I moved into the emptying space which was lined with grubby beige tiles and pulled my clothes off, tossing them on a hook haphazardly before hurrying to the showers. A row of them ran along the back wall and we had the joy of washing alongside each other. Which had been particularly grim the morning I’d ended up next to Plunger.
The guards didn’t bother to chase us out of here when the next cell block were allowed out for their turn, but I didn’t really want to be left here when they started flooding in. It was bad enough washing in plain sight of everyone else without rubbing shoulders with them too.
I dove straight beneath the flow of lukewarm water and started scrubbing at my long hair with the bar of scratchy soap which I’d been given when I arrived here. Decent wash products were top of my list for when my commissary tokens came through, but until we were allowed to spend it at the end of the week, I had to make do with the soap.
I hurried to wash myself as quickly as I could as the pathetic temperature of the water failed to banish any of the cold from my limbs and I began to shiver.
As soon as the suds were rinsed from my hair, I shut the shower off and grabbed my towel, roughly drying myself before wrapping it around me.
I turned back to go and get my clothes and paused as I found the room had filled with a group of mean looking Fae who all had their eyes locked on me.
I took the sudden arrivals in my stride and stepped towards them confidently, searching for the leader amongst them and locking my gaze on a guy in the centre of the group. He was tall and slim in the way that suggested his clothes hid wiry muscles and something about his aura felt… off. Tattoos peeked out beneath his cuffs and covered his neck. There was a small Capricorn symbol inked beneath his left eye like a teardrop and more tattoos curved over his brows and right cheekbone. This wasn’t the kind of guy I should have been taking lightly, but that also meant I wasn’t going to back down for a single second.
“Don’t tell me; you’ve dropped the soap? Well I’m sorry, stronzo, but you’re not my type so you’ll have to pick it up yourself,” I said with a smirk as I continued to close in on him.
“Well, well, well. If it isn’t our new pup,” he said in a dark voice, popping the p.
I fell still, glancing behind me as ten of his biggest, meanest looking assholes closed in around me. The Fae way was to claim your own power, fights were always one on one, never a gang against a single opponent. But the way they were penning me in made me wonder if they stuck to that rule.
“Gustard, I assume?” I asked casually, recognising him from my research before coming in here. I eyed his pristine jumpsuit with surprise. Honestly, the guy made an orange boiler suit look like designer chic. He’d folded the sleeves and ankles back to sit in the perfect position and he’d had creases ironed into the front of the pant legs. His lapels were so sharp I wondered if I might be able to cut myself on them and the angles of his facial hair looked like they’d been sculpted with a protractor. His black hair was swept back perfectly, as in not-one-wispy-hair-dared-to-move-is-he-made-of-Lego?? perfect.
I, on the other hand was wrapped in a threadbare towel with water dripping over my flesh and strands of wet hair clinging to my face and neck. I was not chic, hell, I wasn’t even decent, but I wasn’t about to let that phase me.
“Rosalie Oscura,” Gustard replied, his gaze sliding over me like he could see everything about me emblazoned on my skin. “I hear you’ve been causing quite the stir for such a little thing.”
“Just call me a ladle and this place can be the soup,” I deadpanned. “Is there a reason we’re having this chat while I’m standing in a puddle?”
Now that the showers were off, the wet floor was beginning to feel icy against my bare feet and goosebumps were rising over my skin. There should have been more Fae coming in to use the showers by now but as I glanced over Gustard’s shoulder, I spotted members of his gang blocking the entrance. Our friendly chat seemed to be a lot less friendly after all.
“I wanted to have this conversation alone,” Gustard replied, brushing a non-existent piece of lint from his lapel where his prisoner identification symbols were shimmering in silver. The number Four Hundred and Six stood out beside the Elemental sign for fire and a little Cyclops eye. For one of the first times since I’d come here, I was actually glad that they suppressed our Orders because I abso-fucking-lutely didn’t want to have a Cyclops using their psychic gifts to root around in my head for my secrets.
