Page 14 of Caretaker

Chapter Five

We were led into a large area similar to a high school gymnasium, pointed into a small, windowless waiting area and told to wait. We wouldn’t be taken to Angus—he’d be brought to us.

I sat, then twisted my fingers and stared at the floor, my heart in my throat. The stress was enormous. I might be human, but the moment I’d stepped into the prison I’d felt somehow…owned. Lost.

If something happened in there, would anyone come to get us out? Or would we be stuck in cells and forgotten?

I had to keep reminding myself that I was human. They weren’t going to do shit to me, Shane, or Alejandro. We were human.

More than that, Shane and I were hunters. The city needed us.

The door opened and I jumped to my feet, but it was only two of the guards. Cindy and her accompanying guards had turned us over to new people when we’d entered the Blood Section, but not before she’d insisted they enforce the thirty-minute visit rule.

“Let’s go,” the guard who’d opened the door said. “He’s ready.” His voice was unemotional, his eyes calm, but he had a hard coldness to him that I’d seen in the cops of Red Valley. I wondered if he’d been a cop at one time. He had a bushy red beard and red hair.

He told us his name, but I barely heard it and forgot it immediately. To me, he was Beardy.

Beardy turned and strode away. Two guards walked on either side of us, and one followed behind. It seemed a little much, but then Angus was led through the double doors at the far end of the large, echoing room, and I forgot about the heavy security.

His steps were short and shuffling, which was all the restraints around his ankles would permit. His hands were behind his back.

His hair had grown out. That’s what I concentrated on. His hair had grown out. He’d kept his head shaved for as long as I’d known him, and in the months he’d been in prison, it’d grown, and it’d grown fast.

He’d fastened it into a short ponytail at the back of his neck, but a couple of strands had slipped free and hung over his face. All the sections seemed to have different color coveralls, and BSec’s color was a red so dark it was almost black.

It was as though I didn’t even know him. His hair grew faster than a human’s would, but it wasn’t just his hair that made him seem like a stranger.

The guards stopped his awful shuffling walk, brought his hands from behind his back, then shoved him into a huge metal chair. They fastened his wrists into cuffs on the chair arms and his legs—although they were already restrained—into cuffs that went from ankle to knee.

Lastly, they pulled a collar of yellow, red, and blue wires from the back of the chair, wrapped them around his neck, then stepped back.

“He’s all yours,” Beardy said.

And finally, Angus looked up.

We were only halfway across the floor, but as soon as Angus looked at me, I gave a sob I hadn’t meant to give and sprinted across the floor toward him.

I didn’t care what any of them thought. Everyone but Angus disappeared at that moment.

I was almost to him when someone stepped in front of the chair and lifted his hand. “Stop.”

I skidded to an immediate halt and looked around for Beardy, who seemed to be the one in control. “Why?”

Beardy was no help. He shook his head. “Maintain a safe distance at all times. No touching the inmate. And keep your voice loud enough so we can hear you. You do that, and you can have your thirty minutes.”

Did I have a choice?

Not really.

I nodded, then looked at the guard blocking Angus from my view. “Get out of my way.”

His expression didn’t change. He went to stand on one side of the chair, the other guard stood behind the chair, and Beardy stood close to me.

Because Beardy knew he didn’t have to worry about the restrained shifter. He had to worry about Shane, Alejandro, and me.

I dropped my gaze to Angus.

“Trin.” His voice was hoarse, raw, and filled with something I didn’t quite recognize.