He was right. The warden had been taking advantage of him for far too long, but Jaxon was no longer a boy who knew nothing of the supernatural. He was all man, and it was up to him to change his circumstances.
All I could do was try to find the information we needed to make that happen, which is why I sucked in my last breath of somewhat-fresh air from the hallway and made my way to a smiling Ethan.
Ethan’s teeth barely showed through the beard he was growing, reminding me more of a lumberjack than bear shifter, but it fit him and his personality perfectly. After Anthony had been killed because of me, I was hesitant to make friends, but Ethan didn’t seem to care about the risks, so I tried not to, either.
“How was your weekend?” Ethan asked before tossing a stack of towels in front of me to fold.
“Ugh. Tiring. We brought in a psycho bear shifter last night, and he wasn’t happy about it. Between that and the training, I’m dead on my feet, but I will admit, I’m starting to see the effectiveness of their methods. I have a lot more control over my abilities than I did even a couple of weeks ago. I can take down Mason without using magic.”
He glanced back and nodded at Jaxon who was leaning against the door frame, glaring around the room. “What about him? From what you’ve said, I’m surprised he’s your escort today.”
“You and me both, my friend. But enough about me. What’s been happening in your sector of the prison?” I asked, eager for any updates he had, especially since I hadn’t even seen him at mealtimes the last few days.
Gabe piped in, peeking his head around Ethan. “Well, I may have overheard something you might find interesting.”
The way he said it had me grinning from ear to ear. These two were straight as boards, but they were seriously getting into the gossip aspect of our friendship like a pack of hens. Especially when I promised to take them both with me when we found a legal way out.
“Go on,” I encouraged.
“So, Owen has been hanging around the guards a lot. Doing them favors and odd things we’ve never seen any of the other prisoners do. Not even your Fabled Four.”
My chest tightened with unexpected emotion hearing him call the Fabled Four mine. Sure, I considered them my guys, but I’d never admit it out loud. Though, I tried to focus more on the former part of his statement, because what he was saying about the lion shifter was certainly interesting.
There were a million reasons why Owen might be getting closer to the guards, and I wanted to narrow those choices down. I had been too tired to question his arrival at our room the night before. Apparently, his budding relationship with the guards was also allowing him more freedom than most other inmates.
Gabe continued, “Deacon is the only one he doesn’t approach, which tells me Owen doesn’t want any of you to know what he’s up to. Thankfully for you, you made friends with an incubus, and my powers of seduction come in handy when I can get them to work around here.”
I instantly pictured so many things I didn’t want to. “What did you do?”
He growled. “Seriously? Wipe that look off your face. I didn’t do anything. I merely loosened their tongues with a little magic. I’ve been practicing, and as long as I’m outside, it’s easier to break through the binds they have on us.”
I hadn’t had the heart to tell them the warden was actually stealing powers from all of the prisoners. I was afraid it would start a revolution, and we weren’t ready for that, not with the Luccovinos being involved. The vampire family’s reach stretched too far.
“So, how did the opportunity arise, and what did you hear?” I asked.
Ethan shook his head, not happy about something, but hopefully I was about to find out what before he could voice his opinions and shut Gabe up. It didn’t matter how insignificant something sounded to anyone else. Everything was important at this point in the game.
“Well, it was Alex and Trey. First, they were talking about you—nothing you need to know—but then Owen showed up. They began talking about a package, which was boring, but then they started using names I didn’t recognize, and their sentences were short, almost as if they were coded. So, I pushed a little magic toward them that would mimic the effects of alcohol, and they began talking normally, if not a little slurred.” He tossed a grin my way, clearly pleased with his abilities.
Frustration began to rise as one of the guards started walking through the laundry room. I needed Gabe to talk faster before anyone noticed we weren’t exactly working our hardest. Just because I worked for the warden didn’t mean I was above reprimand.
Ethan must have caught on to my worries and interrupted Gabe’s story time. “What he’s trying to say is that he found out Owen is trying to track down the Luccovinos as well. He isn’t working for the warden, nor the vampires based off the conversation, but Gabe didn’t figure out what the shifter wants, either. It’s mostly useless information.”
Ethan was right and wrong about that. Knowing Owen didn’t work for either of the two people standing in our way to freedom was good, but not knowing where he stood, or what he was up to, brought us right back to square one with one very important question: Could we trust him?
The answer was still unknown, so I’d keep digging.
“That is really great, Gabe. Maybe you can try your ability on Owen one-on-one and get him to tell you more about why he’s here,” I said, realizing if I could get the guys to leave me alone with Owen, I could do the same thing as well. Though, Gabe’s chances of success were a lot higher than mine.
The incubus nodded, then went back to folding. The guard finally circled around us, and we stayed quiet for a while longer until it felt safe to speak freely again.
“I’m going to be gone for a few days, and the guys won’t know about it. Just know that I’m okay and I’ll be back as soon as I can be,” I whispered to Ethan so Jaxon couldn’t hear me.
“Everything okay?” he asked.
“Yeah, I just have to help a friend and hopefully get some information about the warden’s son,” I replied.
“Zeke? What do you need to know about him?” Ethan asked, and I realized I hadn’t talked about our main mission for the warden with him yet.
“Umm, he’s kind of missing and we need to find him. Then, we can work on getting out of here,” I said.
Ethan pondered my words for a couple of minutes while we continued folding. I’d gone through all of the towels, and we moved on to sheets, working together to keep them off the floor.
“Missing? Are you sure?” Ethan finally asked.
“Yep. At least, that’s what we’ve been told.”
“Be careful, Cara. Zeke used to run in my circles. He’d often be into some dark magic and doing business with people much worse than your nightmares could conjure. If he’s missing, it’s more likely because he screwed up and he’s paying the price for it than because he was taken.”
Damn it. How was that information we didn’t have already?
“Thanks, I appreciate it.” We kept folding until our basins were empty of clean laundry and the remainder of our conversation was spent on lighter topics.
Jaxon had waited the entire time without complaint, but also without stepping into the washroom. When we left, he kept glancing at me but never spoke.