Page 48 of Claimed

“At least now we know we’re dealing with a supernatural,” I tell them. “Otherwise, he never would have gotten through the town barrier.”

“How does that help, though?” Hunter asks me.

“We assumed the facility was all humans. This means they have at least one supernatural helping them.”

“That just makes finding them harder. Anyone in this town could be working with them,” Chase says with an annoyed frown.

“Yes,” I concede. “But it also means that someone in this town probably knows where we can find Dr. J and the facility.”

Chapter 18

Cherry

The stone floor is cold beneath my paws, the chill already sinking so deeply into me that it feels like it’s part of my bones.

I pace the length of the cage, the movement tight and restless, my shoulder brushing metal every few steps. The bars don’t rattle, don’t give, just stand there like they always have, unyielding and permanent.

I don’t remember coming back. But here I am. In my cage.

Panic presses in slowly, a suffocating crawl that makes it harder to breathe with every second. The air is thick, heavy with chemicals and something darker beneath it. Burnt fur. Blood. Fear.

My fear.

A low growl vibrates in my chest as I turn again, claws scraping uselessly against the stone. I try to think, to remember how I got here, but everything outside these walls feels distant, like a fog has descended on my mind.

Did I ever actually escape? Or have I been here the entire time?

The thought twists sharply and ugly inside me. The only thing worse than being here is if I had never actually escaped. If I imagined them. My five fated mates.

Did I make up the way Bain likes to feed me? Or Maddox’s protective embrace? What about the twins? Was their charm and model good-looks a figment of my shattered imagination? Did I really make up a wolf as intelligent and handsome as Gage?

The air shifts and something snaps tight inside me, every muscle locking up.

Footsteps echo down the corridor, and I freeze, my body lowering instinctively, ears flattening as my claws dig into the floor, and I try to make myself invisible.

The footsteps stop just outside the cage.

I don’t want to look. But I do anyway.

The man is bathed in shadows, his face unrecognizable through the fog and distortion, making me shake my head to clear the sight. But it doesn’t work. It doesn’t matter, though. Instincts tell me this is the man who’s been leaving notes for me. Who’s followed me across the country. Blaze.

If he’s real, does that mean my mates are real too? Memory mixes with dreams as I try to figure out what’s real and what’s not.

How did I get here? I ask myself again.

Blaze stands on the other side of the bars, his presence wrong in a way that makes my stomach twist. Although I still can’t make out his face, I know his gaze is fixed on me.

I try to press myself closer to the floor, hoping it will swallow me whole.

His expression softens, something almost pleased flickering across his face.

“There you are,” he says quietly. “I missed you.”

His words feel wrong. How can he miss me if he’s never met me before?

Blaze tilts his head slightly, studying me like he’s trying to memorize every detail. “Still fighting it?” he asks. “Don’t worry, it will all make sense soon.”

His gaze drags over me slowly, lingering in a way that makes my skin crawl, like I’m something to be admired instead of feared.