I opened my mouth to speak again, but the sound of someone softly singing stopped me.
I could hear a voice, singing low about blackbirds. The tune was familiar, but my hazy brain was struggling to pinpoint exactly where I’d heard it before. Even as I listened, I was half-trying to convince myself that my head was making it up.
I frowned and sat up straight, peering off into the line of cells to try and figure out who it was, not seeing anything. The singing eventually petered off into a low humming noise that was almost more haunting.
Luscinia tapped on the glass, her expression questioning.
“Someone is singing,” I explained, realizing there was no way for her to hear it. “Down that way.”
Her blue eyes followed where I was pointing, her lips pulling down into a frown.
“Do you know how many prisoners there are?”
She shook her head before breathing on the glass again. ‘Only seen them.’
“Them? Who’s them?”
As if my question had summoned them, the sound of a metal door being opened somewhere far away filled my ears and I watched as the previously prone forms on the bed began to curl up into tighter balls. Someone began to sob softly and was promptly shushed.
Luscinia, seeing them move, was gone from the wall and tugging her scratchy-looking blanket over her head as she copied what the other prisoners were doing.
With my heart in my throat, I did the same. I hated being surrounded by so much uncomfortable fabric and I also hated being blind to what the sound of approaching footsteps would bring… but I was also pretty sure that standing out was even more dangerous.
“You said she was awake?” a man asked in a thick Russian accent.
“Yes, she was sitting up and talking with the deaf one before we came in,” another voice replied, this one a bit of a more nasally pitch. “Are you going to let me do what I want, Vlad?”
There was a pause before the nasally voice spoke again. “You promised I could do it once you brought me an omega again.”
“I have brought you lots of omegas, Andrey. For almost thirty years I have brought whatever you wanted like my father asked me to. Why should I give you this one?” The deeper voice sounded so calm despite the words he was saying.
“Yes but this one is different. Her hormone levels are just what I need to complete my project—the deal with your father still stands, nephew, I let you keep control over the family and you let me have my hobbies.”
“I need this one,” the man replied. There was a pause before he spoke again. “I know you are awake, little omega, you may as well sit up so that we can talk.”
I didn’t want to sit up. I didn’t want to see the two men who were standing on the outside of my plastic cell talking about me like I was some kind of specimen.
Be brave, I whispered silently to myself before finally sitting up and throwing the blanket away from my face.
I knew the first man who was standing stone-faced with his hands behind his back. He was Vladimir Volkov.
My father had tried for as long as I could remember to garner money and support from the stoic man and had always failed. But I’d seen him at events and parties before, and as always when I saw him, a shiver ran down my spine as I met his icy blue eyed gaze.
The other man I didn’t know. He was almost a foot shorter than the head of the Volkov family and was dressed in what I could only describe as a scientist get-up. He was wearing a blue checkered shirt, black pants, and a long white coat that he had both hands buried in the pockets of.
He’d called Volkov his nephew, but I could hardly see any family resemblance in the thinner man aside from the same pale blue eyes that were staring a hole into my face as he looked at me with unrestrained glee.
“Hello there, Madame Keane.” Volkov gave a little bow. “I apologize for our… rough introduction earlier.”
“Where is Romey,” I asked, thinking about my brother. I was so going to kick his ass when I got out of this, but I still didn’t want him to be hurt.
“The younger Chandler took his girlfriend and left some hours ago—I would not be surprised if he was halfway across the world by now.”
I wasn’t sure if I should believe Volkov’s words. It couldn’t have been that easy for him to get Kailey back and run and there was no way that the man would leave such an obvious loose end.
“Thank you for letting him go,” I whispered, choosing to play along with his lie for now.
“Of course, you don’t know me very well but I am nothing if not magnanimous.” Volkov held his hands out like he was as harmless as a fly. If I didn’t already know who he was he’d probably look like an older version of Prince Charming to me with his pale blond hair and straight jawline. But I knew better.
“Why am I here? Where is my husband?”
“You are here because you are a very important key to my plans and as for your husband, I’m sure that, right about now, he’s realizing you are no longer safely asleep in your bed.”
“Your plans?” I prodded, hoping he would let something slip that I could use later.
Volkov’s smile was slow and dangerous, sending a chill down my spine. “I am not some stereotypical supervillain, Mrs. Keane, I am not going to tell you all of my dirty little secrets in some long drawn out monologue. Now, please make yourself at home, you’ll be here for a while.”
Volkov turned and began to head back down the dark hallway, his uncle following behind him at a close clip.
“Vladimir you promised I’d get to use the next omega and she’s so ripe for the material I need and I already have the perfect test subject in the beta—”
“And I have told you no, uncle, I will find you another omega, but this one is off limits.” Volkov cut the man’s whining off decisively as the metal door opened again.
I waited for them to disappear completely before I let myself flop back down into the bed, my limbs shaking as I once again gave in to the drug-induced sleep that had been riding me hard ever since I woke up.
My last thought before sleep took me was that Edison and Rhodes would find me and there was nothing to worry about.
I just hoped they did it soon.
