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This time, the door popped open. I blew out a breath and grinned at my friend.
“Bet you don’t think my geek skills are shabby now.”
“Let’s go.” She rushed past me toward the way I had come.
“Wait.” I grabbed her elbow. “That’s not the way to the roof. We have to get to the shuttles.”
Melody’s brows furrowed. “Whoever told you that is wrong, we have to go this way. It’s the closest exit.”
The stink of rotten fish and spoiled milk gagged me. Maybe I was pregnant…didn’t a greater sense of smell come with that? But I couldn’t be experiencing pregnancy symptoms this early.
“Are you sure?” I asked, looking back behind me.
“Yes,” she said in a harsh whisper. “There are too many guards that way. They said a prisoner was loose earlier and they’ve doubled down on the escape routes.”
“Then won’t they be guarding this one?” Whatever we did, it had to be quick.
“No.” She shook her head. “Not many know about it, but I overheard a guard talking about how he’d been on duty there, but they’d took him off to join others watching the shuttles.”
Melody didn’t wait for me to answer but ran down the hallway. I followed after her. What other choice did I have? As soon as she was free, I was getting Xaden and everyone else stuck against their will. This wasn’t a real prison; it was a gigantic unethical science experiment. I doubted any of the prisoners were actual criminals.
“In here, quick.” Melody held open a metal door.
The rotten fish smell was back, and I cringed but pushed past her into the room. Inside was a steel gurney with chains. A tray with silver instruments crafted from nightmares. Glass cabinets held vials of colored medicine and more instruments along with gauze and towels, but there was no other way out of here.
I spun and Melody laughed.
“God, Riley, you are so easy to fool.” She winked at me. “Hope you enjoy your stay.”
I ran to her, but she slammed the door in my face. I beat against the wall. My mind raced.
Melody. She’d been behind this whole kidnapping thing in the first place. She’d set up the speed dating session and had even gotten upset when they said she couldn’t participate. Never knew what a terrific actress she was, and I’d played right into her trap, twice.
18
Xaden
“Give him another dose of adrenaline,” Charred snarled. “I want him awake to find out where the female is.”
Riley.He had to be talking about her. That meant they hadn’t found her yet.
I needed to help Riley however I could. But a dark fog clouded my brain, and I couldn't move or even open my eyes. The combination of the tranquilizer and my body needing to do a healing sleep was too potent.
“I said, hit him again,” Charred said.
A lightning bolt slammed into my chest. My body jerked against chains and the back of my head cracked against a metal gurney.
A bright light flashed behind my eyelids. Pain seared every fucking piece of me.
“Where is the female?” Charred said and claws pried my eyes open. He stared down into my face, his slanted pupils dilatating. “We know you mated with her.”
Shit! I forced the words out past the pain ripping through my body, “I’ll never tell you a fucking thing.”
He punched me in the jaw and my head snapped backward. Spots danced before my vision and I couldn’t focus.
Charred’s reptilian lip curled. “No matter what you do or say, she and any offspring will be ours. There is nothing you can do to stop us just like you couldn’t save your parents and all those other stupid winged beasts that died in battle.”
His claws raked down my chest and I screamed in both pain and despair. I had failed them just as I had failed Riley. But I would die before I gave the Roulex anything that could hurt her.
