Forbidden (Blood Ties #7)

Silence filled the corridors. It was early, too goddamn early. The Daughters would still be asleep and most of Walker’s guards would still be patrolling the grounds.

Movement came through the glass section of the double doors up ahead, heading this way. I recognised one of them as one of Coulter’s commanders. Not someone I expected out at this time of the morning…unless it was for a reason.

I stopped, then stepped to the side. Instinct drove me as I pressed the access card against the scanner and slipped into a utility closet. Darkness quickly swallowed the room. But I left a tiny crack open as the security doors in the hallway gave aclickand swung open.

“All you have to do is make sure you’re ready to move.” Coulter’s man ordered.

“And what if these bastards fight back?”

I flinched, gripped the handle tighter, and strained to hear.

“You let me worry about that. Two days, that’s all you need to worry about. Two days, then we move.”

Two days?

My heart slammed against my ribs. Two fucking days? What were they planning in two days?

The warmth washed out of me and my stomach dropped. I knew what they were planning…they were moving them.

Two days wasn’t enough. The programming took two months at least. Six weeks at a push, but two days? That was barbaric.

If they took them now, they’d run the risk of undoing what we’d done, or breaking their minds. They were fragile right now. The drugs and the hypnosis make them fragile…and that alone made them dangerous.

Footsteps thudded, then faded.

I stayed in the darkness, hiding in the closet for a couple of minutes before I risked stepping out. They were long gone, but the words lingered.Two days, that’s all you need to worry about.

My mind reeled. My movements were on autopilot as I pressed my card against the scanner and headed for the Daughters’ rooms.

Two days and she would be gone. Christ, I felt sick with the thought of not being able to watch over her, but right now, we had to do what we could.

Think…

I pushed through the doors and headed for the rooms. Only, the moment I turned the corner, I found one of Coulter’s men standing outside the open door of one Daughter’s cell. My first instinct was to turn and search for Walker, to make sure he was protecting the only one I cared about, Helene…until movement came from inside and Kane stepped out.

“She needs more fluids and rest.” He instructed the guard. “On to the next one, please.”

He lifted his head, meeting my gaze.

A flicker of confusion rose until I saw the folder in his hands. He was checking them, noting down their vital signs and their mental state. He glanced toward Helene’s room, but he didn’t head there, not yet. He was using the other Daughters as a cover to get to her.

Two days.The words boomed in my head. Did Kane know?

As his gaze met mine, he scowled. He didn’t. I’d almost bet money he didn’t know a damn thing.

I glanced at the folder and the list of Daughters on the front. More than half were checked off. That meant he’d been doing this for over an hour…well before I rose and before Coulter’s men started to make arrangements.

If he didn’t know we were fucked already, then he soon would. His programming was about to be destroyed and there wasn’t a goddamn thing we could do about it…not until Coulter made a move.

Until then we had to play along and pray to God we enticed the bastard with someone other than the woman we’d both fallen for.

For all our sakes.

THIRTY-THREE

Kane

Riven’s eyeswere wide with terror and his pallor was ashen. As much as that terrified me, I turned away, pretending I didn’t notice, and kept walking to the next cell.