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THEY PUT US in a small room in the attic of the house. The door is only half the height of a normal door, and it is easily hidden behind a chair.

We go there when one of Kyvelki’s alphas, who has been keeping a lookout, notes that a cadre of police officers and security guards from Cedar Falls is walking in the direction of this house, stopping to search houses on their way.

Then, we ascend the steps and climb inside. The room is very small with boxes stacked as best as they can fit under the slope of the roof. We sit close, all touching, arms around each other as we take comfort together through the bond.

I am reeling from all of the revelations and the experience of the past few days.

It’s overwhelming, but I think that maybe I’m getting used to it, because it’s been like this ever since we escaped the facility.

It seems we haven’t had a chance to breathe or get used to anything since then.

Things have changed so quickly, day by day, week by week. Maybe I’m adapting to living like that.

As I sit there, my head resting on Knight’s shoulder, who has his arm around me, I think through what I know about police procedure. If I were looking for a group of dangerous fugitives who might be hiding somewhere, how would I go about looking?

The first thing I’d do, with a group as big as the one they have there, is to have people split up so as to cover more ground. I’m not sure why they’re all searching together. However, I suppose that with two officers down, everyone is wary.

As much as you accept the danger of your job as a police officer, there is always an element of self-preservation. Dying to save someone’s life is one thing. Dying because the bad guys get the jump on you is something else entirely.

In their mind, we are very dangerous.

We are still armed. We brought the guns with us.

But if it comes down to a confrontation, we don’t have a chance. There are too many of them, and if we come out shooting, we will be dead in a matter of moments. I send this through the bond, wanting my mates to understand that fighting back won’t work this time.

The only reason it worked last time was because we had the element of surprise and because we outnumbered them. They probably were stunned that we attacked in the way we did and it kept them from reacting the way they probably should have.

Who knows what they’d been told. Calix has communicated through the bond to all of us how the Polloi feel about the police, their inherent distrust. I have to say that it goes both ways.

There are nasty stereotypes about the Polloi, that they are shifty and prone to trickery.

The Polloi don’t tend to call in law enforcement for help in settling their internal disputes, so when the police do come in, it’s usually to arrest members of the community, but that usually comes down to relatively minor offenses.

Disturbing the peace, domestic disputes, that kind of thing.

Usually, it’s someone else calling in and reporting on the Polloi.

The officers that came in wouldn’t have thought that their lives were in danger. They would have thought it was some fight between Polloi, pack-on-pack violence, maybe, but nothing like what this is.

Now, however, the situation has proved deadly and serious.

And this makes me realize something else, with a sinking sensation. They are not going to leave until they find us. We killed police officers. They will want to arrest us, and they will search this place inside, outside, and upside down, until they can locate us.

This is a bad idea, trying to hide in this house, and I know it.

I try to think of what we should do. We can’t move, not now, but if they move on and get farther away, we should probably try to get completely off the property.

For now, though, we sit tight. We wait.

Eventually, we hear them come into the house, and we hear them speaking to Kyvelki and her mates, who are not particularly helpful or polite, which doesn’t do anything to make the situation better.

I wish I could have communicated to her—well, it doesn’t matter.

Omegas in the Polloi don’t listen to alphas.

I was expected to hold my tongue during the entire exchange.

We hear the police come up into the bedroom where the door to our hiding place is. They look around, talking to each other about what they’re doing, and so we know they’re moving the bed around and a chest of drawers.

I hold my breath, waiting for them to pull the chair away from the wall.

Kyvelki’s voice. “One of my alphas says he talked to one of them down by the pond a few mornings back. They might have gone through the path in the woods there.”

“What pond?” says a voice.

“Would you like someone to show you?” says Kyvelki, all innocence.

The voices and footsteps retreat, leaving the room.

I let out a relieved breath, hoping it isn’t as noisy as it sounds to my own ears.

Okay, we sit tight for just a few more moments, and then we need to move. I don’t know where, exactly, but if we stay here, it’s only a matter of time until they come back. Whoever was searching this room will remember they were interrupted.

I wish there was a window in this room so we could see if they’ve left the house, where they are exactly. I stay tense, listening. Doors open and close in the distance. Is that the front door or other rooms in this house?

Then, for a few moments, it seems quiet, and I start to move forward, indicating through the bond for everyone to stay close to me and follow my lead.

More footsteps.

I tense, going still.

We hear another voice, a female voice. “Well, my sister wasn’t at the gathering with the rest of us, and I assure you, the scent of that pack, it’s distinctive. I can tell they’ve been here. They left traces all over the living room downstairs.”

“You can really, um, smell each other?” says another voice, also female, but no-nonsense in a way that lets me know she’s probably a cop.

“Of course.” The other voice is closer. “There are rooms up here, into the attic. I think… oh, yes, the scent is getting stronger.”

I’m on high alert.

But I feel Lotus pushing out something through the bond, and I remember what Kyvelki said, that Lotus’s scent made Penelope want to please her. Lotus’s intention is overwhelming, and her scent makes it hard for me to breathe. It burns my nostrils.

“Oh,” says the voice. “No, never mind. I can’t scent them at all. You’d best go. They’re not here. Let me take you to another house, actually.”

It worked!

I grin at Lotus, who grins back.

“Wait,” says the other female voice, the cop voice. “What’s that chair in front of?”

Damn it.

“No, don’t look behind the chair!” the other voice is shrill. “Stop.”

This has the exact opposite effect, of course.

I hear the crackle of a walkie. “This is Jones. Request backup in the house we just left. I’m in the attic. I think they’re hiding in a hidden room, but I’m on my own.”

The walkie crackles back. “Copy that, Jones. Give us five. We’re still outside.”

I swear internally, looking around, trying to think of what to do.

Knight clenches his hands into fists, and I can feel it’s his intention to burst out of there with the gun and try to do something stupid, something that’s going to get us killed.

I shake my head, looking at Lotus. “Baby,” I whisper, “we fight, we die.”

She swallows.

She glances at Striker, who looks grim but nods his assent to me. Then she looks at Calix, who furrows his brow.

He gets to his feet. “Okay, you’ve got to follow my lead here, everyone.”