Sebastian bit his lip, wondering what the connection was between the man who had attacked Viggo and Bjorn six months ago and their kidnappers now. It was far too great a coincidence that both the attack and the kidnapping involved turning werewolves feral, and Sebastian had to assume that moonrock was behind Viggo and Bjorn’s current state.
“Do you know how?” Sebastian asked, and Bjorn shook his head. He looked to Viggo, but the alpha just growled.
Sebastian remembered Viggo saying that it had taken Bjorn’s wolf months to learn how to talk. With Viggo growling and snarling, it was difficult to get an idea of how much he was understanding.
“I was awake,” Bjorn said, drawing Sebastian’s attention back to him. He looked like he was thinking very hard, and he was speaking slowly, as though assembling the words was taking great effort. “The bad man was surprised. He said, ‘Is the implant not working?’”
“It’s a failsafe.” The voice came from the cage next to Sebastian. It was a woman, her voice hoarse and tired. “I asked, ages ago. They put something in so that they can blow them up if they run away.”
Sebastian had been so focused on Viggo and Bjorn that he’d barely paid any attention to the other prisoners in the cell.
“Do you know why we’re here?” Sebastian asked, wishing he could stick his head through the bars to see the woman’s face.
The woman laughed, broken and sad. “We’re here to keep the wolves in check.”
Sebastian didn’t understand. “What do you mean?”
The woman then laid out the whole operation. The colosseum he’d seen outside was an actual colosseum, in the old Roman style, with real-life werewolf gladiators forced to fight for the amusement of the crowd – which for the most part, watched from the comfort of their own homes.
“Well, I say forced, but that’s just about half,” the woman said. “The other half do it for the cash. I’m guessing their alphas either look the other way because the money is so good, or they’re in on it. Only about half of the fighters are here against their will.”
“Last week they had bears.” It was the man from the cell next to the woman. He sounded jaded and worn down. “They brought in five of them and had them fight a werewolf. It was a fucking circus.”
Sebastian couldn’t wrap his mind around it. How could this be happening in this day and age?
“How do they make them feral?” Sebastian asked, hoping that the woman knew.
“I don’t know. They do something to them when they first bring them in. I’m not sure what it is.”
“And the bomb, how do you know about that?”
Sebastian looked at the door, feeling pressed for time. His kidnapper could realize that he’d lost his access card at any minute, and Sebastian needed to figure out a plan as quickly as possible – even if that plan was just to hide the access card and use it later.
“I could feel it on his back,” the woman said. “And so I asked what it was. Josh, one of the assholes that works here, was very happy to tell me all about it.”
Sebastian had a sneaking suspicion that this Josh character had lied. It wasn’t like they would admit to their captive that the lump she’d found was the thing keeping the werewolves feral.
“What’s your name?” Sebastian asked.
“Marge,” the woman said. “Next to me is Bart, and over there are Ash, Jordan, Fred and Thomas.”
“I’m Sebastian, and that’s Viggo and Bjorn. They’re my pack.”
Viggo perked up at that, looking suddenly very pleased. It was a jarring change, and it only lasted a minute before he resumed growling at the bars of the cell.
“Are you sure the lumps aren’t moonrock?” Sebastian asked.
Bjorn perked up, reaching around and feeling up his back. He was stretching, his bulky muscles making it difficult to reach, his tongue poking out of his mouth as he felt along his back.
“Like the stuff they use for rituals?” Marge asked, confused. “What would be the point of that?”
“To make them feral.” Sebastian kept looking at the door, terrified that at any minute his kidnapper would barge in and beat the shit out of him for stealing his access card.
“I don’t know anything about that,” Marge said. “Josh said they were bombs, but I guess he could have been lying.”
“That is such a load of shit,” Bart said, dismissive. “Moonrock only works because they believe it does. It’s pure placebo. Implanting it into a werewolf wouldn’t actually do anything.”
Sebastian knew that Bart was entirely wrong on that count. He was about to say so when suddenly there was a grunt from Bjorn’s cage. Sebastian whipped his head around, just in time to catch Bjorn scooping something out from under the skin between his shoulder blades. He had to stretch his finger and bend his shoulders back to reach it, the contortion looking painful, his claw slicing through his skin with each attempt to get it out.
