“I should kick your ass for that!” I called after him. I could have sworn he snorted derisively as he just kept walking away from me and I took a step to follow.
Roary’s hand caught mine before I could finish that thought and my damn pulse leapt as he kept hold of it.
“Pudding is a good friend to have,” he murmured. “But you’ll have to learn to put up with his shit if you’re going to win him over.”
“Why would I care about winning him over?” I asked. “He snores really loud and has a cell full of trash. What kind of friend is that?”
“Just trust me, little pup. I know a bit more about this place than you do.”
I pursed my lips and stared after Pudding again as he carved a path through the rest of the Fae heading out of the cell block for time in the Order Yard.
“Fine,” I agreed. And it had nothing to do with the fact that Roary was still holding my hand and it felt seven shades of sinful.
“Give him your pudding cups,” he urged.
“You want me to work for his friendship?” I asked as we started walking again.
“It’s worth having friends in this place,” Roary said with a nod before retrieving his hand. Not that I’d been trying to keep it. But I should have let go myself.
I ignored the damn blush which was creeping onto my cheeks yet again and shrugged. “Okay then, he can have my puddings. That guy will be following me around with starry eyes before you know it.”
“Good luck with that.” Roary snorted like he didn’t think I could manage it and my blood lit with the dare.
Challenge accepted, stronzo.
We headed downstairs and made our way onto the bridge which led out of the cell block, but I frowned as I noticed at least half of the Fae in our block hanging back.
“Aren’t they coming too?” I asked and Roary followed my gaze.
“Exercise up in the Order Yard is optional,” he said with a shrug.
“Why? Who wouldn’t want to have the freedom to shift into their Order form?”
“Weaklings who might get eaten,” he joked.
“Seriously?”
“Well… yeah, we might get set loose up on the top level, allowed to release our inner beasts and flex our Order muscles, but you’re also putting yourself at risk. It’s where most of the deaths occur in Darkmore. The Guards don’t come up to the top floor with us and the dome is only partially monitored via CCTV. Besides, even if they saw something happening, they wouldn’t intervene, they just like to know who killed who for their records and so they know who to send to the hole.”
“It almost sounds like real freedom. Is it fucked up that I’m ecstatic about that?” I asked with a grin.
“I wouldn’t expect any less from you, little pup,” he teased. “All of that freedom comes with a catch of course; you enter at your own risk.”
All of the members of our cell block started marching up the huge stone stairwell which carved its way through the centre of the prison and we followed eagerly. We passed the floors for the Magic Compound and Mess Hall and more inmates moved to join us as they abandoned their evening free time in favour of real free time up on the top floor.
When we reached the top of the stairs, we spilled out into a wide space where six huge elevators stood waiting on either side of us, their doors closed and alluring.
“Keep an eye on the timer!” a guard bellowed over the crowd, drawing my attention to her. “This session will last four hours and if you don’t make it back to the elevators before they descend then you will be left up there when the air is sucked from the dome and you will die. No one will come out there to rescue you, no one gives a shit. You’re Fae. If you choose to head out into the yard then you do it at your own risk, so if you’re changing your mind or having doubts then head on back down to your cell blocks now!”
A trickle of adrenaline tingled through my skin at the thought of that. We were going to be alone up there. Free. Or as close to it as we could get while locked in this place. And I couldn’t fucking wait.
I bounced on my heels, grinning up at Roary as the doors to the elevators slid open and the two of us strode straight into the closest one.
“No turning back now, little pup,” he purred in my ear.
“Do you think you can keep up with me out there?” I teased as we waited for the elevator to fill.
“A Lion is a lot bigger than a Wolf pup,” he replied cockily, pushing a hand through his mane of dark hair.
“Not as fast though,” I reminded him.
“We’ll see.”
The doors closed and the elevator started rising as I damn near peed myself with excitement. A fine mist poured from vents at the top of the elevator as it climbed and I groaned aloud as I felt the chains being lifted from my inner Wolf as the Order Suppressant in my veins was neutralised, setting me free.
