All of this would have been for nothing.
But I stilled, eyes glued to Dante as he waved the soldiers on. Both seemed to understand the silent command, because they dragged me to the bed. And this time, I didn’t stop them.
I let them pick me up and set me on the bed, refusing to take my eyes off Dante. The male looked like he’d won something. Like he’d somehow broken me by mentioning my mate.
If only he knew.
What I didn’t expect was the prick in my arm. I made a sound in the back of my throat, tearing my eyes off Dante for a moment to stare at the female.
When she smiled this time, it wasn’t dead or blank. Her eyes crinkled at the corners. “Have a nice sleep,” she murmured.
It was the last thing I heard before darkness claimed me.
There was no dreamscape here.
9
Thor
The cages were quiet. The beasts kept their heads down, their cries to themselves, while the prisoners made motions with their hands to communicate.
I couldn’t see the winged male or the strange creature Watcher stole. They were nowhere behind bars; the strange creature had shifted from beast to male before being taken from his cage. I knewhe’dentered the strange one’s mind. Taken over it.
None were safe whenhemade his presence known.
That did not stop the prisoners in their cage, though.
There were nine of them. Each one withering away, aging before my eyes. My beast knew they were losing power, that their magic was disappearing. But I didn’t know why. Between the guard shifts, other watchers would pass the bars of their cage and sneer at them, laughing about how frail they were.
I remained still, lying in the corner of my cage, watching them like Watcher did me. He was always close now. Like he knew something.
Like he knew now my beast held no bloodlust for the beautiful female with the sweet scent. It was gone,hisinfluence all but a dark memory, now replaced with a need to find her. My beast would not reveal why, but he knew something.
And he feared Watcher hadfigured us out.
I saw him from the corner of my eye, standing with his arms crossed against the wall in the back of the prison. There were weapons on the wall. Weapons that could easily be taken by the nine prisoners. If the beasts could shift, the weapons could be ours.
I’d heard whispers that one of the wolves had disappeared with two ofhissoldiers. The wolf had been rabid. Wild. Broken.
Watcher and another said the soldiers had foundher, but they’d been killed. And for ithekilled the wolf.
The rotten one had been taken prisoner byhercreatures. It pleased my beast to know he was no longer here. That he could no longer torment us. But he kept Watcher in line sometimes. Made certain he did not kill the beasts.
I kept Watcher in my line of sight, like he did me. His eyes were dark, assessing. Questioning. He knew, for a moment, I’d broken free of him—ofhiscontrol. When the girl screamed. It still pierced the night when I tried to sleep, the sound shattering through the darkness and pulling me from my slumber.
But why not punish me? My beast waited every day for the familiar crack of the whip tearing into my flesh. For the burn of fire as it singed my fur.Hiscruel punishment that made pain endless, made me wish for death even more. And the torture that would come from not being allowed to heal as salt was rubbed into the wounds.
Just the thought made my beast’s hackles rise, but I gave no reaction. I would not risk his attention falling upon me now.
For a moment, I looked back at the nine prisoners. One was like me. His beast roamed close to the surface, but he didn’t shift. I wondered how he controlled it, how he came back from being the beast. Once I could shift, Watcher didn’t need me to be the other one again. I didn’t know what my other half even looked like anymore.
For the first time in many years, I wished I could take on the other part of me. The one that had been male, human looking. Perhaps then I could escape.
But I feared I was too connected to my beast. That even if I tried, there was no man left to shift into.
For some reason, it brought me great sadness. Because I doubtedshewould like the beast that much. My beast likely frightened her. Watcher liked to tell me I was the largest of us. The most intimidating. It made me their favourite, especially when it came to punishments.
Shewould fear me—and she should. When the punishments didn’t work, Watcher liked to pit us against one another. He liked to claim it kept us sharp, ready to fight.
