“Liam, Gryffin, and Brodie, you should shift, because you’ll be able to move quicker in your animal forms. The rest of us aren’t as agile in enclosed spaces,” Hunter suggests, and they quickly comply.
“How are you with a weapon?” Micah turns his attention to Nox, who shrugs.
“I’m acceptable, but I’m much better with technology. I should be able to get us through any security in the place, and I can wield illusions in this form as well.”
“Okay, you and Colbie stay together. It will make it easier for us to protect both of you,” Micah tells him.
“Kill anyone who attacks us, but if they stand down, just incapacitate them. We want to question them,” Hunter orders, giving Titus a hard look.
Titus pouts but reluctantly agrees. “Fine, but it goes against my training to leave anyone alive. Let’s go.”
Everyone places a hand on the hybrid, and he sifts inside the compound. When we arrive, it’s pitch black, and I can’t see despite my enhanced eyesight, but there’s no way to miss the cacophony of snarls and howls.
He has brought us into the cells. A flame flares to life in Gem’s hand, and I blink against the sudden light. I look around, thankful we aren’t in an actual cell but a hallway between two rows of them. I shudder at the sight of all the deformed humans stuck between shifts, foaming at the mouth. They become super agitated at the sight of my three shifted mates and start throwing themselves at the bars of their cells. Some of them eye us with eager hunger, while others ignore us completely and randomly attack one another in their crowded cell.
“Oh my god, this is awful.” I shudder and step back as one of them lunges at the bars, reaching for me with a gnarled, claw-tipped hand. “How are we even going to find the children?” I ask, feeling helpless because I can’t help any of these people.
“It would be too difficult to move a feral from one floor to another. I bet they are down here on this level somewhere,” Hunter says, holding out a piece of cloth for Brodie to scent. Brodie does before putting his nose up, then he starts sniffing the air. His ears prick, and his tail starts to wag as he bounds down the hallway. The rest of us follow him, keeping Nox and me between them. Gryffin and Liam bring up the rear. Anyone who wants to get to me is going to have to go through both of them to do it.
We move swiftly, and I am stunned by the number of cells, each of them containing way more feral shifters than they should.
“Where did all the humans come from? There weren’t that many reported missing by the human authorities,” Gryffin says, voicing the same thing I was thinking.
“Probably the other kingdoms,” Gem suggests, his flame lighting the way. The ferals are kept in a pitch-black environment, and I can only pray they were kinder to the children.
“This is a bigger problem than we ever knew,” Micah mutters as we come to a closed door. Brodie scratches at the gap at the bottom, and the others part to let Nox through to do his thing.
“Why don’t we get Titus to sift us on the other side?” I ask as Nox pulls out a portable tablet and plugs it into the console on the wall.
“Because we don’t know what is on the other side. We don’t want to risk running across an armed assault team,” Titus answers.
“But we didn’t know that before we sifted here either,” I argue.
He shrugs. “We got lucky. I don’t want to take the risk we get lucky again.”
It doesn’t take Nox long before the panel glows green, and we hear a click. He unplugs his unit and steps back, allowing Titus, Micah, and Hunter to move to the front, their guns at the ready as they peek through the door to see if there is a force waiting for us.
“Clear,” Hunter calls and throws the door open. Brodie pushes through and takes the lead again. There aren’t any barred cells in this corridor, but there are a number of closed doors. We pause, and Micah tries one of the handles.
“Locked,” he says, but our attention switches to Brodie. He’s scratching at one of the doors and whining.
“Whoever is behind these doors is terrified and exhausted, and they are beginning to lose hope. We need to open them.” Gem sounds pained, the empathic phoenix sensing their feelings.
Nox does his thing again, and before long, he has the first door open. As he moves on to the next one, I reach to open it, but Hunter stays my hand.
“Let me go first. They are probably expecting whoever is holding them captive, and their animal will be in protection mode. I don’t want them to hurt you.”
“I have a tranq in case they are feral.” Micah raises his gun, and I gape in horror.
“They might be feral?” I hadn’t even considered the possibility. I need to get that damn book back. “Poor babies. Is there a way to erase their memories of what happened?” I ask Titus, and he nods.
“Yes. A full fae could probably do it. If they need it, we can appeal to the fae for assistance.”
Hunter slowly opens the door, Micah sticking close to him, as the two of them enter the room. I peer in behind them, and thankfully, it isn’t dark, but it’s no better than the cells. There is nothing in the cement room but a pile of hay, a dirty old blanket, and a small, very agitated white wolf pup. It snarls at the sight of Hunter and yips, snapping its little jaw at my mate.
“Shift,” Hunter commands like he did to Archie that first time in my bakery. The command rolls over me, and I barely feel it, but it works on the pup. It freezes and whines as its body starts to painfully reshape itself. By the time it’s finished, a young, naked, sobbing girl has replaced the white pup.
“Help me, please,” she begs, and Gem rushes in and scoops her into his arms, wrapping the dirty blanket around her.
