After taking inventory of myself, I lay on my back, the hard floor uncomfortable under me. All I saw was the wire of the cage and the bright, fluorescent lighting overhead.
Galen leaned over me, his curls falling into his eyes as his brow pinched with concern. “What happened? Are you okay?”
I blinked a few times. “He blocked me.” I scowled up at Galen, though not necessarily at him. “That fucker blocked me!”
“I’m…sorry?” He studied me, his pale eyes taking in everything. “I don’t sense anything wrong. Can you sit up?”
Instead of responding, I pushed to my feet, grimacing at the throb in my head. I’d experienced this the few times a connection between me and someone else broke. I tried to reconnect with him, but I was unable to follow the pathway back to Donovan. It left me feeling bare, like a piece of me went missing.
Wrapping my arms around my stomach, I shivered, hoping the feeling would pass soon.
Galen sat back down on his bed. “Is there anything I can do to help?”
I shook my head, though I didn’t have a ton of experience with this, and I looked anywhere but at him as I muttered, “It’ll pass eventually.”
“What’s wrong with you?” The mystery guy I hadn’t been able to see earlier now sat on his bed across the walkway from Frosty and his cellmate, his dark eyes fixed on me. Chestnut hair stood up in all directions, making him appear to have the worst case of bedhead I’d ever seen before. Although he spoke with a fairly deep voice, he looked even younger than me.
“Wrong with me?” I parroted.
“You look like you’re going to be sick.” As he got to his feet, light bounced off his eyes and reflected back like a cat.
I shook my head. Nausea churned my stomach, but from past experiences, it would soon fade. The best course of action was to breathe through it.
He shrugged and plopped back on his bed, apparently not overly interested in my answer, and we all lapsed into silence.
Before long, the guards dragged Donovan back and threw him into his cell. A gash across his temple dripped blood down his cheek and neck, and his skin was paler than before.
Galen clenched his fists and took a step closer to the fence surrounding us. “I thought we agreed you’d quit fighting them.”
Donovan got to his feet and swiped at the blood with his forearm. “Not sure what they did. Embry was there…then she wasn’t.” He shook his head as if to clear it.
Had he not been the one to shove me from his head, then?
With him standing right there, it wasn’t difficult to slip into his mind again. I’m still here.
He dropped to his bed, shoulders sagging with relief.
No one had ever reacted to my presence in their mind like that.
The guards moved down the hall, opening the cell next to mine.
I swallowed hard as they dragged Frosty and his buddy down the same walkway Donovan had just come from.
We were silent until they were out of sight, then Galen growled out, “Did they inject you with something?”
Donovan nodded. “Hurt like a son of a biscuit, whatever it was.”
I rubbed my chest where the pain had consumed me earlier.
Galen narrowed his eyes at me. “You, too?” When I nodded, he bit out a curse. “Give me your hand. I want to see if I can figure out what was in it.”
I glanced at Donovan, who nodded encouragingly, before I offered my hand to Galen.
He closed his eyes, his calloused thumb running over the pulse in my wrist, making a chill run down my spine as it tickled faintly. He inhaled deeply, then it felt as if he heated my blood, the warmth traveling up my arm and near my heart.
His brows furrowed. “That can’t be right.”
He grasped my other hand, the heat traveling through that arm as well. As a frown tugged at his lips, my heart beat furiously.
Donovan leaned closer to the chain-link making up the walls of his cage. “What is it?”
Even Mystery Guy got to his feet and moved to the corner of his cage closest to ours.
“Blood.” Galen scowled. “It’s tainted. Not completely her own.”
What did that mean? How did he know I had someone else’s blood in me? Didn’t all blood look the same?
“English translation?” Mystery Guy asked.
“Means they’ve injected Embry with blood that wasn’t her type, then used my blood to bind it to hers.”
Mystery Guy raised a brow. “Can you tell whose blood she’s been injected with? Or is it just random donors?”
That was a good question. I didn’t know a lot about blood transfusions but didn’t you have to have the same blood type for a blood transfusion to be successful?
Galen glanced over at Donovan, then Mystery Guy. “I haven’t been in contact with many people since coming here…but I’m almost positive Neo’s blood is in the mix.”
Donovan snorted. “Well, you’ve healed him enough, it’s no surprise you’d recognize his signature.”
Mystery Guy stared at me for a moment. “Who else have you healed while here, Gale?”
