“And if those little girls didn’t want that future?” I challenged.
“That’s just it,” Elias replied heatedly. “They do. They understand the responsibility of their role. And they’re all treated well. They’re healthy and thriving.”
“And prisoners,” I said, my tone scathing. I turned away from him and looked at Remy. “I can’t listen to his shit anymore.”
“Go,” Remy said softly. “I’ll be out in a minute.”
I stormed past him and slammed the door on my way out.
57
Skye
By the time we landed in upstate New York, I was slightly calmer. I’d barely looked at Elias as he was brought on the plane. The airstrip we used was as close to the facility as we could get, but it was still another hour drive to reach the edge of the woods where the building was.
Elias had given Remy a little more information that he had on the facility that Damien had been using to house all the women and children, but he still maintained that he was unaware of the seedier side of the facility that Maren had told us about.
Part of me still wanted to believe that the old man who had helped me so much wasn’t a complete monster, but now, looking at the gray building behind layers of fences and barbed wire, I was having doubts.
“It’s like a ghost town,” I murmured next to Remy. My eyes scanned the area, looking for movement or people, but everything was just … vacant. The towers where guards would have sat were empty.
He frowned beside me. “Maybe you should hang back.”
“What? No way,” I said, shaking my head.
“We don’t know if it’s safe,” he insisted, turning to face me.
“Does any of this look familiar, Mare?” Ryder spoke up.
Maren shook her head. “No, but I was unconscious when they brought me in and took me out. The building kind of looks familiar? But I never saw the front.”
“Elias.” Remy’s voice snapped across the group of us assembled and moments later Elias was shuffled forward.
“Where is everyone?” Remy pressed, turning to the older man.
Elias looked around. “The guards don’t appear to be here.”
“No shit,” Rhodes muttered.
“I don’t know,” Elias added with a frown. “When I was here, Damien had this place completely locked down. We should have run into the first wave of people a mile ago. He had a perimeter for his perimeter.”
“That isn’t the case now,” Dante commented, looking around at the trees we had driven through.
My eyes followed his, seeing a few of the wolves we had sent ahead to scout the area before we arrived on the periphery.
“Maybe it was evacuated?” Tate suggested, peering around from her spot between Ryder and Dante.
“There’s definitely people in there,” Lulu said quietly, moving forward with Dimitri on her heels. “I can sense them.”
“Any idea of how many?” I asked.
“A lot,” she answered, her attention still focused on the building. “Some of them are really vibrant and bright. Others almost feel cold and oily.”
“What? Like their aura or something?” Katy frowned.
“Or something,” Lulu replied offhandedly.
“What about the other elemental?” Nikolai spoke up from behind us.
“Too many souls in the way,” Lulu told him. “It’s a huge melting pot of energies, and I can’t get a clear read.”
“Souls?” Remy repeated.
“There’s a lot of fear, though,” Lulu went on, ignoring his question. “It’s in everything, even the ground. Like an oil spill that’s tainted everything in the area.”
“Makes sense,” Maren replied softly, shuddering. “It’s scary being back here.”
“You’re safe now,” Tate said fiercely, taking the hand Katy wasn’t holding.
A gray wolf emerged from the treeline, heading towards us. When he was a few feet away, Alexei shifted into his human form.
I immediately looked at the ground, not wanting an accidental view of his junk. I felt Remy chuckle beside me.
Even though I was curious to know how far down Alexei’s intricate tattoos stretched, I wasn’t interested in him.
“We’ve been here for a few hours,” he told us, pausing several feet away. “No one has entered or left since we arrived. The lights came on, like they were on a timer. There’s no other wolves except us in the woods. All the scents we found were old.”
“So they abandoned ship before we arrived,” Nikolai inferred.
“You think it’s safe?” Remy asked.
“One way to find out,” Dimitri muttered, walking forward and pushing open one of the gates. It swung open easily enough.
“Doors open,” he called over his shoulder, leading the way as we all followed cautiously behind. Lulu tried to catch up and pass him, but he held her back.
“Could you, for once, act like your life matters?” he snapped, irritated.
“Could you, for once, leave me alone?” she snarled back, jerking her arm out of his hold. She stomped away from him.
Remy and I exchanged a look as Dimitri growled in her wake.
“They have a complicated relationship,” Nikolai murmured behind us.
I shot him a glance over my shoulder. “Clearly.”
Lulu made it up the stairs and slowly pushed open the front door. Before she could step inside, Dimitri shouldered her out of the way and went in first.
“Very complicated,” Remy whispered for my ears only.
We all filled the small lobby inside the entrance, pausing in front of the locked gate that separated the lobby from a long corridor.
“If I may?” Elias asked, slipping between us and approaching the gate. He laid his palm on the scanner beside the door and a second later it clicked open.
“Where is everyone?” Remy demanded, looking around.
“Top floor is research,” Elias said quietly. “If your elemental is here, that’s where he’ll be.”
“I’m going,” Lulu said sharply, starting towards the stairwell.
“Would you wait a damn minute?” Dimitri snapped, grabbing her wrist. He immediately dropped her arm with a hiss, moving back.
“Touch me again and I’ll fry your whole arm,” Lulu said coldly.
“Everyone calm down,” Remy ordered, stepping between them. “We need to split up and take sections.”
“I’m the elemental, so I’m going to the top floor,” Lulu insisted.
“I agree, but you shouldn’t go alone,” Remy shot back. “Nikolai, why don’t you go with her?”
My father nodded, giving Dimitri a look before moving to Lulu’s side.
“I’ll go, too,” I offered, joining them.
Remy’s lips thinned for a second, clearly not liking me going anywhere without him.
“Alexei, can you have your men cover the exits? Just in case?” Remy turned to the still naked shifter.
“Of course,” he replied, clearly not bothered by his nudity. He turned to go give them Remy’s order, shifting as he headed back outside.