Surreptitious Alliance: Marked by My Alien Slave

Rain pov.

I watch as Morgan throws her head back in laughter, snorting and all, at something Torren said. The two women had entered the dining room together this morning and have been inseparable ever since. I had moved myself two places down when River eventually joined. I'd gone into intense panic last night when Morgan's pain sliced through the bond like a fresh wound. Although the pain wasn't very welcome, I'm happy she told someone about our pup. The grief was still ours to carry, and everyone didn't have to know but I could sense the ease in her pain when she cried about it with her sister.

"You're not listening to a word I'm saying.” Ragna accuses and I wish I could deny it, but he's right. Every time Morgan laughs, I'm taken away from the conversation Ragna is trying to have with me.

"I'm sorry. What were you saying?" He looks at me like he's not sure if I'm actually going to listen and I sigh. "I promise I'm listening." It takes him another few seconds to nod.

"How much do you know about clones?" I shake my head. Except for the terrifying ones I've seen in Sinclair's lab. "Okay, well they have this unique scent to them. Like, it's almost as if they're designed to lure you in, you know?" I nod and he takes a slow sip of his juice. "It's probably why you guys haven't noticed we have one in our company." My eyes search the room and when I look at where Ragna is looking, I almost choke on my own spit.

"No, you're not serious." I mutter and he shrugs his shoulders and slides me a vile with clear liquid in it.

"Throw it in her water, if she's not a clone it won't affect her." I eye him and he shrugs his shoulders. "Look, I get it. She's here and your mate is finally coming out of her shell but she's not her sister. Just because she acts like she is, doesn't mean she is. I've seen humans pay top dollar for a clone to act, speak and dress like the person they're trying to get with and that is a clone." He nods his head in Torren's direction.

"So, how do you propose I do this?" Ragna shrugs, stuffing his face with a piece of toast. I sigh and get up from the table, going over to the juice bar and pouring juice for the girls. I place their juice in front of them, earning myself a kiss on the cheek from Morgan and the brightest smile I have seen from her in a while, one that I hope will last.

"Wait for it." Ragna mutters as I take my seat again. Torren's juice is almost half empty before she stops talking, a frown forming on her face. Then she starts coughing and what looks like a blob of slime lands on the table in front of her. "What's happening?" I ask, Ragna who simply gets up from his seat and pulls out another vile of the liquid from his pocket. He forces Torren's head back and throws the liquid down her throat, keeping her mouth shut as we all watch her starts to disintegrate in front of us.

"For all our safety, I hope you didn't go spilling our secrets this plastic bimbo." He looks at Morgan who's still watching who she thought was her sister disappear into a blob of goop at Ragna's feet.

"Do you all plan to ruin breakfast every morning?" Benjamin asks, pushing his cup away. "This is getting somewhat old." While I'd have to agree, I'm glad Ragna did what he did. "How did you know?" Morgan asks, her voice soft and fragile.

"I smelled her when I stepped into the room and then went down to the lab to get the unbinding agent. Remember this smell for next time. I'm guessing your sister is hauled up somewhere, probably really needing our help and here we are, sharing trade secrets with a clone. You're glad I caught it before she convinced you she needed to go wherever and hand over her information to the enemy. That is if it's not transmitting remotely." He sneers down at this boots that's covered in gunk.

"No transmissions can get in or out unless Bing authorizes them." Morgan answers, her voice robotic. I get up from my seat and collect my mate in my arms, and she comes willingly.

"Since you're so knowledgeable about this, Ragna." I glare at the hybrid. "I'm putting you in charge of finding the real Torren." I tell him, lifting my mate in my arms and walking us out of there. "Casey, how did you find Torren last night?" I ask the sentinel, knowing Morgan is in no condition to discuss this.

"Luca told us where she might be and when we went there, she was there. Asleep. I didn't question it when Morgan brought her here. She seemed so real." Casey sounds about as sad as Morgan feels and I feel like breaking thigs. The whole point of clones is to seem real, otherwise they wouldn't work on people. In our room I tuck Morgan in and she quickly closes her eyes and drifts off to sleep, her mind finally going quite from all the thoughts that's been running through it, none of it making any sense.

"Luca." I call out for the Fairie who appears within seconds. "Do we have a mole?" He looks over at a sleeping Morgan in concern.

"No, at least I don't think so. The only people who knew what was happening are the people who was a part of the operation last night. So that's the three of us, Margot, Cade and Xavier. The Fairies who helped blinked us in and River." He sums up and I groan.

"If we don't have a mole, when did Torren get replaced with a clone and how did they know she'd come for her sister? If Torren thought her sister was dead, then... why go through all the trouble?" I ask and Luca frowns.

"Because Torren doesn't believe her sister is dead." He mutters and I frown. "You need samples from a person to clone them and if the news spread that Morgan was dead and her sister didn't believe them, they knew she'd come for her eventually. They know she's not dead and having a manic Torren running around telling everyone her sister isn't dead would twist their narrative."

"So, they clone her." I mutter and Luca nods.

"Still, in case we're wrong. We should get Banjamin to mind search everyone. Including us. If we do have a mole he'll find them." I nod, looking over at my mate, hoping we don't have a mole for her sake. At this point in the game I doubt she'll be able to handle any more things going wrong, hell, I'm starting to question is any of this is even worth is anymore.