Page 161 of Tamed By Her Touch

Smooth crystalline walls transitioned to pale stone, then darker gray rock veined with luminous minerals. Some of the corridors branched in several directions, marked by flowing symbols she couldn’t read—not even the Translation Bacteria she’d taken seemed able to decipher the ancient script.

“Wonderful,” Clair muttered. “An alien maze—just exactly what I needed to brighten my day.” She tried her com and found it didn’t seem to work inside the Archive.

“Kaelus?” she said, trying again. She got nothing but static. She frowned and tried a third time—still nothing. This was not good.

Clair stopped beneath one of the glowing wall panels and looked back the way she had come. She could probably return to the entrance, get outside, and call Maera or Varell. Probably. But Kaelus was somewhere in here. And he had left his data tablet behind after uncovering evidence connecting Sendar to the Savage Syndrome outbreak.

There was no way in hell she was leaving without him. She continued deeper into the labyrinthine building.

The corridors grew quieter and colder as she went. Several times she called his name and heard nothing except her own voice echoing through the ancient stone. Then, somewhere far away, she thought she heard a metallic crash.

Clair stopped dead in her tracks.

“Kaelus?” she called.

Silence…then another sound came through the corridor—the harsh scraping noise of metal against metal. Clair’s stomach tightened and she hurried toward it.

“Kaelus!” she shouted again, but still got no response.

She rounded another corner and found herself in a section of the Archive that looked nothing like the bright modern research areas near the entrance.

The walls here were nearly black—the lighting sparse and amber-colored. Old medical symbols had been carved beside the doorways, and several sealed chambers lined the hall.

Clair felt a tingle of excitement. Suddenly she knew where she was—this must be the entrance to the old Containment Wing. Kaelus had told her about it over dinner last night—the ancient rooms where Savage males had once been restrained for days or weeks while the virus burned through them.

A chill crawled over her skin. Why would Kaelus come down here?

“Kaelus!” This time she was certain she heard something. A voice so faint and hoarse—so far away she almost convinced herself she had imagined it.

“…go back…” Clair heard it say.

Her heart slammed against her ribs.

“Kaelus?” she shouted, hating the way her own voice echoed down the long, empty corridors.

A louder sound followed—something heavy striking metal. Then his voice came again.

“CLAIR!”

Heart racing, she ran toward it.

“Kaelus! Where are you?”

“GO BACK!” was the reply but his deep voice sounded wrong. It was ragged…strained. Almost animal.

Fear surged through Clair, but it only made her run faster.

“Where are you?” she shouted.

“GET OUT OF HERE!” His voice was almost a snarl now.

“Like hell I will—where are you?” Clair cried.

Another metallic crash boomed through the corridor and she followed the sound.

At last she found it—the Ancient Containment Center.

It lay at the end of a wide passage marked by a massive mechanical door standing partially open. Clair squeezed through the gap and entered a room so dark and terrible that for half a second, she forgot how to breathe.