Dangerous Territory

Twenty

Another week passed, bringing nothing out of the ordinary.

Mala focused on building trust, doing what was required of her and leaving no room for error. She didn't try to communicate with her mate again. She was as cold and calculated as Tanya when they escorted him from his cell and he was as reticent and indifferent to her presence as she was to his.

It hurt a lot.

Sleeping at night was now a sad affair. She had taken to sleeping on the floor in half-form, her night-time control completely shot. If she dared try to sleep in human form, she would be shocked awake by the feeling of her transformation, barely able to pull herself together from the change. It was best to sleep in half-form and save herself the hassle.

Besides the trouble with sleeping, she would wake up, hounded by the knowledge that she had been dreaming during the night but unable to remember any of it.

At work, as well as dealing with Auden, she had also been helping to escort Blake. The two of them didn't talk either, out of a respect for protocol, but had still come to a type of silent agreement that they were on the same team. Mala didn't know exactly why Blake was putting that level of trust in her but she wasn't complaining.

She guessed that the lady could smell Jon on her, triggering something that would resonate as safe on an instinctual level.

Concerning Jon and Mattheus, it had been quiet on their end. There had been no new developments after the discovery that Auden's mother was their boss' ex-wife. Mala herself didn't know what to make of it.

There was no way that Wellington didn't know about his and Auden's relationship.

What were the chances that his ex-wife's son would end up in his penitentiary?

Slim.

Tanya was looking at her with a smile on her face, "the day has finally come, Mala." She said, handing over the things Mala would need to apprehend the inmate. "You'll be starting to take inmates to and from their cells and sit in on Zoe's sessions without me."

"Really?" She raised her eyebrows, surprised that she was now trusted enough to do the job alone. "What'll you be doing?"

"Believe it or not, we do a lot more than just sit in with Zoe." Tanya said. "I'll be taking Henderson down to medical to observe some tests."

"Okay." Mala responded, getting up from her seat. "Well, I'll be fine. You've taught me well."

Tanya's smile grew and she pointed a finger, "Just remember that the cameras are watching!"

If only she knew who's side the camera men were on.

"Got it."

Mala walked to Auden's cell at double speed, taking a bit of a different route than usual because he was currently being held in a different part of the facility. Since his particular cell was slightly further from Zoe's office than the last, she knew she had a leeway of about five minutes on top of the time it would usually take to bring him down and purposed to make the most of it.

There was no doubt that they were long overdue a private conversation.

When she got there, she quickly unlocked the cell and pushed inside, glaring down at her mate. He quickly looked behind her and then narrowed his eyes once he realised that she was the only one come to get him.

With a sneer, he lifted his hands out in front of him. "I'm holding myself together by a thread here so you should hurry up and get this over with."

Taking purposeful steps forward, she placed a palm on his chest and shoved him backwards until he was laying down and she was stood threateningly over him, legs outside of his.