I shoved my way between the crowd of prisoners who surrounded me, snarling at any who considered objecting until me and Roary were stood before the doors.
The elevator bounced to a halt and the doors finally slid open. I howled in excitement, snatching his hand and dragging him out before the doors had even fully parted.
Roary laughed darkly, letting me pull him along as we found ourselves in a huge brick building which was open to the elements on both ends. Rows of lockers stood along the walls before the exit and Roary directed me towards them as I tried to tug him outside.
I looked around at him questioningly as he released my hand and found him unbuttoning his orange jumpsuit.
My lips parted and I could feel that damn blush trying to claw at my cheeks again, but I battered my teenage infatuation away with cold hard bravado and quickly slid my arms out of my jumpsuit too. I was more than comfortable in my own skin and I wasn’t going to balk at the idea of shedding my clothes so that I could shift. Even if that did mean getting naked in front of the guy I’d spent years fantasising about.
Besides, Roary kept on insisting that I was still some little pup and I was gonna bet that was a lot harder for him to do if I was standing before him in my birthday suit.
I kicked my black boots off and stepped out of my jumpsuit, folding it in a locker before tossing my white Darkmore tank top over it and shedding my underwear too.
I flicked my long hair back over my shoulder as I turned back to look at Roary and my damn mouth dried up as I found him watching me in nothing but his black boxers, almost every inch of his golden skin on show as he leaned against the wall and waited for me.
His eyes moved down my body as I stood before him and I bit my lip as goddamn butterflies warred in my stomach. He was just, so…urgh. I’d really thought that after all of this time I wouldn’t still feel this way about him, but it was like he’d taken a piece of me hostage and no matter how long I’d been free of him, that piece would always be his.
It took me a moment to realise that he hadn’t said anything. His jaw was tight and his features controlled and I couldn’t for the life of me work out what he was thinking. I lifted my chin and took a step closer to him, owning my flesh and everything I was. Because I was more than some star struck pup, aching for a moment of his attention. I was Rosalie goddamn Oscura and I didn’t bow to anyone, let alone fall apart over pretty boys with gorgeous hair. And fuck me, Roary was better than pretty, he was like a damn Viking warrior with a slice of utterly irresistible smothered on top. Everything from the cut of his strong jaw and the stubble which lined it to his mane of long, dark hair which hung around his broad shoulders to his perfectly defined muscles and, hell even his thighs were enough to make my heart pound. The worst part of all was that he knew it, he knew exactly how good he looked and what effect that had on me. It was infuriating on so many levels but in that moment, his golden eyes were fixed on me. And I was going to make use of his attention while I had it.
“What’s the matter, Roary?” I purred. “Did you really think I was still some little pup? Or are you just aching to ask me about my tattoo?”
I ran my fi
ngers down the left side of my body where the black rose vine decorated my flesh. It coiled from my collar bone down my side, twisting over my ribs and reaching out to kiss my stomach before curving over my hip and extending down my thigh. I’d gotten it for a number of reasons, one of which I didn’t like to think about, though it was mainly in honour of my family.
Roary watched me tracing the lines of my ink until my fingertips touched on my leg and he stepped forward suddenly, grasping my waist and pressing me back against the wall.
“Be careful what you wish for, Rosa,” he warned in a low tone which just about had me undone.
His body surrounded me and the feeling of his skin on mine had my heart pounding. Why was it that as soon as Roary Night set me in his sights, I was transported back to being that teenage girl who’d ached for him all over again? All of my confidence and swagger just crumbled to dust and I was left blushing and flustered, fighting for the words I needed to prove to him that I was so much more than a pup while managing to prove myself wrong at every turn.
“What is it I’m wishing for?” I breathed as the rest of the inmates all finished shifting, racing out into the Order Yard without a backwards glance at us.
