第5章

I didn't open the door.

I sent the six children to hide in the basement and demanded through the door that they contact a lawyer, bring in an independent pediatrician, and record everything on camera.

Ward's tone stayed gentle throughout. "It's only a thirty-six-hour emergency observation at most. Finn's fever hasn't broken. Every second of delay could be life-threatening."

"Then send a doctor here. Or I'll take him to the hospital myself."

"You've already been flagged for obstructing treatment. Ms. Carter, don't let your decision cost the other five children their chance."

Deputy Garrett showed the evaluation order. The paper authorized them to inspect the children's living conditions, but nowhere did it say they could forcibly remove anyone.

I was about to point that out when Finn coughed from the basement.

The door was rammed open.

Two guards rushed in first. Ward went straight for Finn. He was so frightened that his tail slid out from his pants leg and wrapped tight around my waist.

"Hostile form!" Deputy Garrett drew a stun gun. "Release the child and step back!"

"He's three years old!" I pulled Finn into my arms. "He's scared. All of you, get out!"

The current tore through my back and shoulders.

My whole body seized. I dropped hard to my knees. My teeth cracked against my tongue and blood flooded my mouth, but my hands still held Finn's clothes.

"Mama!"

All six children rushed toward me at once.

Asher shielded his five brothers. Blake stood at the front. Caleb, overwhelmed by the terror around him, pressed his hands over his ears. The twins each grabbed a fistful of my shirt. Finn could barely stand with his fever. Yet not one of them hid behind me and begged to be spared.

Blake's eyes went to slits, fangs already showing. A second stun gun locked onto me immediately.

Asher suddenly stepped in front of his brothers.

"Don't bite anyone!" He shoved Blake back and raised both hands first. "Everyone shift back. Don't let them hurt Mom again."

Six tails slowly retracted into their clothes.

They could have fought back, but they lined up for my sake and let the guards stick needles into their arms.

"Don't drug them!" I tried to get up. A boot came down on my wrist.

Sedatives were injected into six small bodies, one after another.

Finn went limp first. His temperature was already unstable. The moment the drug hit, his lips turned blue and his breathing went faint.

Before they carried him away, he was still reaching for me.

"Mama..."

My vision went black.

When I came to, I was strapped to a stretcher.

The ambulance door wasn't fully shut. I could see the children's wrists tagged in red, orange, and black. Asher and Blake were loaded into the first windowless medical van. Caleb and the twins were in the second. Finn was alone in the third.

"Don't separate them!"

I tore the restraint off my hand and jumped from the ambulance. My bare feet hit the snow, but I barely felt the pain. I saw only the third van as its doors began to close.

I chased it for over thirty feet before I slipped and crashed into a snowbank.

Six terrified little faces flashed behind the windows. Asher was pounding the glass. Blake strained against his seat belt. The twins clung to each other. Caleb had his eyes shut, searching for my heartbeat. Finn's van passed last. His small hand pressed against the glass, the black tag on his wrist nearly wider than his arm.

Three vans pulled away, one after another.

All I managed to grab was one of Finn's tiny socks that had fallen off.

Deputy Garrett dragged me back to the car while Ward dictated her report.

"Mother actively assaulted personnel during execution. Children cooperated voluntarily with transfer. Records suggest possible delusional father narrative. Recommend immediate psychiatric evaluation."

"They didn't cooperate voluntarily!" I shouted hoarsely. "The body cameras caught everything!"

Deputy Garrett wouldn't meet my eyes.

Ward placed a document in front of me. "You can sign a thirty-six-hour voluntary observation. Otherwise, we will immediately send the high-risk children to foster homes in different states."

"That's not voluntary."

"You can choose not to sign." She glanced at the tiny sock in my fist. "But from today, you may never know where they are."

I gritted my teeth and signed beneath the words "observation only."

At that same moment, Cassian's private jet had already turned toward Montana.

His security team received a report of six abnormal children being transferred across the border to Canada, and half the team requested a course change to pursue.

Cassian looked at the timestamp on the record.

"Seventeen minutes after the video went public, a complete transfer manifest appeared in the border system. That's too fast."

"You think it's fake?"

"Someone wants me in Canada." He closed the file. "Continue to Blackpine. I'll investigate it myself."

The elevator at St. Grace descended.

I was wheeled into a windowless underground level. A red digital display lit up on the wall.

Risk observation remaining: 36 hours.

Behind three silver-gray doors, all six children cried out for Mama at once.

I threw myself against the wall and tapped out our seven-beat code with my knuckles.

One, two, three. A pause. Then four.

The countdown ticked to 35:59:59.

The suppressors engaged. The children's cries cut off abruptly.

From the other side of the wall, there was no answer.