He opened his eyes, the side of his face wet from where he’d been lying in his own drool, and sprang to his feet with a burst of adrenaline. He went into a defensive crouch, claws popped and teeth out, his heart kicking into overdrive when he realized that he was in a cell.
It took him three seconds to determine that he was alone, the silence making his tense breathing and thundering pulse sound deafening.
The air was thick with the scent of unfamiliar werewolves and strange humans.
Spinning around, Bjorn took in the concrete walls and steel bars that formed his prison, noting with clinical detachment the numerous blood stains on the floor and the stench of piss and shit lingering in the air.
On the other side of the bars, across a dingy hallway lit up by a single bulb hanging from the ceiling, there were more cells, all of them empty, all of them identical to the one housing him.
Judging by the smell, some of them had been occupied as recently as an hour ago.
Bjorn moved to the door set into the steel bars, testing it, first carefully, then pulling and pushing with all his might and letting go with a growl of frustration.
Standing back, chest heaving, Bjorn realized with a start that he was alone in his head. The silence wasn’t his human half hanging back, letting him take the lead while he analyzed the situation, it was an absence.
Bjorn’s human wasasleep.
Cold panic stole down Bjorn’s spine, prompting him to try breaking down the door one more time.
It didn’t budge.
The bars were set too close together for him to push his head through to get a better view of the room. Not knowing what else to do, he started pacing.
The last time Bjorn’s human had gone to sleep had been terrible. Bjorn hadn’t considered why his human was sleeping – even though Viggo had been upset – but he’d made the best of it and done what he could to protect their territory from another attack.
He should have known that there were things he didn’t understand. Bjorn knew how to hunt – how to track and stalk and kill – but when it came to all the strange things humans did, he didn’t have a clue.
He’d never needed to. Bjorn’s role was to linger in the background – to assist when needed or to frolic during the full moon – not to be in charge and make decisions.
He wasn’t built for it.
The last time his human had slept like this, Bjorn reasoned, it was because they’d been attacked. He remembered with a burst of clarity being shot in the back while they were tracking the suspicious man from the bar and café. Ripping off his shirt, he spun around and tried to feel if there was anything buried under the skin on his back.
He felt nothing.
Tearing off the rest of his clothes, he ran his hands over his body, searching for raised areas but finding nothing resembling the bumps that had made his human sleep the last time this happened.
Frustrated to the point of rage, Bjorn grabbed the bars of the cell and growled. “Out!”
No one replied.
Bjorn screamed, roaring his displeasure and yanking on the door with all his might.
He fell back, panting.
“Viggo!” he called, desperate, even though he could tell by the lack of scent that Viggo was nowhere nearby.
Teeth itching to bite and tear into whoever was keeping him trapped, Bjorn tried to come up with a plan. He racked his brain, trying to think what his human would do in this situation, but no matter how hard he concentrated, the only plan he could think of was to fight the people keeping him trapped and to find Viggo.
It was not much of a plan. HeneededViggo.
Feeling helpless, Bjorn positioned himself at the back of the cell and waited. He might not have a good plan, but if someone came and opened the door, he would be ready to attack.
Time slowed to a crawl.
Bjorn didn’t know how long he waited, the lack of windows making it impossible to track how much time was passing, but finally the monotonous silence was broken by the sound of a metal door swinging open somewhere out of sight of his cage.
Viggo’s scent burst into the room, the smell of comfort, safety and home, along with the nasty scent of two humans. One of them was the man they’d been following, his scent burned into the back of Bjorn’s mind, while the other smelled like cloves and garbage.
