Lonely Monsters

twenty-seven

"Imigawa. As in....Mercedes Imigawa," and back into play I went.

"Cousin. On her father's side." Linden replied, "We don't run in the same circles. Like I said, I heard about you via grape vine."

His empty wine glass was taken and he squared his shoulders to sit in his chair properly. "As I was saying... A clean slate. No more red in your ledger, and enough political weight to keep you out of people's gossip."

"No more talk about being bound to an Alpha?" I asked, treading carefully. "This sounds very..." I bit back a few choice swears, "Too good too be true."

"I'm a man of my word." Linden made a motion over his heart, "If I can't give you one, we can make you disappear," I narrowed my eyes at him, "To the country of your choosing."

There had to be catch.

"What are the perimeters."

"Mhmm?"

"What's the catch."

"Getting to that. An associate of mine, is an Alpha to be." Linden motioned to the warriors. "She is marrying into a powerful family, and because of that, she has a made a few enemies. She over stepped her bounds, and some other parties think she is too big of a liability to be a political figure."

"And what did miss Alpha to be do? Kiss another family's heir? Look too longingly at a cute guy?" I rolled my eyes.

"She ordered a raid on a facility that did human and meta-human experimentation without the proper channels consent. Thirty warriors and healers volunteered without permission from their superiors." Linden said bluntly, "They figured, if she was able to rally that man people in a matter of hours, she would be too powerful to handle if she scrambled a force given days."

I blinked. I looked at the four that had tried to get me out my room. "And they are...?"

"From the families that aligned with her and her Fiancee."

Thirty warriors just like them. Ready to stand up in a matter of hours.

"She's that powerful?"

"Charismatic, I would say," Linden nodded, "We gained word some plot to assassinate her is in the works. One of her betas was maimed, and the only evidence... was a smearing of black blood."

He motioned to me.

"And only Dusks bleed black." I pinched the bridge of my nose. A small ache was working at the junction of my brow. I closed my eyes and spoke further, "Then couldn't I give some blood and someone compare the DNA."

I opened my eyes, to find Linden leaning forward with his hands steepled. "The hemoglobin weren't able to be preserved, so they went through a list of names. There are literally only a few dozen stable Dusks. You, are one of the few that aren't in familial units, or mated."

"....Miss Rogue Asset." Hawthorne snickered from down the table. I turned to glare at him, he snickered over the stein of dark amber liquid.

I looked at my plate, picking up the fork to poke at it further.

"Then if I help you... How exactly does that help me?" I perked a brow to look at him. "How do I know this won't be another game, and when it falls through you won't just skip town."

"Because just talking to you is putting my life in your hands," Linden grinned at me, "It took alot to pull off this... and since I'm not anyone's Beta, or a rank near, this is completely above my paygrade--"