Bella. He wished he could see her. "Did she hurt you?"

There was a squeak. Something nudged his foot. When he looked up, he saw her face.

"The drugs will make it hard to see for a while. Relax, and let it pass." Her fingertips brushed his face. She wasn't bound.

"Did they hurt you?" he repeated. His tongue felt as if it were covered in fur. He'd kill for a drink.

The scent of her blood assaulted him, and he involuntarily lunged toward her. He heard her startled intake of breath, felt her withdraw a bit. He'd scared her. "Sorry, can't help it."

"I know." She placed her cool palm against his forehead. "No, they did not hurt me. They tended me better than the Movement did. At first, I did not know why, but… "

"Why didn't they tie you up?" Not that he wanted her restrained. He just wondered why she was free and hadn't tried to make a break for it yet.

"I could not go far. I am… in a wheelchair." She whispered the word like a curse. "I am crippled."

He closed his eyes, though he couldn't see worth a damn, anyway. "I'm so sorry, baby."

"Do not be sorry. They followed us from the cabin. You could not have prevented it." She moved away, and he wondered why he hadn't recognized the sound of the wheelchair as it moved across the dirt floor of the room.

"You sound awfully calm." Too calm. Something was wrong. He couldn't put his finger on what.

Anne. That bitch had sold them out. When he got his hands on her, he'd rip her black little heart right out of her chest.

"I have had time to think." Bella returned with a bag full of blood. He didn't know where it came from, and he didn't care. She held it to his mouth and he tore into it, not caring that some of the contents probably ran down his chin and stained his shirt. Only when he'd drunk half of it did he consider it might have been drugged. He jerked away, the remains of his meal sloshing onto his lap.

Bella shrieked and jumped back. "You should have drunk all of it!"

"Why?" He struggled against his shackles. "Are you in on this? What do they have planned?"

"I did not know. Not before Anne brought us here." Her voice dropped to almost a whisper. "I was never involved in this in any way. Until we were brought here, I knew only what you knew. You must believe me."

She flung her arms around his neck despite his bloody clothes. He wished he could put his arms around her. It had been too long since he'd been able to. "I believe you, baby. But tell me what's going on."