage?”

“Are we really going to focus on that right now?”

“My mother’s said bad things about you, and that if I should ever cross paths with you to stay as far away as possible.”

“Yeah, well your mother also sent me here to rescue you,” I told her dryly. “So I think you can put the other mandate aside, for now.”

“I guess you’re right, Mika replied dubiously. “Although, how are you supposed to get us out of here if you’re stuck in a cage yourself?”

“I’m still working on that one.”

I mindspoke to Mika and the other shifters for a little while, trying to glean anything useful out of them, but I didn’t learn much. Because the shifters here were drugged so often, their memories were fuzzy and they couldn’t answer most of my questions. Even Mika, who hadn’t been in any fights yet, had been given regular doses to keep her drowsy and relatively compliant.

With nothing constructive to do, I lay back down in my cell and catnapped, determined to conserve my strength. I would take the first opportunity I had to escape and hopefully free the others, but until then, with no food in my belly and no access to my magic, the only thing I could do was wait.

I wasn’t certain how long I lay in the dark, but when the sound of a garage door opening woke me, I realized that I’d fallen asleep at some point. Sitting up, I watched about twenty men stride into the room through the open doorway. Beyond them, I could see a huge truck parked just outside, the back doors opened, and I knew they were here to take some of us to the Royale. My entire body stiffened as I caught sight of Warin Danrian, who was bringing up the rear.

“You bastard,” I hissed as he sauntered up to me, looking awfully smug. “You won’t get away with this.”

“Oh, but I already have.” Sneering, Danrian crouched down in front of my cage so he could meet me at eye level. Behind him, the other men were moving the cages out of the room, “You may have shut down the bank, but our operation extends far beyond Sandin Federal. I may not be able to continue the Shifter Royale in Canalo thanks to your antics, but believe you me, our plan is well underway. You may as well forget about being rescued by those mages you hang out with – soon they’ll be too buried under their own troubles to spare you a thought.”

“‘Our’ plan?” I spat. “So I was right – you’re in league with the Benefactor, aren’t you?”

Danrian’s eyes narrowed. “So Petros Yantz did tell you about the Benefactor,” he said. “I always knew his lips flapped a little too much.”

“Is there a f*cking roster somewhere listing out all the members of Club Benefactor, and do you all get together once a month for tea or something?” I demanded. “Because that would be really helpful.”

Danrian laughed. “Even if there was, it wouldn’t be much use to you after you’re dead. Surely you must know you’re going to fight tonight.”