Roary inched closer to me. So close that his body was almost pressed to mine, but not quite. A low growl sounded in the back of his throat and he dipped his head towards mine. My heart pounded and I tipped my chin up, my lips parting in hopes of a kiss I’d dreamed about way too many times.
“Something you’re never going to get,” he growled, pushing away from me again suddenly and dropping his boxers as he stalked towards the door.
Blood rushed to my face and for an awful moment tears actually prickled the backs of my fucking eyes. But I wouldn’t break over something so small. I refused to even crack.
I snarled at his back and leapt forward as I shifted, my silver Wolf springing free of my flesh so that I landed on four huge paws with soft fur covering my body and a mouth full of fangs which could rip a cocky bastardo apart.
The magic restricting cuffs which were locked around my wrists shifted to encompass my Wolf size with ease, staying in place just as firmly as they’d been before, meaning there was no chance of me escaping them.
Fuck him. I didn’t need someone taunting and teasing me like that. I might not have been able to help my body’s reaction to him, but that didn’t mean shit. So what if I’d never fulfilled my teenage fantasies about him? I’d had more than my fair share of conquests. I’d bedded two of the Celestial Heirs for the moon’s sake! And they were the most powerful Fae in the whole kingdom. I didn’t need my confidence bolstered or shattered by some stuck up Lion who’d spent the last ten years rotting in here believing the world had stayed still for him beyond these walls. I’d grown up. I’d loved and lost and lived. What the fuck had he been doing in that time?
“Do you still want me to show you around?” Roary asked, looking over his shoulder at me.
His eyes widened as he took in my Wolf and I was pleased with the moment of awe that passed over his gaze before he hid it away. I was the biggest Wolf in the entire Oscura pack. Bigger than a shire horse with fur that sparkled like starlight. Because I wasn’t just an ordinary Werewolf, I was a Moon Wolf which meant all kinds of untold things. I was the first of my kind in generations and my fur wasn’t just pale grey, it was honest to the stars silver and I looked fucking awesome even if I did say so myself.
I bared my teeth at Roary in answer to his question. Did I want to spend the next few hours running around with a stuck up Lion Shifter who went out of his way to torture and humiliate me? Fuck no.
I turned my back on him and raced away without waiting for him to shift. I wasn’t some little pup for him to keep mocking and teasing and I wasn’t going to keep hanging around him, hoping he’d figure that out.
I didn’t need his help to find my way around out here, I’d done my research before coming and I knew the layout well enough to find my own way.
I leapt out of the building and howled as my paws hit soft soil. I’d emerged on the south side of the dome where the yard was filled with thick pine trees and a pool of ice cold water waited at the heart of it. This was the section of the yard that the Lunar Brotherhood had laid claim to and once the prisoners from Cell Block A arrived, it would be swarming with Ethan Shadowbrook’s pack. I needed to face him up here in our Wolf forms soon, but not today. I had more work to do on him before I’d give him the satisfaction of challenging me Wolf on Wolf.
Tonight my mission was simple: I needed to make the Oscura Wolves fall in line. I’d already joined them in the Magic Compound to get a feel for the pack, but I hadn’t shown my hand yet. I knew a few of my cousins, aunts, uncles and other distant relations, but there weren’t a lot of Wolves from my generation of Oscura locked up here so I didn’t know any of them that well. Their current Alpha, Amira, led the pack with an iron fist but her style seemed too brittle for my tastes. I liked to let my Wolves flourish as individuals, not enforce a regime they had to stick by. So long as they fell into line and followed orders when it counted, I was happier for them to let their inner Wolf guide them the rest of the time. The strongest pack was one who followed their instincts, not one who were bound to so many rules that their individuality was stamped out.
A Lion roared behind me and I paused for a moment to look back at Roary in his enormous golden Lion form with his mane of dark hair surrounding his face. He jerked his chin to summon me back to him and I bared my teeth for a moment before turning and racing away into the trees. He was just lucky that I had more important things to do tonight than put a Lion Shifter on his ass, because no one summoned me like a house pet.
