Death.

Avery had never really given it much thought but assumed that when it came, she’d be transported to a thick, lush forest brimming with soaring trees, cute little creatures, and beautiful flowers. It would be a place where no danger existed, just happiness as she frolicked about playing with the bunnies and petting deer—like in a Cinderella movie. A place without conflict, where all creatures of the forest lived in harmony and peace.

This wasn’t it. Nor was she dead.

She’d woken not long ago to find herself on a bus, her hands and arms wrapped in bandages from the tips of her fingers up to her elbows, her wrists cuffed to a silver bar attached to the seat in front of her. The windows had been blacked out, so she had no idea where she was headed. Avery knew she’d been shoved in the seat next to a shifter before she gave the woman a glance. The musky smell of bobcat stung her nose.

Even though she understood the bus was transporting them to prison, a sense of peace washed over her. She no longer had to fight for anything, and secrets that she so desperately wanted to know would now have to remain hidden. Completely physically and mentally exhausted, she laid her head back against the seat.

“What did you do?” the woman next to her asked.

Avery rolled her head to the side and opened her eyes, taking in the beautiful bobcat shifter. Golden hair hung around her face in a tangled mess, her green cat eyes staring expectantly. The woman ran her tongue over a full mouth, cheekbones not quite evident in her round face. Sinewy muscled arms showed from the black jumpsuit, identical to the one Avery donned. She couldn’t tell how tall the woman stood, but her overall appearance hinted movement with lethal grace.

Considering Avery’s long list of offenses, she really didn’t have the energy to dive into her story. Instead, she remembered what had been written on the piece of paper she’d stolen from McAllister’s apartment.

“I committed crimes against other paranormal entities.”

The shifter rolled her eyes. “You? You certainly don’t seem very dangerous.”

She stared out the window in response even though she couldn’t see anything. Avery had heard that a lot lately, especially from shifters. Just because she was small in stature and didn’t have claws or fangs didn’t mean she didn’t possess her own dangerous powers. However, the magic hadn’t been enough to help her escape McAllister.

“Have you ever been in before?” the woman pressed.

Avery shook her head.

“Well, welcome to the jungle,” the shifter said with a sigh. “This is my third time.”

Avery turned back to the woman, her curiosity now piqued. “What did you do?”

A slow, feral smile spread across the woman’s face before meeting Avery’s gaze. “One of my favorite things is to terrorize humans. I shift into bobcat form and slink around through the city, making sure I’m seen. I love the look of fear on their faces when our eyes meet.”

Avery furrowed her brow. It was an odd habit. “Do you ever attack anyone?”

“Nope. I just like to scare them, but the ones in charge don’t like it. They say I’m a danger to humans finding out about the paranormal world existing around them.”

“Why do you keep doing it if you end up in prison?”

She shrugged. “Why do ghosts haunt people? Why do vampires feed in situations where they can get caught? It’s an adrenaline rush—the excitement of doing something I’m not supposed to and the thrill that I may or may not be caught.”

Avery stared at the woman’s profile. She’d never been one to search for thrills or adrenaline rushes. Instead, she’d been fairly happy in her somewhat boring life. Of course, the shifters she’d worked with had kept her on her toes, but they were more of a nuisance than anything, except for Jake. Her body shuddered as she recalled the assault.

Figuring she may as well get as much information about her destination as possible, she decided to get to know the woman and press her for details. If she had been jailed three times, Avery assumed the shifter had a wealth of knowledge of what to expect once they arrived.

“My name’s Avery,” she said. “I’d offer my hand… but… you know.”

The woman smiled. “Yes, we’re both in a bit of a bind, literally. I’m Catherine, but you can call me Cat.”

Avery laughed, the lancing pain through her torso putting a quick end to it. She didn’t know if she’d broken a rib, or if she was simply badly bruised. Obviously, she’d received medical treatment somewhere along the way, but she’d been unconscious for all of it.

Cat must have seen the pain on her face. “You’re pretty banged up, Avery. I hope whatever you got yourself into was worth it.”

Had it been worth it? She hadn’t found her mother’s killer. She’d committed a lot of crimes and had almost died.

“It probably wasn’t,” she replied. “Especially considering where we’re headed. Since you’ve been there so many times, can you tell me what to expect in prison?”

