The thought of Amanda's wrecked plans, combined with my dashed hopes and that last glimpse of Sadie in the glass box, brought tears to my eyes. "You ruined all of her dreams. Do you really think I’ll let you hurt her again? You’ll have to kill me first.”
“C King, you must let me complete my claim!” Ronan’s voice broke as if he were on the verge of crying, too. She gave us her pledge. You know, and I know, that Lorcan and I were within our rights.”
“And, you know Wild will not hesitate to gut you and tear out your throat before the babe is born if he finds out you so much as touched her,” C answered, his voice as cold and hard as Ronan’s was angry and desperate.
“But, she is ours.” Ronan whined like a child denied his piece of dessert.
“I’m aware.” The Pirate King hunched down, and his tone became a little less hard as he assured the truly despicable Wild Wolf. “We will sort this out. You have my vow.”
“What has happened?”
“Where are we?”
“What is that strange smell?”
The small lake of passed-out she-wolves wriggled and came alive with the sounds of the other prisoners waking up.
“Ach, did one of you lot go into heat?” One of the few non-Wölfennite she-wolves asked.
Her thick Scottish accent made the word “heat” sound more like "hate," which was exactly what I felt as a fresh wave of anger surged within me.
The Pirate King tried to reason with the Earring Wolf, who was trying to claim Amanda as if he'd been wronged. Buttheywere the reason we were trapped in this weird half-dome prison.
“Get out,” I hissed at the Pirate King, doing my best to keep Amanda shielded from the curious stares of our Wölfennite sisters. “Take your terrible friend and get out of here now!”
C turned to me, irritation etched into his face. “You are not in command of me, and this is a delicate situation.”
“Get out now,” I repeated. "Or I will encourage everyone in this room to turn into a wolf and rip you and your friend to pieces. There’s two of you and at least two scores of us.”
I held his gaze, praying that he didn’t call my bluff and find out none of us were capable of turning outside a full moon.
The Pirate King regarded me for a long, hard second.
Then he said to Ronan. “Help me with Lorcan.”
“What’s going on?” Priscilla asked, climbing to her feet. “Oh mywolf, is that Amanda? Why is she naked? Why does she smell like that?”
I pulled off my sweater, which turned out to have a shirt underneath it — a Sasha x Kasha concert tee, of all things. I briefly wondered exactly who had redressed me while I'd been passed out.
But whatever, that mystery was far down the list of questions roiling in my mind as I pulled my sweater over Amanda’s head and grabbed a blanket from the back of the chair C had been sitting on when I woke up… wherever we were.
It looked like we were in a cave of some kind, but with a straight up and down granite back wall with stairs and four landings worth of doors on each level.
The entire first floor was a front room with five couches, several armchairs, and not one but two fireplaces, and a dining area with five long, communal tables.
The place would almost look like a cozy cavern commune if not for the huge slab of glass domed over the entire space. And all the male wolves standing on the other side of us, all but mouth-breathing on the glass. Seriously, where in the world were we?
Another question I’d have to figure out later.
For now, I wrapped the blanket around Amanda like I was preparing one of the waakye burritos I made to my Ghanaian father's delight on the rare occasions my mom hadn't been able to get home in time to cook supper.
Supper… that life back in Canada seemed like a million years ago now, and I needed to stay grounded in the present.
“One of those doors must lead to a bedroom.” I nodded toward the stairs leading up to the first landing. “Run up ahead of me and figure out which one. Amanda is sick and needs tolie down.”
Priscilla gave the air another suspicious sniff but nodded and hitched the skirt of her blue dress to run up the steps.
Meanwhile, I bent down and threw Amanda over my shoulder like she was a large portion of beef I had to haul out to the ice house. But Amanda was way heavier than a piece of cow.