I heard him taking chase behind me and upped my pace. I hadn’t been lying before, there was no way he could keep up with me if I didn’t want him to and before long I was charging down a steep hill between the pines and skirting a shimmering lake where Sirens dove in and out of the water and a herd of Pegasus grazed on the grassy bank.
I kept running, delighting in the power of my Wolf form as my paws ate up the dirt and the world whipped by. I tipped my head to the moon and howled as I tried to get a view of it between the trees before racing on to the east of the dome.
The forest ended abruptly and my paws met with a rocky surface as I found myself at the edge of the dome. A shimmering blue wall rose up from the ground ahead of me, curving up over my head and climbing to its peak way above me where a glimmering golden timer counted down the two hours until our time out here was up.
The dome was semi-transparent so I could make out an empty landscape beyond it and the faint pinpricks of the stars shining in the black sky overhead. There was a wall in the distance and guard towers all around it plus all kinds of magical traps and defences between here and there to make sure the prisoners stayed inside Darkmore until their time was served. Or more likely, until death came to claim them first.
Lines of shimmering blue magic created a pattern something like a honeycomb across the surface of the shield which caged us and I couldn’t help my curiosity as I walked closer to it.
I could feel the magic humming in the air, making my fur stand on end and a buzz of power resounded right through my core. I cocked my head at it, wondering what it would feel like to touch it. There were rumours it could knock a Fae out for three days and if they were true then I’d die out here when they sucked the air from the place at the end of the session unless some kind soul carried me back. And as I was surrounded by killers and cutthroats, I somehow doubted that would happen.
A distant howl made my ears prick up and I turned my head to look back the way I’d come as a shiver ran down my spine. I wasn’t sure how I could tell, but something deep in the pit of my gut told me that was Ethan leading his pack out into the trees and for the longest moment, all I wanted to do was run to meet him.
But I couldn’t do that. He wasn’t ready yet. His rage over my identity would force him to challenge me and that could ruin everything if it happened too s
oon.
So instead of following the desires of my Wolf, I turned my head to the north and started running again, using the clear patch of land beside the dome as a path as I raced towards the Oscura territory.
As I left the pine forest behind, I found myself running alongside a frozen landscape filled with snow and icy rivers, the cold air stinging my wet nose. Beyond that, I found a barren, rocky area with deep ravines and caves carved into the land where Bear Shifters rambled around and Griffins swooped overhead.
The magic that must have been wielded to create this place was staggering and it was damn hard to force myself to run on and ignore my natural curiosity. I intended to explore every inch of this unnatural landscape soon but first, I needed to claim my pack.
Huge trees rose up ahead of me and I upped my pace as the temperature began to soar and the humidity climbed. I inhaled deeply, savouring the scent of fresh soil and thick fauna just before I dove into the tropical jungle and released a howl to announce my arrival.
A chorus of howls called back to me from somewhere up ahead and I upped my pace, my tail held high as I charged through the thick undergrowth to claim my pack.
I burst through the trees with a yip of excitement and found myself surrounded by a pack of around a hundred Wolves in a clearing beside a huge rock face.
I lifted my chin as I stalked into the space and the Wolves all turned to look at me. The lowest members of the pack dropped their heads and a few even rolled over to show me their bellies as they submitted, the sight of me enough to let them know they were outmatched.
A rugged brown Wolf raised his head and approached me head on, holding my eye for a long moment as he drew closer. I fell still, watching him as he approached and waiting to see if he’d challenge me.
He stopped a few feet away, tipping his head back to look up at me in my huge form and taking in the power that exuded from me before finally bowing his head in submission and moving forward to nuzzle me.
I allowed him that brief contact, though I didn’t return the gesture, baring my teeth when he lingered too long. I didn’t have time to waste on making friends just yet. I was here to challenge an Alpha.
Darkmore Penitentiary (Supernatural Prison for Dark Fae Book 1) Page 12