The underground cells were a tomb of damp stone and oxidized silver. Inside the third cell, Alana worked with detached precision. The man on the floor was a full-blooded wolf, a pack guard redressed in a defective's tunic. Alana knelt over him, depressing the plunger of a syringe. The medical cocktail was a heavy neuroparalytic—a delicate balance that disconnected the mind from the flesh, leaving the subject a breathing statue.
Across the walkway, Grayson was squatting in the center of his cell, watching Alana like a hawk. He stayed far enough away from the bars to avoid the low-grade burn of the silver.
Trinity and Kale descended the stone stairs. When they reached the mouth of the hall, Trinity froze at the sight of Alana. "Why is she here?" she hissed.
"The Beta female has been helping. She's the only reason you haven't been caught yet," Kale whispered. "Move."
Speed stepped out of the cell to give them room, heading back to the stairs to keep watch. Trinity lingered by Grayson's cell, taking him in—the tousled hair, the thickening long beard, the assessing brown eyes.
"Hurry up!" Kale snapped. Trinity turned away from him entered the cell where the unconscious guard lay.
"Wake him up," Kale ordered Alana.
"What the hell is going on? Why is Trinity here?" Alana's voice was tight with panic.
"Wake him up. Then go. It's all we need," Kale said harshly.
With a growl of agitation, Alana pulled out a medical cocktail to wake the man. After injecting it, she collected her supplies. "Leave!" Kale growled. Alana retreated to the stairs to stand with Speed, fuming.
"I need you to give him an Alpha's command," Kale whispered to Trinity.
"I'm not an Alpha."
"I don't care what you are. You can command wolves. Say exactly what I tell you: You will never speak of what you saw on August 8th."
The guard's eyes shot open. Confusion flooded him until he saw Trinity. Instant recognition hit; he remembered her from the day she forced the shifts. Foreboding washed over him. His nails began to lengthen into claws, but before the shift could take hold, Trinity reached out.
The second her shaky fingers gripped his arm, the world changed.
Trinity buried her fear, reaching deep for her protective instinct—the fighter buried inside. As she focused, the very air in the cell seemed to still. It was a sense of suspended animation, as if time itself had paused. Even the rhythmic sound of water dripping from the stones felt frozen in mid-air.
Kale watched as Trinity's eyes closed. Then, a switch flicked. A stirring sensation of raw power raged through the room. Radiance seemed to burn beneath her skin. When her eyes snapped open, they were pure, liquid pools of gold.
To the guard, it felt like a painful invasion. Phantom fingers pressed into his skull, burning into his memories and stripping away his will. He tried to scream, but he was frozen.
Her voice was a whisper so low even Kale's wolf ears couldn't pick it up, but the guard's eyes turned pitch black. His head bowed in absolute submission. Kale's own neck bowed of its own accord as his wolf submitted.
Then, the sensation vanished. Trinity gasped, falling back against the bars. The silver scorched her skin. Kale quickly pulled her away.
"Did I do it?"
"Yeah, you did it. Come on, we should go."
Trinity gave him a soft smile, her eyes meeting Grayson's again. He looked confused, having felt the shift in the air without seeing the cause.
"Can I just talk to him? Please," Trinity begged. Kale hesitated, then nodded. "Don't be long."
As Kale retreated to the stairs, Speed watched Trinity come up behind him. His eyes narrowed. He had felt his wolf trying to claw to the surface in her presence. As she walked past, a draft blew her hair, and Speed's eyes widened. For a split second, he saw strands of unmistakable red being blown through the lower part of her hair. He stayed behind, reeling.
At the top of the stairs, Alana and Trinity both paused as Alana's mate bond flared. "Boris is back!"
"I know," Trinity said.
"How would you know?"
"Through the bond," Trinity said plainly.
Alana grabbed Trinity's arm. "You can feel the bond? How? Is your wolf fully emerged?"
"Weeks. And I'm not a wolf. Still very much defective," Trinity said, ripping her arm away. "We talk through the bond."
"But I can't feel you! Why didn't you tell me?" Her words becoming more desperate.
Trinity turned on her, eyes flashing. "I'm not your daughter, after all, right? Why would you feel anything?"
"Hey!" A voice screamed, cutting through the tension. Stealing all of their focus. The cold grip of panic beginning to seize their hearts. Had they been caught?