After they dragged Taryn away, a pair of new clothes was shoved into Audrey’s hands. She showered and sat on the bed, waiting.
If they’d given her clothes, they were taking her somewhere. And if death was coming, she refused to go quietly. She would give it a reason to hesitate. She would be a thorn dragged through their flesh, a final irritation to mark her passing. The door blew open, spilling cold light into the cell.
“Well,” she drawled, baring her teeth in something that almost resembled a smile, “is today the day I finally get to die of fear? I can hardly contain myself.”
Nikos and Basir entered, shadows stacked in human shape.
“Against the wall,” Nikos ordered.
“Oh, sweetheart,” Audrey sighed. “You know you’re going to have to make me.”
He did. One pull of her shirt, one swift punch to her mouth, and she was up against the wall. Warm blood rolled down her chin as she laughed. “Not fucking around today, huh? Jesus, do you know how long it took me to get a clean shirt, you asshole?”
“Shut the fuck up.”
He enabled the cuff restraints before roughly ushering her into the hall.
“Glad you brought a partner,” she taunted. “Handling me alone is hard on your delicate constitution.”
Another slap. Her head whipped sideways. She laughed again. “That’s it? I was really hoping to be unconscious by now.” More blood slid from her nose, over her lips, down her neck. She spat red on the floor.
Nikos grabbed her throat and hissed a threat she hardly noticed. By the time they pushed her into a larger chamber, the room had started to tilt. She struggled to stay upright.
Stares lanced into her from every direction, most of them either curious or judgmental. Whispers crept along the borders of her awareness. Despite the restraints, one thought leaked through to her:So, this is the prisoner everyone talks about. Small. Pathetic. No show at all.
Audrey curled her lip, blood coating her teeth as she snarled at anyone foolish enough to meet her stare. Let them think she was pathetic. Every wolf was small once.
They carted her outside into the freezing twilight. Cold gnawed her bones.
But she shook it off. If Ryker were here tonight, this might be the closest she’d ever get to him.
She was shoved into another cage, this one a metal stall inside what looked like a warehouse or barn. Concrete. Bars. Straw on the ground like she was livestock waiting for slaughter. The holding structure opened onto the courtyard in layers. Barred stalls lined the inner wall—each fronted by a waist-high gate and overseen from a concrete walkway above. Beyond the stalls lay a hard-packed yard, scarred black in places, as if fires had burned there and been badly scrubbed away. The entire space reminded Audrey of an old stadium or livestock market, exposed to harsh floodlights.
She crawled backward, trembling, trying to wipe the blood from her face and only making herself look more feral. What would Cary do if she were about to die?
Probably not this.
Probably not any of this.
But Cary would tell her to stand anyway. Fight anyway. So, Audrey would. If Emerson or Alex were coming, that would be good. If not, then whatever happened next would belong to her alone.
Only faint light came through the slits in the large open door. The surrounding cages were empty.
Not abandoned.
Waiting.
But for now, she was alone.
She wondered how dying would feel. Would Ryker make it quick? Would her being evaporate into the vacuum? Would anything remain? She almost wanted it over, just to silence the not-knowing.
No, I can’t think like that, she admonished herself.
People began gathering outside—hundreds, by the sound of it. Voices and footsteps sounded. Flames crackled to life asbonfires were lit across the courtyard. Someone struck a metal bar three times. The sound rang across the compound like a bell calling a crowd to order.
Nikos’s voice tore through the noise, rousing her awake. Screams followed—raw, agonized. Audrey grunted as she pulled herself forward to watch the show through the cracks between the door and the frame.
This place was full of death, ritual, and expectation. Something about the crowd unsettled her, too. They were watching like gamblers, waiting to see if something interesting would survive. The preparations outside of this cage weren’t for an execution. They were for a spectacle.
