{ Mia }
The cell was cold, but that wasn't what made my fur bristle.
It was the silence.
Too quiet. No guards pacing. No voices outside. Just the faint hum of electricity and the occasional mechanical click behind the walls — like the room itself was alive and listening.
Above me, dim blue lights pulsed from thin strips along the ceiling. They cast long shadows across the walls and over Ace and Lex, still curled beside me in our wolf forms, breathing slow, steady. Too steady.
We were pretending to sleep.
Scarlett's warning still echoed in my mind.
"Don't move. Don't speak. Eyes closed. He's watching."
And he was.
I could feel it — the weight of his gaze behind the wall of mirrored glass.
The golden wolf. The man. The one who didn't believe I was just a wolf.
He wasn't done with us. Not yet.
The cell door hissed.
Soft. Controlled. Too quiet for a place meant to hold threats.
A faint click followed — the sound of a code being entered, or maybe a lock disengaging. My heart thudded once, sharply. I didn't move.
Neither did Ace or Lex.
"Stay still," Scarlett whispered in my mind. "Whatever happens… don't flinch."
Footsteps.
Not rushed. Not loud. Just… deliberate.
Then the scent hit — familiar now. Pine, smoke, and something colder. The golden wolf. Except now he was a man again.
His shadow passed over me.
I fought the urge to twitch.
He crouched beside me. I felt the shift in the air, the way his hand hovered inches above my fur.
Still, I didn't move.
A second passed. Then another.
And then—
Snip.
The cold bite of metal against my fur. A few strands clipped away.
Another pause.
Click.
Something sharper scraped against my paw. I realized what he was doing — cutting a sliver of my claw.
DNA.
He was collecting samples.
I nearly growled — nearly — but Scarlett's voice cut in like a blade.
"Let him. You react, he wins."
He stood.
No words. Just another long moment of quiet, as if daring me to break the act.
I didn't.
He walked away.
The door closed behind him.
And the silence returned.
But this time, it was heavier.
Because now, he wasn't just suspicious.
He was searching for proof.
The golden man's footsteps echoed down the hall, slow and measured. But as the distance grew, I noticed a subtle change — the rhythm faltered, a slight wobble in his step.
Scarlett's voice returned, barely a whisper.
"He's reacting. The sample triggered something."
I tried to focus on my breathing, steady and controlled, but a ripple of satisfaction hummed through me. We weren't just trapped prey anymore. We had a weapon—hidden, silent, deadly.
The air outside the cell shifted. The faint sound of his footsteps faded, replaced by soft murmurs from his guards. Their voices were low, cautious — an undercurrent of worry threading through the calm.
Minutes stretched, heavy and slow.
Then a distant thud.
Another.
The sounds were faint but growing, like his body was fighting against something.
Inside, Ace and Lex stirred, subtle twitching of ears, a flash of their eyes behind closed lids.
I forced my own muscles to stay slack, pretending the same.
But beneath it all, a quiet storm was brewing.
The man was falling under the influence of something he didn't understand. And soon, we'd use that to our advantage.
The murmurs outside grew louder, edged with tension. I could almost hear their hesitation, the whispered questions they dared not voice aloud.
From behind the mirrored glass, the golden man's silhouette wavered. His posture slumped ever so slightly, fingers twitching as if trying to fight invisible chains. His breath came slower now — heavier, uneven.
"Scarlett," I sent in my mind, voice steady but urgent, "what's happening to him?"
"A sedative," she replied softly. "It's in your fur, Mia. When he took the sample, the particles activated — releasing a slow-acting toxin. It's designed to disarm, not kill."
I swallowed hard but kept my eyes closed, heart pounding in time with the faint thuds echoing down the corridor.
The guards outside shifted nervously, exchanging quick glances.
"Keep watch," the man's voice rasped from beyond the glass, cracking in a way that made my skin crawl.
A heavy silence fell.
Then the door hissed open again.
Two gray wolves stepped inside, cautious, tense. They stopped just short of the cage, eyes flicking toward their fading alpha.
"We need to move him," one said in low growls, urgency creeping into his tone.
The other nodded, eyes narrowing at us briefly before turning their attention back to their master.
"Move fast," the first warned, voice rough.
The golden man's silhouette wavered behind the glass, his posture slumping ever so slightly, fingers twitching as if trying to fight invisible chains. His breath came slower now - heavier, uneven.
He glanced toward the cage, eyes sharp despite the growing weakness. Though we kept our eyes closed, I felt his gaze piercing through the shadows - searching, suspicious.
The door hissed open again as three shifters entered carrying a chair. The rest of the shifters slowly shifted the man onto the chair and as the man fell asleep we moved.
I opened my eyes slowly, meeting Ace's gaze.
"We've got a window," I whispered through the link.
Lex's eyes snapped open. "Time to finish what Scarlett started?"
I nodded.
The countdown had begun.
The silence pressed heavier now — not from fear, but anticipation.
Ace had already moved to the panel near the cell's corner, claws glinting under the pulsing blue light as he carefully worked at the camera feeds.
The soft bzzt of wires shorting out was the only sound in the room.
Across from us, not six feet away, the golden man lay slumped on a sleek, high-backed chair beside his bed, head tilted against the wall.
He looked... peaceful.
Too peaceful.
Chest rising and falling in slow rhythm. Eyes closed. Fingers relaxed. But still — I didn't trust it.
Not for a second.
"Scarlett, is he out?" I whispered in my mind.
"Deep sleep pattern confirmed," she answered. "Heart rate low, breathing stable. You've got a window. Sixty seconds. Move."
Ace gave a soft grunt — the cameras were down.
"Go," I said. "Make the clones."
Lex and I focused, calling on the strange pulse that lived beneath our skin. The same energy that gave us claws, fangs, and secrets.
Our bodies shimmered briefly, and then —
Three wolves lay exactly where we'd been.
Still. Breathing. Perfect illusions.
Ace glanced toward the window. "That's our way out."
We padded silently across the smooth floor. No creaks. No alerts.
I could feel the man's presence like a weight behind me, even as he slept.
My paws touched the stone ledge beneath the narrow window. It was cracked open slightly — probably for air.
Good.
We slipped through one by one, landing on the balcony roof below.
"Reactivate the cams," I whispered.
Ace reached back inside with a tendril of shadow — his control over the circuit delicate but precise.
The cameras flickered back on.
Inside the cell, our clones still lay there, unmoving.
And the golden man?
Still asleep.
" Good, let's run before he wakes up" I whispered as we all jumped from the third floor to the ground running into the night.