Page 67 of Shifter Situations

Panic slowly began to course through the mate bond, and Stone’s gaze swung in one direction as mine went the other.

York stood frozen in the doorway, overlooking what was left of the… containment area.

I needed to get him out of here.

14

York

Friday, June 5th

Early Morning

Just looking at all of the cages—the people in them—had made me panic.

I vaguely recalled Sloane saying my name and Grim pulling me into another room.

Flashbacks from the camp had begun hitting me in waves, taking my breath with them as they rushed away. My vision tunneled, my ears rang, and I barely registered that I was repeating my thoughts aloud.

“I need to leave. I can’t be here.”

“York?”

Grim shook my shoulders, bringing me out of a downward spiral. Vivid purple eyes locked on mine, and I copied his movements, taking shaking breaths with him until I could calm myself.

“You’re okay. You’re safe.”

I nodded my head, counting the days I’d been able to feel the sun on my face and the earth under my feet.

Nineteen.

I was safe.

I knew I wasn’t going back to the camp, but that didn’t stop me from reliving some of the worst moments.

The smell of death saturated the entire building, covering any of the other scents that might have been prevalent.

I had seen enough to know that the shifters hadn’t been fed regularly, if at all. Their clothes were torn and tattered. They hadn’t been able to bathe. Filth was caked up on their cheeks, some of them with streaks from tears.

It was hard to see it happening to someone else knowing that it also happened to me.

As I glanced around the small room Grim had brought me to, I realized that it was a similar setup to the camp. It was empty save for a metal medical table. But instead of fae crystals lining the workbench, there were needles, syringes, and vials of shimmering milky liquid.

Grim slipped two into his pocket, and I slammed the rest of the vials onto the ground, needing an outlet for the frustration that was building up inside me.

No one needed to touch that fucking drug again.

At the camp, they had drained my power. And that controlled magic was passed from hand to hand in order for them to make the drug that was being administered to these people against their will.

I wasn’t sure how to react to what was happening, but the longer I stayed in this warehouse, the more my adrenaline kicked in, and that made me want to just... Run.

I needed to get out of here.

I needed to get out of here and away from everything.

Walking out of the medical room was a mistake. As soon as the cages were in my sight again, I began to wonder how long the shifters had been here or when the last time they’d eaten had been.

My breathing was too rapid and shallow. I wrapped my arms around my waist, desperately trying to hold myself together. I froze in the doorway, unable to cross the threshold.