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Soren bends over and lifts the queen mattress without so much as a grunt. I kneel back down and squint, trying to see all the way to the back where the bed hits the wall. The smell is somehow worse back here.

There’s no way around it; I’m going to have to reach back between the mattress and the frame and feel around for anything my eyes have missed.

Freaking vampires and their enhanced eyesight. It’s like a cave in here with how low they keep the lighting.

I groan, reaching forward and cringing in disgust, fully prepared to touch something disgusting. Thankfully, my hands pass through nothing but air, and right as I’m about to pull back and tell Soren he can let go, the tips of my fingers touch something.

Paper.

I strain for it, shimmying on top of the bedframe to get a better grip.

“Did you find something?”

“I think so.”

It’s caught under the edge of the mattress, and when I finally get a good grip on it and tug, something shoots across the frame and right past my face.

I scream, scrambling out of the claustrophobic ranch dressing cave from hell, falling unceremoniously on the floor.

“What happened? What is it?” Soren drops the mattress and bends over, pulling me up with a solid arm around my waist.

“I think—oh gods, I think it was a mouse! Or—or—a rat!”

The thought of a rodent living under Cage’s bed combined with the scent makes me gag. I swallow thickly, trying not to throw up.

Soren’s searching gaze sweeps around the room. He must notice something because he drops to his knees before crawling under the desk to get closer like an absolute psychopath.

If he comes out holding a mouse, I’m going to scream. Again.

He’s smiling triumphantly when he crawls back out. When he opens his palm, I recoil, fully expecting a squeaking, furry grey rodent.

When I recognize what it is, I exhale in relief.

“Just a phone.” He laughs, shaking his head ruefully. “Gods, I’ve never seen someone move so fast with so little coordination.”

I roll my eyes and hold out my hand. He hands it over before standing up and swiping the dirt and dust off his jeans.

I’ve never owned a phone of my own, but everyone around me always has. This phone isn’t like the ones I’m used to—sleek, thin, and expensive-looking. It’s clearly a more basic version, compact and bulky at once—a flip phone.

I roll the device between my palms, surprised to find something like this among Cage’s otherwise expensive things.

“It must have been stuck under the mattress,” I murmur. “And when I pulled on the paper, it shot out.”

I hand the phone back to Soren. He slides it into his back pocket and reaches for the paper we haven’t even looked at yet. He folds it in neat squares and slips it in his other pocket.

“We should take these to the main house,” he sighs. “I don’t think there’s anyone here, but if there is, that scream is definitely going to have them investigating.”

I nod in agreement. I really don’t want to go all the way back before examining what we found, but he’s right. The last thing I want is to explain to some Bastard why a human Omega and a wolven Alpha are sneaking through Cage’s things.

I’ve wasted more than enough breath explaining my innocence over the last few weeks. I’d rather avoid doing it again, if possible.

I follow Soren into the hall, and as if the universe is laughing at us, we instantly hear footsteps coming our way.

“Shit,” Soren curses, shuffling me behind him. I can hear the male getting closer, his voice dripping with irritation as he mutters to himself.

“I swear to all the gods, if one of these assholes has a female in his room, I’m taking his ass straight to Daxen.” The voice is so close, there’s no time to escape. The way back is a straight shot down a long hallway, so even if we make a run for it, we won’t escape notice. If we head toward the voice, the hall ends in a dead end, branching out in a T shape—one hall to the left and one to the right.

The trainee appears from the hall on the right, stiff-backed and narrow-eyed, like he’s already caught someone breaking the rules. I swear I forget how to breathe, just waiting for the male’s eyes to shift in our direction.