"She's a what?!"

Maddox stared at his father, hoping his face of disbelief and indignation was convincing.

Richard's poker face was immaculate. He didn't give anything away. He continued to lean against the desk with his arms folded across his chest. He looked a lot more like the military man Maddox remembered from his early childhood before Rhia was adopted. He'd traded casual clothes for tactical pants and a plain t-shirt. His standard military pistol was holstered at his side, and another gun strapped to his ankle under the pant leg.

Maddox's training never could have prepared him for this. Maybe... just maybe... Atticus had been right. He wasn't trained for undercover work, let alone when it was his own father running the show. Richard had been in the special forces. Maddox was a beat sergeant who regularly got passed over for better assignments because of his refusal to play the political game.

"Nova," Richard said again, a touch slower this time. "Was a shapeshifter undercover for the Counsel. She was spying on you. On all of us."

So he did know. He knew the whole time. But not that Maddox knew or that they'd been in a relationship. Or maybe it was a test? How was he supposed to act? What was he supposed to feel?

"Why didn't you tell me?" he snapped, opting for anger. "It isn't bad enough that you let a fucking dragonkin into our house?!"

Richard's shoulders relaxed just slightly. It was barely noticeable. Blatant racism was apparently the right way to go. Maddox felt his skin crawl with the idea of it.

"I wanted to." He finally said. "I wanted to tell you everything so many times. It killed me having to pretend she was family, and every time I saw that shifter..." he shook his head and glanced at a paining on the wall, a glassy look in his eyes almost like he was staring out a window. How long had he been stuck down here? "The organization relies heavily on our ability to follow orders and override our instincts. You and Christian were chosen because of your reputations within the police force. We would have brought you in sooner, but we had to wait for a decision to be made about that damn dog."

"What is this 'organization'? Church said you were studying the Ancients. And how the hell is Church even alive?! He was in the I.C.U. with a hole in his chest!"

Richard met his eyes again. "I can tell you. I can show you everything. But only if you understand what that means. If you become an operative of the organization, your life is theirs to command. You go where they tell you, you follow their every order without question even if you don't agree... especially if you disagree."

"I can handle-"

"I had to adopt a fucking dragon, Maddox!" Anger and disgust flared in his eyes and voice. "I had to take it into our home, I had to watch your mother sing it to sleep, I had to watch you walk it to school every day! I was expected to act as it's father. You can't be prepared for something like that, you just have to take the order and perform to the best of your abilities. Are you ready to accept those kinds of orders?!"

Maddox set his shoulders back and met Richard's furious gaze. "Yes."

They stared at each other for a long silent minute before Richard held out his hand. Maddox took it and was dragged into an embrace. It wasn't as hard to fake as he'd thought it would be. He let go of the last of the affection he had for Richard. The last shred of hope that Nova and Atticus were wrong fell away to be replaced by a determined resolve to end this.

Richard cleared his throat, and they broke apart. "You look like shit. There's an apartment set up for you." He gestured towards the door. "You can get some rest and I'll take you for the tour later."

Maddox let out a laugh bordering on hysterical. To say he was exhausted would be an egregious understatement. After running out of the event with Church, they'd driven for a straight seven hours, stopping only for gas and coffee. Church never seemed to tire, and his attitude had Maddox on edge all night.

The radio news reports speculated wildly on the suspected terrorist attacks on the art show and the dragonkin compound, as well as near constant discussion of the mystery dragon that made an appearance at the top of the U.S. Bank Tower. By the time they arrived at the seemingly innocent lumber yard, there still was no mention of any specific missing persons. He had been desperately hoping that Nolan had gotten Rhia out of there safely. The longer he was here, the more he worried for his sister.

The underground facility was reminiscent of every science fiction medical facility Maddox had ever seen. Blindingly white walls, with maps and signs drilled into the walls at every intersection. Richard followed the arrows to the line of three elevators. They were deep underground, but the line of offices was considered the 'first' floor.

Richard stopped a short distance away from the rest of the group of people waiting for the elevator "It usually isn't so crowded." He said in a low tone to Maddox. "We're in lock-down until further notice because of the events of the last twenty-four hours. In a few weeks, once things have died down, people will be allowed to head back to their permanent residences."

"Will things die down?" Maddox asked. "There were Counsel members at the gala, and the dragonkin were attacked."

"We have ways of distracting the Counsel." Richard shrugged. "Our operatives in Europe are already preparing to move against a target that should be more than enough to draw the attention of the blood-suckers, and the shifters have enough on their plate with the shopping center situation."

"South Coast Plaza... that was planned by you guys?"

"Your stalker needed to be eliminated and Landon was becoming a liability."

Maddox felt nauseous. Mark Landon had been his godfather. He'd been Richard's best friend. How was someone able to just shrug off the death of their best friend so easily?

"What about the dragons?" he asked, unable to hold back the shake to his voice.

Richard glanced sideways at him before slapping his shoulder in what was probably supposed to be a comforting way. "It took the dragons twenty-six years to find our other facility. They'll search for a few weeks, but they're turtles at heart. They're going to pull their heads in and take a defensive position before long. When they do, most of the staff will go back to their normal lives, and we will assist in the coordinating the move to a different facility further away from the dragons."

