“Come on, let’s get this over with.” The black-clad man pushed Sebastian forward, sounding impatient now that he was almost finished getting Sebastian into position.
A furious roar punctured the quiet of the empty hall, coming from the open door up ahead. Sebastian stumbled, and when the man pushed him again, slamming a fist down between his shoulder blades, Sebastian’s legs failed him and he fell to his knees.
“If you do not get up and walk through that door this fucking second, I will pull out one of your teeth, do you understand me?” the black-clad man said, standing behind him, the words even scarier because they were delivered in such a calm way.
The roaring from up ahead intensified, reminding Sebastian of an enraged bear. He forced himself to his feet and walked toward the door.
It was a prison. Sebastian gawked, staring down the row of cells lining each side of the room, six on each side.
Viggo and Bjorn were each in a cell, side by side, Bjorn pressed up against the bars and watching him like he was cataloging him for injuries, Viggo throwing himself against the bars like he could break them down using the sheer force of his body. They were both shifted, and for the first time, Sebastian understood why Viggo was the alpha of the pack. He had to be at least eight-feet tall, his body thickly muscled, his vicious claws and monstrous teeth on full display.
Sebastian flashed back to their first meeting, remembering the alpha’s comment that he wished he could have hunted Sebastian down and claimed him the old-fashioned way. Looking at him now, Sebastian realized that he’d severely underestimated how terrifying it would be. The idea of the creature in the cell chasing him through the woods made Sebastian’s balls want to crawl back into his body and his hole quiver in fear.
“Aren’t you going to say hello to your alpha?” the biker mocked, walking over to Sebastian and grabbing him. He pulled him toward the cell where Viggo was going crazy, throwing himself against the bars and roaring like a wounded animal. The biker slapped Sebastian upside the back of his head. “Maybe I should put you in there with him, huh? Give you a taste of feral cock?”
Sebastian ignored the crude words. He wrenched himself away from the biker and moved closer to the cell, watching with horror as Viggo injured himself trying to break down the steel bars of his cage.
He was completely feral, and yet Sebastian knew without a doubt that he could have walked into that cell and been perfectly safe.
“I’m okay,” Sebastian said, pressing right up to the door, his fear over Viggo’s terrifying appearance taking a distant backseat to his worry that he was injuring himself. “Don’t hurt yourself, Viggo. You need to calm down.”
Viggo stopped throwing himself against the bars, his body vibrating with the utter magnitude of his rage.
“Wow, you’ve got a real beauty and the beast thing going on, don’t you?” the biker mocked, grabbing Sebastian and yanking him back, careful not to get in reach of Viggo’s claws. “Your hole must be something special.”
Sebastian didn’t respond, too scared and worried to be humiliated by the biker’s childish cruelty.
The black-clad man seemed to have had enough. He walked over to Sebastian and grabbed him by the bicep, marching him over to an empty cell. Unlocking the door set into the bars with his access card, using the same pin as he’d used on the front door, he pushed Sebastian inside.
“We’re done here,” he said, glaring at the biker and putting the access card back in his pocket. He didn’t push it in all the way, the top half of the card sticking out of his jeans, standing right next to the cage with his hips just inches away from the steel bars.
“Oh come on, I’m just having a little fun – do you remember fun? It’s what you used to have before you married that miserable bitch.”
“You shut your fucking mouth!” the black-clad man growled, fist up like he was going to start a fight.
Before Sebastian could second guess himself, he reached his bound wrists through the bars and snatched the access card out of his kidnapper’s pocket. He pulled his hands back and shoved the card into the front of his pants, glancing over at the biker to see if he’d seen what he’d done.
The biker wasn’t looking at him at all, and when the black-clad man didn’t round on him in fury, Sebastian suspected that he might have gotten away with it.
Of course, the man would notice that he was missing the card as soon as he tried to go through any of the doors requiring a code, but that wasn’t something Sebastian had the mental bandwidth to worry about now.
He’d seen his chance, and he’d taken it.
Looking across the room, Viggo still mindlessly throwing himself against the steel bars of his cell, Sebastian met Bjorn’s gaze. He was watching him with an intent expression, a fierce kind of hope in his eyes.
“Sorry, sorry, I didn’t mean anything by it,” the biker said, clearly not wanting to get his ass kicked. “Let’s head out.” He turned around and walked out of sight of Sebastian’s cell, the black-clad man standing rooted to the spot.
Sebastian listened to the sound of buttons being pressed on the keypad, followed by the sound of the door swinging open. The black-clad man stood still, glaring at the biker, before grunting and walking out of sight.
The door closed and Sebastian exhaled. He felt the access card pressed against his lower stomach like a brand.
“Hurt?” Bjorn asked, hands wrapped around the bars of his cell, looking at Sebastian with concern. He’d changed, Sebastian realized, back into his regular form, though there was something about him that still screamedwolf.
Viggo stilled, eyes fixed on Sebastian with laser focus, waiting for Sebastian’s answer. He was still in full shift, fangs gleaming where they pushed down on his lower lip, breaths coming in great heaving bursts.
Sebastian shook his head. “No, I’m fine. They didn’t hurt me. Did they hurt you?”
Viggo growled, and Bjorn shook his head. “No. Made me like before. Viggo, too.” Bjorn wrinkled his nose. “No bumps.”
