Page 15 of Verses and Blooms
“Sanchez said to check the corner floor tiles, behind paintings. It should be obvious,” I called out to the others before they could tear into the furniture.
“I’m going to stand by the door in Malik’s office. Vance has me on comms,” Cooke said as he gave us a nod and walked out.
While the others went for the back of the room where most of the art rested on the walls, I started here, walking the perimeter of the room with careful steps. I might not weigh as much as an alpha, but if it was here even I should be able to trigger it.
The fire might work against us. We were operating on the old floor plans, but as far as we were told, there wasn’t much left of the old school before it was rebuilt.
Though, I was starting to think there was more to that story than they were telling us. That door seemed older, not something they’d put back in when ARC took over.
Could this have been going on long before Malik? Was he just part of a long line of sketchy staff that risked others’ lives for money and status?
That was the same kind of corruption that landed me in the middle of that fighting ring.
I felt like I was standing in the eye of the storm as I moved to the center of the room, a flurry of movement around me as furniture was shoved aside and art tossed to the ground.
Constant words barked out.“Nothing here. Keep looking.”
They were moving the big shelves, the furniture. I was eyeing the paintings like Sanchez had suggested. Everything in here was clean, almost symmetrical.
I moved out of the main room and toward the locker room. Rydell was in here now, working on the lockers. He gripped the metal edges, wrenching them from the walls.
Not wanting to be in the way, I walked past him into the final room. It was dorm-style with rows of beds. It must have been a place for the nurses to crash when they worked late shifts.
My eyes slowly drifted over the space, looking for anything that didn’t quite fit. There were more paintings here, windows perfectly aligned, blinds pulled down to block out the light… and then my eyes landed on a small metal door.
It looked like a fuse box, but that didn’t make sense for a building of this size. It would take far too much power to run. There would likely be a whole fuse panel, something in the basement or a maintenance room, not a dorm or a classroom.
“Did you find something?”
I nearly jumped out of my skin as Kane walked closer.
“I’ve been looking for something to stand out, and I just found this fuse box.” I reached out and tugged on the door. “It doesn’t make sense to be here.”
Of course, it didn’t budge.
“Let me try,” Kane offered as he moved closer. He was no longer careful around me, making sure he didn’t touch me like before, and I appreciated that. The brush of his arm against mine felt comforting. It grounded me in the moment, even as my heart was beating out of my chest, my nerves so fried I felt like I could pass out, my pulse thundering until I was dizzy.
Kane grunted as he tugged on it. He wasn’t exactly small for a beta but he wasn’t doing any better than I was. With a wink, he cupped his mouth and yelled out to the others. “Hey, we need some muscle in here.”
Rydell stormed through the door in seconds. He was covered in a sheen of sweat and grime, small debris sticking in his dark hair. His eyes were sharp, landing right on us, then the metal panel.
“Fuse box,” he said. “No fucking way.”
“I doubt there’s any kind of breaker behind it, but it’s welded shut,” I supplied as we stepped out of the way.
Rydell gripped the edges and with a hard tug, his muscles straining, it ripped off. The force of it nearly had him stumbling back. I reached out on instinct, steadying him.
Again, I shocked myself. They were right, we were a pack now. My omega accepted that.
“They definitely sealed it,” he said, holding up the jagged metal in his hands before tossing it aside.
“And definitely not a fuse,” I agreed.
“Of course. Why would the nurses ever mess with this?” Kane said.
Where the fuses should’ve been was just a single lever. Maybe we should have worried it was something moreimportant, hell, that it could put us in darkness if it truly was a power switch of some kind.
Yet, I still reached out for it before anyone else could. My fingers locked around the top before I yanked it down as hard as I could.
