Patrick’s fingers flew over the keyboard in a blur as he typed out his ideas, the various alternatives to the concentration camps. A letter to President Ashworth might not have been the best idea he had, but he wasn’t even sure he’d send it. Typing it out at least allowed him to get his thoughts in order, and Luke swore the email would be untraceable if he decided to send it, hidden by the same security that protected the origin of the Shifters Underground website.

He wrote about the possibility of the government giving shifters land to live on, their own towns where they could exist in peace. To him, that was still giving too much power to the government, as well as confining shifters. Still, the concept was better than the camps the shifters were already living in. They had to find a middle ground, and that’s what the suggestion was. It would give them freedom and make them safe again.

A town with houses for each family, a few little shops, even a bar, and a restaurant. If they didn’t think about the fact that it would be mandatory to stay within the bounds of the settlement—at least at certain times—they could begin to reclaim their lives. He hoped more freedoms would come over time as humans realized shifters were no threat.

Even the government had to see this was a better solution than an all-out war with shifters, who were faster, and stronger. Even so, winning the war didn’t mean they’d win the battle. If there was a war, they’d be seen as an even bigger threat to humans.

Damn it, this is a lose-lose situation. He leaned back in his chair and let out a frustrated growl.

The house intercom mounted on his desk flickered to life, and Luke’s voice filled the room. “Patrick, I think you need to come up here.”

“What is it?” He kept his voice even, not wanting his brother to pick up on his frustration.

“Just get up here.” The urgency in Luke’s tone had Patrick pushing back his chair and heading upstairs. Luke wouldn’t have pulled him away if it weren’t important. Taking the east wing stairs two at a time, he dashed up the four flights without so much as missing a breath. The family had taken rooms on the fifth floor to give them an advantage, the reaction time needed if someone stumbled upon them. This left the first floor as their main living area, including the large castle kitchen.

While all the other siblings had made their offices or workshops on the first floor of the resort, Luke had occupied the suite next to his bedroom. This way, he was able to work at whatever hour he chose, and still be close to the bedrooms if something happened in the middle of the night.

Patrick was grateful the O’Reilly pride stuck so close together. They’d fight to the death for each other, and there was no one else he would rather have watching his back than his siblings.

He entered Luke’s office. “What did you find?”

“I was researching these injections to see what I could come up with. To see who developed them and if I could find out where they were coming from. Maybe if we knew where, we’d be able to eliminate their supply chain before they became a problem for us. That’s when I found this.” Luke leaned back in his chair, giving Patrick access to the computer. He rubbed his chin, his fingers playing over his five o’clock shadow. “Hathaway Medical was behind the discovery of this injection and now they have a missing scientist, so I dug deeper. Doctor Clarissa Greenwood was employed there for less than two weeks, but a contact of a contact said she was appalled they were experimenting on shifters and took off.”

“Wait…how long have you known they were experimenting on our kind?”

“Don’t look at me like that. I just found out this morning. I wanted solid evidence before I brought it to you. A contact of a contact isn’t enough, it could have been a trap. I’ve been working my ass off since I received the email,” Luke added, seeming irritated.

“What do you know?” Patrick leaned against the edge of the desk, ignoring his brother’s attitude.

“My contact sent me information on a shifter who might need our help. He wanted to know if we could extract him and get him somewhere safe. Andrew is a bear shifter, a retired Ranger. He was recruited for what he thought was a standard security job, only to find himself assigned to Hathaway Medical.”

“Once he realized what they were doing, why’d he stay?”

Luke leaned forward and clicked a secondary tab on the screen, which brought up a picture of a young girl, her bleached hair streaked with pink and purple. “His niece.”

Anger rolled through Patrick and his lion. The girl was just a child. She hadn’t even hit puberty yet, and there was no chance she had completed the change. What did they want with her? The hairs on the back of his neck rose, reminding him he really didn’t want to know. He’d witnessed what Jade had gone through and he could only imagine the torture they’d put this child through.