“It doesn’t seem like we’re alone to me,” I replied, gesturing to the twenty or so men and women who surrounded me.
“In my operation, I like to think of my followers as extensions of myself. Claud here is my foot, Brianne is my eyes and Christopher here-” He gestured for the crowd to part to allow a huge man to lumber through the centre of them. I raised my chin as I recognised the Dragon Shifter I’d turned out of his cell on my first day here. “-is my fist.”
“Is that so?” I asked casually, looking away from Two Hundred as he glowered at me. “And where’s your backbone?”
Growls and snarls of rage sounded all around me and I could feel the group of underdogs shifting closer but Gustard held his composure, lifting a single finger to warn them all back.
“This is just a courtesy, pup,” he said, his pale blue eyes fixing on me. “I will give you the benefit of the doubt and say that when you joined us here in Darkmore, you didn’t realise that Christopher was someone of importance. I assume that now you’ve been informed, you’ll relinquish what was his without any need for petty violence. No doubt someone as tenacious as you can claim yourself another cell without any bother and we can return to the harmony and balance that we’ve held in here for years.”
“You want me to give him back his cell?” I asked, raising an eyebrow and turning to look at Two Hundred with undisguised disgust lining my features. “What’s the matter, Christopher?” I purred. “Are you too afraid of the big bad wolf to try and claim it back for yourself?”
The Dragon snarled, baring his teeth at me as he took a step forward and I bared my teeth right back. But at a slight shake of Gustard’s head, he fell still again, reining in his rage.
I pouted at him mockingly then turned my eyes to the man in charge. “Well, you certainly have your bitches whipped,” I said to him. “But I’m afraid that’s a hard no to your request. Old lizard dick will just have to fight a weaker Fae for a cell if he wants one, I’m quite happy where I am.”
A chorus of growls sounded around me again but I ignored them. There wasn’t a Fae here with the balls to come at me without their boss’s say so.
Gustard sighed dramatically. “Are you sure it has to be this way, pup?” he asked, sounding disappointed with me.
“As sure as I am that the moon will rise again no matter what any of us do. So you can either move aside and let me go dry my ass or get to the point of this meeting, because I have shit to be doing.”
Gustard eyed me for a long moment before his gaze slid beyond me and he gave a single nod.
And here comes the shit storm…
Hands grabbed me and I snarled as I whipped around, my fist flying out and smashing into one stronzo’s nose before he could tighten his hold on me. A loud crack rang out and blood flew as I twisted away from him, yanking on my other arm and unbalancing the woman who held it.
I kicked her right in the vag then slammed my forehead down on her face as she crumpled from the attack.
I snarled like a wild animal and ducked low as more hands snatched and gripped at me. I kicked, punched, bit, threw elbows and stamped on feet, dropping several more of them as I fought but the sheer number of them quickly overwhelmed me. I lost my towel somewhere in the attack, but nudity was the least of my problems as strong hands locked around my arms, legs, some piece of shit even grabbed a fistful of my hair.
I screamed and thrashed as around eight of them grasped my limbs in tight holds and I was forced to the floor on my front, spread eagle on the ground as a massive motherfucker s
at on my back to keep me there.
“A morte e ritorno,” I snarled, twisting my head so that I could glare up at Gustard as he approached me. “I’ll kill you for this. I swear it on the stars and the earth, and the moon which owns my soul. I’ll see you dead and buried at my feet and piss on your grave!”
Gustard’s upper lip curled back and he bent forward to talk to me as more assholes grabbed my wrists and stretched my arms out wide either side of me, splaying my hands flat against the wet tiles.
“Werewolf is really just another term for dog, new pup,” Gustard said in a low tone. “And there’s a few lessons that a dog needs to learn before they can be brought to heel. But the most important thing is who your master is. So I’m going to hurt you and then I’m going to let Christopher here and some of his friends have fun with you for a while. And once they’re done and your spirit is broken, they’ll leave you for the guards to find. And they’ll heal your body. But they won’t be able to take away the memory of how you felt when I crushed you beneath my heel. And the next time I give you an order, you’ll be that much more likely to obey like a good dog. Or if not, we can just repeat this process again. And again. Until you learn.”
