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I had no doubt some Lost Ones imprisoned here were dangerous and deserved to be here, but I also knew a lot weren’t bad and didn’t belong behind these bars. Human authorities didn’t know what to do with them, so it was easier to just shove them in here and forget they existed.

I wasn’t out of this place yet, but I was lucky that I had people trying to make it happen. Some folks I passed by didn’t have anyone to rescue them. I knew what that felt like.

The guard dumped me in a visitor’s chair in a room full of empty tables and chairs, all bolted to the floor. He cuffed my wrists to the table and left.

Hm . . . This did not feel good. My brother wouldn’t be cuffed. Nobody else was in the room. There were cameras, but Syros wouldn’t care who was watching when he tore my head off.

The wards did prevent both of us from using our abilities, but he was still strong without them.

What was I supposed to do now?

Trust us, Leomaris had said.

But how were they going to get around the wards?

I had to trust the plan. Trust that everything had been leading toward this moment. Tom Collins had maneuvered everyone here who needed to be. Agent Leomaris was smart, and they probably had some control over what happened in this room. We’d had our conjugal visit to power-up.

Whatever was going to happen, would probably happen any second now.

I drummed my fingers on the table.

A long mirror on one wall reflected the empty room back at me. Dark, barred windows lined the opposite wall.

Doors clanged deeper inside the prison, but the visiting room was quiet. Just me, my drumming fingers, and pounding heart.

The door at the far end of the room opened, and in stepped my brother. My heart skipped, then sank like a rock through my stomach.

Syros’s smile was all predatory glee. “You finally stopped running.”

CHAPTER 20

I stood, rattling the cuffs against the table. “Brother.”

Play it cool, play it calm. There was no other way with him. If I showed any sign of weakness, he’d tear into me.

“Look at you.” He ambled into the room, and behind him another familiar face appeared. Jenny— Gen Z as Zee had called her—the shapeshifting loup-garou. She smirked too.

The door clanged closed, sealing me alone with two formidable enemies. Cameras stared from the corners, but they’d be no help if Syros decided to end me here.

“Didn’t expect to see me, huh?” Jenny said, following Syros to my table. “When you throw someone off a cliff, least you can do is check they’re dead. Villain one-oh-one.”

“I was busy trying to save werewolf lives at the time.”

“And end mine.”

“I’m also not the villain here,” I argued.

“Not a villain?” Syros laughed and slid into the bolted-down chair opposite mine. “Tell that to Gideon Cain’s surviving kin, or the staff of the Stephanie Hotel who are now out of a job.”

“They shouldn’t have poisoned the sandwiches. That’s no way to run a hotel.”

“What about the cat lady who owned the SOS Hotel before you?” Syros asked. “What happened to her, huh? Did you get a little peckish?”

Yeah, okay, I had eaten her. “What do you want?”

“I always knew you were weak and pathetic—the runt. I knew once I got you cornered you’d roll over and show me your belly. But you’re even weaker than I remember. Those fools you keep around at that trashy SOS Hotel? They didn’t even care you’d gone, and when Jenny stepped in, you know what she learned?” Syros laughed again. “Nobody there gives a crap about Adam Vex. The woman at the front desk . . . Madame something, gypsy ward weaver? I was worried about her, but she didn’t even notice you were gone . . . or that you were back when Jenny wore your glamor. And that broken AI barman? Wow . . . The way he talks, the disdain? I’m surprised he hasn’t tried to kill you.”

“Yeah, honestly? Me too.”