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her to stand next to Miller. Never pass up a chance to horrify a Were's delicate sensibilities, I always say.  
    I helped Miller limp to the front of the cellblock and we stopped next to Cooper's cell, waiting for Rosalind to bring the iC and finish the testing. Instead, Dr. Barrett exited and she relocked the door behind him.  
    "Hey," I said, nodding at Cooper. "He wasn't there when Travis died. Uncollar him and let's go."  
    "Three days," that white-haired bitch, Rosalind, said. "No exceptions."
    As the kid shoved the last box of food and then two bottles of water into Cooper's cell, I wondered if I could safely disarm and neutralize her with him standing that close. "At least take off the PRC so his body can heal."
    "He's Aesei ," she said as she took two water bottles from the teen's almost empty bag and pushed them through the bars of Danny's cell.  
    Danny stopped the bottles rolling toward him with his foot. "Haven't you heard? Being the Aesei makes him faster and stronger than the rest of them."
    "And motivated, I hear," Dr. Barrett commented mildly, watching me with a look of speculation that I didn't care for.
    I gave him my best grouchy face. "Miller's almost lame because your Weres attacked him. Shouldn't you take a look at his— Ay-what?"  
    "It was a rock," Miller objected. "By the creek. And it's nothing but a contusion and a scratch."
    The older man's soft blue eyes twinkled. "No need to worry, young lady. He's on my list."
    Cooper sat down on his cot with his rations. "I'm fine," he assured me, opening the box and taking out the block of cheese. I studied his pale face and promised myself that I'd find a way to get him out.  
    "Put in a few good words for me on the outside, won't you sweetheart?" Danny said, biting into a piece of bread.
    "You mean like, 'send Bellmonte his head if you don't get the ransom'?" I commented as I turned to follow the others, worry over Cooper eating at me.
    "I was thinking more along the lines of 'diplomatic immunity' but whatever does the trick."
    Rosalind motioned for Dr. Barrett to start up the stairs on the other side of the cellblock door. "Noah, help Practitioner Miller."
    The kid, Noah, retraced his steps and had just reached for Miller when Knox screamed — a sound of pure terror. I flinched and spun round, my heart pounding.
    "Oh, God. No," Sharon choked out, appearing at the front of her cell in a blur of movement, gripping the bars as she strained to see Knox.  
    Rosalind grabbed Noah and shoved him up the stairs behind Dr. Barrett, slamming the cellblock door behind him and shocking the hell out of me. Grabbing Miller by his arm and me around the waist, she backed us up against the door. Then darting to the middle of the cellblock, she took up a defensive stance as if she meant to shield us from something, though what I didn't know.  
    "Get to the wall farthest away from him," she ordered Cooper and Sharon. "Now!"
    Sharon strained against her bars. "Knox!"
    Panic tightened Rosalind's shoulders. "Get to the back wall!"
    "It should have been me," Sharon wailed as she sank to the floor, sobbing. "I was his mate."
    Another scream cracked against the stones around us and Knox collapsed to the floor, his back arched in agony, his teeth bared. I lunged for the end of the row.  
    "No, Addison," I heard Cooper shout. "He's out of control."  
    "He needs help!"
    Rosalind grabbed my belt as I tried to dart around her and yanked me away before I reached Knox. My anger surged and I tried to twist out of her grip, but she held on, dragging me back toward the front of the cellblock. "He's hurt," I snarled, twisting around to grab her wrists.  
    "He's contagious," Rosalind snapped. "The pathogen went from Travis into him."  
    She slung me against the closed door, next to Miller. "If he lives through the first attack, we're safe. But you need to stay back."
    In his cell, Knox flipped to his hands and knees, and his face contorted with anguish. A murky ball of yellow light