I reared up as much as I could with a ten ton asshole crushing me and spat right in Gustard’s face.
Gustard staggered back like I’d struck him, a snarl contorting his controlled features as he moved to my right.
“Hold her still,” he commanded angrily and the grip on my right arm tightened.
My heart thundered with panic and I screamed in defiance even before his shoe slammed down on my hand.
Pain, white hot and blinding raced through me as he stamped on my fingers again and again and I screamed like a banshee as I fought to buck the behemoth on my back off of me.
A split second of relief found me as he stopped his assault before his footsteps sounded across the wet tiles as he moved to my left.
I shrieked again, tears spilling over my cheeks as his foot landed on that hand too and agony tore through me. I tried to fight, to thrash, to do anything at all to free myself as he crippled me, but it was no use. My ears were ringing, darkness curtained my vision and my heart was pounding to a rhythm so violent, I was afraid it would give out.
“We’ll see how many times you have to learn this lesson before it sticks,” Gustard’s voice came to me as if from afar. “I’ll leave you to enjoy Christopher’s company.”
The giant on my back laughed darkly at his words as Gustard’s footsteps moved away and his weight shifted off of me suddenly, leaving me shivering in a puddle of my own blood on the floor.
“I’ll break her in, then the rest of you can have a ride,” Two Hundred’s rough voice echoed off of the walls and a series of dark laughs followed as I heard his jumpsuit hit the floor.
I gritted my teeth and forced my elbows beneath me as I scrambled up onto my knees. I may have had my hands destroyed, but there was no chance in Solaria that I was going to lay there and let that fucking beast touch me. I was raised in pain and suffering, born and broken in it before I was saved by my Aunt Bianca. And the one thing I learned in the dark and through the agony was that you couldn’t give up. Ever. So all the time that there was breath in my lungs and iron in my soul, I’d fight in whatever way I could.
I tried to scramble to my feet but before I could manage it, Two Hundred grabbed my hips, yanking me backwards and knocking me off balance so that my shattered hand hit the floor.
I screamed in pain and threw myself to the side, yanking my hips out of his hold and rolling onto my back as he growled in frustration.
“Hold still, pup, and I promise I’ll be gentle,” he growled, baring broken teeth at me in the imitation of a smile.
I snarled at him as he stalked closer, letting him close the distance between us as I lay on my back before slamming my foot out as hard as I could and kicking him right in the dick.
I cursed him as he fell back with a roar and I scrambled away, dragging myself backwards with my elbows, cradling my shattered hands to my chest and eyeing the other Fae who had remained here to hurt me further.
I growled at them and they lunged forward to grab me again.
My screams echoed off of the walls as hands locked around me and I thrashed and kicked and swore and bit, ignoring the agony in my hands as I fought for my fucking life because I would not let them have me like that. I’d die first.
The sound of a door banging open echoed through the space and my heart soared as I expected the sound of guards shouting to follow it. To save me. But that wasn’t what came.
Instead, a deep growl echoed off of the walls and suddenly the guy pinning me down was ripped away.
I flinched as someone fell on my legs and managed to roll aside, scrambling and kicking until I got myself into a sitting position against the rear wall.
I looked up as the sounds of fighting continued and my lips parted as I found Ethan Shadowbrook and some members of his pack beating the shit out of Two Hundred and his friends.
Ethan fought like a man possessed, snarling with rage and landing punches which broke bones and caused screams to echo off of the tiled walls. His eyes were wild with fury and a deep sense of rightness flooded me as he fought to protect me. His mate.
I didn’t know what the hell the moon had been thinking when it bonded us to one another, but in that moment I was more than grateful that she’d gifted me such a powerful, ferocious Fae to call my own. We may not have had any of our shit in order but there was one single, simple truth to the mate bond which neither of us could deny. We were wired to protect each other at all costs. And as Ethan sent Christopher crashing to the ground with blood pissing down his face, I couldn’t help but feel pride in the man who had been chosen for me. He might have been many things, but he was most definitely my equal.
