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Elreth stood in the middle of the prison floor, the intersection of the aisles, staring at the open cell door.

Gar, Aaryn, and two of the guards, including a Shift Lieutenant who’d apparently interrupted the escape stood there with her.

“I think Jayah must have just discovered them. She was kneeling over one of the guards, checking his pulse, and when I arrived she looked up like she was shocked. Then he came roaring out of there and got her—took her off guard. His mate was right behind him. He put a spear to her throat and told me not to move.”

Elreth shivered. She remembered how that felt, that cold steel against her skin.

There was a cluster of guards sitting outside with various headaches and pains. Sarayu was seeing to each of them, but she was baffled.

They’d all be hit or hurt, yet none of them remembered.

“They had to have had help!” Elreth growled, half out of frustration that her prison had been breached, half out of fear.

She’d been about to free him! She’d been a day late… if only she’d been strong enough to see it just a day earlier…

.....

As if he knew what she was thinking, Aaryn reached for her hand. She let him take it, held it tightly.

This shitshow just kept getting worse.

“Sarayu is looking for dart pricks, but so far she can’t find any. The thing we can’t figure out is how they were all knocked out without the others being aware of it. Were there eight different attackers that all managed to pounce at the same time? It seems unlikely, but it’s the only explanation we have right now.”

“When did it happen?”

“After the nightly shift change. There were no alarms, no problems for the evening shift. So… sometime after high moon.”

It was after dawn, so they’d been loose for at least an hour, but more likely four or five. Elreth cursed. Aaryn tightened his grip on her hand.

“How did the Chimera get past our guards at the ravine? Is there is a pass in the mountains we aren’t aware of?”

“We don’t think so, but… that’s also possible. The trackers are already following the trails, but they used water—they shifted to move quickly, not far from here, and they still had Jayah with them,” the guard said nervously.

Elreth stared at him. “What? What is it? What don’t you want to tell me?”

The guard looked at Gar, who nodded. Then his throat bobbed. But he made himself meet her eyes. “Jayah shifted as well,” he said.

Elreth frowned. “So?”

“So… she went with them in her wolf form. And… there are only four adult scents—Jayah, a male we haven’t met, Zev, and Sasha—and their son.”

“What are you saying?”

“I’m saying that… somehow they got Jayah to go with them willingly. There was no scent of blood. No scent of death. If she shifted into her wolf to fight, she received no injury, but moved with them. How would they get her wolf to run when there were only two male wolves?”

“You don’t know what they threatened,” Elreth growled, her head spinning. “If Jayah was given an incentive to go with them, she would control her wolf. She never struggled with that.”

Her heart raced, slamming in her chest. Her pulse thumped in her ears. Her breath kept rushing out of her. Elreth was fighting hard not to simply declare war.

But she’d been about to free him.

But if they didn’t know how he’d gotten loose, or if there was a way for these things to mask their scents like the humans used to—was it possible they had some of the human technology?

She hadn’t even thought about that.

Elreth cursed and let go of Aaryn’s hand as she began to pace.

“What is it? What are you thinking?” Gar asked her quietly, his voice deep and solemn.

“What if they have some of the human tech?” she said quickly. “What if they can hide their scents like the humans used to?”

Gar’s brows rose. “I really don’t think—”

“We can’t know. Rika thinks the humans we fought were from fifty years ago—imagine how much they’ve done since then? Maybe they haven’t left us alone for three months. Maybe they’ve been here this whole time, hiding and watching us through some fucked up technology, and we just didn’t know it. No wonder the wolf was so pissed off about getting caged.”

“No, El, I really don’t think—”

“It doesn’t matter what we think. It matters what is, Gar. And this is at the very least possible, if not probable. Shit. Shit!”

“El,” Gar said, scratching the back of his neck, “I’m really confident that’s not what you’re facing here.”

Elreth heard the conviction in his voice and stopped pacing. She turned to look at her brother who was staring at her the same way he used to when she knew something that their parents didn’t and he was begging her not to tell them.

What. The. Fuck.

What had he done?

“We’re going to get Tarkyn,” she blurted suddenly, then started for the door without another word.

“What? El—”

“Keep the guards here, make sure these ones have any healing that they need. Tell the patrols to double their alert. We’re going to get Tarkyn and talk to Harth and… and we’re going to figure this out.”

The guards trotted for the prison door, following her instructions, but she could feel Aaryn and Gar staring at her back.

Her head buzzed, humming with alarm.

Her brother? Her own brother? For real?

The morning sun was bright in her eyes after the dim depths of the prison tree. She squinted into it until they adjusted, turning not for the Tree City, but for the trail that led north.

Her mate and brother followed on her heels, neither of them complaining or questioning her—which was a minor miracle in itself, and only raised Elreth’s suspicions.

As they strode down the trail, further and further from the guards, Elreth’s tension ratcheted up with every step.

“We aren’t seriously going to get Tarkyn, are we?” Gar asked finally.

“Yes, we are. Or I am. You’re going to tell me whatever it was you didn’t want to tell me in front of the guards, then I’ll decide whether you’re going to live long enough to go with me.”

And when Gar didn’t immediately splutter and try to deny that he knew anything about anything… that was when her blood ran cold.