how we explain this to outsiders.”
“And how does that work exactly?” I asked hesitantly. “Being an elemental, I mean.”
“How does being a shifter work?” she countered, arching a brow. “It just is. My people have existed since the dawn of time. We’re people that are more attuned to elements and can access and even manipulate them in raw form. My people, the Romani, have a connection with the earth and all it’s creatures.”
“And your people created shifters?”
She nodded.
“So, can you create more shifters?” I asked slowly.
After a beat, she slowly shook her head. “No. The magic that was used was not something we have had access to in a couple centuries. Merging a man and a beast takes a great deal of energy. It’s not something a normal Roma can do. Besides, even if one was strong enough to pull that much magic from the earth, there’s certain … things needed to happen to make such a transformation positive.”
“Such as?” I pressed as the doors opened.
Lulu stepped out and gave me an unreadable look. “We believe there is a way to replicate the spell, but there are certain circumstances that have yet to align.” She smiled, this time it was more genuine. “But we’re hoping things have changed.”
She led us down a sterile, gray and white hall with blindingly bright fluorescent lights overhead until we reached a solid steel door with another biometric scanner. She placed her hand against it and a second later, the door pulled open to a wide room lined with cells.
A few people slept in some of them, all of them men.
“The women’s cells are on the floor below,” Lulu explained.
I followed her down the row, trying my best not to look at the men who were housed and on display like zoo animals.
“Why are these men here?” I asked, unable to help myself.
Lulu gave me a tight look. “Usual crimes. Theft, assault, violating Pack Law. They’re kept here until the Alpha decides their sentence.”
So Nikolai was the judge, jury, and executioner.
“Where’s my uncle?”
Lulu nodded at the last door in front of us. Another steel one with another biometric scanner. She placed her palm on it and a second later it beeped and unlocked.
“We keep the more dangerous ones in here,” she said quietly as the door pulled open.
Two guards stood just inside, their stoic faces impassive as they looked at us. Finally they gave a brief nod and let us pass.
Where the other cells had looked like normal jail cells with bars, these cells were rooms, completely blocked off by steel walls with a steel door the only access point. A thin, narrow window only provided a glimpse into the rooms.
Lulu kept walking until we reached the end of the row.
“Open it,” she said.
I turned back to see one of the guards had followed us.
He inserted a key into the lock, twisting and opening the door for us.
The first thing that hit me was the coppery tang of blood. My wolf scented it, alerting me, before my eyes could focus on the scene in front of me.
“Holy shit,” Lulu breathed beside me.
That didn’t begin to cover the carnage in front of me. Blood splattered the walls, some streaks black and dried, other fresh and still dripping down the cinder block walls.
And that nothing to say of the man in front of me on his knees. He glanced up, one eye swollen closed. A steady river of blood dribbled from his mouth. He was barely upright, one arm cradled to his waist, the other arm shaking from the exertion to hold himself up.
The eye that could still see locked onto mine, the green identical to my own. His mouth opened, my name forming soundlessly on his lips.
My gaze swung to the only other occupant in the room. The man had flecks of red splattered on him, like he had stepped out into a blood storm without an umbrella.
He passively wiped his knuckles on an already crimson rag as he glanced at me.
“Skye,” Nikolai greeted, actually smiling at me. “Wonderful timing. Your uncle and I were just discussing you.”
19
Skye
“What the hell are you doing?” I whispered, still trying to get my brain to process what I was seeing.
Nikolai tossed the bloody rag onto the floor before lifting a knife with a wickedly curved blade from the table beside him. A table that was filled with a bunch of things that made a shiver zip down my spine.
Linden looked completely broken at his feet, barely upright. I could