Faith's head throbbed as she blinked her eyes open. She wasn't at the South Gate, and she wasn't with Silas. She was in a high-tech bunker, her wrists bound not by zip-ties, but by heavy, pulsing magnetic cuffs that buzzed against her skin.
"The little bird Awake at last," a voice echoed.
It wasn't Silas. It was Councilman Vane, the grey-haired man from the gala. He stood behind a reinforced glass wall, watching her like a scientist observing a lab rat.
"Where the hell am I?" Faith said with a harsh tone, her throat raw.
"You're in the Red Cell, my dear," Vane smiled thinly. "A facility built by the Nightshade family decades ago to 'house' unruly geniuses like you. You know Killian's father was very fond of this room. It's completely soundproof, wolf-proof, and very much protected from any GPS tracking. Not even your Alpha can find you here."
Faith's heart sank. The Red Cell. Silas hadn't lied. The Nightshades did build the cage.
"Why?" she whispered.
"Because your mother's final project, the Lunar Grid is the only thing that can stabilize a Dud's DNA to trigger a shift," Vane explained, pacing the floor. "The Council wants that power. Silas wants that power. And Killian? He just wants to keep you as his little secret weapon. But we've decided to cut out the middleman. You will finish your mother's work for the Council, or you'll never see the sun again."
Back at the Obsidian Hotel, the gala had turned into a massacre of tension.
Killian stood in the center of the ballroom, his tuxedo shirt torn at the collar, his eyes a glowing, lethal gold that made the air around him hum with static. His Alpha aura was so heavy that the remaining guests were literally kneeling, unable to breathe.
"Where. Is. She."
Killian's voice wasn't a growl; it was the sound of a mountain collapsing. He had Silas pinned against a marble pillar, his claws drawing thin lines of blood on the rival Alpha's neck. "I told you, Nightshade!" Silas gasped, coughing. "She never made it to the gate! My men were intercepted. Someone moved faster than me."
Killian shoved him away, his chest heaving. He looked at the silver bracelet on his own wrist. The tracking signal for Faith had vanished ten minutes ago. There was only one place in the city that could ghost a Nightshade signal.
"The Red Cell," Killian whispered, his face turning deadly pale.
"Boss," Marcus appeared at his side, his face grim. "If she's in there, then the Council has her. And if you storm a Council facility, it's treason. You'll lose the Blackwood Pack. You'll lose everything."
Killian turned to Marcus, his expression lacking his usual calculating logic. There was only raw, primal hunger.
"I don't give a damn about the Pack, Marcus," Killian hissed, his voice trembling with a terrifying certainty. "They took what is mine. Tell the Vanguard to arm up. We aren't going there to negotiate. We're going there to burn it down."
Inside the cell, the temperature was dropping. Faith looked at the digital interface the Council had forced in front of her. They wanted her to bridge the logic gap in her mother's encrypted files.
"I won't do it," Faith said, staring at Vane through the glass.
"Then we'll start with the Beta boy," Vane said casually. He pressed a button, and a second screen flickered to life.
Faith's blood ran cold. It was a live feed of Leo. He was tied to a chair in a separate room, looking bruised and terrified.
"Leo!" Faith screamed, slamming her hands against the glass. What does Leo have to do with this? You fucking cowards!
"One hour, Faith," Vane said, turning to leave. "Solve the equation, or the boy dies. Then we move on to the Nightshade Alpha. I wonder how many silver bullets it takes to bring down your Alpha?"
Faith collapsed to the floor, her mind racing. She looked at the code. It was her mother's handwriting, but it was a trap, a repetitive loop designed to fry the hardware of anyone who tried to force it.
She realized then why her mother had left the note: Don't trust the Nightshades. Her mother knew the grid was too powerful. She knew it would turn her daughter into a target.
Faith sat at the terminal. Her fingers didn't go to the encryption. Instead, she began typing into the root directory of the facility's power grid. If she couldn't outrun them, then she would blow the lights.
Suddenly, the entire bunker vibrated. A massive explosion rocked the walls, sending dust raining from the ceiling. The red emergency lights began to flash
Over the intercom, a panicked guard yelled, "Alpha Nightshade is at the perimeter! He's.…he's not using the gate! He's using a demolition tank! Sir, he's shifting! He's fully shifted in the middle of the city!"
Faith looked at the screen. The power was flickering. But as the door to her cell began to groan under a massive physical force, she saw a shadow through the frosted glass. It was huge, larger than any wolf she had ever seen.
The glass shattered.
A massive black wolf, thrice bigger than a black panther! eyes glowing like twin suns, stepped into the room. He was covered in soot and blood, his fur fuming with rage. He looked at Faith, and for a second, the predatory monster vanished, replaced by a deep, aching relief.
He stepped toward her, but before he could reach her, a heavy steel grate slammed down between them, separating them once again.
Vane's voice crackled over the speakers, cold and triumphant, "Nice try, Killian. But if you take one more step, the room self-destructs. So what will it be? The girl, or your life?"