Wadim’s eyes fluttered open, his head pounding like he’d been hit with a boulder. Which, considering their current predicament, wasn’t entirely out of the question. The scent of damp earth and mildew filled his nostrils, making him wrinkle his nose. Slowly, he sat up. The cage was tall but not very wide.
"Well, this is cozy," Wadim muttered as he rubbed the back of his neck. He glanced around, taking in the crude setting. The cages were hastily constructed, with jagged iron bars that looked like they’d been hammered together by someone with very little skill and even less patience. The floor was dirt, damp and cold, and the walls of the cavern that housed the cage he was in shimmered faintly, as if the stone itself was alive with some kind of residual magic.
His eyes landed on the cage next to his, and he saw that Zara was beginning to wake as well. She was clothed, as was he, which he found odd, considering they’d phased, and their clothing had been ruined. “You okay, babe?” His eyes scanned over her, looking for any injuries.
She held up a thumb. “All good. Nothing broken. But, dang, I’ve got a headache.”
Across from him, Nick was pacing in the entirely too small space, his wolf simmering just under the surface. His eyes glowed faintly, and his jaw appeared clenched so tightly that Wadim wouldn’t have been shocked if the dude broke some teeth. Nick was staring hard at the cage next to his, which is where his pregnant female was. Kara was sitting cross-legged in her cage like she was at a picnic, because why not? Her head tilted as she studied the trolls, that he now noticed, with unnerving curiosity.
“This reminds mewaytoo much ofThe Hobbit,” Zara’s eyes scanned the space.
Kara perked up. “Right? Like when the dwarves were captured by the trolls? That seriously could have turned out bad.”
“I haven’t read these books you speak of,” Aphid said from his own cage, which seemed to glow brighter than the other cages. “They sound interesting.”
“They’re good.” Kara nodded encouragingly.
Nick shot her a glare. “Not the time, babe. Yeah?”
“Relax, Thorin Oakenshield,” she shot back, waving a hand dismissively. “I’m just saying, if these trolls try to eat us, maybe we should start reciting poems. Worked for Bilbo.”
Wadim snorted, unable to help himself. “While I applaud your literary reference, I don’t think these trolls are the poetry-appreciating type. Unless it’s about food. Specifically,usas food.”
“That’s not helpful, Wadim,” Nick snapped and narrowed his eyes at the historian.
“Neither is your pacing,” Wadim shot back. “You’re going to wear a trench in the dirt.” Wadim paused and then added, “But that trench might dig us out of here, so carry on, Thorin.”
“Remind me how it is that you all have survived this long?” Gavril asked from the cage he sat in a good ten feet away. Rachel’s cage was beside him, and she was sitting as well, calmly looking at the trolls who were staring back at them.
“If you’re annoying enough, your enemies just give up and leave,” Wadim answered. “Just ask Jen.”
Zara snorted a laugh which made him smile. He loved making his mate laugh. Wadim winked at her and wished he could hold her.
“Enough.” Nick growled, his wolf riding him hard. He turned his glare on Kara. “And you, my lovely mate. Could you maybe not antagonize the creatures that currently have us locked up like livestock?”
Kara shrugged. “I’m just saying, if we’re going to die, we might as well go out with some flair. Maybe a haiku. Get it?” She asked, looking from Wadim, to Zara, and then to Nick. “Because in The Hobbit, they wrote poetry, and a haiku is a type of?—”
“I know what a haiku is.” Nick pinched the bridge of his nose and muttered something under his breath that sounded suspiciously like a prayer for patience.
Wadim, meanwhile, was doing his best to ignore the growing tension and focus on the trolls. His historian instincts had kicked in the moment they’d encountered the trolls. Even when they’d been running from the rabid beings he couldn’t stop himself from trying to piece together the puzzle of their existence. Or at least their continued existencehere.
As he’d noticed before their capture, the trolls were a motley crew, their appearances as varied as the colors in a painter’s palette. Some were tall and humanoid, with rough, leathery skin and sharp features. Others were squat and hunched, with gnarled limbs and beady black eyes. A few even had that ridiculous tufted hair Kara had mentioned earlier, though Wadim decided that he should probably keep that observation to himself, at least until he started documenting this craziness once he was back in his basement.
What fascinated him most was their apparent survival in the troll realm. When Fane had suggested it, Wadim had thought they’d find maybe a handful, if any, considering according to the records in the Romania pack archives the trolls had all but vanished from their own realm centuries ago, driven out by the fading magic. Yet there were so many of them, alive and thriving—or at least surviving. How?
“I have so many questions,” Wadim murmured. He scanned the trolls as they bustled about the cavern. Some were sharpening crude weapons, while others were hauling what looked like supplies—sacks of grain, bundles of dried herbs, and even a few cages with smaller creatures that appeared to be some kind of livestock.
Nick shot him a look. “Now is not the time for your need to document everything, Wadim.”
“Dude, it’s literally my job,” Wadim replied, undeterred. “If we survive this, I’m going to document everything. This is a monumental discovery. The trolls are thriving. They’ve managed to adapt, even with the waning magic. I need to know how.”
“I feel like there’s a T-shirt in there somewhere.” Kara tapped her chin, then snapped her fingers, “Got it. ‘If we survive this, I need to know how.’Boom. New Wadim shirt. All proceeds go to the Kara Foundation.”
“Do I even want to know what the Kara Foundation is?” Nick asked hesitantly.
Kara grinned, though the sadness in her eyes made Wadim’s chest tighten. “It’s the Foundation for Crazy Wheelers. I have a feeling that, one day, we’re going to need lots of meds to cope. Better to go ahead and get a jump start on the funds for all the crazy you males are going to have to control.”
Wadim laughed. “It’s not just you wheelers that need meds, Kara. Anything that starts with ‘she’ and ends with ‘wolf’ is under the protection of the Kara Foundation.”
