turn, his hand comes down against my cheek, snapping my head to the side.
“Wrong fucking way!” he barks, his slap causing a ringing in my ears.
I taste blood in my mouth, and I tongue the inside of my cheek where I accidentally bit it. Swallowing down my anger, I look in the other direction. There are only two options in this particular hallway—left to my cell block and right to...who the fuck knows where.
I turn right, ignoring my screaming instincts. My beast wants me to let loose and fight this fucker, but I can’t. He would just fuck with me even more, and I don’t need another reason for the Warden to pay me a visit.
I tell myself that the hallways here are well-lit and monitored. If it looks like Sandbag is taking me somewhere he can get away with hurting me, then I’ll fight and deal with the consequences. Until then, I’ll endure the kicks and hits and hope that I’m being escorted somewhere safe.
Four knee kicks, two dead arms and a baton slap to the thigh later, I’m stopped at a gray metal door with no distinctive identifiers on it that could clue me in on where the hell I might be. I can hear the faint chatter of people on the other side, and my stomach tangles into knots. Are the voices on the other side friend or foe? Sandbag knocks twice and then waits.
The door opens, and I see the Warden standing there. His eyes sweep over me dismissively, and he gives Sandbag a nod. “Cuff her.”
Panic builds in my chest, and my arms are wrenched up and my wrists slapped with heavy handcuffs before I’m turned and shoved into the room. I look around and see a very ordinary space with a conference table set in the very center. People are sitting around the table, and their voices of quiet conversation dry up the moment they see me enter. Everyone is a stranger to me, but they’re all paranormals dressed in business suits.
The door is closed, thankfully leaving Sandbag outside, and the Warden motions for me to head to the empty chair at the end of the table. “Take a seat.”
With no idea what the hell is happening, I do as I’m told, the chain connecting my wrists jangling as I move. Sitting down, I leave my hands in my lap, my eyes skating over every face in the room. There are eight people, and I pick up the scent of a vampire, shifters, a few elementals, fae, and something else I can’t quite put my finger on.
The person presiding over the group seems to be the male vampire sitting directly across from me. He gathers some papers in his hands and straightens them as I take a seat. “Sinclair Denali, this is your parole hearing.”
My brow furrows. “Parole?”
He nods. “Yes. You’re eligible for early release. We’re here to discuss the particulars of it being granted.”
My heart suddenly starts pounding in my chest so hard that I know the vampire can sense it. His eyes flash at all the blood zooming through my veins, but my mind is whirling. Early release?
I...I’m not ready. Not yet. I need time to figure out this shit with my mat. Now that I know I’m going to fight her for the lounge, I have to be smart about it and prepare, or I have no doubt she’ll kill me. And Alpha Bowen...I still have to deal with him too.
“I don’t understand,” I admit, shaking my head. “How am I eligible?”
A middle-aged male wolf shifter answers. “Quite frankly, Miss Denali, Nightmare Penitentiary is overcrowded as it is, and we have much bigger fish to fry. You’ve committed minor, non-violent crimes,” he scoffs. “I don’t know how the prosecutor got away with calling a kiss assault or a glitter bomb assault with a deadly weapon, but it is what it is,” he says with a roll of his eyes. I nod emphatically, like, right?! Calling my kiss an assault was seriously overexaggerating.
“Anyway, the point is that the parole board believes adding the time you served in the human jail to the time you served here means you’re eligible to be released now. We feel you will be better suited to serve out the remainder of your sentence outside of Nightmare Penitentiary on parole with mandatory counseling.”
“What he means is, we need the cell space for criminals worse than you,” another shifter adds drily.