“That’s our mission,” Row said. “To get like you.”
“What?” I looked between the two of them, realizing they seemed equal parts resigned and terrified. “I’m not going to fuck you.”
“No,” said Kazinsky, “they want him to.”
I followed his pointing finger and ended up whipping around and nearly falling over. As it was, I hit my knees when I faced Hamilton in bat form in the cell behind mine. “Hammy!” I hollered and struggled back onto my feet.
He said something, but I couldn’t hear him at all. When he pressed his hand to the glass, I did the same. There was a gap between the panes so I couldn’t even feel the heat of his hand. I banged on it, frustrated, and he frantically shook his head.
“If you try to break the glass,” Row said, “they’ll make it opaque.”
For a second, I wondered how that fucking mattered, but then I realized I really didn’t want to lose sight of Hamilton. I couldn’t get to him, but at least I knew he was okay. He probably wanted the same with me.
Movement caught my eye, and I looked through the wall of Hamilton’s cell to see a gigantic wolf-man with gray and white fur. He showed his teeth at me but also finger waved like maybe we knew each other. Did I know a werewolf?
I gasped and looked to Hamilton, pointing. “Is that Quillan?” I tried to say that so he might read my lips.
I couldn’t read his lips at all, but Hamilton nodded.
There were two guys in the cell beside mine, opposite Quillan. Both humans were curled up like they wanted to melt into the floor and definitely not looking Quillan’s way.
Turning so I could see Hamilton as well as Row and Kazinsky, I tried to understand what was happening here. “So the plan is to, what? Fuck you into being super soldiers? Like that’s what they came up with after having him caged last time? That’s all they’ve got?” I looked up at the ceiling, hoping there was a mic hidden up there somewhere. “Losers.”
“They’ve done experiments,” Kazinsky said and hugged his knees to his chest. “God, they were awful.”
“I never saw one,” Row offered, “but the way they screamed was nightmare fuel.”
“It was almost worse when they suddenlystoppedscreaming. When you knew they were dead.” By the way Kazinsky curled up, it seemed like maybe he was afraid he’d be next.
“Well, there’s no way Hamilton’s fucking either of you. He would never.”
I wasn’t a hundred percent sure on that, but he didn’t seem like the type to fuck around. I got the feeling what we had was as new and special to him as it was to me. Plus, there was literallyno wayhe’d obey somebody’s orders to fuck two guys who clearly had not consented.
“Seriously,” I said when they shared another look, “after what he’s been through, he’d never?—”
Row stood up, angry. “They spritz him with something that keeps him in that form. You think they don’t have something that could make him just animal enough to not give a fuck if we say no?”
I felt the wall I was leaning on vibrate and looked to see Hamilton roaring. Row saw, too, and backed away from me, his face going pale.
“First of all, he might look like a giant bat beast, but he’s got his mind and all that. He’s not human, sure, but that doesn’t mean he’s not intelligent and compassionate and everything else.” A shiver went through me, though, at the possibility that Row was right. “If they have something that strips away his consent, then know that I won’t let him hurt either of you because I won’t let them hurthimlike that.” Because he would absolutely never forgive himself and torture himself for what he’d done for the rest of his life.
“Right,” Row said before he sat down again.
The brief look Kazinsky gave me said he didn’t believe I could stop Hamilton either.
Yeah, well, they didn’t know how scrappy I could be. I’d literally punch Hamilton in his dick as many times as necessary, if that was what it took to stop him. I’d save him from himself in any way possible.
Suddenly, the walls separating us from Hamilton slid open in opposite directions. I nearly fell in but, of course, he caught me. And then I found myself hoisted up into his arms, one big arm around my waist and a hand covering the back of my head.
“I should have told you before,” he said urgently, “I love you and I’ll never stop fighting for you.”
Before I could say a thing in return—like OMG I’m totally completely in love with you, too—he practically dropped me, spun me away, and launched himself at the opposite wall. I righted myself as Row and Kazinsky scrambled out of the way, the three of us standing there as Hamilton crashed into the glass over and over again.
He cracked it, the glass splintering in every direction like a windshield about to explode. It also turned opaque, but like, not completely. Sort of like the cracks were messing it up because whole sections were still clear, letting me see Quillan’s surprised face.
I refocused on my man. “So when he gets through there, do either of you know where to go to escape?”
They both looked at me, but I only had eyes for my wickedly strong and fiercely determined mate.
