ll of us were shoved inside the creepy old house. But looks were deceiving.

Because on the inside, below the first floor, it was a huge maze. An underground labyrinth dedicated to collecting people in glass boxes. Everything was silver and modern- people in lab coats and holding clipboards under their arms moving around swiftly.

"What is this?"

"The human sanctuary against werewolves. We call it the sanctum." Tori responded but suddenly pushed me so I'd walk down the stairs faster.

I looked back but Roan was no longer behind us and my anxiety levels spiked. Please be safe.

We stopped at an empty glass box.

"You two, in there," Tori said, pointing to Taylor and Nicole.

They looked at each other, obviously not wanting to.

"No," Taylor spoke up bravely.

Tori grabbed my hair and flipped her blade to my neck. For the tenth damn time today.

"Now."

Taylor and Nicole hesitated, looking at me and waiting for my okay. I nodded, they'd hurt me before they hurt them.

The hunters holding them shoved them into the cell anyway. Tori pushed me to keep walking and I turned my head back.

"What are you going to do with them?"

"They aren't the ones we want."

We reached a door with some fancy keypad, scanning eye piece and fingerprinting thing. When Tori entered in all the passwords, I noticed that it had the same security on the inside. So if we ever wanted to break out of here, it would be air-tight.

We passed by hundreds of people trapped inside the glass boxes. The glass on some cages were cracked, but not enough to shatter. There were rows of them, like a field of bushes at a farm. One after the other, going on for miles.

If it weren't a prison, I'd say it was damn well impressive.

"Keep moving," Tori kicked the back of my leg and I complied.

I met the eyes of each person trapped in the glass cages. They were malnourished and sickly pale. None were scared. All were resistant.

"Lia!" My head snapped back, instantly recognizing the voice.

Winter jumped up and pressed his hands against the glass.

"Winter? What are you doing here? Are Owen and Finn with you?" I asked frantically, trying to get to him.

"Owen's not but Finn is. They're doing tests on him now. I tried to stop them from taking him but I couldn't-"

"Move it," Tori said sternly, grabbing my arms and pulling me back.

"No, wait,"

"Lia!" Winter yelled, hitting the glass with his fists.

"No, he's my brother! Let me go!" I cried but then I felt a knife pointed at my back.

"Let's go before you do something you'll regret later."

I forced myself to keep walking infront of Tori's knife. I couldn't save them if I was dead.

A familiar face crept up into view. Philip, one of Asher's wolves I'd met at school once, stared at me as I walked by him. If Philip was here, I must've been getting closer to finding Asher.

Tori pushed me into one of the biggest cells they had. She shut the door and put in some code to lock me in.

"Let me out!" I yelled.

I ran towards the door, my shoulder hitting the hard glass. I kicked, I punched, I did everything.

"It's no use, Lia. That cage was built to withstand ten werewolves." Tori sighed.

"What did you do with Roan? With Asher?" I demanded. "Why are you doing this? I thought we were friends?"

"You'll know soon enough." Tori walked away, leaving me all alone.

After she left, I finally noticed the person in the cell next to mine. Their face was covered in dried blood and their clothes were ripped violently.

I bent my head down so my cheek touched the floor, trying to see their face.

"Hey," I whispered but he didn't move,

"Hey," I said a little louder but still nothing,

"Hey, are you alive- ohmygod!"

He picked up his head and it was Asher. He moaned when he moved, clutching his leg.

"So they caught you, too?" He asked quietly.

"Who is they?"

That's when I picked up something familiar. An intoxicating scent of freshly cut grass and a cool breath of aftershave.

This couldn't be happening. My mate wouldn't do this to me.

I lifted my head up. Drake was standing next to an older woman in a lab coat.

I rejected him. We were never supposed to meet again.

"Hello, little mate," He smirked and I wanted to hit him. Hard.

"I'm not little." Was it possible to hate someone you were destined to love?

"Wondering why I'm here?" He asked but I wasn't going to speak.

"I can tell you."

I wasn't going to beg.

