Page 92 of Midnight Hunt
I was given that opportunity only an hour later when Desirae and I left the bathhouse to meet up with the other females for dinner. There were a dozen of us, all hybrids and under the age of thirty. All unclaimed, except for me. We all wore the exact same outfit like a freakish cult—or inmates. The room looked like a prison cafeteria and felt like one too. Male guards stood at every exit, making sure we didn’t leave the room. Every time one of us talked, a male would clear his throat, and all of the females would quickly stop.
Fear. They were being ruled byfear.
Every time one of them flinched, my anger grew. These were powerful hybrid females whose confidence had been weakened. They were lost, a feeling I’d allowed to define me for way too long. But not anymore. I would no longer shrink away from what scared me. No longer let fearcontrolme. I needed to remind these females of how strong and capable they were.
But how?
As we all sat down at a long metal table with our trays of food, an idea came to me. Quickly checking that the guards weren’t watching, I flattened my mound of mashed potatoes and used my fork to write,Where are we?
When I nudged the girl’s leg beside me to get her attention, she saw my message and let out a soft gasp. Everyone froze to look at her, so I hurriedly coughed to cover up the noise and took a sip of my water. After a moment of silence, I tried again. She shook her head, but I persisted, pointing to the message.
“Please,” I whispered, the sound barely a wisp of air.
She tightly clenched her own fork, then dug it into her mashed potatoes and hastily wrote,Alaska.
Alaska? How the hell had they transported me all the way across the country? They must have kept me sedated with silver for the long journey.
With the time zone difference, that meant I’d probably been here less than a day, even if it felt like several had passed. No wonder Desirae had sounded so miserable that she’d only been here a week. I hadn’t seen a single window in the place, making time drag impossibly slow.
Despite the news that I was so far from home, I erased my message and wrote a new one.How many?
The girl glanced at me in confusion, so I threw a pointed look at the guards. Understanding, she wrote back,30.
I nearly choked on my mouthful of meatloaf. Okay, more than I’d thought. Taking them all out was definitely going to be a challenge.
As I tried to come up with an escape plan, the girl across from me suddenly sniffled. I looked up just as she swiftly wiped the tears off her face. Looking at the others, I noticed several other morose expressions, and many of them had barely touched their food. Understandable, considering the situation, but something else seemed to be bothering them.
Nudging the girl beside me again, I wrote,What?
When she saw me glance at the others, she hesitated before writing back,The Claiming.
Oh crap.
When?
Tonight, she replied.
Who?
All.
ALL? What kind of creepy event was this? I probably didn’t want to know, but it looked like I was going to soon enough.
As the girl across from me shed a few more tears, I couldn’t help but whisper, “Don’t worry. I won’t let any of them touch you.”
Her eyes fluttered up to meet mine, and I gave her my most confident smile.
When a male cleared his throat in warning, I rolled my eyes and muttered, “Suck it, dickface.”
Several gasps lit up the room. Whoops. Guess I’d been a little too loud.
Sable snickered, clearly pleased with my sassy mouth despite the situation.
A hush fell over the table as heavy footfalls stomped toward us. Oh boy, I was in trouble.
Worth it, Sable said.
I agreed, but the other females were staring at me in horror like I was about to die a grisly death.