“Patrick, did you hear me?” Luke called to him, pulling him from his thoughts.

“What?”

“I said Andrew’s sister was killed two months ago and the child is missing. He believes she’s been taken to one of the labs.”

“If she has, she’s dead. You know as well as I do, they don’t keep their captives long. You read the files on that hard drive I managed to salvage before we burned down that lab, so you know what they do.” Speaking those words brought him back to that night. That horrible night when he’d seen the worst of what could happen to his kind.

Patrick, Austin, and Blake had crept up and watched as the guards at the lab did their rounds. If things went as planned, they wouldn’t make another round until the next half hour, giving the O’Reillys the time they needed. They’d slip in, rescue the captive shifters, gather any information on other labs, and burn the place. At least, that was the plan.

But nothing that night had gone according to plan. He and Austin headed deep within the building conducting their search, their guns at the ready for anyone they might have encountered, while Blake set up the dynamite that would ignite on a timer once they were clear. Patrick would gather what he could, while Austin continued the search for prisoners.

He used the security card Luke had duplicated using the coding on the security system, and with an echoing click the door unlocked. He wrapped his hand around the handle and pulled it open. Inside, the laboratory appeared tame. He’d known it was anything but. He went to the first computer, hoping to discover more about the experiments, but it was password protected. With only fifteen minutes before the next round, he didn’t have time to break it. Instead, he manually extracted the hard drive and tossed it into his bag.

Papers on the desk piqued his interest, so he shoved those in his bag as well. Later he’d go through them and see if they were of any use to them.

His ear bud sprung to life with Blake’s voice. “Ten minutes.”

“Almost done. Austin, status update.”

“No prisoners. They’re…dead. It looks like they were incinerated…alive.”

“Fuck!” Patrick turned around and there in a cage, curled into a ball, something moved. No, not something, but someone. Her long blonde hair matted with blood. He dropped the bag on the desk and stepped forward. “Shit, Austin get down here.”

“What’s going on?” The urgency in Blake’s voice forced Patrick to explain.

“I think…it’s Jade.” Not having time to find the key he grabbed the bolt cutters from his bag and unclipped the lock. “Jade.” He reached out to push her hair away from her face, and even though her eyes were glazed over from whatever drugs they had her on, he recognized his sister, who’d gone missing a few weeks before while on a mission with Luke and Chase. One that was supposed to be easy and safe, but she got separated from the brothers and was gone. They had searched high and low for her over the last few weeks.

“Are you sure?” Austin’s voice came through the transmitter as the door behind Patrick opened.

Without answering Patrick squatted down, his gun aimed at the door until he could make out Austin from the faint light of the computer screens and the light that streamed through from the hallway. “Damn it, I could have shot you.”

“Is it her?”

“Yes.” He set the gun on the desk, turned back to the cage, and pulled the electrodes and cords away from her, he reached for her. “Jade.”

She only swatted at him, scurrying deeper into the cage. Her moans cut through the quiet and tore at his heart. His sweet sister didn’t recognize him.

“What have they done to her?” Austin questioned coming to stand next to him.

“I don’t know.”

“But she’s alive?” Blake asked.

“Yes.” Patrick and Austin said nearly together.

“You’ve got six minutes, get the hell out of there,” Blake ordered.

“Grab my bag.” Patrick reached into the cage and took hold of her arm. “Come on Jade, we’ve got to go.”

“No!” Tears ran down her face. “No, I…I can’t…take anymore.”

“I’m not going to hurt you, I’m your brother.” He used his grip to force her from the cage. When he dragged her out, he could see the cuts, burns, and bruises that marred her body. Torture. His sister had been tortured.

“Oh shit!” Austin reached out to steady Jade as she tried to fight Patrick, but he seemed unsure where to put his hands. Everywhere they would normally touch was covered in some type of mark.

“Just grab the bag, I’ve got her.” He lifted her over his shoulder and grabbed his gun from the desk. He couldn’t worry that he was hurting her, not when they only had a few minutes to make it out of the building before the guards did their rounds again and Blake’s explosion was set to go off. “We’ve got to go.”

