Chapter 7 · Marked Registry - Chapter 7: The Ghost Train

The chain was heavier than Ella expected. Cold steel, three feet long, connecting the cuff on her wrist to Cain's hand. He hadn't locked it yet. Didn't need to. Anyone watching would see a girl in zip ties and a borrowed jacket two sizes too big, being dragged through a service entrance that smelled like rust and piss.

Cain's grip on the chain stayed loose. Professional. Like he'd done this a hundred times.

Maybe he had.

"Don't look at the cameras," he said. His voice was flat, Bureau-issue. Not the voice he'd used two hours ago when he'd told her this was the only way in. "Eyes down. You're scared."

She was scared. That part wasn't acting.

The service door opened onto a platform. Narrow. Concrete. A single strip of LED lighting running along the ceiling, the kind that buzzed just loud enough to crawl under your skin. There were other people down here. Four agents in gray uniforms, two with sidearms, two with stun batons. And five other prisoners.

All werewolves. She could smell it. That faint ozone charge that came off anyone with the mark, sharper when they were stressed. The other five were stress-sharp enough to taste.