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No. They lead to the rooms that hold the false rifts.
Someplace I did not want to go. Not in this condition. What about the wounds?
You healed your back, calf, and thigh when you were unconscious, Cat said. But there are many more wounds on your torso that still bleed.
That wasn’t entirely surprising, given how many times I’d been hit by bullets and metal shards, but how in Rhea had my body even healed the three worst wounds? I had to be in the healing state, not an unconscious one, for that to happen. Is it possible for one of you to untie my hands without anyone noticing?
There was a slight hesitation, and then Bear said, If you wake and talk to them, their attention will be on you rather than on what might be happening behind you.
Keep an eye on the guards, then, Cat. Warn Bear if they look our way.
Will do.
I groaned softly, let my neck roll back and my eyes flutter open.
“Finally,” Winter muttered.
He stood in front of me, a thin-faced man with shadowed skin, magnetic blue eyes, and a ragged, ugly scar that ran down the side of his face from his temple to his jaw. I’d seen scars like that before, on the remains of those who’d been unfortunate enough to come across a wraith. Winter had been the closest to the wraith when he and the others encountered it in the rift, and the fact that he’d survived was testament to his strength and his courage. It was also a warning that I should not underestimate him.
I looked past him. Harvey was standing slightly to his left, watching the various monitors.
I blinked, swallowed, then said, “Who the hell are you?”
My voice was little more than a rasp of air, the question almost inaudible. Winter raised an eyebrow and glanced at Harvey. She adjusted a dial; cold liquid raced into my veins and the chill sent shivers through my body. I had no idea what it was, but my heart began beating faster and I suddenly felt stronger. How long that feeling would last I had no idea, but I suspected I better make use of it while I could.
Bear, untie the ropes. Cat, go over to the table with the guns. If the guards move, unleash hell.
My pleasure.
I lifted my gaze and met Winter’s. He smiled; it was the sort of expression a cat gave its prey a second before it devoured it.
“I’m surprised you haven’t guessed.”
Energy began tugging at the bindings on my wrists. “Oh, I know you’re one of Sal’s partners. I just don’t know who or what you were before you killed Rath Winter and stole his life.”
He raised an eyebrow. “That is not important. What did you do with the two children you stole from us?”
I echoed his expression, mocking him. “That hardly matters, given you won’t ever get your hands on them again.” I switched my gaze to Harvey. “Why are you helping these people? What do you gain out of giving the vampires light immunity?”
“I get the satisfaction of seeing the shifters annihilated,” she said. “I get to see them torn apart, as my kin were torn apart in the war.”
I frowned. “You’re not old enough to have been alive in the war.”
“No, but my grandparents were war survivors. The things they saw . . . It changed them.”
Embittered them, from the sound of it, and they’d passed it on to their children and grandchildren. “The vampires won’t just kill shifters. They’ll destroy us all.”
“Not us. We have a deal with them.”
Almost there, Bear said.
I glanced at Winter. “How in hell did you get her to swallow that sort of bullshit? Because you and I know once the light no longer stops them, the vampires will run amok.”
He smiled. Chills skidded down my spine. There was nothing pleasant about that look. Nothing human about the light in his eyes.
“It’s not difficult when it’s the truth.” He lunged forward, wrapped his fingers around my neck, and shoved his face close to mine. His breath, filled with dead things, washed across my face. “Where are the children?”
“I don’t know.” It came out as a wheeze. “We were met by mercenaries out on the old City Road, and they were taken away.”