Galen winced. “Van’s blood is in the mix, too. A part of me is wondering if the other samples I can’t figure out are from Winter and Aidan.”
My skin itched all over as I tried not to panic. Why did he seem so calm about this? Didn’t people die from getting blood transfusions that didn’t match their blood type? I wasn’t sure, but it seemed like a bad idea to try it.
I gently pulled my hand from his. “What makes you think that?”
“I recognize mine, Van’s, and Neo’s.” Galen gestured to himself, then Donovan, then Mystery Guy. “Logic says the other blood belongs to Winter and Aiden.”
Donovan yawned. “All this thinking is overloading my brain.”
“Any thinking overloads your brain,” Mystery Guy, Neo, replied without heat.
We lapsed into silence for a while before we heard footsteps once more.
Frosty and his cellmate, who I now assumed were Winter and Aidan, were shuffled back into the room and shoved into their cell. The guards took Neo with them when they left, and he didn’t put up a fight.
Not that fighting would have gotten him anywhere.
Frosty ran his fingers over his chest. “Well, that was fun.”
His cellmate, Aidan, chuckled. “If by fun you mean pointless and painful, it was super fun.”
Galen walked over to stand near their chain wall. “Did you two get injected as well?”
Frosty nodded. “Aidan got a double dose. His body burned through the first too quickly, and they made me freeze him to keep it from happening the second time.”
Aidan shivered. “It sucked.”
Galen shifted his weight, bouncing on the balls of his feet. “Did you see what it was?”
Frosty made a face. “Looked like blood, which makes no sense, since neither of us has lost any.”
Galen began pacing. “Embry, Van, and I appear to have received the same treatment. Embry has traces of our blood in her system, and I’m wondering if that means the same is true for the rest of us.”
Silence reigned as Galen continued pacing.
Just watching him wore me out, so I lay back on his bed, my gaze following his back-and-forth trek in our confined space.
It seemed to take longer for Neo to return, but when he did, it was obvious why. Two guards dragged him between them, and his steps wove as if he was drunk.
Why was he the only one who came back looking like he got hit by a truck?
I sat up and planted my feet on the ground. “What’s wrong with him?”
“Tranqed,” Galen murmured as if he’d seen this before.
“Why? The rest of us weren’t.”
Neo seemed so young and innocent, and when he left, he was cooperating. So, why the hell would they have used a tranquilizer?
Donovan stared at Neo’s retreating back as the guards dragged the younger guy past us. “You don’t piss off a shifter of Neo’s skill. Even I’m not stupid enough to do that.”
Neo raised his head, eyes reflecting the light as he stared over his shoulder at me.
The guards tossed him into his cell, locking it before marching out of the room as they laughed and joked around.
Intense hatred filled me, surprising the hell out of me. Even after being snatched from the parking lot at school, I hadn’t felt such extreme anger, and I worked to tamp it down.
Glancing out the window, Galen sighed, his eyes glued to the heavy, gray clouds hovering outside, barely visible in the dark stillness. “Can’t even tell what time it is.”
“After ten,” Neo slurred. Obviously, he meant at night, since no light came in through the windows.
Dropping a hand to my shoulder, Galen said, “Quick round of introductions. Van, Neo, Aidan, and Winter” –he pointed to each of the guys in rapid succession– “and I’m Galen. Guys, this is Embry.”
I bit back a snarky reply. As if I hadn’t already figured out their names. I guessed it was good to be formally introduced, though. I simply nodded as I got to my feet.
When Galen yawned against his wrist, I glanced around the small enclosure. There was only one small bed in the cell. “How’s this whole sleeping thing going to work?”
Frosty smirked. “Well, first, you’ll probably want to lie down. And then, it will help to close your eyes.”
I stared at him as if he were an idiot. For all I knew, his mama dropped him on his head as a baby.
Galen sighed. “Ignore him. The rest of us do.”
A gasp from Frosty’s cell drew my gaze reluctantly back to him. “How rude.”
Giving me his full attention, Galen answered my question. “You can have the bed. I’ll be fine on the floor.”
I glanced down at the cement, then raised a brow. “That doesn’t seem comfortable.”
He followed my gaze. “You have a better idea? That bed won’t hold both of us.”
Slowly, I shook my head and grimaced. Of course, he was right. Didn’t mean I had to like it.
