Dr. Nolan Keene looked smaller without a television screen around him.

“Stay back,” Nolan said.

Silas's wolf recognized the man who had falsified Evelyn's mind, drugged her body, and placed her blood on a buyer's list.

The room filled with the sound of Silas's bones beginning to shift.

Nolan pressed the needle against June's skin. “One step and she gets the entire dose.”

Silas stopped.

“Let her go.”

“You don't understand what she is.”

“A woman you kidnapped.”

“She is a carrier. They all are. The blood expresses under trauma.”

Briar appeared at the doorway, weapon low because June lay between them.

“Put down the syringe, Nolan.”

“The research is bigger than this county.”

“Then your lawyer will enjoy hearing about it.”

Nolan's gaze moved between them.

Silas smelled the decision before Nolan acted.

The doctor meant to inject June and blame the rescue.

Silas shifted one hand.

Claws replaced fingernails.

He threw the broken metal keypad from the red door.

It struck Nolan's wrist. The syringe flew across the room.

Briar crossed the distance and drove the doctor against the cabinet.

“Nolan Keene, you are under arrest for kidnapping, unlawful imprisonment, aggravated assault, falsification of medical records, and whatever else is waiting in those cameras.”

Nolan stared at Silas's clawed hand.

“Animal,” he whispered.

Silas returned his hand to human shape.

“I was the one who didn't use a woman as a shield.”

Medics stabilized June.

In the observation booth, investigators found live feeds, patient files, genetic reports, and a communication terminal scrubbed of names. One message remained open.

An entire wall held photographs taken through one-way glass. Women sleeping. Women restrained. Women being shown pictures of their children while clinicians recorded heart rate and pupil response.

Ronan tore one photograph down, then stopped himself before touching another.

“Evidence,” Briar reminded him quietly.

“I know.”

“We will copy it, identify every woman, and then ask each survivor what happens to her images.”

Ronan's hands shook at his sides. “Make sure that's written down.”

“It is now.”

TRANSFER E.Q. FAILED. DOMESTIC ASSET UNRELIABLE. PREPARE ALTERNATIVE ACQUISITION.

Domestic asset.

Grant.

Beneath it was a reply from an account identified only by a black crown.

DELIVER A CARRIER BEFORE THE WINTER COUNCIL.

The external buyer had no name yet.

But he had a deadline.

And he knew about the wolves' council.

Kara refused to enter the ambulance until she saw every other woman outside.

Silas understood.

They counted together.

June. Marta. Callie. Beth. Nora.

Six, including Kara.

All alive.

When Kara finally stepped into the rain, she lifted her face as if weather were something she had forgotten existed.

“Can I talk to Evelyn?” she asked.

Silas called.

Evelyn answered before the first ring ended.

“Silas?”

He heard everything she was trying not to ask.

“Six women,” he said. “All alive.”

Her breath broke.

Silas closed his eyes.

For one moment, sirens, rain, officers, and wolves disappeared. There was only Evelyn breathing through the bond and the knowledge that he had kept the promise in the only form she had allowed him to make.

“Kara wants you,” he said.

He handed over the phone.

Kara held it in both hands. “You found the water bill.”

“I found a discrepancy,” Evelyn said, her voice shaking through the speaker.

“You found us.”

Silas looked at the broken red door.

Evelyn had spent years being told her work was small.

Tonight, her numbers had opened a cage.

State officers brought Nolan out in handcuffs. Reporters were already gathering beyond the gate. Aboveground staff stood in lines for interviews. The facility director had attempted to leave through a service road and been stopped by Ronan's tow truck parked sideways across it.

“Mechanical problem,” Ronan explained.

“Your truck is fine,” Briar said.

“The director's freedom had the mechanical problem.”

Even Briar's mouth moved.

Then an investigator approached with another arrest warrant.

The underground files showed Dale Mercer had authorized twenty-three sealed transports and received a percentage from each one.

His suspension was no longer administrative.

State police arrested him before dawn.

Silas watched Nolan disappear into one cruiser and heard confirmation that Mercer had been placed in another.

Two men who had hidden behind medicine and a badge were finally behind locked doors.

But the black-crown message remained on Briar's evidence screen.

The county machine had been broken open.

Someone larger had been feeding it.