The floor beneath me was metal. I could feel the rivets pressing into my skin through my clothes. My head throbbed like someone had used it for batting practice.

The air was thick with the scent of rust and something else… something coppery and sharp. Blood.

My eyes adjusted slowly, shapes growing out of the dark.

Kellan was there but he was chained to a steel support beam. His head hung forward, dark hair falling into his face, but I could see the slow rise and fall of his chest.

“Kellan?” My voice came out hoarse.

His head snapped up. Relief flashed across his face before his expression went stone cold again. “Ree. You’re awake. Don’t move.”

“Where the hell are we?” I tried to push myself up, but the second I did, I heard the rattle of metal. My wrists were bound behind me with heavy cuffs.

“We’re in a holding site Ree,” he said, his voice low and tight. “Try not to move too much or you might hurt yourself .”

The words made my stomach twist.

Footsteps echoed from somewhere behind me. Each one deliberate enough to make my heartbeat sync with it.

I swore on my life that it was Crest. He must be trying to get rid of me since I'm close to exposing him.

“Awake already,” the man said.

I raised my head slowly to look at the strange face looking back at me.

“Glad to have your attention, girl. I hate talking to the unconscious. It’s rude.”

Kellan’s entire body went taut. “Cain.”

What? How did Kellan know him? Had his memory suddenly returned to him or had he been lying in the first place.

Cain tilted his head, eyes flicking over me like I was something on display. “So this is her. The girl with the mark.”

I almost jumped out of the chair I was tied to in shock. “Do I know you?”

“Not yet,” he said smoothly, “but you will.”

I glanced at Kellan, looking for any kind of silent translation. He gave me a warning look that screamed Don’t engage.

Cain circled me as if he was inspecting a product. “You know, Kellan, you were always good at hiding things. But this? This is impressive. How long were you planning to keep her from us?”

“She’s not part of this,” Kellan said, his voice pleading.

Cain stopped behind me. I felt his breath against my ear. “Oh, but she is. She’s the key to what I've been building.”

"You must have heard of Project V-12 by now, right?"

My head snapped around. “Project V-12? How do you know about that?”

He gave a smug grin. “Because, darling, you’re the reason it exists.”

"And also, I thought you should know that I was the one that fed you bad intel. All those files won't get you anywhere. Infact, you won't find them again after today."

I didn’t get a chance to ask what he meant. A metallic screech tore through the air as the heavy door at the far end opened. Harsh light flooded the space, and two more men stepped in, both armed.

Cain straightened. “Take him first,” he said, jerking his chin toward Kellan.

The guards moved toward him, and that was when something in me… shifted. I don’t know how else to explain it.

It was like heat in my veins, pulsing out from the mark on my neck. My hearing sharpened again, but this time it wasn’t just sound— I could hear their heartbeats, the faint rasp of their breath inside their chests.

One of the guards reached for Kellan, and before I could think, I spoke.

“Don’t touch him.”

My voice came out… wrong. Not wrong in meaning, wrong in sound. My voice was layered, like two people were speaking at once, one of them deeper, older. The guards froze mid-step, eyes going wide. And then, they dropped dead.

I gasped.