and it took me a moment to decipher the faded lettering.
My breath caught in my throat and my heart raced.
“What is it?” asked Kyle.
I shook my head, unable to string syllables together. The label read:
It was here.
Willowgrove wasn’t a secret camp or some trick to balance the books as they killed off wolves. It was the name of the old sanatorium. The name of the place where they were testing Sinclair’s cure.
Time was hard to gauge when you were locked in a dilapidated cell with no hope of escape. We ended up sitting with our backs against the wall. Sometimes we talked or held hands. Other times we stayed silent, each lost in dark thoughts.
Eventually, exhaustion caught up with me, and I found myself slipping in and out of that space between waking and dreams. In those moments, it was like Amy was in the cell with us, whispering things that Kyle couldn’t hear.
“You’re going to get him killed, you know,” she said, crouching next to me and leaning in close.
I jerked awake with enough force that I slammed the back of my head against the wall.
I blinked, for a moment disorientated.
Kyle was no longer beside me. He was standing near the door.
“What is it?” I climbed wearily to my feet and rubbed my aching skull.
Instead of answering, he backed up, placing himself between me and the entrance a handful of heartbeats before the door swung open.
Two guards shoved the dresser aside. They stormed into the cell and three more followed in their wake. Four of the men held Tasers, the other gripped a gun.
All five trained their weapons on Kyle.
I expected them to yell or give us an order, but they just stood there. Waiting.
The sound of high heels echoed down the hall. My pulse pounded behind my ears and my legs felt suddenly shaky. I could think of only one person who would wear heels in a place like this.
Warden Sinclair stepped through the doorway. She slipped her hands into the pockets of her slacks as she surveyed everything and everyone in the room. Her suit looked freshly pressed and her hair and makeup were both immaculate. She was a surreal contrast to the decay and grime surrounding us.
A small smile—one without an ounce of kindness or sincerity—curved her mouth. No sooner had it appeared than Kyle fell to his knees.
I reached for him, but one of the guards trained his Taser on me. I wasn’t a wolf: if they tased me, I might not get back up.
“So it is true.” Sinclair slipped her hands from her pockets. An HFD was nestled in her palm. “You really are just a human.”
I started to ask how she had known, but I was certain I already knew the answer. Jason. He had told her— either willingly or because she had forced it out of him. Serena was incapable of making sense, and Eve . . . Eve was like Hank. Even if Sinclair had gotten her hands on her, Eve wouldn’t have broken.
The warden slid the HFD back into her pocket.
Kyle shook off the effects of the device, but before he was fully on his feet, one of the guards grabbed my arm and pulled me away from him.
I tried to twist free and came face-to-face with Tanner. The last time I’d been caught in the sanatorium, the redheaded guard had seemed almost sympathetic. This time, he was cold and impassive. His grip was like a vise as he pulled me to the warden.
“Let her go.” Kyle’s voice was a barely recognizable growl.
“I don’t think so.” With a wave of Sinclair’s hand, the other four guards in the room converged on Kyle.
I hadn’t thought it was possible for me to hate anyone as much as I hated Branson Derby and Ben, but in that moment, I would have traded my soul for the ability to hurt the woman in front of me. “What did you do to Serena?”
Ignoring my question, she said, “I took you into my confidence, gave you a chance to prove yourself, and you’ve been lying since the moment you entered my camp.” Something that looked like disappointment passed behind her eyes. “I misjudged you.”
“How did you get inside Thornhill?”
I swallowed as Tanner tightened his grip on my arm. The girl I had switched vials with was long gone. There was nothing Sinclair could do to her. “I swapped samples with one of the wolves. Where’s Jason?” I knew he had used an alias, but I couldn’t remember it and it didn’t matter now.
The small creases around Sinclair’s mouth deepened. “Tell me what you were doing last night. The boy’s a Tracker, but who sent you? The RfW? No, they’re too spineless. One of the Colorado packs?”
I shook my head. “Does Serena have bloodlust? Did you give it to her?”
In a blur, Sinclair’s hand shot out. She grabbed my chin and gripped it so tightly that her nails dug into my skin. She glanced at Kyle over my shoulder. “Take another step and I’ll have the guards tase her instead of you.” She was using me against him just like they had used Serena back in the detention block. The threat was as effective now as it had been then.
The warden’s gaze shifted back to me. “What were you doing last night? How many others are involved?”
The radio at Tanner’s waist crackled to life with a burst of static. At a nod from Sinclair, he let go of my arm and stepped into the hall. He closed the door behind him, making it impossible to hear whatever was said— impossible for a reg, at least.
Sinclair’s eyes bore into mine as her fingers continued to dig into my skin. I was too scared of what they might do to Kyle to struggle. “I am not toying with you,” she said. “I am not about to let one stupid girl jeopardize Thornhill and everything I’ve worked for.”
“You mean Willowgrove?” Fear and exhaustion made me slip, and even though I knew the words were a mistake, I felt a brief surge of satisfaction as Sinclair released her hold on me and stepped back.
The satisfaction lasted only as long as it took for her palm to connect with my cheek.
Sinclair hit me with enough force that I reeled and stumbled back several steps. Kyle’s arms locked around me, steadying me. “Are you all right?”
I tried to nod, but my ears were filled with a ringing sound and I felt like I might vomit. How could one slap hurt so much? Did she practice? I blinked and the ringing and nausea receded—at least marginally.
Sinclair was staring down at her hand as though she couldn’t quite believe she had hit me. It didn’t make sense. She had an entire block full of werewolves she tortured and a graveyard in the woods where she dumped the bodies. Why was she was acting like hitting me was a shock?
The cell door opened and Tanner reappeared. “Warden?” He went to her side and spoke in low tones.
I buried my face against Kyle’s neck, mindful of the four guards still watching us. “Can you hear what he’s saying?” I whispered.
Kyle’s arms tensed around me for a second, then he eased me away. “Mac, listen. . . .” He gripped my shoulders and shot a nervous glance at the men in the cell. “Whatever happens, promise me you won’t fight. Just do what they say and don’t give them a reason to hurt you.” The look in his eyes scared me more than the warden or the guards. It was horrible and final, like a door slamming irrevocably shut.
“What did he say?” I started to turn my head, but Kyle tightened his grip, forcing my attention back to him. “
“Just promise me.”
Sinclair’s voice filled the cell. “Take her upstairs and take him to the detention block.”
“What? No!” I struggled as Tanner pulled me away from Kyle for the second time. He was bigger and stronger than I was, but I made him fight for every inch he dragged me back.
Another guard entered the room. He squeezed past us, a heavy pair of manacles—restraints like the ones Serena had been wearing—in his hands.
