Page 90 of Bad Wolf's Nanny

She shifted her weight and looked again at the far wall. Something about the layout scratched at her mind. The dimensions. The foundations. She knew the history of this building, had studied the blueprints once for a paper about post-prohibition architecture.

A whisper of memory stirred.

She blinked hard, trying to concentrate, her breath shallow, her vision swimming.

Cassie moved closer to her. “You okay?” she whispered.

Lola nodded quickly, too quickly.

“You’re shaking.”

“I’m fine.”

“You’re not.”

“I can’t fall apart,” Lola said, voice raw. “If I fall apart now, I won’t come back from it.”

Cassie didn’t say anything. Just squeezed her hand.

Lola closed her eyes, trying to anchor herself to that. To kindness. To touch. To life.

She didn’t know what was coming. She didn’t know how long they had. But shewouldget out of this. Somehow.

And if she couldn’t…she would make damn sure someone else did.

The darkness pressed in on them.

They sat in silence for long minutes after the guard left, the tension in the basement like a held breath. The air was too still, too thick. Lola could feel her pulse hammering in her throat, and her knuckles were white where she gripped her own wrist to stop her hands from shaking.

“Okay,” she whispered, mostly to herself. “Okay, okay…think.”

Cassie looked at her, brows drawn. “What?”

Lola blinked, heart slamming. “I think…I might have a way out.”

Daisy and Bree leaned closer, eyes wide. Even Poppy, who’d been silent for the past half hour, sat up straighter.

“It’s a long shot,” Lola said, breathless, “and I don’t even know if it’s real. But…my research. My thesis. I…I spent months going through old records of Silvermist. Pack history. Old structures. Hidden architecture. Do you remember a few months ago when I told you about the tunnels?”

Daisy’s eyes widened in remembrance. “You think the entrance might still be accessible?”

“I don’t know. But if it is …if we could find it, maybe we could get out. Or at least send someone to get help.”

Cassie inhaled sharply. “Do you remember where it was?”

Lola shook her head, frustration biting hard. “Not exactly. The plans were old, barely legible. But if we look…maybe. There might be signs. Architectural markers. Disturbed mortar. Something.”

They were interrupted by the creak of the door above.

Footsteps on the stairs.

All of them went still, dread sliding like ice down their spines.

Another alpha came down, taller than the last, with cold eyes and a scar splitting his brow. He looked around at them like he was choosing meat from a butcher’s stall.

He said nothing for a long moment, then started pacing slowly through the room, inspecting each woman with idle menace.

Lola held her breath when he passed her, refusing to flinch.