That brought Viggo to a halt. He grunted, sounding just as furious and frustrated as Bjorn felt, but he calmed down and stopped throwing himself against the wall.
Bjorn hoped he hadn’t damaged himself too badly.
* * *
Bjorn woke up at the sound of the metal door opening. He couldn’t remember going to sleep – the last thing he remembered was listening to Viggo growl and grunt as he tried to pry the bars of his cell apart – but he must have given in to exhaustion at some point.
It felt like he had slept more than a few hours, but given the bone-weary tiredness he still felt, it couldn’t have been a full night.
Pushing to his feet, forcing his claws out and letting his teeth sharpen, Bjorn crouched at the back of his cell and waited for any opportunity to escape.
Noise and laughter followed the opening of the door, along with the unmistakable scent of werewolves and blood.
Bjorn watched in confusion as four werewolves, one alpha and three betas, chained by the feet, wrists and neck, were marched bruised and battered into the empty cells further down the line from the ones holding him and Viggo by a group of six humans, two of which were the ones who had been there earlier.
The cells across the hall were all left empty, and Bjorn wanted to rage at the betas that they needed to fight. Even chained, six humans were no match for four werewolves.
“Look at this,” one of the humans said, poking the werewolf in front of him – a young beta no older than twenty – and lifting up his shirt. “Already healing. Lucky fuckers.”
There were bites and claw marks up along the beta’s flank, already crusted over but clearly fresh, and Bjorn wondered why the beta had gotten into a fight with another wolf when he clearly needed to retain his strength to fight the humans.
The alpha who had just been locked in the cell next to Viggo growled, protective of his packmate, making the human turn to him with a raised eyebrow. The human reached into his pocket and pulled out a small device, pressing down on the button and making it blink an angry red.
The alpha whimpered, the sound growing more distressed the longer the human pushed down on the button.
Bjorn was confused. Was the device hurting the alpha? It didn’t sound like it, but the sight of the blinking red light was clearly very distressing.
“That’s right,” the human said, releasing the button and putting the device back in his pocket. He shoved the beta into a cell out of sight of Bjorn’s viewpoint, slamming the door closed with a laugh.
Once all the strange werewolves were locked up, the humans left. Bjorn listened to the new arrivals, feeling on edge and confused about why they hadn’t fought. Then the door opened again, and Bjorn understood.
This time the people in chains being marched into the cells weren’t werewolves but humans. Judging by the way they smelled and the intense concern he could hear in the whimpers of the new wolves, they were pack.
There were two humans, a man and a woman, and they looked to be in much worse condition than the wolves. Covered in ugly bruises and limping heavily, the man could barely make it into his cell before collapsing, and the woman couldn’t manage at all. She had to be dragged, her body limp and her face twisted in anguish as she was carelessly tossed into the cell opposite the new alpha.
There were thick metal collars around the humans’ throats, different from the ones worn by the werewolves.
“Are you going to behave?” the man with the device asked, taking it out of his pocket and holding it up. All the new werewolves whimpered, the sound pitiful and making Bjorn feel chills of unease.
“That’s what I thought.” The man turned to Bjorn, staring between him and Viggo’s cell with a grin. “Don’t worry, your little slut will be joining you soon. We’ll see if you can do a better job keeping him in one piece than these assholes.”
At first, Bjorn didn’t understand, but then he realized with a jolt that the slut the human was referring to had to be Sebastian.
He saw red, launching himself at the human with a roar, only for the man to laugh like it was the funniest thing he’d seen all day.
“Yeah, that’s what I thought. That little bitch is really going to go through it before you get the memo.”
“Fuck you, you unwashed mouth-breather,” the woman from the cell opposite the new alpha said, on the floor and breathing heavily.
“Would you like me to?” the man asked, turning to her. The alpha started to growl, but the human held up the device and it cut off before it had even begun. “Because I could probably muster up a paper bag to put over your head somewhere.”
“Okay, Josh, that’s enough,” the human who smelled like cloves and garbage said, taking the device. “Don’t get them riled up. They have a fight tomorrow and we need them to get some sleep.”
“Pussy,” Josh spat, taking the device back and putting it in his pocket. “All right, let’s head out. I need a fucking drink. You guys coming to the bar?”
The men filed out, laughing and talking about getting drunk and getting laid, the sound cutting off abruptly with the slam of the door.
Bjorn looked at the humans in the cell across the hall. “Hello?”
