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“Two hours ago. So, she might still be up there. And she might know where your oldest brother is. They were a couple. Did you know about that?”
“Yeah, I’ve heard stuff, but… Wow.” Her lips pucker as she blows out a long breath. “This is wild, Willow. We have to go to my dad. He needs to know this.”
“I’m sure he already knows. The security camera operator had that feed frozen for a reason. They’re probably looking for her now.”
“Another reason not to go up there,” Diana says. “If an enforcement team is already on the hunt, we could end up getting shot by accident.”
My heart punches my ribs. “Do you think they’ll shoot her? Without even knowing why she was here or if she’s guilty of anything?”
Pity flickers in her gaze as she says, “She was here during the explosion, poking around on a forbidden floor. Whatever she was doing, it wasn’t good, Willow.”
“We don’t know that for sure. The Kelley I knew was a good person, Diana. I can’t imagine why she would willingly be a part of an attack that hurt innocent people.”
My thoughts race some more, insisting that perhaps Kelley knows something I don’t, something about this pack that proves Maxim and everyone at the top are as corrupt and awful as Victor and Pax and most of the other pack leaders in the Parallel.
But even as I try that theory on for size, I don’t buy it.
Maxim is many things, not all of them good, but he’s devoted to his people, and they know it. I saw that earlier today, in the atrium. Those people weren’t stressed, bullied, or traumatized wolves. They were happy, healthy, prospering.
But maybe Kelley doesn’t know that.
“Maybe someone’s using her,” I say as Diana and I stop in front of a bank of elevators, and she presses the up button. “Maybe they lied to her about what’s going on here and manipulated her into being a part of it. Maybe she’s just…confused.”
“Like, she’s been brainwashed or something?” Diana asks. “Like a cult?”
“Yeah, something like that.”
Diana chews her lip for a beat. “I had a friend who joined a cult. Like, by accident. She didn’t even realize it was a cult until we staged an intervention to get her out. She just thought she’d joined a really immersive self-help community. But communities don’t force you to turn over your paycheck to be cashed at their ‘bank’ and take twenty percent off the top. Or tell you who you can date or what you can talk about with your family or make you walk home barefoot in the snow when you mistakenly wear real leather shoes to a meeting instead of fake ones.”
I nod. “Right. Maybe it was something like that.” But savvier, I add silently, because no way would Kelley be drawn in by just any old cult.
It would have to be something really convincing and sophisticated.
And smart.
But there are organizations out there like that. Some of the Doomsday cults are really charismatic and successful with young shifters. Especially ones who’ve recently escaped from The Parallel and are looking for a reason to believe the world is about to change and all the violence and degradation they’ve suffered in their lives will soon be a thing of the past.
The elevator doors open and Diana steps inside, motioning me in behind her. “Okay. But we should still go find my dad. He’s more likely to have mercy on her, and us, than Maxim.”
I step in, only to be jerked back out again by an iron hand around my elbow.
I don’t even have to turn my head to know who’s captured me.
Maxim’s wood smoke and angry Alpha smell is swirling through my head and Diana’s eyes are the size of saucers.
“We can explain,” she squeaks.
“To your rooms. Now,” Maxim growls. “And stay there. If I find out you’ve been out without permission, you’ll regret it. Profoundly.”
“Please, Maxim,” Diana says as the doors begin to close, “Willow hasn’t done anything wrong, she just—”
The doors seal shut, cutting off the end of her sentence, but I can fill in the blanks.
I’m just confused.
And worried for my sister.
And scared.
