Darkmore Penitentiary (Supernatural Prison for Dark Fae Book 1)

by Caroline Peckham

  It’s totally up his butt.

  There was something about being an apex predator which meant that I was always supremely aware of my surroundings. Specifically of the other creatures in close proximity to me. I’d asked my cousins about it once while I was still growing into my nature and they’d all cocked their little puppy dog heads at me like I was insane. So I’d dropped it.

  Maybe it was one of my mythical Moon Wolf powers. There were rumoured to be as many of them as there were faces of the moon, but I still had no idea what most of them were. I was a rare breed of a common Order. Special. But not special enough for anyone to have done too much research into. The only books I’d ever come across which mentioned the powers of a Moon Wolf had been Children’s fairy tales. And as much as the idea of me granting wishes while looking into a still pool of water with the full moon reflected on it sounded cool, it was also bullshit. I’d spent fifteen separate full moons trying that shit for my cousins and it didn’t work. They still liked to suggest I wish for it any time I wanted something too. And that joke got old ten years ago.

  I also didn’t have the ability to run across the sky or put myself into an un-ageing slumber for years at a time like the Moon Wolf in the fairy tales.

  The few gifts I had discovered were pretty cool in their own ways, though none were so magical as the stories. For example, I could run faster than any other Wolf I knew, I was stronger and more agile too, though that could be down to my overall fitness. But I couldn’t explain away my sharper senses without assuming they were additional gifts. In fact, I had an uncanny ability to sense trouble before it hit. It was like a shiver that would run down my spine, instincts screaming at me to buck the hell up and take note just before the shit hit the fan. Not just sometimes. Every time. Even when there were zero warning signs. If shit was gonna go down, I was always ready for it. It was just a shame I only got the sense for it a few moments before it happened instead of a few hours, but I’d still take it.

  So, despite the fact that none of my Werewolf cousins had ever experienced the awareness which I could claim of my surroundings, I’d learned not to doubt the knowledge those gifts gave me. But I was surprised that I was still able to access what I’d termed fondly as my ultra-wolf instincts in the main prison considering that the Order Suppressant was keeping my inner beast firmly chained down. But perhaps that was looking at it too literally. Sin may not have been able to shift into the form of another Fae while his powers were locked down, but he still oozed sex with every move he made. Our Orders were more than just some power we wielded: they were us. Which I guessed meant that despite my Wolf’s currently subdued state, I was still all animal. And I wasn’t going to complain about that.

  And as such, I was always acutely aware of any threat which came too close to me. A threat, like the eyes of another monster honing in on me while I ate. Especially when that particular monster was growing so damn fond of watching me.

  It was tempting to look up at my favourite guard and let him know that I’d caught him, but it was more tempting still for me to put on a show if he was so inclined to watch.

  I placed my spoon down as I finished my little pot of vanilla pudding and reached into it with my fingers to wipe the last of the sugary goodness from it. While my finger was in the pot, I made sure to crack the bottom open so that I could access the little square of magically imbued plastic for Pudding too.

  I raised my sticky finger to my lips and pushed it into my mouth, drawing it out again slowly as my eyes fell closed and I moaned in a way that was really damn sexual.

  “Mmm…” I groaned enthusiastically. “Mmmason…” My eyes snapped open and I trained them on Cain as he raised his chin and tried not to react to what he’d just snooped on. As I’d guessed, his gaze was fixed on me and with his Vampire bat ears I was sure he’d heard the way I’d just moaned his name beneath my breath too.

  His jaw ticked angrily, but with the clamour of voices in the Mess Hall and the game of sucker punch my pack were currently enthralled in, I was confident no one else had heard me. He still looked angry enough to spit though. Poor guy really needed to get laid.

  I held his eye and slowly ran my tongue up the length of my finger as he damn near snarled. Was that lust or hate? Though in all honesty those lines were easy to blur and I was willing to bet he wanted to blur them real good.

  A group of convicts passed between us, blocking my view of him and I quickly dropped my gaze, moving the pudding pot to my lap so that I could retrieve the magical chip from it. I caught my Beta’s eye and pretended I’d never even looked over at Cain at all.

  “Can you help me out with something, Sonny?” I asked in my sweetest voice.

  I could feel Cain’s eyes on me again but I tossed my hair innocently, pretending that nothing at all had just passed between us while I could practically hear his teeth grinding as he glared at me.

  “Anything, Alpha,” Sonny agreed, knocking Brett’s hand off of his thigh as he gave me his full attention.

