Chapter Five

Everything changed since the inspection, since I discovered the entire job had been a lie. I wasn't hired here to help kids find a better life. My job was to make them a product, and not an hour went by that I didn't want to puke over it.

I still wasn't sure if something had changed with the new "boss" and the inspector, or if it had always been this way and I'd been too oblivious to know. And the inspector…he certainly wasn't someone from the council making sure we were running this place in the best interests of the children.

The guilt of my part in all of this hurt far more than the broken bones and bruised body. These children counted on me to protect them, and I'd failed. I vowed to fail them no more. I was going to find a way to save them.

Last night, I went to sleep, fully intending to find the person I had recently connected to in my dreams. I didn't know them from anyone else on this earth, but they felt safe. And really, what choice did I have. They were my best hope. If all went well, they would hear me and understand my plea for help and send someone to rescue us. Goddess knew I couldn't do it on my own. I did connect with someone, but how successful it was, I still wasn't sure.

One thing I was sure of was that I wasn't healing well, or really at all, without being able to shift. My injuries were bad and, if I wasn't careful, infection was going to set in. They limited my ability to do most everything. Heck, I couldn't even turn a doorknob with my one hand, and because of my injuries, the kids were scared. I did the best I could to soothe their fears, to tell them it was no big deal and I was just having trouble with my beast. But they could see the collar. They might not recognize what it was, but they weren't dumb. They knew something was terribly wrong.

When I woke up this morning, I felt confident that I had reached the right person while dream walking. He was there and kept asking me who I was, but that wasn't something I was able to answer, and the weird part was, I wasn't even sure why. The only words that came through were the ones I practiced before I went to sleep.

My pain made my skills less skillful, for sure. I really needed to shift. My wolf whimpered in pain and fear. I tried to remove the collar, but all I managed to do was hurt myself. Maybe if I had both hands, I'd do a better job, but I didn't. The collar stayed.

He might not have my name, but I gave him as many hints as I could. I showed him a vision of what I feared was going to happen as well as glimpses of some of the best memories I had with the children. It was my best effort. Please let it have been enough.

Now all there was to do was wait while I looked for another way out.

It took extra time for me to get ready in the morning. Just putting on a shirt was sheer agony. I didn't even bother with jeans, pulling on sweats instead. It was the best I could do.

When I went downstairs, Abel asked me if he could help cook. Normally, I'd have taken it as an opportunity to teach him some kitchen skills, but I didn't have it in me today. Abel seemed more than willing to take over the task completely, which was good because I just couldn't do it.

Breakfast was somber despite my attempts to make it otherwise. The fifteen kids and I sat around the table eating toast, cheese, cereal, and cut-up bananas in silence. One of my older ones, Emmet, cried quietly at his seat. His attempts to hide it failed.

"Emmet, can you help me with something in the kitchen?" I didn't need to do anything there, but he was a young teen nearing his first shift and having me ask him about his tears in front of the others wasn't a good option.

"Sure." He got up and left the room.

I followed him, hobbling the entire way. "What's going on, buddy? You can tell me."

"I can't tell why." He watched the floor.

"You can trust me, Emmet."

"I heard..." He sniffled. "They did…" He grabbed a paper towel and blew his nose into it. "I don't want the collar, sir."

Sir. Not Headmaster or even Sloan. Sir.

All I wanted to do was hug him and tell him everything would be okay. But I wasn't sure if it was true or if I'd be able to even manage it, not in my current condition.

"Tell me what brought this on, please." Maybe it would give me a hint of how best to help him because right now, I was feeling helpless.

"The other day, when you got hurt, I was sneaking to the kitchen to get a cookie. I know you said we were not supposed to leave, but Sally's stomach was rumbling, and I know where the cookies are."

"Oh, honey, I'm not upset about that." The fact she communicated her needs to him was huge.

"No. That's not… I heard them, the men who were with Jonathan. I heard them."

"You heard them what?"

"They're gonna take us kids, but they're gonna take you first. They called you..." He sniffled, tears now freely falling. "They called you breeding stock."

Despite the agony running through my body, I pulled him in for a hug, holding him close.

"It'll be okay, Emmet. I promise you. It'll be okay. We're gonna get out of here. I vow it."

And if it was the last thing that I ever did, I would keep that promise.