My father had said this was where the warding spell kicked in, so it made sense that we’d start seeing signs of occupation here. That’s exactly what it looked like—occupation. Two rooms had beds with dressers stuffed with clothing and nothing personal. One even had a suitcase still on the floor.

“Temporary lodgings,” Jeremy murmured. “There are layers of scent.”

We checked out the other rooms. There was no one around, but Jeremy could detect faint voices from the lower level. He found a floor-level grate and crouched beside it, head tilted to listen.

He lifted three fingers. Three voices. He bent lower, then stood and waved us back away from the vent.

“Someone was talking about a fever,” he whispered. “I smell antiseptic.”

“A hospital, then. Or a makeshift one.”

Jeremy paused, and I knew he was working on a strategy. I didn’t offer any suggestions. Maybe I’d spent so many summers with the werewolves that I automatically fell into the role of Pack wolf, waiting for the Alpha to make the plans. Or maybe I just knew that any idea Jeremy came up with would be better than mine. You don’t lead a Pack for thirty years unless you’re a damned fine strategist.

“Distraction,” he said finally. “There’s only a single point of entry for us—the stairs. I heard three voices, but there may be more than three people so trying to sneak up on them individually is risky.” He turned to Adam. “How well do you know Bryce?”

“We’ve met a couple of times.”

“So he may not recognize you. There won’t be time for introductions, and we can’t risk him raising an alarm. You and I will clear the way and let Savannah search for Bryce once it’s safe.”

I agreed and we ironed out the details, then found the stairs down.

While the building’s origins as a house were evident from the top two floors, the main level had been gutted and redesigned. There were actually two sets of stairs going down. A narrow rear set must have been for servants at one time. The door at the top was heavily locked—with the locks on our side luckily. When Jeremy and Adam descended, I got a message from my father through Jaime saying we were going the wrong way.

“The steps lead to a few rooms at the back, including the rear door,” Jeremy said as they returned. “There’s no other point of access. Except here.”

“In other words,” Adam said, “to get to where we want to go, you need to come in the rear door, up these stairs, and down the front ones.”

“Huh?” I said.

“It’s a false back,” Jeremy explained. “Come in the front door, where the workman is, and I suspect you can’t get any farther. Come in the back, and you’ll get a small area of access, plus these stairs.”

“And the hospital rooms are hidden between the two.”

“The central part also seems to be heavily soundproofed,” Jeremy said. “I can hear better from the upper level than I can down there.”

“Someone’s gone to a lot of work to hide something,” I said.

“Fortunately, it’s in a relatively small area, if my calculations of the house are correct. I’m going to take another listen at the grates and see if I can’t figure out the layout.”

Jeremy determined that the warded area was one narrow section across the center of the house. My father checked the exterior, and reported that there were two main-floor windows on each end of that section, both covered with plywood. Under those panels the windows had been bricked up. A fortified and soundproofed section within an otherwise normal-looking building. For someone accustomed to finding the bad guys in remote warehouses and subterranean lairs, I had to admit this was clever.

Voices came from an eastern room—maybe an office or lab. To the west, Jeremy caught the sound of coughing and the occasional moan. More than one patient? He couldn’t tell. He hoped so, though, because he was catching at least eight distinct human scents, and we really didn’t want to be dealing with seven people guarding Bryce.

The main stairs opened into the upper hall. From there, we could see into the lower hall, meaning it wasn’t the easiest place to sneak down. Or the easiest place for me to lurk while Jeremy and Adam snuck down. I followed them at a distance, then crouched behind the massive banister and listened.

I could see a closed door to the west, leading into the hospital area. Adam checked the door, then gave me a thumbs-up, letting me know it was unlocked.

To the east, I could make out a desk through the open doorway. Then, with a squeak, a chair wheeled back from the desk and I caught sight of a man in a lab coat . . . at the same time he caught sight of Adam.

A shout. Then a thump. A woman yelled, “The door. Get the door!” Another thump, this one from the direction of the hospital. Then a metallic clang. I leaned out to see a mechanical steel door sliding closed over the door into the west wing. Sealing off the hospital.

I raced down the stairs. I grabbed the steel door and wrenched, but it was like a solid elevator door, and it wasn’t stopping. I managed to squeeze through.

I swung around, my back slapping against the now closed steel door. A knockback spell flew to my lips. And just as fast, I flipped open the switchblade I’d grabbed at headquarters.

I was in a small area cut off from the rest of the room by a hospital curtain. To my right was a sink and medical supplies. A handwritten sign hanging off the curtain warned FULL PROTECTION REQUIRED BEYOND THIS POINT. Disposable gloves and masks were piled on a trolley, with a bin for discards.

I tugged back the curtain and found three hospital beds, a sleeping form in each of them. The lights were dimmed. Monitors bleeped and blipped beside each patient.

Across the way was a closed door. There was no sign of anyone except the patients. I was about to step out when my phone vibrated. I quickly texted Adam to say I was searching and couldn’t talk yet.

I slid from the curtained area and crept over to the sleeping forms. The first was a woman, lying on her back, rasping as she breathed, deep in sleep. The last in the row was dark-haired—male or female, I couldn’t tell, especially since there was something draped over the patient’s face. The dark hair told me it wasn’t Bryce, though.

The middle patient was a young, light-haired man. The dim lights meant I couldn’t see more than that, so I tiptoed over to the beds. I started slipping between the two and knocked into a bucket on the floor. The stink of vomit wafted up. I covered my nose, retreated, and circled to the other side of the bed.