Showed their hand

It was now ten pm, so Martha said tonight was about resting up to rise at five am to begin unbinding Aubrianne's powers and training with magic.

Martha had prepared dinner for everyone, and they had stored their takeout for the next day, not wanting her hard work to go to waste.

They really did not expect her to cater to the twenty-eight of them in total, bodyguards included.

Nevertheless, Aubrianne had stuffed her face, absorbing the spread before her- pork chops with creamy parmesan sauce, creamy salmon linguine, mashed potatoes, white rice, stir-fried vegetables, and pepper steak squash.

A little of everything, a few portions heftier than others, Aubrianne had eaten her belly full. Now she wanted a nice bath and to call her mate and go to sleep.

Martha had mentioned she sent her kids away and had told them her younger ones had been sent away to a safe place, given the heat that is on Aubrianne right now.

Jada's brother Jadon Wilson is nineteen, and her sister Janiah Wilson is fifteen. Martha had shown them to their rooms while one team set up for the first watch.

"Talk to me, hun," Jada spoke as they entered her room. They were bunking in Jada's old room. Aubrianne was busying herself with looking around.

She walked to the dresser and picked off a picture stuck in the crease of the mirror and the frame. It was Jada at her high school prom. "How adorable," Aubrianne said, ignoring Jada's words.

"Ignoring things would not make them go away, Aubrianne." Jada eyed Aubrianne, knowing precisely what she was doing.

Aubrianne straightened from her inspection of more photos of a younger Jada. "Clearly not," Aubrianne said while eyeing Jada pointedly.

"You know what I meant," Jada said with a pointed look of her own. Aubrianne sighed, not having the energy for a staring contest.

"I know, things just went from zero to one hundred just like that. And these people are after me." Aubrianne snapped her fingers at 'that.'

She says, a bit exasperated at everything, that her life is in danger. She was ready to throw her support behind her mate before this. But for Aubrianne, they just made it personal in more ways than one.

As soon as she succeeded in her training, they would all rally in Zayne's community till this entity was stopped. There was no going to work every day like normal for her now.

So she would throw her time into finding and stopping this entity with her mate. Before they find her and capture her, she knew with her mate at her side, she will be even more secure in her belief of being safe.

She just needed to learn from Martha first.

Nevertheless, Jada and Aubrianne had talked things over, and both had the same exact resolution in the end, full support in finding and stopping them.

Soon Aubrianne slipped away to have her shower and then called her mate. Laying on her bed now in a matching pair of shorts and a T, she dialed Zayne's number.

"Hello?" Zayne's voice rang on the other side, his tone exhausted, like he had the weight of the world on his shoulders, and all Aubrianne wanted to do was comfort him.

She wished she had been there with him, "Baby?" Aubrianne's voice was a gentle whisper at finally hearing his voice, since they parted ways.

Her eyes fluttered close.

"Aubrianne, baby. Goddess, I called you when I landed." Zayne rattled out, relieved to hear from his mate, even though he was swamped with work and only got to call her that one time.

And every time he remembered to check in, something of someone or the other needing his attention would come up.

"I know, babe," She sighed, "Oh, babe, I had a day..."

"Yea? What's wrong?" Zayne enquires. He was at his office in the community house; he leaned back on his chair as he let his mate's voice soothe his tortured soul.

He had been going nonstop since he arrived.

Aubrianne sighed again audibly, "I found out today that my doctor back in Clifton Hill that attended to me was after me this whole time, and it turns out to be one of the doctors on your list."

Aubrianne chose her words carefully while Zayne sat up in his chair as he tuned in.

"Dr. Nathan White, and the nurse as well as on your list, Nurse Sheila Brown." Aubrianne paused as she searched the ceiling - how to come out and tell him she had dropped the ball.

Zayne was speechless, but his hands closed into a tight fist at the thought of this entity coming after his mate. Oh Goddess, was this because of him? Did he already put his mate in danger?

"Dr. White would have gotten a sample of my blood the night I went in with an injury, the Ron situation," Aubrianne explained.

Zayne could not believe this, and he visibly relaxed. He thought it was because of him for a fleeting second, and maybe Alpha Thornton was right.

Perhaps he is bad news for his daughter. But d@mn, what a coincidence.

Aubrianne then braced herself to inform Zayne of what she had done, "And today, babe, remember that doctor's appointment I had before I left for Wickersville?'

"Yes," Zayne answered her, relaxing back into his chair.

Aubrianne hesitated. She was embarrassed and felt horrible about dropping the ball, and the ceiling did not give her any answers on her way forward.

"Well, it turns out, Dr. White's intention was to get me alone, we had to fight our way out, and Daniel came just in time to get us out." Aubrianne rattles out as her face grimaces and her body stiffens, awaiting his response.

Oh yes, and she forgot to breathe.

Zayne's fingers curled into a fist once more, though the possessive side he suddenly had did not like Daniel and Aubrianne's interactions.

At the same time, he was thankful to Daniel for getting her out. That was all that truly mattered to Zayne. Plus, Aubrianne never gave him any reason to doubt where she stood with him.

However, he still was not getting why she sounded this way like she was prepping to tell him something, and suddenly Aragorn was on the surface, already thinking about the worse.

Did something happen between them? Many things can happen when someone thinks they will not survive to see another day. Ok, Zayne, relax, calm down. The hell? He could not fathom where his mind was going with these thoughts.

They were coming hard and fast, breaking free and sprinting down the dark, empty road, so he reigned them in. Reminding himself again that Aubrianne never gave him a reason to doubt her.

But d@mn it things can happen in life or death situations. Zayne's mind was going ten miles a minute.

"Gosh, babe, and you know the worst part?" Aubrianne asked.

Zayne was losing his mind and trying to keep his cool simultaneously. He was clutching the life out of this phone and praying to the Divine Moon Goddess that he did not destroy this phone before he could hear everything his mate had to say.

In a strained voice, "No, what is?" He finally spoke, over-eager for her to get to the point to ease his torment.

"I dropped the ball, babe, it was only after we returned and I filled in my father and Ivan that we realized the same Dr. I had an appointment with, is one of them from the list."

Aubrianne whimpered, "Baby, I dropped the ball. Had I known before, we could have approached my appointment differently, more security, maybe even set a trap for him, my father said."

Well, Zayne inhaled, only now realizing he had stopped breathing. He visibly relaxed in his chair once more, his tightened fist loosened, and he laid his hand flat on the table as he flexed them, stretching them out.

Whew, that was intense. He could breathe, "Oh, baby, no. Actually, these people have their claws sink even in the military."

"It would not be that easy, even if you got to Dr. Nathan White, with what your father's hacker was able to find only moments ago, hinted to someone else higher up and that someone was his mother."

"Didn't your father explain this to you?" Zayne was sure Alpha Thornton would be privy to that information, as the Whites were people that indeed ran in his circle.

Undoubtedly he would have made that connection on that night at the meeting. But still, they would have needed concrete proof.

Anyway, Zayne explained this because surely he did not want his mate to think she had dropped the ball in any way. They still needed to be one hundred percent sure at the time.

But because of the fact that she was attacked, they showed their hands.