“Just aphids.”
She laughed. “Smarty-pants.” She tossed me a look over her shoulder before returning to her desk.
My bear panting, I barely resisted the urge to follow.
* * *
The thick, corrugated metal wall trudged upward. A red light flashed in the corner of the room, highlighting us both in an eerie mix of crimson and shadows. Fresh air spread inside our holding cell, dispelling the dank and the scent of scared and enraged shifters. The cold breeze brought goosebumps to my naked flesh.
Beside me, Jolyn stood in what I could only call a fighter’s stance, waiting for what lay on the other side of those doors as battle-ready as she could—a different woman than the one I’d fallen in love with, but no less extraordinary.
Despite our situation, my chest swelled with hope. She hadn’t panicked when she came to terms with the fact I was a shifter. She hadn’t screamed, hadn’t fainted. After a hundred emotions had played over her face, she’d taken a step toward me, not away. I’d seen all those questions she’d wanted to ask in her eyes, and hoped like hell I’d get the chance to answer them.
The wall clanked its way upward an inch at a time, revealing a grassy clearing and a forested area beyond it. I lifted my arm to block the ball of light sinking behind mountains in the distance. The door stopped, and Jolyn and I glanced at each other. The look on her face said she knew as little of what was about to happen as I did, and was just as apprehensive.
Clank clack. We turned simultaneously. The other metal wall pressed toward us, moving on metal tracks as slowly as the door had opened. If we stayed still, it would push us out.Nowhere to hide.If I were a lone shifter taken here for sport—goddamn it, I couldn’t finish the thought. The terror mixed in with the other shifter scents, lingering and faint, told their stories.
From what Walker had said, the video footage we’d seen, and now what Jolyn had told me, I held no illusions of what was about to happen to me. Mahn had brought me here to die.
Shoulder to shoulder, Jolyn and I stepped into the clearing before the moving wall could spit us out. Trees stretched before us, a mix of pines, birch, and bushes. Shadows gathered between the trunks as they swayed in a chill breeze. This forest was silent, no singing birds to make it a welcoming place. I glanced over my shoulder. A twelve-foot metal fence jutted out from both sides of our holding cell. From the hum it gave off, it was a pretty safe bet it was electrified. Yards beyond that, a cinder-block wall stood another ten feet tall. Both barriers continued outwards as far as the eye could see. Beyond them, mountains.
A building similar in construction to the one we’d left, squatted fifty feet away, a bunker of sorts. Instead of a metal wall, a wide window spanned its concrete construction. I couldn’t see inside, the dark glass reflecting our images and the forest back at us. Jolyn stepped closer to me, her shoulder touching mine, and we faced the second building, knowing someone must be inside.
The window became translucent suddenly, the interior visible. It didn’t make me feel any better about our situation. My heart pounded hard in my chest, stomach twisting in knots.
“Welcome to the arena,” Emerson Mahn said with a flourish of his arms. His voice echoed from a loudspeaker mounted on top of the building. He’d changed out of his suit, and now wore camouflage fatigues the same color as the forest around us.
Four men flanked him, the same ones who’d been on the plane. Each held a weapon of some type, ranging from assault rifles, to shotguns, to simple handguns.
My accelerated heart rate increased in tempo when I noticed the four shoulder mounts—trophy heads—at the back of the room: a lynx, cougar, elk, and wolf. I tore my gaze away and focused on the monsters who held our lives in their hands.
They all stood behind a desk, one door on the wall behind them. Television monitors filled one side of the room, at least a dozen of them. I could see our images on some, each from different angles. The screens changed to new views every few seconds. This whole place was wired.
“Beautiful trophies, aren’t they?” Mahn gestured to the shoulder mounts. “They were the first four beasts we hunted here, and I keep them close as a reminder of how far we’ve come. Isn’t that right, Jo?”
Beside me, Jolyn stiffened. Rage-induced acid boiled in my stomach. I couldn’t see a way out of this. They had total control. I couldn’t shift with this collar on and I was still weak from blood loss. I had no weapons, only my wits.
“I hope you have your affairs in order,” Mahn said, voice mild. “I’d hate for your board members to be scrambling once you disappear.” Then he let out a sharp half laugh. “Maybe I’ll make a bid on your company if your shares go public. A fitting end, I should say.”
I disregarded his words, scanning the faces of my would-be executioners, eyes settling on the hat-backwards asshole who’d laughed every time they’d shocked me on the plane. Besides Mahn, I owed him the most pain.
Jolyn stepped closer, her pinky finger skimming down the length of my hand until it hooked against mine. I gave it a gentle squeeze and noticed a slight relaxation of her shoulders.
She’d been expecting rejection, and maybe a week ago I would have turned my back on her. But not now. Not when I understood everything, how this psychopath had controlled her life, the narrative she’d accepted regarding shifters. She hadn’t been able to break free of the cycle of abuse until recently, and I was so proud of her that she had.
“You did know me,” I said, glancing at her necklace. Even if I hadn’t told her about my shifter side, I’d always given her all of myself, no holding back. My bear was a part of me, but he didn’t control me. The year we were together, shedidknow me.
Jolyn tilted her head to meet my gaze. Most of the dark makeup she’d worn yesterday was wiped away, her freckles standing out in stark relief against pale skin. The blue of her eyes pierced me, searching. After a long moment, she nodded, like she was satisfied with what she found.
Then she faced her brother, her shoulders squared. “You knew about him all along, didn’t you?”
“Of course,” Mahn replied. “I’ve always been able to clock them from a mile off, you know that.” Then he stared straight at me. “Did she tell you it was she who put it all in motion? That without her, I probably wouldn’t have figured it out?”
He smiled at Jolyn, but it never reached his eyes. “I’ve always wanted to ask, did you enjoy your time with a beast? Did he bite, Jo? Did he scratch? How was it to have an animal’s cock inside you?”
If I hadn’t wanted to tear him apart before, I did now. Nothing would satisfy me and my bear except him dead at our feet, lifeblood leaving his body.
“You’re sick,” Jolyn croaked.