“Patrick, she’s here with us,” Luke’s voice called through the memories and broke him from his thoughts.

“What?” It took him a moment to recall he was in the castle in Luke’s office, not rescuing Jade again. He pinched the bridge of his nose, squeezing his eyes shut for a moment. Jade wasn’t the only one reliving that nightmare. Those papers he had gathered, many of them discussed the experiments they’d conducted on her. She might not fully remember what happened there, only the agony that had come with it, but his mind was able to conjure up images of what she went through. If they hadn’t gotten to her, she would have been dead the next day. He shook his head. She’s safe now.

“You kept saying Jade’s name over and over. You were thinking about the laboratory again, weren’t you?”

“Shit.” He pushed off the desk and paced the room. His lion needed a long run to get this out of his system, to reset his thoughts and get his mind back in the game. “What about this missing scientist?”

“Doctor Clarissa Greenwood.” Luke leaned forward, his fingers clicking along the keyboard keys for a moment before looking back up at Patrick. “She has her doctorate in chemistry. According to Andrew, she was brought in to try to determine the correct dosage to keep the shifters sedated enough that they can’t fight back but would still be able to suffer. They don’t want to continue to sedate the shifters so much that they don’t feel what’s being done to them.”

“Fuck. That will make the labs worse than they are now. The one plus side to what’s happened with Jade is that she doesn’t remember a lot of it. She sees the scars but everything that happened is somewhat blurred and unclear.”

“She’s starting to remember pieces of it. I can see it in her eyes, the nightmares are more frequent.” Luke leaned back again. “Andrew doesn’t believe Doctor Greenwood knew what she was hired to do. Otherwise, why would she take off when she had finally begun working on the project she was hired to do? He told her to record the last experiment she was there for. That was Friday. Now she’s gone.”

Patrick tried to figure how far she could have gotten in five days. “She’ll have information on the layout of the building, where they’re holding the shifters captive, and maybe she can help us determine the best way to get in.”

“You’re going to go after her, even though she might have known she’d be conducting experiments on us?”

He paused and turned to face Luke. “I don’t see much of a choice. If they’re torturing our kind there, we’ve got to do something. You know how hard it is to get any information on these labs. We need an insider if we’re going to make a successful mission out of it. We want to get in, save as many as we can, and get out ourselves. We find her, and we take down Hathaway Medical.”

“I’ll get on it and see if I can find her.” Luke scooted his office chair close to the desk, a clear sign for Patrick to get lost and let him get back to work. “I’ll let you know when I find something.”

With nothing else to do, he headed out to find Austin and bring him up to speed. They needed to come up with a plan and figure out who was going with him in search of Doctor Greenwood. Once that was settled, he’d squeeze in a quick run before it was time for their nightly family dinner.

Even though they had gone into hiding, they kept some of their normal routines. Family dinners gave them time to forget about the world, or that they were refugees in hiding. They tried not to think about what was happening outside of the abandoned ski resort they’d taken over, or that their father was still missing. They were a family, and they needed to stick together in order to make it through this. As a family, they were strong. He knew they could get through anything.

* * *

Five days on the run had begun to take its toll on Clarissa. She wanted nothing more than a shower, a hot meal, and a comfortable bed. Two days and four states ago, she had tried to reach out to her brother, Dean, but he didn’t answer the phone. She couldn’t jeopardize him by leaving a message.

She glanced around the corner, eyeing the pay phone at the edge of the park. She hadn’t seen anyone suspicious, and she hated to take the risk, but it was the only way to contact Dean. If only he were in the states, instead of temporarily reassigned to Brazil. She needed his help to get out of this situation she was in.

With one last glance to ensure she was alone, she stepped out of the alley that had been her hiding place for the last hour and walked toward the pay phone. Not wanting to draw unwanted attention, she tried to keep her pace calm and act normal. If she ran, people would remember her. She knew she was being followed, and she couldn’t give passersby an impression of her that would remain in their minds. A quick phone call, and then she had to get out of the area and find somewhere to hide away again. Knowing rain was about to pound the city, she was prepared to head toward the abandoned warehouses on the outskirts of town and find somewhere she could hunker down for the night.

