“Me being the mess?”
“You and the feral shifters.”
Sienna gave a small nod and drew in a deep breath of the forest and river beyond, letting the peace of the environment calm her nerves a bit. Give her courage.
“What kind of punishment could the elders pass down to him?”
Quinton made a slight shrug. “He could lose his position with the P.I.A. There’s always banishment from the shifter community. Possibly death, but I don’t think it would go that far.”
Death? The world around her tilted and bile rose sharply in her throat. She wasn’t aware of her knees giving out until Quinton grabbed her with a curse and halted her ungraceful advance to the ground.
“Dammit, girl, get ahold of yourself. I said I didn’t think it would go that far.”
“But it is a possibility,” she pointed out. Her stomach roiled and she moved away from Quinton again, plunging through the trees toward the river.
Images flickered through her head. Horrifying ones she couldn’t even begin to emotionally handle. When she reached the water’s edge she knelt down to cup the cool liquid in her hands. Splash it across her face.
The crunching of footsteps on the rocks behind her warned of Quinton’s approach.
“Warrick says the shifter would’ve killed you. The elders will take that into consideration when they put him on trial.” He placed a hand on her shoulder, his tone softening. “You have to understand that we must value shifter life above human life. There are too few of us left not to.”
Sienna closed her eyes and shook her head, which had begun to pound. “If they kill him there’ll be one less shifter.”
“Which is why I said I don’t think a death punishment will be handed down.” Quinton hauled Sienna to her feet and spun her around.
His hard gaze was devoid of sympathy or any gentle emotion. She must’ve imagined the kindness in his tone a moment ago, and her throat tightened with wariness.
“Now, Miss Peters, I’ve answered your questions. It’s time you start answering mine. What is your relationship with Feloray Laboratories?”
She would answer until she couldn’t any longer. “I’m an employee there.”
“And what was your reason for being in the lab the other night?”
Sienna continued almost on auto. “I was going to free the shifters.”
God, this conversation sounded familiar. It was practically a cookie cutter of the one she’d had with Warrick.
Quinton tilted his head. “So you were aware of what was happening to the shifters?”
“No!” She avoided his gaze, bit her lip, and clenched and unclenched her hands. “Okay, yes, but not until the day I went to free them. Once I realized that they were being held and what was being done—”
“How did you realize, Miss Peters? From what it would seem, the shifters experiment was not common knowledge at the laboratory. It was being conducted in an abandoned building on Feloray Laboratories property.”
“Does that automatically mean the lab was the one responsible for it?” she asked to stall him, and turned away to face the river again, her mind scrambling about how to answer his last question.
Could he tell she was hiding things? God, she was trying not to be totally obvious.
The sound and sight of the blue water rushing over itself momentarily entranced her and for a moment she was tempted to take the last few steps to the river’s edge and jump in. Let the current drag her downstream and away from all the harshness of her new reality.
“How did you learn about the shifters, Sienna?”
Leo was dead now. Would it really hurt if she gave Quinton the name of the man who’d handed over the information? But then he’d want to know more. He’d keep digging, discovering things she had no intention of sharing. Like the jump drive.
She still didn’t really know Quinton and couldn’t trust that he wasn’t the one Leo had warned her about. Which meant, God, she hoped like hell she was a convincing liar.
“I stumbled across them.”
Silence met her statement. Her pulse quickened and her palms dampened as she waited for his reply.
“Hmm. Well did you also happen to stumble across whoever it was at Feloray Laboratories that authorized the experiments?” His biting tone clearly indicated he didn’t buy her response.
“No. I haven’t got a clue. Like I just said, how can we even be certain it was even them?” That much was true. Nowhere in Leo’s information had there been any mention of who was behind it. But Quinton was right. The general employee population had been completely unaware of what had been going on within the lab.
Except for Leo. Somehow he’d been caught up in what was happening. Had maybe been involved. Her stomach clenched and a wave of sadness and frustration washed over her. Unfortunately there’d be no more answers coming from him.