"Fine," Drake shrugged when I didn't respond, "I'd like to introduce you to Dr. Vonn."

I narrowed my eyes as I took in her slim figure and cold smile.

Where have I seen her before?

"Hello, Lia. You may remember me from when I visited your school several months ago." Dr. Vonn stated. She was the doctor who ran the whole DNA test thing and wrote down everyone who had the mutated gene. She kept track.

"You're kidnapping werewolves. Why?" I wanted to punch her, too.

"We are studying lycanthropes to protect humans." Dr. Vonn said vaguely.

"More like to protect yourselves." I muttered.

"We are a covert organization hired and approved by the government to eradicate any werewolf threats."

Bullshit.

"But werewolves aren't a threat!" I argued, aiming my anger at Drake. He was a damn werewolf but he was on the other side.

"We don't know that."

"Why are you working for this stupid organization? You know you're a werewolf?" I directed at Drake but Dr. Vonn didn't look too surprised.

"We appreciate Drake's cooperation."

"You're on the wrong side, Lia. You can still switch." Drake tried to bait me into giving in. I pretended to think about it for a few seconds.

"Let me think- no way in hell." I spat.

Drake shrugged and left, Dr. Vonn pivoting on her high-heeled foot.

"Your mate's a dick." Asher coughed, his voice scratchy.

"He's not my mate anymore."

Then why did I still want him?

.•*•.

I spent the majority of my time in captivity thinking about Roan.

"I'm sorry, none of my wolves have seen him." Asher said. He'd been trying to contact someone through the mind link.

"What did they do to you?" I asked, wondering if I'd have to go through the same thing.

"They just took a lot of my blood. That's it."

"Then how'd you get that wound on your leg?" But at the rate Asher was healing, it would be gone in a few hours.

"I tried to fight them."

"Nice."

I leaned my head against the wall and closed my eyes, listening to the distant howls beyond these walls.

"What do you know about Tori?"

"Not much. Only that she's a hunter who broke her loyalty to the base."

"When I first met her, she told me she was my hunter. Now I know what she meant."

"Did you know she's Jace and Whitney's kid?"

That caught my attention, "The superiors she's always talking about? No, I didn't." She always said how her superiors picked out everything for her. How they thought werewolves needed hunters to guard how, how they wanted to meet me, how they made the alliance so many years ago.

"Maybe she was tired of being pushed around so she joined forces with the enemy."

"Maybe."

"Maybe she was tired of always living up to her name." Asher suggested.

Roan's face popped into my head and I wondered if they were doing anything to him. He was lucky he was human, no one would hurt him.

"Maybe."

.•*•.

Tori stood outside my cell, just staring at me. She'd been there for a few minutes, saying nothing. That traitor.

I was starving and growing weaker by the second while she just stood all high and mighty on the other side. Watching me slowly fade out.

"It was all you," I said faintly, "The siren, the wolfsbane, the dead werewolf."

She crossed her arms.

"No, that was Jesse."

"But-"

"I obtained the wolfsbane and he took it willingly. And I built Jesse's project but he turned it on." I should've known, Jesse wasn't that smart.

"Then what about the murder of that werewolf?"

"That was me." She said casually. Did she kill all of the others, too?

"What did we ever do to you?"

"I'm a hunter. I was born to protect humans and fight werewolves. Werewolves and humans don't mix, they can't live together."

My thoughts wandered to Roan and I.

Could we ever live together? Could we ever be something more than what we were right now?

"I've seen you and Roan. And it won't work," She read my mind, "You have a mate and he has to take command of his pack one day."

"I rejected him."

"Are you sure about that?" She asked meaningfully and I didn't understand what she meant.

"Obviously, why wouldn't I be?" Of course I rejected him, didn't I? I said the right words, didn't I?

Tori shook her head.

"What do you mean? Tori?" I demanded but she just turned around and walked back to the exit, dimming the lights, "Tori!" I yelled but it was no use.

All I wanted was Roan but I couldn't help but want Drake, too.

What the hell is wrong with me.

I tucked my knees underneath my arms and dropped my head, closing my eyes.

Where are you now?