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Eyes shining, he lifts his gaze to mine and shakes his head. “I’m not talking about the girl from my nightmares. I’m talking about you. Now. I was able to save you this time.” He gives a solemn smile, taking my hand in his, and I can hardly see his face through the irritating blur of tears in my eyes. “Verisimilitude.”

“No. Don’t. Don’t do this.” My words give way to the frenzy inside of me, the tremble in my chest that threatens to crack me open at any moment. The heartbreak that waits to destroy me. “Tell me how to help you.”

“Do you think I’d be standing here, if I knew?” A tearful chuckle escapes him, but I don’t share any humor. The anger and frustration inside of me battles for a voice.

“I told you to stay back.” My throat wobbles from the tears. “I told you to be free!”

“I don’t regret coming with you. I don’t regret this.” Reaching a hand through the bars, he cups my jaw, frowning as he strokes a thumb over my cheek. “I want you to be happy, Cali.”

I hold my hand over his, swallowing back the sob that tugs at my throat. In spite of the impending danger, the snarls and the rumble from the mutations waiting to sink their teeth in us, the chaos of this moment, it’s as if nothing else exists around us. “Remember … back in the hibernation room ... when I said I didn’t need you and Titus? I was wrong. I need you.” I reach another hand through the bars, clutching him as close to me as possible, desperate to keep him here, to keep him safe. The panic rises in my chest, displacing the air. “I need you.”

He snorts a laugh, and a tear slips from the corner of his eye. “I knew you were just pissed. That’s how we are, Sunshine. I piss you off, and you say shit you don’t mean.”

Rhys strides up beside me and passes something through the bars, which Cadmus accepts in his palm. “Nightshade.” He takes a moment to grab the other Alpha’s shoulder and gives a nod, his brow flickering to a frown, as if he’s imagining himself on the other side.

“No.” The desperation in my heart won’t let me accept this. It won’t let me switch off the compulsion to get him out. I can’t leave. I won’t leave him down here alone. “We’re just not … we’re not thinking. Hard enough. There’s a way.”

Cadmus sniffs and smiles, shaking his head. “Not this time.”

Titus reaches out to grab Cadmus by the arm, brows pinched, and they clasp each other’s forearm. Not a word spoken between them.

At my left, Valdys stands with his jaw tight, frowning, as well. “Cadmus ... “ He chokes up on the word, and reaches through the bar to set his hand on the other Alpha’s shoulder. One rough shake shows his silent frustration, the same frustration that beats through me now.

Brows flickering Cadmus looks at me and back to Valdys. “You take care of her, okay? Take care of our girl.”

Valdys slides his hand up to palm the back of Cadmus’s head, lips clamped as he gives a sharp nod. “I owe you everything.”

“You owe me nothing. We’re brothers. Always have been.”

In the pause that follows, an eerie quiet hangs on the air, and I turn to see the mutations behind us are no longer there. They’ve retreated, leaving nothing but Jed’s bones on the floor where they once gathered. Unless my head is so messed up that I’m seeing things. Or what’s not there, rather. But then, Valdys turns, his face holding equal confusion, and I focus my attention back on Cadmus.

Shadows flicker in the background, letting out a screech that’s louder than before.

Cadmus spins away, lighting one of the flares from his pack and as he tosses it into the darkness, illuminating the tunnel behind him, a cluster of faceless Ragers scramble toward him.

The air in my lungs is banished for the gasp that flies out of me. No. There must be hundreds of them, climbing the walls toward him on all fours like spiders exploding from an egg. The low droning of their collective growls echo through the tunnels, reminding me of bees in a hive.

The dog bounds toward them, disappearing in the throng, and only the piercing echo of his yelp announces his fate.

“C’mon, you fucks! You want a piece of me?” Cadmus slams his fist against his chest. “Come get it!”

Screams rip through my chest, the agony rupturing inside of me. I clutch the bars and claw at him, as I’m tugged away. “No! Cadmus!”

I watch him pop the Nightshade pills into his mouth. Head lowered, his eyes are on me, as the faceless humanoids surround him, dragging him away from the cage.

“No! No!”

Arms stretched to either side, he reminds me of a cross, as they cluster around him, swarming him, pulling him under. The shine of his slave band dulls in the shadow of monsters.

“Cadmus!”

At his first outcry, I slap my hands over my ears, screaming, as I collapse to the ground. Eyes clamped, I feel my body being lifted, but I can’t bring myself to look as I’m carried away. Away from this nightmare. Away from those sounds.

Away from Cadmus.

Sunlight warms my skin, but it’s no balm to the ache that throbs inside my chest. I can’t breathe over the tightness clinched across my lungs. Once my knees hit the ground, I crawl forward, toward the hatch that slams shut before I can reach it.

“No. No I need to see him. One more time. Please!”