Page 169 of Love & Heart Braking

The healer faltered, then scowled. “That won’t work again. I’ll tell Mistress Cineres everything.”

That better be a bluff. Because the moment he told her that, then she’d guess everything we knew about Shade, and the tatters of our plans would go up in dust. “Go on then.”

He lifted his chin. “I will.”

I pointed. “The doors are there. Would you like Lerome and me to wait here? We probably won’t. Who knows what we’ll find on the way, right?”

Guards burst in the door, and Lerome and I didn’t offer any resistance as we were wrestled to the ground.

“What happened?” a guard barked at the healer.

His gaze swung to me and back to the guard. He licked his lips. “I left the lab. They got free. I believe the biohazard room was compromised. The woman ran out the back. She can’t have gone far.”

Camera footage would’ve told them that too. I held my breath, but the healer didn’t blab anything about our previous deal. He could well choose to come clean to Mistress Cineres directly, so I wouldn’t count my harpies before they’d hatched.

The guard cursed, spinning on his heel to face the other hulking descendants. “I want a team to canvas the garden immediately.”

Lerome slid a look my way, his cheeks smooshed against the white, lino floor.

Yeah, my plan hadn’t been that great. I wasn’t filled with confidence that my message about the evidence would reach the notorious Renegade of Nepos. Oh well, we did our best. And if the guards missed something, maybe Mantel would still find evidence we could use.

“Walk,” a werewolf guard grunted, hauling me up.

“Take care,” I said to the older man.

The griffin winked. “See you at the big wedding, Cerys.”

The guard holding me jerked, and I peered closer. Did my name mean something to him?

“Come on.” He grabbed my arm.

I was pulled along toward my dungeon cell, and I trotted there without resistance, my thoughts entirely on what I’d just done. Aside from one little thing. “You know Trenley.”

The werewolf muttered, glancing around. “Quiet.”

He totally did.

I whispered under my breath. “I’m with Dev Vincori.”

A slight whine entered his voice. “I know.”

That meant something to him. But the threat of the twelve would too. “Listen. I know you can’t do much without bringing harm to your pack. I need to get a message to Dev. Just a small one.”

He didn’t answer.

I was taking a risk here. A massive one. Yet getting more information to those outside could help us out of this predicament. The werewolf could also spill his guts to Mistress Cineres in the next hour. I bit my lip. We weren’t far away from the dungeon entrance where I’d be handed off to different guards. This risk was worth taking. “Please tell him I’m okay. So are our friends. But our friend’s charcoal chicken is frozen, and we need to defrost them electrical style.” Not my best message, and honestly not my worst.

The werewolf didn’t look at me.

My pulse spiked. “If you can’t tell Dev, at least tell Trenley. This is bigger than you can imagine, and your actions now could—”

“Shut it,” he said roughly.

I cut off as the two guards came into sight. The werewolf passed me over and left without another word.

I was shoved down into the dark, dank dungeon once more.

“Healer will be here to see you soon,” one of the guards announced.

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