Chapter 5

Elara didn't cry. She sat in the center of the cell and analyzed.

*Data Point A: His reaction was triggered by scent.*

*Data Point B: The suppressants wore off.*

*Data Point C: His emotional response was extreme panic/guilt.*

She went to the pile of books Kaelen had left her. She found a volume on Lycanthropic Biology she had ignored earlier. She flipped through the index. *Pheromones. Mating Cycles. Bonds.*

She read the section on "Fated Mates."

*...a biological imperative. A scent that cannot be masked... immediate recognition...*

She dropped the book.

"He knows," she whispered. "He knows I'm his mate."

And he locked her up.

A cold, hard knot of betrayal formed in her chest. He hadn't locked her up because she was a spy. He locked her up because he wanted to own her. It was the ultimate objectification. He didn't want a partner; he wanted a possession.

*Hypothesis confirmed: Emotions are dangerous variables.*

Suddenly, the red emergency lights in the hangar began to flash. A siren wailed—a low, mechanical drone.

The intercom crackled.

"Security Override," a computerized voice announced. "Alpha Sector Lockdown initiated. Venting Atmosphere."

Elara stood up. *Venting atmosphere?* That meant poison gas. It was a failsafe to kill intruders in the command wing.

Through the glass walls of her cell, she saw the heavy hangar doors slide open.

Kaelen stumbled in.

He was clutching his throat. His skin was pale, veins standing out black against his neck. He collapsed onto the concrete floor of the hangar, ten feet from her cell.

Behind him walked Voric, the Beta. He was wearing a gas mask.

"It’s a shame, really," Voric’s voice came through the muffled intercom system. "I hoped the spy accusation would be enough to get you executed by the Council, Kaelen. But you just had to keep her."

Kaelen tried to rise, but his limbs gave out. The gas filling the room was a neurotoxin—wolfsbane aerosol. It was killing him.

Elara watched from inside her glass box. The dungeon was hermetically sealed. She was safe. She had her own air supply.

She could watch him die.

It would be logical. He was her jailer. He had rejected her. If he died, the system would reset, and she might be released.

Kaelen looked up. His golden eyes met hers through the glass. He didn't beg. He didn't command. He just looked at her with a profound, heartbreaking apology.

*I’m sorry,* his eyes said.

Elara looked at Voric, who was busy typing into a console, disabling the external communications.

She looked at Kaelen.

*Logic dictates self-preservation.*

*But love... love is an outlier.*

Elara grabbed the lamp Kaelen had given her for reading. She smashed the bulb and ripped out the copper wiring.

She ran to the door panel on the *inside* of her cell. She jammed the wire into the exposed circuitry she had loosened days ago with a fingernail file, creating a short.

"Come on," she hissed, sparks flying. "Bypass the solenoid."

*Click.*

The magnetic lock disengaged.