I couldn’t leave until the contacts were secured—we weren’t going to make it this far to get denied on appeal because of my stupid eyes.
They had to be in here—Dominic had said he’d requested them, and he’d wanted the deal.
But there were so many boxes in here.
There were endless piles of the dull white clothes we all wore, but I couldn’t leave those boxes because sometimes they had something tucked in the bottom. And what I was searching for was small.
Occasionally I found something different—like the silk boxers that Phantom stole two pairs of. Paints and coloured pencils. I even found a few board games, and books I knew the Archiva pack would kill for.
Medical supplies and soap.
More sheets.
Cleaning supplies.
Box after box afterfuckingbox of random crap that some alphas in here would fight to the death to get.
I could feel the panic from the others through the bond. Crescent was always the strongest in my connection, and more so since I’d bitten her back in the cage. Right now she was frightened, but not enough that I thought something horrible had happened.
I knew I was running out of time, though, and my searching became more frantic.
When I opened the next box, my heart bottomed out in relief.
A small, white case in a plastic package lay within, nested between two folded towels.
Breathable Contact Lenses.
Shade: Freckled Hazel.
The colour depicted on the package was a dark walnut tone with flecks of light oak, and hopefully opaque enough to hide the crimson of my natural eyes.
“Got ‘em.”
I slipped the string of my sweatpants through the punched-out hole in the top of the package, tying it, and then shoved the package into the waistband of my pants.
Pockets?
I didn’t trust those after the key incident, even though it was Crescent who did the stealing.
Not bothering to close any of the boxes or put the room to rights, I stepped out into the hall. Our backup plan said I should head straight to the cell, but my instincts didn’t care. I took off at a jog, following Karma’s scent of electric ocean storm through the empty halls.
41
KARMA
Keep. Her. Safe.
Protect. Her.
The words rushed in my ears, repeating like a mantra.
Once we were back in the cell, it would be easy. But out here, where any number of feral alphas could be roaming? I glanced down every hallway, searching for danger.
Crescent had drawn ahead, her heavy, panting breaths louder to my ears as I fixated on her, and her safety. We were almost back to the cell with one more corner to turn, when an echoing clang pierced the air.
The door of a cell swung open, hitting the wall.
Four alphas streamed out in front of me, blocking my path to follow Crescent. Thankfully, she didn’t stop running.
