I pressed my lips into a firm line to keep the emotions at bay. My throat tightened, and that all too familiar, overwhelming sensation that came on the cusp of a panic attack washed over me. Cold rushed through me, a chill that burrowed deep into my bones.
The Primal male looked back at me with concern in his dark eyes. It was the only acknowledgement he gave me, the only sign that he wasthere, that he wasn’t under Dante’s spell. But if he weren’t under any mind-fuckery, then why was he working with our enemy? Why was he dressed like one ofthem?
His hand shifted to his belt. I stilled, waiting for him to touch his weapon or grab the same pouch the soldier had. But instead, his fingers pulled at something else.
A piece of twine.
I didn’t know him well enough to be able to read anything more in his expression, but he quickly averted his eyes to the soldier and the shifter they’d been sent to retrieve. The wolf within barely moved, likely used to whatever tests Dante and his men were running.
But my heart still raced with that little acknowledgement of something so inconsequential.
That piece of twine told me he washere.
The soldier stepped into the cage. I held my breath, watching as he pressed the tip of the thorn into the wolf’s throat. It took only a moment for the poison to take hold; the beast’s eyes fluttered before closing, and anytension that’d been coiled around the creature disappeared as it slumped into the icy metal of his cage.
I swallowed against the lump in my throat as the soldier and Primal dragged the wolf out. My matewas strong; he could manoeuvre the shifter onto his shoulders without making a sound, but as he did it, I noticed the care he took. He wasn’t treating the wolf badly.
It felt like confirmation he hadn’t betrayed me.
The soldier pulled a small device, not a tablet but maybe a modified cell phone, from his pocket. It beeped as he punched something into it. They must have been logging which shifters they were taking.
The Primal grunted, though not from strain. That didn’t seem to bother the soldier, who put the device back into his pocket. Instead, he started for the stairs leading back up into the main facility, and my matefollowed with the unconscious shifter without looking back.
As soon as the pair were far enough away, I felt the tightening in my chest ease. I let my eyes close as I released a breath, feeling the familiar burn of tears make their presence known.
I leaned back against the bars. They were cold as ice against my back, the rods biting through the thin material of the stupid nightgown. The ice was like a shock to the system, exactly what I needed to keep my thoughts from spiralling. And it was nice against the dull, throbbing pain I was starting to get used to.
There were more guards now than when I’d been dragged down here. Before, there had been maybe a handful around the walls, making themselves shadows as they kept the shifters in line. But since being locked down here, more trickled in. The only sign it wasn’t normal was the reactions from the shifters.
They were uncomfortable, terrified by the increased guard activity. Some curled in on themselves, making themselves small to not attract attention to themselves. Bigger beasts like the bear beside me remained eerily calm. And then there were the others, their fear taking over.
I flinched at the sound of a whip. It took all my controlnot to snap. I had to remind myself there was nothing I could do while trapped in a cage of my own.
And yet my resolve disappeared as I let myself seek out the beast.
It was a wolf, small. Either the creature hadn’t been experimented on like the bear beside me and the wolf I’d fought in the Old World, or it was young. Too young to be in a cage. Bile rose in my throat as I watched one of the soldiers stalk the perimeter of the cage, the end of the whip coiled around his other hand, trying to bait the small creature into reacting. Into fighting back.
The wolf and I locked eyes. They were a light brown, more amber than anything. Pretty against the dark brown of their fur. There was blood everywhere, dotting the wolf’s snout, darkening the fur of its chest, pooling on the cold metal floor of the cage. My heart rate picked up as the soldier reared back with the whip.
“Stop it!” I screamed.
The soldier froze, arm still raised. He cocked his head, eyes locked on the wolf, before slowly turning to me. “What did you say?” he snarled.
It felt like my magic had returned to me for a split moment. I felt that rush of familiar electricity, that explosion of fire within me. For a second, the world brightened and everything became clearer.
And then the soldier let the whip fly. It cracked as it landed against the back of the wolf, slicing through fur and flesh with enough force it could break bones.
I stared in horror as the small wolf fell with a whimper.
That single moment of power disappeared.
The soldier turned from the wolf and sneered at me, revealing fangs and blood-red eyes. “You silly little bitch. You have no power here,” he growled. “You are nothing.”
My heart pounded, racing faster, harder, in my chest. The sound of blood rushing in my ears didn’t drown him out.
“The King might have decided you couldn’t be touched,but you ever do that again, your punishment will be dealt on these weak fucks. Understood?”
My stomach turned with the threat of emptying itself from staring at the cruel male. There was nothing but darkness in his eyes. A wickedness that couldn’t have been born from the influence of Dante.