"Twenty-six years?" Maddox frowned. "You mean when Rhia...?"

"I will tell you all about that situation later." Once again, Richard's voice and expression remained passive. The elevator doors slid open, and they carried on down to the second floor. "Living and social quarters are all on the second floor." Richard explained, leading him down another white hall. "There is a public mess hall, but every suite is equipped with a kitchen of its own. There are signs leading to the gym, rec. center, and the library."

"How does all of this exist?" Maddox wondered. "We're under the mountains... how..."

"We have been in operation a lot longer than you might think. We have the financial resources to build several facilities like this, and several other more exposed 'target' sites." Richard turned into a door and Maddox followed him into the room. "Basic necessities have been provided, but if you need anything you can order it through the tablet system. For now, just take a break. I'll come back in a few hours to show you around."

"What happened to mom?"

Richard sighed heavily. "Your mother won't be happy to see this place. For now, she's been taken to a safehouse so she can separate herself from the influence of the dragons. When the time is right, she will come with us to the new facility." Richard gripped his shoulder again and their eyes met. "I'm glad you're here, son."

His sincerity was the most emotion he'd shown since Maddox had come to the facility. With that, he left the room, closing the door behind him.

Maddox looked around. The room was painted a neutral beige, but it might as well have been black compared to the stark white from the halls. It was small, with the kitchenette and living room sharing the same space with a small sofa, coffee table, and a television on the wall. Two doors to the left led first to a bathroom with enough space for a shower stall, toilet, and sink, and then to a bedroom where he was honestly shocked to find a double bed instead of a military-style cot.

The whole place had a cold, unwelcoming feel. There was nothing that made him feel like he was... home. The lack of windows made the space feel even smaller. There were no pictures on the wall. No pictures at all. Not even shitty hotel art. Just emptiness that reflected how he felt. Nova's absence was even more prevalent here.

Shedding the tuxedo as he went, Maddox picked up the book sitting on the table. He flipped to the front page and ran his finger down a table of contents. One of the first items listed was titled evacuation procedures. Flipping to the page, e pulled the dog tag he'd been given by the force to honour Nova and ran his thumb over the engraving of her name. "You were right, Nova." He whispered. "You were right about everything. Richard... he... Fuck... I wish you were here, babe. I'm trying, I really am, but you... you're so much better at this than me. How am I supposed to get Rhia out of this mess? I don't even know if she's here... I know if you were here you'd tell me to have faith but..."

He sighed and shook his head. Nova believed in all that prayer crap, not him. She believed in God and heaven and it made her feel better to talk to the dead. He'd hoped that going to church or talking to her spirit would make him feel better. It never did.

He dropped the tag back in his pocket and focused on the book. He needed to concentrate on getting Rhia out of this place. And then... he would kill his father. He was at the center of it all. He'd taken his mate. He'd taken his sister. He didn't care how... but he would kill Richard for everything he'd done.

~

Maddox managed to get a solid two hours of sleep before a knock on his door brought him to near-full attention. The little sleep he got was not restful. The combination of the coffee, the not-so-light reading of the evacuation procedures, and it just not being his bed, how was he expected to sleep here?

Dragging himself out of the bed, he stumbled to the door and pulled it open. A woman graced him with a smile before her eyebrows shot up. "I apologize for waking you, Mr. Kincaid." He she said with an appreciative glance down his body.

Maddox blinked the sleep from his eyes and looked down at himself. All he was wearing was the fresh pair of boxers he'd found in a drawer. "Sorry," He muttered and retreated back into the room to get dressed.

"I don't mind at all." The woman followed him into the living room, seemingly unbothered by his lack of clothing. "My name is Abigail Fong. I am the onboarding administrator here at the California facility. I know the Colonel wanted to show you around himself, but there are proper procedures to be followed. You understand."

"Colonel?" Maddox narrowed his eyes and tugged on a shirt. It didn't stop the woman from staring quite openly at his chest and abdomen. "You mean my father?"

"Colonel Kincaid, yes." she finally looked up, her dark eyes meeting his. "He will join us downstairs, but we can't show preferential treatment in front of the other recruits."

"Other recruits?"

She raised a bemused eyebrow. "You didn't think you and Mr. Churchill were the only newcomers, did you?"

She turned on her heel and walked brusquely out of the room. He chased after her, barely having time to shove his feet into the spare pair of boots at the door.

Around the corner they joined a group of four other people. Church was among them along with another man Maddox recognized as... crap, he forgot his last name. Samuel... something. He was a new prosecutor he'd had to work with a couple times. He already had a reputation for conservative, human-centric views, but... Damn, he wasn't expecting someone like that to be here.

The other two were women. The taller of the two wore a tight pencil skirt and was giving Church a disgusted look. The other was small and mousy, a too-big sweater going past her hips and spikes neon blue hair poking out in every direction. She was looking at a notepad in her hand, muttering incoherently under her breath.

"We might as well start with introductions," Abigail said in a clear, professional tone that told Maddox that she had done this countless times before.