Cat grinned again. “Mainly chaos. They do their best to keep the peace, but situations do get out of hand, so you need to watch your back.”

Avery’s gut clenched with dread. She’d been watching her back so much this past week, she had kinks in her neck.

She recalled what Everett the vampire had told her about the mixing of paranormal entities.

“Don’t they keep everyone separated?” she asked, hoping the rumors she’d previously heard weren’t true. “Like vampires together, all the shifters, ghosts… Are we all kept with our own kind?”

“No,” Cat said with a laugh. “There isn’t any room. It’s pretty overcrowded.”

Avery tried to imagine the chaos. Bobcats battling wolves, wolves terrorizing Fae, vampires threatening everyone, Fae using their magic… it sounded like a paranormal nightmare.

“The thing about Spectral is that no one can use their powers or gifts in there. When I walk in, this is the form I’ll be in for the remainder of my stay. I can smell that you’re a Fae, but your abilities will be useless. Even the vampires won’t want to feed.”

She’d never heard of such a thing. “How in the world does that happen? How can they assure that no one uses their powers?”

“From what I understand, the building was constructed many years ago. When it became functional, they had problems with everyone being at each other’s throats. Then, the beings in charge decided to ask the old faeries, the ones who actually live in the forests, to use their magic and faery dust to make it impossible for the inmates to use their gifts. They readily agreed, so faery dust was drilled into the walls, and they cast magical spells on the building. The same was done to all the buses as well. Since then, no one has been able to shift, and magic can’t occur. It’s just a bunch of paranormals housed together, wishing they could use their powers.”

Avery’s shoulders sagged, and she sighed as she envisioned the mess. She didn’t stand a chance, especially with her injuries.

The expression of defeat must have shown on her face.

“Don’t worry, Avery,” Cat said. “I’ve got your back.”

She smiled at the woman. “Thanks.”

At least someone did.

“When we go in, they’ll line us up, then divide us into cells. Stand one person away from me, and we should be in the same one. The way they separate us isn’t very scientific. They usually just put every other one in the same place. After that, they divide us up once again, and take us to the cell we’ll call home for the next few months.”

If McAllister didn’t give her any leeway, she doubted her stay would only last months… probably years, just as he’d promised. Her crimes seemed more severe than Cat’s, and all of them had been directed at a police officer. Yeah, she was in trouble.

“Once you get the hang of things, it’s really not that bad,” Cat said. “You get three meals a day, a crappy mattress, two hours of outside time a day, and we can all agree that Judge Judy makes for some awesome television. Just do your time and keep your head down.”

The bus lurched to a stop, and Avery glanced over her shoulder to see her new roommates. None of them appeared particularly threatening, and she sighed in relief.

A guard, dressed in black pants and shirt entered the bus and approached them, not meeting her gaze. After unlocking the bar, he pulled it away from the latch, releasing them from it. Their hands remained cuffed. After performing the same task for all the prisoners, he ordered them to stand, row by row. When her time was announced, she did as she was told, and followed Cat down the narrow aisle, careful not to make eye contact with anyone as they filed out of the bus.

Two male guards—one on each side of the short concrete path—eyed her as she walked. Both were dressed in the same uniform, pistols hanging from their belts. If she wasn’t mistaken, the guard to her left smelled like a shifter, although she couldn’t place the animal. The other didn’t have a scent, so she guessed him to be Fae, or a ghost who’d been forced to become corporeal under the influence of faery dust.

She glanced up into the daylight, the sun briefly blinding her.

Cat turned to whisper to her. “This is where something awful usually happens. It’s just these ten feet between the bus and the building that isn’t protected by faery dust, and every time I’ve been here, it’s gotten ugly.”

As she followed Cat through a cement arch, Avery could see nothing but grey cement walls and floors illuminated by fluorescent overhead bulbs.

Her worst nightmare had come true.

Avery’s heart began to beat erratically as she checked over her shoulder, contemplating escape. But in the end, who was she kidding? Her whole body ached, and she barely had enough energy to put one foot in front of the other. Hell, it hurt to laugh and breathe. Running was out of the question.

A loud roar from behind her caused Avery to freeze in place. Some of the other prisoners screamed. She turned to see a grizzly bear standing on its hind legs taking swipes at the guard, a torn, black jumpsuit at its feet, cuffs still binding its wrists.

