The lynx shakes her head grimly. “They moved her three days ago. Took all the high-value targets—they took them to another facility.”
My heart sinks. “Where?”
“North,” Rohan says, his voice growing stronger as Dane helps him stand. “I heard the guards talking. Some kind of compound in the mountains, heavily warded. They called it the Sanctum.”
“I know that place,” one of the other rescued prisoners adds—an older witch with silver-streaked hair and calculating eyes. “It’s where they take the ones they don’t want found. Ever.”
Lithia and I exchange grim looks. Prudence is still out there, still suffering, but at least now we know where.
“Lithia,” Levi’s voice crackles through our earpieces from deeper in the facility. “I’ve found their command center.Maps, communications, the works. And you’re not going to believe what they’re planning.”
“Collect what you can,” Lithia orders. “We need to get out of here.”
“Extraction time,” I announce, though we’ve barely begun to search the facility. “Let’s go everyone.”
“There’s a warded storage room,” Rohan says urgently, still leaning against Dane for support. “Two levels down, past the guard station. That’s where they keep the important documents.”
“Dane, get these people out of here,” Lithia orders. “Kier and I will deal with the intelligence.”
We move quickly through the facility, following Rohan’s directions while our rescue teams shepherd the freed prisoners toward the exit routes. The sound of approaching vehicles grows louder—reinforcements that will arrive too late to stop our escape but in time to make it significantly more dangerous.
“Got it!” Levi’s voice carries triumph as we reach the command center. He’s stuffing folders and hard drives into a waterproof pack. “Facility locations, guard rotations, prisoner manifests.”
There’s a map on the wall and I study it, memorizing the key details. The scope of this is staggering. If the map’s to be believed, there are facilities like this all over the world. Hundreds, if not thousands of prisoners, a trafficking network that spans the entire supernatural community.
Explosions echo from the direction we came, followed by the staccato chatter of automatic weapons. Our exit routes are under attack.
“Time to go!” Lithia shouts over the noise. “Levi, pack it up. Everyone else, move to the alternate exit.”
We reach the service tunnels just as pursuit catches up with us. Silver bullets spark off tunnel walls as enhancedguards pour fire into our escape route, forcing us to move in short rushes between cover points.
“Kier!” Lithia’s warning comes just as I spot the muzzle flash—a guard with a clear shot, rifle trained on center mass, finger already contracting on the trigger.
I throw myself sideways, tackling Lithia to the tunnel floor as the silver bullet burns through the space where she’d been standing. The round catches me instead—not center mass, but high on my left shoulder, the silver core punching through muscle and bone with agonizing precision.
“Fuck!” The pain is immediate and overwhelming, silver poisoning flooding my system as the bullet lodges against my shoulder blade. My vision grays at the edges, wolf strength draining away like water.
“Kier!” Lithia’s voice, sharp with panic and fury. She rises from beneath me, shadow silver blade already in motion, throwing with deadly accuracy. The guard who shot me drops with her knife buried in his throat.
“I’m fine,” I manage through gritted teeth, though we both know it’s a lie. Silver bullet wounds don’t heal quickly, and the poison is already making my limbs heavy. “Keep moving.”
“Like hell,” she snarls, hauling me to my feet with surprising strength. “Levi! We need cover”
He lays it down as Lithia half supports, half drags me to the exit.
We emerge from the tunnels into the pre-dawn darkness, our extraction vehicles waiting with engines running. The witches have warded our escape route with concealment spells, but those won’t last long against determined pursuit.
“Home,” Lithia orders as she helps me into the back of an armored truck. “Hurry.”
As our convoy pulls away from the burning facility, I catch a glimpse of Rohan and Dane sharing the back of another truck. The warlock has finally collapsed fromexhaustion, his head resting against Dane’s shoulder while the twin keeps protective watch.
Lithia’s hand finds mine in the darkness, her fingers interlacing with mine despite the blood and silver poisoning.
“Stay with me,” she whispers. I can hear her fear.
“Always,” I manage to whisper back.
Always.