It didn’t take long for the Dragon and his buddies to run for it like the cowards they were and I was left looking up at Ethan as he panted in the centre of the room. His face was lined with rage, blood coating his bare arms and knuckles, decorating the black ink on his arms in red.
“Looks like it’s your lucky day, Oscura,” he snarled at me. “I don’t allow rapists in my prison, even when they’re going after trash like you.”
My heart twisted at his words even if they were more for the benefit of his pack mates than me, but I didn’t let it show, growling at him instead. I was a wounded animal, backed into a corner and I wasn’t willing to take much more shit today.
“Get out. And find a guard to heal her,” Ethan commanded and his pack mates practically ran from the room, the door banging closed behind them as they went.
He shifted towards me instantly, dropping to his knees on the wet floor and pulling me into his arms with a soft whimper as he tried not to hurt me.
“I’ll kill them for this,” he snarled as he nuzzled into my hair and I let him draw me into his arms, as the relief of what I’d just escaped washed over me. I laid my ear against his chest so that I could listen to the steady beat of his heart as my own pulse started to slow and he held me tightly for a moment.
“No you won’t,” I growled as I gritted my teeth against the pain in my hands.
When my papà had punished me, he’d sometimes left me for days without healing me and I’d learnt every trick in the book to cope with pain. I could segment it away, lock off the part of my brain that housed it. But I hadn’t often endured agony like this before either. I could force it aside in some part, but it was blinding, all consuming… Fuck, I’m gonna kill Gustard!
“Gustard has it coming. He doesn’t fight like Fae. I won’t stand for it,” Ethan snarled, his grip on me tightening possessively.
“I’ll handle this myself,” I insisted, wriggling backwards to put some distance between us again.
He may have been my mate, but that didn’t make me his. I wasn’t some possession and I wasn’t going to suddenly start letting him fight my battles for me.
“It didn’t look like you were hand
ling it when I arrived,” Ethan replied darkly. “It looked like I just saved your ass.”
“Yeah? Well if they come at you ten on one then I’ll happily jump in at your side too, but that doesn’t mean I can’t hold my own.”
I struggled a little more and Ethan released a growl as I tried to pull away from him, but he let me shift back so that I could look into his eyes.
“I felt your fucking pain,” he said in a low voice, giving me a moment to see the distress that had caused him in his sapphire eyes. “It called me to you. So maybe fate is on your side. Though she’s clearly not on mine,” he added bitterly.
Ethan reached out to push his fingers into my hair, tucking it behind my ear, pausing there with his fingertips pressed to the brand the moon had given me, marking me as his. His jaw was tight with the rage he’d shown last night and I could tell he was already pulling back again, putting up walls to shut me out. Which was fine by me. I’d wanted him on side, but I hadn’t asked for this. And I’d never needed anyone to jump in and be my knight in shining armour anyway. Though I was glad that he had on this occasion.
My gaze flicked to the side of his head where his mark was too and I noticed a new tattoo creeping up the side of his neck and behind his ear.
His gaze hardened and he turned his head to let me see the pattern of thorny roses which he’d had inked onto his skin. They covered the moon mark entirely. There was no way to see it had ever even been there at all.
Something splintered in my chest as I looked at it and a soft whimper of pain escaped me which had nothing to do with my hands.
“You covered it up?” I breathed, unable to push aside the feeling of betrayal that left me with.
“Well it’s not like I can just let everyone know that I’m mated to an Oscura, is it?” he asked in a low tone which was laced with disgust.
“No,” I agreed. “What could be worse than that?”
My jaw hardened as I scowled at him and he parted his lips to say something else just as the door banged open and Officer Cain shot into the room.
Darkmore Penitentiary (Supernatural Prison for Dark Fae Book 1) Page 21