Without a second thought, the guard pulled a gun and shot the bear. The animal took a few steps back and collapsed into a pile of fur.

Avery gasped and brought her cuffed hands up to her mouth while the screams from other women continued. Prisoners scrambled to get away from the body and the guard. “They just killed that woman!”

“Don’t worry, they just stunned her,” Cat replied. “Trying to attack a guard won’t give her any bonus points, but they didn’t kill her.”

“Line up!” another guard ordered, and the melee was over before Avery had a chance to register the fear weighing her down. She felt she might collapse at any moment.

She pressed her back against the brick wall and noted that Cat had put one person in between them. Avery continued to tremble from head to toe and didn’t even bother to try to identify what paranormal species the women next to her could be.

Cat had been correct. The guards counted off each woman as either a one or two. Both Cat and she were given the number two and told to follow a guard.

Avery caught up with her new friend and followed her down another concrete corridor. A guard stood at the opening of the hallway, and another at the end. The place became more depressing with each step.

Prisoners were herded into a cell Avery estimated to be about fifteen by fifteen. She did a quick count. Ten other women all sized each other up. Avery startled as the metal bars slammed shut behind her. The loud clank sounded so final, reminding her that she wouldn’t be going anywhere anytime soon.

“Hands!” the guard shouted, not meeting anyone’s gaze.

Avery watched as the first batch of women slid their arms through the bars, and the guard unlatched each set of cuffs. The women stepped back, and Avery eased forward, sliding her wrists through the bars.

“Damn, what the hell happened to you?” the guard asked as he glanced up at her.

She stared down at the bandages. “It’s a long story.”

“I don’t have time for that shit,” the guard mumbled and finished unlocking everyone, then walked away.

Avery turned back toward the cell and walked over next to Cat. They both leaned against the wall. Most of the group had found places to sit on the two benches available. Everyone remained quiet for a few moments as they listened to the other group of women being put in the cell next to them.

A tall woman with raven hair and an athletic build stood up and paced around the small area, meeting each person’s gaze as if she were sizing them up.

Avery estimated the woman at almost six feet tall, forcing most of the inmates to stare up at her. Avery’s nose twitched as she smelled were-shifter, but although terrified, tired, and running on nothing but sheer will, she didn’t break her stare. If she did, it would show a sign of weakness, and shifters hunted the weak. The trait must have been ingrained in their DNA. The last thing Avery needed was one of them picking on her.

“I smell Fae,” the woman murmured.

Avery smiled and tried to play nice. “Yes, you do. I smell a werewolf.”

The woman grinned. “Looks like someone’s had fun with you. You’re pretty beaten up.”

That’s an understatement.

“What’s your name, faery?”

Avery tried to think of a reason not to answer, but none came. Maybe the woman was just trying to be friendly, or maybe she had nefarious reasons for asking. Whatever the case, she wouldn’t know until she answered.

“Avery.”

The woman’s eyes narrowed, and she crossed her arms over her chest. “Avery? Avery the faery?”

Uh-oh. I smell trouble brewing.

“You wouldn’t happen to work in construction, would you?” the woman asked as she pulled back her upper lip into a snarl.

Oh, shit.

Avery inhaled deeply … but as inconspicuously as possible… and thought she detected the Rainier pack scent—rotting garbage.

The woman placed her hands on each side of Avery, trapping her against the wall. If she hadn’t been so scared, and the woman hadn’t appeared so menacing, she would have considered it an intimate moment between them.

“You wouldn’t happen to know a guy named Jake, would you?”

Lie. She had to lie. Even though it went against her nature, she had to, or no doubt this woman would hurt her. She couldn’t imagine the disgrace Jake had suffered at the hands of the pack leader when he’d been admonished for his behavior with her. His ego would have been severely damaged, as well as his hide.

Avery gingerly crossed her arms over her chest, hoping to seem as nonchalant as possible. “Nope. Never heard of him.”

The woman stepped back and studied her as Avery’s heart thundered in her chest and she tried to ignore the sweat dripping down her lower back. If this shifter cared about Jake, she would be very upset at the Fae who’d gotten him in so much trouble.

After a moment, the woman’s stance relaxed, and she smiled. “Avery, my name’s Danica,” she said as she stuck out her hand. Avery took it and exhaled deeply, the tension leaving her shoulders.

“And you, little faery, are a fucking liar.”