"Maddox Kincaid?" the lawyer's eyes widened at him. "I wasn't surprised to see Churchill here, but you? You're so... so..."

Maddox didn't really know what to say. He hadn't expected to be here either. "Mediocracy always worked out best for Maddy." Church chuckled.

Samuel turned a judgmental glower to Church. "Who are you calling mediocre, Churchill?" he snapped. "Everyone knows you would have been fired years ago if you didn't have your mouth welded to Landon's asshole."

The professional-looking woman chuckled, and Church's ears went red. He looked like he was going to retort angrily when Abigail spoke again. "You three are well acquainted then." she said and looked at the other two females. "Would you two like to introduce yourselves?"

"Dahlia Winters." said the taller female. "System administrator."

If he'd been told one of them was an I.T. specialist, Maddox would have sooner assumed the blue-haired girl. So, who was she?

"Lily." She said in a surprisingly strong voice but offered nothing else.

"Excellent." Abigail nodded and started forward again. "I do apologize on behalf of the entire organization in how rushed this may feel. Many of you have not had the chance to consider the opportunity this presents. Unfortunately, we have had to move up certain items on our agenda in order to maintain viability." She led them to the elevators and tapped the button before turning back. "We can get to all of the technical and legal details in a moment. But I have found it is easiest to get straight to the point and show you what we are here for."

They followed her into the elevator and watched as she scanned her card, palm print, and then hit the bottom number three on the panel. "Not all of you will be given access to this sector, as not all of you will ever have need to come down this far, so enjoy it while you can." Abigail continued as the elevator began to move downwards. "Please refrain from questions until the end and, please, keep in mind that just because many of them look human, does not mean that any of them are anywhere near human."

Maddox had to fight to keep his face neutral and his knees from shaking. Dahlia was not quite as good at hiding her discomfort. Her whole body went stiff in front of him, and she tugged at the ends of her suit jacket. The ride down was a lot longer than Maddox had expected. They spent a full two minutes in the elevator before it slowed and opened again.

"Welcome to the Zoo." Abigail said so matter-of-factly it left the whole group behind her stunned.

Or maybe it was the enormous room ahead of them that left them statue-still and silent. The room, if it could be called a 'room', was over a hundred feet in height. Suspending on a maze of tracks above them were half a dozen or so crates made of a clear, glass-like material. The edges and corners had some kind of metal plates screwed into the sides to protect the weak points. Inside the crates were human forms, but, as Abigail had said, they were as far from human as they could get.

An array of brightly colored eyes with vertical slit pupils looked down from their cages at the humans below. As one, they turned their gaze on the elevators and the newcomers. Abigail walked forward, completely oblivious to the rage of the creatures that were, objectively, the most powerful living beings in existence. The small group behind her were not so confident as they shuffled forward and stuck close together.

"This is our processing facility." Abigail said, her voice dissipating quickly into the void. "After collecting the specimens, this is their first stop where they categorized, measured, and tagged. Afterwards they are stored with the others until they are needed for testing. The dragonkin are a particularly difficult area of study, so they usually take much longer to process than the other breeds."

"Why aren't they shifting?" Dahlia blurted out, unable to keep her eyes off a snarling male. "How are you able to keep them... under control?"

"There is a frequency we developed a few decades ago." Abigail answered without pointing out that questions were supposed to be saved for the end. "It halts their ability to shift as well as prevents their psychological communication link. We, as humans, can't hear it, but it has proven quite useful with many of the specimens. The more difficult to control is their magic. The serum we use to hold them back is very difficult to produce. Because of that, we very rarely obtain dragonkin, so you five are extremely lucky to be here to witness some of the most important specimens we have ever seen."

At the end of the enormous room, she stopped behind a group donned in lab coats and cleared her throat. "Doctors," she called, and the group turned.

Maddox felt his insides drop to his feet. The two crates in front of them held two dragonkin that he recognized. The female on the right was crumpled and unconscious in the middle of the crate. She was the healer that explained to his family what Rhia was. The male on the left was the sand-colored male that had helped Rhia get to the compound when her awakening began.

Dáithí.

He was pacing the border of his containment cell, one hand lightly grazing the walls. They looked like glass, but there was no way they could be that fragile. Dáithí could break through bulletproof glass with or without his power. When he came around to see Maddox and Church, his eyes narrowed in recognition. He lowered himself slightly before launching his shoulder against the wall.

The newcomers all flinched back, but the scientists just watched him bounce off the wall like he was a fly. He glared at the wall, then back to Maddox. If looks could kill, Maddox would have been so far underground only archeologists would be able to find him.

"What makes them so special?" Lily was the first to speak in her soft, reserved voice, and she took a tentative step towards the enclosures.

"The female is what the dragonkin call a conduit." said one of the scientists after a curt nod from Abigail. "She has the ability to pick up on the psychological conversations between other kin and is able to extend the range of any link she can intercept. We are hoping to try and replicate the ability so we can tap into communications between dragons. She could be as instrumental as the Turing Machine in World War Two, if we're able to figure it out."

Dáithí's eyes narrowed even further as he looked to Lily reaching out to lay her palm against the clear material. "And this one?" she asked quietly.