Chapter Fourteen
Pain pulsed throughKatya’s skull as consciousness returned in uneven waves.Her eyes fluttered open, seeing nothing but shadows.She shut them again and groaned.Her mouth was dry, her throat tight.She reached out a hand and felt nothing but cold concrete beneath her fingertips.Muffled sounds reached her from outside.Her stomach lurched abruptly and she heaved.Curling herself into a ball, she whimpered helplessly.
She came to again with the sound of a heavy metallic door scraping open.She opened her eyes a sliver.Light filtered through from outside, hurting her.
“Good morning, sunshine.”The man’s coarse voice rang in her ears like a gong.She let out a yelp as he picked her up from the collar of her shirt and lifted her to her feet.“Time for a bath,” he said.
“What?”she asked, confusion swirling in her mind.Her knees threatened to buckle, but he kept a firm hold on her.
“Bath,” he said again, pushing and half dragging her outside.
“No,” she cried, scrambling to fight.
The man chuckled, effortlessly pulling her into an adjacent room.It was small, tiled from top to bottom.
“Stay,” he said, pushing her onto a chair placed in the middle of the white space.
“What?”
A door clanged shut, and suddenly a strong jet of water came from nowhere.Katya yelped and tried to stand, but the force of the hose was too strong.She slipped and fell to the floor, banging her knee with a sickening crack.For some reason, that seemed to wake up her sentient tiger.It roared to life, angrily.She was an apex predator.She would destroy all those who dared hurt her.The transformation came almost immediately.Her bones shifted and transformed.Fur sprouted on her flesh, her teeth elongated.Her pupils dilated, sharpening the world around.She would kill all of them.The jet of water intensified.She roared in anger and lurched against the walls, aiming to find the culprits.The sound of cackling laughter reached her, enticing her into a rage She would get them and tear them limb from limb.
As sudden as it began, it stopped.Water dripped from the walls in slow steady ticks like a clock.She paced back and forth, scanning the cage she was in.Katya tilted her head and spotted an opening at the top.There.She sprung and fell back as an electric current hit her so hard, she shifted into her human form and began to convulse.Foam formed at her mouth, dripping at the edges.Her body twitched, helplessly, and weakness she’d pushed aside when she shifted returned full force.
****
She woke up on a barecot, still dressed in her wet clothes.She pulled her knees to her chest and examined the area.The room was so tiny it resembled more of a closet.In the corner, there was a bucket and little more.She shivered, her teeth chattering against her skull.She reached inside of her, beckoning the tiger to come out, but it was frozen in fear after the electric shock.
Tears unbidden steamed down her face.She was going to die here.She’d lose her sister, her mate, and herself.This would be the end.She should have known from the start this would be the result of her actions.She’d endured it before on a lesser scale when she’d first arrived and they’d taken her passport and belongings, isolating her from the world.Back then, she had survived by hanging on to the knowledge that her sister was alive, and she’d be able to help her, but now, there was nothing.She couldn’t fight them.They were much more powerful than her.
A noise alerted her to a visitor.The door, however, didn’t open, but the slot in the middle groaned heavily as it slid.A tray appeared and on it a single object which began to ring impatiently.
Fearfully, she stood and made her way to the phone.She picked it up.
“Hello?”
The video call turned on and the image of her sister came onto the screen.Dressed in a camisole, with her hair hanging loose, Irina sat on a chair tied down and blindfolded.
“Irina,” Katya sobbed.
“Katya?”
“Please, don’t hurt her,” Katya wept.“I’ll do anything.Please.”
“Katya?”The fear in her sister’s voice gripped at her heart, squeezing it painfully.
“Please,” she begged amid tears.“Please.”
Suddenly, Dante came onto the screen.He held something.Her eyes widened as realization hit her.Bile filled her mouth and her already cold skin froze to the paint of pain.
