Just as I was about to investigate the next room, it hit me. The tables were human-sized. In fact, all the equipment looked like it was for treating human patients.
My gut churned as I squinted at the far table. Was that a person-sized lump, covered by a sheet?
Don’t jump to conclusions. Domenic was evil, but I doubted he was keeping dead bodies in darkened rooms.
I tried the door again, but it was firmly locked. I would come back.
The final door was also locked, but this one was flimsier. Above that, a padlock had been installed. When I tugged it, the body pulled free from the loop. Someone hadn’t closed it properly. I slipped it from the latch and stowed it in my pocket.
I looked at the double doors. They were way too close for comfort. The man could turn around at any moment.
But I had to know.
My trusty hairpin slid into the lock easily. I crouched down, both to get better leverage and to be less visible if the guy on the door did turn around. My hands were sweating, which made everything more difficult, but after two of my precious minutes, I heard the lock click.
I stayed crouched as I tested the handle. It turned under my hand.
The room beyond was dark, and the smell of bleach was even stronger. I crept inside and shut the door behind me as softly as I could. As I let my eyes adjust to the darkness, I heard faint sounds around me. Breathing?
The darkness resolved into a nightmare.
Cages,kennels, were stacked on every side of the room. And in each one, the cramped body of a woman. The kennels were meant for large dogs, and I could see bare knees and feet poking from under thin blankets. And under that bleach smell, a multitude of scents gone wrong and strange from fear. Omega scents that made the hair on the back of my neck stand on end.
My brain tried to tell me I was wrong, that this couldn’t be real. Things like this didn’t happen anymore. Omegas were safer now, weren’t they? Maggie was acop; there couldn’t be a room full of women in cages.
Nausea gripped me. I forgot to be quiet and cautious in the frantic need to act.
The first kennel I reached, the woman inside stirred. She lifted her head like it was too heavy to hold up. Her eyes glittered in the darkness.
“Who are you?” she croaked.
“I’m going to help you.” My voice sounded strangled. The door of the kennel rattled under my hands. Locked, this time with a firmly closed padlock. That was beyond my skill with a hairpin.
The woman reached for my hand through the bars of the cage. Her fingers caught mine. I was going to be sick. I had todosomething. Her scent reached me; orange blossoms and something fruity, but chalky with stress.
“My name is Amanda,” she whispered. I realized then that she was only a teenager. “Amanda Crane. There was another girl with me but they took her away. Have you seen her?”
“I don’t—”
“I think she’s dead,” Amanda whispered, her voice cracking. Her anguish broke my heart. “They’re going to kill all of us.”
“How long have you been here?” I asked.
“I don’t know. I lost track. You need to go before they come.”
Panic tore at my lungs. Other whispers came to me in the darkness, more women. More Omegas. And suddenly, Domenic’s investment became very clear. These were the Omegas providing the samples for the study. And for some reason, their stem cells were no longer mutable. Which meant hisinvestmentwasn’t as valuable as he thought.
“I’m going to get you out of here,” I promised with no idea of how I would accomplish that. But I would, I would escape and Gabriel could help free all of them.
The door opened and the light switched on overhead.
“What the fuck?”
It was the third man, the guard on the back door. Another Beta, bigger than the others, and he didn’t need a bark to control me. He just grabbed my wrist in a punishing grip and hauled me out the door. “Fuck,” he muttered under his breath, not even looking at me. “He’s gonna fucking kill me for this.”
“You don’t have to tell him. I promise I won’t say anything—”
“Shut the fuck up, I’m trying to think.” The look he gave me, of cold appraisal, made my stomach churn again.
