-Raine Carter:
Stepping out of Captain Denton's office, I let out a slow, controlled breath, pressing the file of prisoner records tightly against my side. The thick folder felt heavier than it should, weighed down not by its contents but by what was missing. No charges. No evidence. Just the fact that these men were from the Undercity.
Beside me, Elias walked in silence, his brows furrowed in thought. His fingers tapped idly against his file, and his usual energy dimmed. I knew he was thinking about the same thing I was.
Innocent or not, these men were our responsibility now.
At the bottom of the stairs, our team was waiting.
"Finally," one of them said, arms crossed over his broad chest. "Took you two long enough. What'd the old man say?"
"Same as usual," I replied, striding forward. "We're in charge of the four high-profile prisoners. Keeping them contained. Watching their every move. Making sure they don't mysteriously vanish into thin air."
Elias let out a low chuckle beside me. "Which would be a lot easier if we knew what they did."
A few heads turned at that, but no one questioned it. The team had been together long enough to understand how things worked.
There were six of them standing in front of me—my team. The people I trusted with my life.
First was Marcus Holt, my second-in-command. Built like a boulder, with a square jaw and short-cropped black hair, he had a reputation for being calm under pressure. He was also the best shot in our division, not that we needed guns much inside the prison.
Next to him stood Noah Graves, lanky but fast, with sandy hair that was always in his eyes. He was sharp and observant, never missing a detail. Beside him, Jonas Patel, shorter than the others but stocky, arms always crossed like he had something to prove. He was the muscle when things got rough.
The only other woman on the team was Sienna Blake. She was the fastest, the most precise, and probably the only one who could go toe-to-toe with me in hand-to-hand combat. She tied her dark hair back in a perfect ponytail every morning, and it never seemed to move no matter how much action we saw.
Then there were the last two: Ethan Kade, with his easy smirk and lazy attitude that hid just how damn good he was at tracking movement, and Leo Martinez, quiet but deadly, the kind of guy who never spoke unless he had something important to say.
This was my team. My people. And right now, their job was to guard Blackgate's newest prisoners.
"Alright," I said, folding my arms. "We're setting up shifts. The first watch is Marcus and Jonas."
Marcus gave a nod. Jonas sighed. "Babysitting duty. Great."
"You'll survive," Sienna smirked, nudging him with her elbow.
"I better. You two better not slack off while we're stuck in there."
I arched a brow. "You'd rather trade?"
Jonas grumbled something under his breath but didn't argue.
Elias flipped open his file again, glancing at the roster. "After them, it'll be Sienna and Ethan. Then Leo and Noah. Then us."
I saw the way Sienna's lip curled at that. "Of course, we get the night shift."
I shrugged. "Somebody has to."
We ran through the schedules, going over meal rotations, guard routes, and how often the prisoners would be moved between their cells and the small courtyard. Blackgate had strict routines. Everything had a time and place. There was no room for mistakes.
After the meeting wrapped up, we dispersed. Marcus and Jonas headed straight toward the secured block, ready to start their shift. The rest of us remained outside in the open-air training yard behind the prison.
Elias leaned against a railing, arms crossed, staring at the thick walls of the prison in the distance. I knew that look.
"You're thinking about him again, aren't you?" I asked, leaning beside him.
He didn't even pretend not to know what I meant. "Damon Voss," he muttered. "There's something about him."
"Yeah," I agreed, watching the sky darken above us. "There is."
And we had no idea what we were dealing with yet.
——
We were replaced by two other guards from our team—Marcus and Jonas. They greeted us with curt nods and slipped into position with that silent discipline we were all trained to uphold. I gave them a quiet nod back as Raine and I headed off.
We didn't head straight to our quarters. Instead, we took the long way back, letting our boots echo through the corridors of the prison. It wasn't out of curiosity. Maybe just habit. Or instinct.
We passed rows of cells—filled with faces that blurred into one another. Half-blooded demons, most of them. Their eyes were hollowed by time, resentment heavy in the air. I kept my eyes forward, but Raine slowed beside me, hands behind her back, jaw set like she was trying to hold something in.
Eventually, we reached the corridor that led to the cafeteria. Neither of us said anything, but we knew. It was the same time the four prisoners would be escorted there by the regular prison guards—not us, not our team. These guards were different. Harsher. Older. Less restrained.
Raine and I stood back, silent, watching from behind the archway that led into the cafeteria.
Jaxon Reyes was the first to walk in, tall and slow, his shoulders hunched just slightly under the low ceiling. His hands were cuffed, like the others, but something about him looked… out of place here. Maybe it was the way he never lifted his gaze. Or the eerie stillness in the way he moved like he wasn't even present.
One of the prison guards—someone neither Raine nor I recognized—shoved Jaxon hard in the back.
"Move it, scumbag," the man barked, his voice like gravel and rust. "You Under rats walk like you got the right to breathe cleaner air."
Jaxon didn't respond. He just kept walking, slow and heavy, his head still down. Not a single word. Not even a twitch of anger.
Behind him, Kai surged forward, chains clinking, eyes blazing. "Touch him again," he growled, his voice laced with venom.
The guard laughed. "Oh, is the little Under gang sticking together? What are you gonna do? Glare me to death?"
Luca tried to step forward too, but his chains held him back. "You don't get to talk to him like that," he snapped. "He's done nothing to you."
"You all did enough just by being born," the guard sneered.
Damon said nothing. He didn't even blink. But he was watching, from the back of the group—silent, unreadable, and still.
My fists clenched, and beside me, Raine tensed.
When the guard shoved Jaxon again, harder this time, she moved before I could even think.
She strode into the room with the force of a bullet, her boots striking the floor with purpose. The guard barely turned in time before she was in front of him.
"That's enough," Raine said, her voice firm—no room for argument.
The guard blinked. "Who the hell are you to tell me—?"
"I'm LieutenantCommander Rain Archer," she snapped. "And unless you want a demotion that lands you scrubbing latrines in the East Wing, you'll step back right now."
The other guards in the room froze. So did the prisoners.
The one who had been harassing Jaxon looked caught between defiance and fear. "They're Under city filth," he said, voice lower now, more hesitant. "They don't deserve—"
"They don't deserve what?" Raine cut in, her eyes narrowing. "To be treated like people? Because that's what they are. People. Just like you. Or does where someone was born suddenly make them less human?"
There was a moment of silence. Thick. Tense.
"You're out of line," Raine said coolly. "And if I ever see you mistreating a prisoner again—especially one under my watch—I will make sure you never step foot in this wing again. Understood?"
The guard stared at her. Then at me. Then on the floor.
"…Understood."
"Good." She stepped aside, motioning to the cafeteria. "Get back to your post. Quietly."
The man turned and walked off, jaw tight. The other guards followed, saying nothing.
Raine let out a long breath, her hands still clenched into fists. I walked over slowly, watching the four prisoners as they stood still in the middle of the room.
Jaxon hadn't moved.
"Think they'll report you for that?" I asked quietly.
"I hope they do," she muttered, still seething. "Let them try."
I glanced at Damon. He was staring again. At me. But this time… something was different.
There was no smirk. No challenge. No amusement.
Just… quiet. Focused. Like he was seeing something only he understood.
And that unsettled me more than anything.
"Let's go," Raine said softly.
I nodded. But even as we walked away, I could still feel his eyes on me. Like a shadow I couldn't shake.