Noise from the front of our room caught our attention, and Galen stepped closer to the walkway between our cage and Van’s to see what was going on.
Two burly guards stopped in front of our cell, one of them holding a shock stick. It was similar to a taser, but the electricity was at the end of a long rod.
“Get back, filthy rodent.” The guard shoved the weapon toward Galen, who immediately took a few steps toward me.
We watched in silence as they brought a ratty mattress into our cell, then dropped a pile of blankets and a pillow to the ground as the second guard leered at me. “Enjoy your cozy quarters tonight. Tomorrow, Dr. Johns wants to test that cocktail they injected you with by putting you in the field.”
My heart skipped a beat. I’d been in the field before. The collar they forced me to wear could blow my head clean off my shoulders if they thought I stepped out of line. Saliva flooded my mouth, and I swallowed several times to avoid puking.
Locking the door once more, the guards’ footsteps echoed through the room as they hastily departed. When the door that led to the hall slammed shut, a loud click echoed through the room, and the overhead lights switched off. Faint light came from somewhere in the room, but it was so dim I could barely make out Donovan’s features from across the walkway.
Donovan shuffled to his bed. “What exactly does being in the field entail?”
“Nothing good,” I replied.
I helped Galen set up the new mattress, then practically shoved him toward the bed on the other side of the cell. There was no way I’d kick him from the bed he usually slept in. Besides, it felt weird to sleep in a bed that normally belonged to someone else when they were right here.
Of course, he didn’t really move when I shoved him, but it was enough to allow me to dive under the threadbare blankets covering the mattress on the ground. “I call this bed.”
With a huff, Galen headed for the actual bed, muttering something about annoying women.
Silence reigned for quite a while before I heard my name being called faintly.
“Yeah?”
Someone shifted their weight, then Frosty muttered something about needing to piss as Donovan repeated his earlier question. “What’s in the field mean?”
I attempted to get comfortable, but I was fighting a losing battle. “It’s when they put a control collar on you and have you perform a mission. Or, more likely, we’ll simply be forced to wear the collars while they take us to another location to test our powers.”
He fell silent again, and I could almost feel his brain digesting that.
For a while, he stayed that way. If it weren’t for the buzzing of his mind, I would have thought he’d fallen asleep.
Finally, I couldn’t take it anymore. Are you okay?
His entire body jerked, and remorse flooded me. I hadn’t meant to startle him.
It took him a moment to reply. Don’t think I’m going to be able to fall asleep tonight.
His response made me roll to my stomach. Want me to tell you a story? I half-teased.
He was silent a moment before saying, Tell me about yourself?
I tilted my head, studying the tufts of hair sticking up from the blanket he’d pulled over his head when he laid down. What do you want to know?
Anything? Do… Do you have a family?
I considered his question. Telling him about them wouldn’t hurt anything. Those in charge of the facility already knew who I was and where I came from. Yup. Both parents and a brother.
Lucky. I’ve always wondered what it would be like to have a sibling. He shifted, got to his feet, and shoved his bed.
The loud scraping of metal against concrete made me cringe. What are you doing?
He turned his bed sideways to face me directly and got back in, not bothering with the blanket.
As he watched me quietly, I finally allowed his previous statement to penetrate. No siblings? What about parents?
His brow furrowed, and he drew in a deep breath. As much as I hate being here, I’d rather be here than with them.
That bad? My parents might not be the greatest, but at least, I’d prefer them to this.
What about your parents?
Clearly, he didn’t want to talk about his family, so I opened up about mine. Parents are still together, but a part of me is convinced they see each other so infrequently that they don’t really have a reason to divorce. Almost as an afterthought, I added, My brother and I were pretty much raised by a series of nannies.
His eyes widened. Your family has enough money that you had nannies, and yet you’re here?
I nodded. Yeah. Crazy, right? But I doubt my parents have even noticed I’m missing.
He flopped to his back and draped an arm across his brow. How long have you been here?
Long enough. A couple months, at least. Not really sure. It wasn’t as if I could keep track of the days while here. You?
I felt his mind working, but I didn’t pry on his inner thoughts. No idea. Sorta lost track of the days.
Sympathy for what he must be going through filled me. I’m sorry. If I could help you, I would.
‘S okay. As I said, better here than with my folks.
So much pain filled his words that I wanted to give him the world’s biggest hug.
Instead, I shut my eyes. We should get some rest, so we aren’t completely useless tomorrow.