Surreptitious Alliance: Marked by My Alien Slave
56

Morgan pov.

A breath. A deep breath can fix everything. Everything but this fucked up situation I'm in. Questions answered leads to more questions and I'm not sure I want the answers to those. At least not anymore. With every bit of the truth that comes out a deeper lie is unraveled and at this point the lies are so tangled I don't even know if any amount of patience can untangle them. I sit next to Rain, my elbows rested on my knees, head propped up on my fists as he rubs my back, and I stare at Magnus. There's been a silence over this room since he dropped the bomb of the century. So big that even the representatives looked shocked. What is that saying again? Everything that can go wrong will go wrong? “I need to go look for Ragna.” I mutter, getting up from my seat. I've dealt with enough family drama for a lifetime. No one is who they say they are. Heck, up until two weeks ago I was human. This is a shit show and I'm sick of it. I'll claw my way out of here if I have to.

"Why are you going to look for him?" Benjamin asks, not looking all too happy about it.

"We're in the middle of a war, or have you all forgotten that with the family drama that seems to be going on? I took Bing from their systems, and we've lost too much time already with father of the year showing up." I can't hide my distain for Magnus, not even with the revelation he made. "You can't win a war if you don't know your enemy and right now, Ragna is the best chance we have at knowing what the hell she has planned."

"Um..." I look over at River who gives me a sheepish grin. "Can't you just fix this with your magic now?" I laugh, an honest to heaven real laugh that has be doubled over and feeling giddy inside.

"Oh, wow." I mutter, wiping the tears from my face when I'm done laughing, not even caring if everyone is looking at me like I've gone insane. "Magic doesn't work like that. Besides. I can't just go around killing people left and right. If I kill the wrong people, we're not stopping anything like this from happening again and I really would prefer if this doesn't happen again." I narrow my eyes at the people in the room.

"You act like we want this war to happen." Agness accuses and I scoff.

"Don't you though? You get the short end of the stick with things the way they are. Wouldn't a war be the perfect way to ensure that things are evened out? Isn't it an age-old tale?" Isa sighs, grunting as she rises from her chair, her wings tucking closer to her back than normal.

"We would prefer this worked out without a war but they're making genetically mutated hybrids, Morgan. You tell me who wants a war here." I bite my lip and then curl my magic around her, cracking her wing back into place and I swear I can see the relief on her face when they splay out behind her, much like Luca's did earlier.

"You're building secret little armies. You're no better than they are." Magnus opens his mouth, and I glare at him. "I'm not debating the moral code of this. You're all fucked up and I've come to terms with that. I'm going to replace Ragna so I can see if I can get something out of him. You can sit here and think up some more lies and secrets you want to shock me with while I'm gone." Rain lifts himself from the chair and walks over to my side. Wrapping my magic around him I blink us away into the woods where Luca and I first found Rain.

"Isn't it dangerous to be here?" I shake my head.

"No, I removed Bing a week ago. They won't be able to track any incoming or outgoing activity for a while." He nods in understanding, so we start moving through the forest.

"You let me mark you." Rain suddenly says and I pause. I knew we would need to have this conversation sooner or later and while I was hoping for a better time, I know it's not going to come. There is no better time at the moment. We have to take the time we have and use it.

"Yes, yes I did." I don't know what else to say about it.

"Was it just because you found out I was your Imprint, because of this change in you or because you wanted me to?" It's a valid question. A question I don't have a clear answer to.

"You're mine." I shrug, the reason simple enough.

"So, you let me mark you because I'm yours not because you want to belong to me?" I smile and he frowns.

"Rain, I think I belonged to you the moment I showed up on your doorstep on Teranian. Hell, even before that because when I saw you in that ring..." I shake my head, the rational part of my brain knowing I can't blame all of that on what I know now but the irrational part blames it all on our nature. The part of me that knew where it belonged no matter how dormant or hidden it was.

"I wish I could say I felt the same way." He says a frown on his face. "I thought you were annoying and then dangerous, but you kept on surprising me. You keep on surprising me. Now, now I wouldn't think twice about taking your claim. I'm proud of it." He pulls me into his arms, my need for him crackling under my skin and intensifying as he slots his lips over mine.

"Well, isn't this sweet." I groan, pulling back at the sound of Ragna's voice.

"I told you to come replace me." I tell the hybrid. He gives me a lazy smile, his green eyes even more dull than the last time I saw him. "What happened to you?"

"Someone broke into the Bio-Glaze and stole all the programming. They needed someone to blame so since I couldn't replace you..." I feel sick in my gut, and I don't even want to imagine what they've been doing to him.

"I need information." I tell him. "About the buildings, the Commander, Sinclair. All of it." He stares at me for a while before nodding.

"Sure, but what's in it for me? I've been helping you plot against them, letting you walk away, twice. I need to get away from here. I need somewhere safe." He looks over his shoulder, like he's afraid we might get caught.

"I give you safety and you tell me everything and so help me, Ragna... if I replace out you're lying you're dead." I wrap my magic around him for extra measures, bending his wing in a weak place so he tumbles to the ground. A groan leaves his lips as he slowly gets up, tucking his wings close to his back, eyes wide as he looks between Rain and me.

"Is your Fairie's nearby?" I shake my head, wrap my magic around him and blink us back into the common room.

"What the fuck?" Ragna whispers and I'm sure everyone who's looking at him with wide eyes has the exact same question.