Page 15 of Hidden

Lila shook her head. “You’re not the victim here. There’s no coming back from what you’ve done.”

Heat rose with his wrath, prickling his skin. When he spoke, his voice dropped to a growl. “You can’t cage me, Lila.”

She tensed. “I already have.”

He’d let the beast slip out, and that breach of discipline was a costly mistake. She reached sideways to something he couldn’t see. Then he heard the multi-toned beeping of a keypad. Panic seized him, drowning him like a deadly wave.

“Lila,” he cried. “Hear me out!”

He slipped his hand between the bars to touch her sleeve, but she dodged away. “Stay away from me, or you’ll lose that paw.”

A steel plate slid across the bars from left to right.

“Wait!” He lunged, trying to stop the plate with his hand, but the metal edge dug deep. The mechanism coughed out a grinding noise, and he had to let go. “Lila!”

He barely pulled his hand inside before the panel clanged shut, blocking her from view.

“Lila?” he called, but the only answer was the echo of his voice against bare walls.

He was trapped.

CHAPTER 5

The clang of the heavy lock reverberated in Lila’s chest. Rattled, she glared at the steel door, as if it was at fault for her nerves. He’d been cool as ice, but then the mask slipped. What she’d just glimpsed was the stuff of nightmares. One Ademar already knew was real.

Lila spun and strode past the row of doors set into the gray walls. She wanted distance between herself and the werewolf. Questioning the beast had resolved nothing.

He’d broken into the way station and attacked her brother. Rabid dogs had to be put down. And yet that bite was only one of his offenses. He’d made outrageous allegations against her people, and something told her he was just getting started. If she hadn’t walked away, he would have kept spewing accusations about kidnappings and evil fae.

But that was the problem, wasn’t it? Hadn’t she been asking some of the same things? Lila slowed to catch her breath. Why was there a prison here, anyway? A way station was meant to be neutral ground, a place of peace. Not even traditionalist vampires had dungeons anymore—not when there were so many more creative ways to inconvenience the enemy.

Plus, this was a brand-new way station, so the cells weren’t relics of a previous era. Someone had meant to build a jail for a particular reason—and she doubted it was for the purpose of snatching a parade of werewolves sniffing around the valley. For one thing, what would one do with them? They weren’t exactly purse dogs.

For another, she’d lived in the city with its mix of shifters, witches, vampires, and every other supernatural species. Some were quick to pick a fight, but rarely wolves. The wolf’s story about looking for someone made more sense than an Alpha stirring up trouble just because.

What had she—and the rabid wolf—stumbled upon?

She continued hurrying past door after door, wishing she’d paid better attention when she’d entered the basement level. It was strange that she was alone—there were no guards keeping watch over the cells—but then what was normal in this place?

That nervous, queasy feeling in her gut rose up again, cresting before Lila ruthlessly slammed it down. By the Abyss, she shouldn’t have spoken with the wolf, whether or not her mother had asked it of her. Every time she got involved with her family or the fae in general, she ended up tangled in some complicated problem.

She stopped, suddenly winded. She’d been speed walking for—she wasn’t sure how long, but longer than it should have taken to reach the stairs to get out of this basement. Was she going the right way? She surveyed the doors on either side of the hall, wondering who was behind each one. Lord Teegar? The vampire? The wolf’s missing kin?

Retracing her steps, Lila nearly made a wrong turn into a side-corridor she hadn’t known was there. Or was it? The harder Lila concentrated, the more the angles of the walls seemed to shift, making her sway as if the earth itself was tilting. A throbbing headache crept in.

A confusion spell was at work. Her mother had warned her this level had magical wards against intruders. Whoever entered this part of the house wasn’t supposed to leave. Lila closed her eyes and pressed a hand to the hard, cold wall. Slowly, the ground beneath her feet grew still. She could figure this out.

Without looking, she used her fingertips to guide her down the corridor. Before she’d gone twenty steps, she found the stairway. About three steps up, a spell pushed her back hard enough she felt the pressure against her cheeks.

“Aberethon,” she whispered, sending a push of power into the barrier. The word was less important than the magic behind it, and her power was born of true Fernblade blood.

She hoped the small spell wouldn’t trigger a counterattack, and it didn’t. Lila ran up the stairs, her heart thudding. If she hadn’t been fae—if she hadn’t been powerful—she would have been stuck in the dismal place. Grateful for her escape, she grabbed the handle, fumbling because her palms were damp. The door swung open with a faint squeak. A moment later, she was back in the entry hall where Ademar had put Teegar to sleep.

It had still been dark when she’d entered the dungeon. It was just past dawn now, the sun spilling in through the tall windows. Given everything that had happened, the cheerful daylight didn’t seem real. Nothing did. Lila eyed the front door, which someone—presumably her mother’s servants—had repaired. There was no trace of Teegar’s violent entry, much less Teegar.

Her gaze turned to the view of the trees outside. In a matter of moments, she could be back in the forest, then back in her car, and on her way to her own snug apartment. She’d walked away from the insanity of the fae world before and been far happier for it.

But the first time she’d left, everyone had been fine. Now Ademar was hurt, vampires were knocking on Sala’s door, and her mother was exhausted. As strong as the pull to leave might be, Lila couldn’t turn her back on them. She had to understand what was happening.

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