She took the phone in her hand and deposited the needed coinage before dialing the number. As it rang, she hoped he would answer. Finding another pay phone would take some time and she couldn’t risk coming back to the same place a second time. Pay phones had disappeared over the years so it wouldn’t be easy to get to another one. The past couldn’t survive with all the new technology, but she had ditched her cell phone before she started the journey. Carrying it would have given them a direct way to locate her.

“Hello.” Her brother’s sleepy voice echoed through the phone line.

“Don’t say my name,” she warned, taking a deep breath. “I’m in trouble. That place was just as awful as you heard.” She pressed her back against the wall and kept her head down.

“Where are you?” The sleepiness was suddenly gone from his voice.

“You know I can’t tell you that, but I’m not staying in one place long enough for them to find me. Just like Dad taught us. If they can’t find me, they’ll come for you. I’m sorry…so sorry.” She tried to swallow the tears that were threatening to fall. This was no time to get emotional. If she was going to live through this, she needed to keep her head clear.

“There’s nothing to be sorry for. We’ll get through this. Can you get to the place?”

“Two days.”

“Stay safe.”

“You too.” Knowing that Dean would find a way to get to her and to meet her at their place, she hung up the phone. For the first time since she’d left, she felt more confident she’d get through this. That she’d be able to fight whoever was after her. She didn’t know why they were after her, or what they’d do to her once they caught her. If they caught her, she hoped they’d kill her quickly instead of tormenting her the way they did the shifters in their custody. She’d rather be dead than live through what she’d witnessed.

Watching over her shoulder, she headed toward the outskirts of town to the abandoned warehouses. She couldn’t run forever. Eventually, they’d find her and then there’d be hell to pay.

Again, she wondered why they were after her. She doubted they’d found the virus she put on their computers, or they’d have blocked it. She was still getting information from their system. Which meant they either thought she knew something or they had some use for her. The idea they had a use for her churned her stomach. There were other scientists they could hire to replace her. What could she do for them that someone else couldn’t?

Through the darkness behind her, she couldn’t see anyone lurking. She found a broken part of the wall in the derelict warehouse, and shoved the board aside. As she slipped into the opening, she was careful to keep her bag from getting stuck on the jagged edges. The laptop she carried was her only proof of what was happening, and though the battery had died, she knew it was still recording what was happening at Hathaway Medical.

Tomorrow, once she was halfway to the spot where she’d meet Dean, she would look for a place where she could plug the laptop in for a while to charge. Maybe something on their system would explain why they were after her.

She found a corner in the warehouse that allowed her to see the whole space. The opening that had admitted her was the only spot that wasn’t chained and padlocked. She had to be aware of her now limited escape options. She pulled the handgun from her bag, and set it down beside her. If someone found her, she refused to be taken. If she had to, she would take her own life.

With the gun close by, she tried to get comfortable. Exhaustion made her eyelids feel as if they had lead weights attached to them. Five days on the run meant she’d barely had any sleep, and the only food she’d gotten were from outside food vendors and vending machines. She couldn’t risk being caught in a restaurant or a store with a camera. It would leave a trail she was working so hard not to leave. Even with all the precautions, they were still on her trail. She had barely escaped two nights ago when they’d caught up with her. How they managed to find her was something she hadn’t figured out yet.

She leaned her head back against the hard metal and her eyelids sprung open as realization dawned on her. They weren’t just finding her by luck, it was her scent that was leading them to her. They were using their shifter captives, forcing them to comply.

Unlike ditching her cell phone or never returning to the same place, she couldn’t do anything about her scent. She didn’t know much about shifters. Most of the world didn’t, and the government used that fear to their advantage. What was she supposed to do to keep herself alive? And was being alive better than death? Maybe not, depending on what they had in mind for her.