  “I need help locating some Mernwood essence and I heard a rumour they use it in the laundry where you work?” Mernwood essence was one of those hippy juice cure-all bullshit things that moronic Fae liked to attribute magical powers to. That particular herb was said to be a terrific libido enhancer and I certainly had no need for it, but if Mr Nosy Asshole wanted to spy on me then I was happy for him to hear all kinds of nonsensical shit. That way, if he happened to hear me asking for help with one of the real ingredients I needed to neutralise the Order Suppressant then it was all the more likely that he’d dismiss it as more crap. Hopefully. I was already certain that I’d gotten away with obtaining the Nepula Weed from Ethan and Sin and it was currently stashed in my wall where no nosey Vampires could find it. I just had to be sure that he couldn’t figure out what I was making.

  “Yes, Alpha,” Sonny agreed with a dirty grin. Brett started kissing his neck and Sonny’s dark eyes hooded with pleasure, letting me know exactly where they’d all be heading after this. “Are you gonna come and join us for some pack fun once you’ve got it?”

  Several of my other Wolves all looked up hopefully at that and Esme even popped open a few buttons to give me a look at her rack. And good on Esme, she had some pretty spectacular boobs, but even with those buoyancy aids included, the idea just didn’t float my boat.

  “Sorry guys,” I said with a small shrug. “But I prefer to be thrown around in the bedroom and there aren’t many people who can match me like that.” Certainly not any of my underdogs.

  Alphas are more my flavour, and there does happen to be more than one of them in this place though…

  My Wolves all whimpered a little in disappointment and busty Esme even let out a soft howl.

  I snorted a laugh and Sonny leaned closer conspiratorially. “So have you found anyone in here to give you what you crave, Alpha?” he teased, though the hunger in his eyes said he really wanted to know. It was the job of a Wolf pack to ensure their Alpha was satisfied in every way, so I guessed it was causing them concern to think of poor little Rosa all alone in my cell at night burning up with sexual frustration.

  “I’ve managed to hunt down a candidate or two,” I assured him.

  I flicked my gaze to Cain and sure enough at the mention of the word hunt the intensity of his gaze had upped considerably. There was an Alpha who might be able to give me what I needed, assuming he even knew how to loosen up. But I was willing to bet a real monster was waiting to be unleashed beneath that uniform and I’d had more than a few fantasies about setting it loose recently.

  More convicts were leaving their positions around the room and I stood too, leaving my pack to clear my tray away and palming the little magical chip from my pudding pot.

  I set my gaze straight on Cain as I began to weave across the room towards him, twisting a finger around a lock of my long, black hair. His eyes narrowed and I bit into my bottom lip as I kept going, closing in on him with each step.

  Ethan left his table and his pack insta
ntly stood to follow him as he headed for the exit.

  My mate’s gaze cut to mine as I drew closer and his jaw tightened as he looked me over for a long moment. I winked at him and a snarl of warning escaped his lips which only served to draw a laugh from me.

  The pack blocked Cain’s view of me as they surged by and I changed course, passing Pudding and dropping the chip into his pocket. The rest of my pack would deliver their chips to him throughout the evening and as a sweetener to our deal, his brother on the outside was going to meet up with Dante and help him construct the receiver he needed to make our contact possible. Within another week or so I should be able to make private calls to him regularly and my plans would be able to progress even faster.

  Pudding grunted as I turned away from him which I took to mean thanks and I moved towards Sin’s table.

  He sat in the centre of it, eating mashed potato like it was going to run off of his plate if he didn’t hurry up. I smirked as I closed in on him.

  I approached from behind and Sin’s broad muscles tensed like he could sense a Wolf at his back.

  Before he got the chance to turn towards me, I hopped up onto the table, my ass taking the spot beside his tray as I rested my feet on the bench.

  Sin twisted sharply, one hand gripping my knee to keep me in place as a plastic fork pressed against my stomach with his thumb bracing it so that it wouldn’t snap.

  Death by disposable cutlery, now that really would be tragic.

  Sin looked up at me in surprise as he stayed his hand and I growled softly to warn him back.

  “You shouldn’t sneak up on a man while he’s eating, kitten,” he said, shifting the hand with the fork so that it slipped between the open buttons of my jumpsuit and the plastic prongs dug into the flesh below my navel.

  “Are you going to fork me, Sin?” I asked, leaning forward so that his funny little weapon dug in a bit more as I reached out to wipe an imaginary crumb from the corner of his lips.

  He shifted suddenly, drawing my thumb into his mouth and sucking on it. “I could fork you all day long, sugar. I might even spoon you a bit too.”

  “Does your lust generally make you sloppy or am I special in that regard?” I purred, leaning closer to him so that my hair cascaded over my shoulder, shielding us from the world.

  “Sloppy?” he asked with a frown.

  “Yeah…I mean, a fork to the gut would hurt like a bitch and all. But I’ve gotta think I’m winning with a knife to your jugular.” I shifted my other hand so that the plastic knife scraped along the stubble at his throat to draw his attention to it and his smile widened with excitement.

  “Well, shit,” he purred. “Looks like I’m done for. You wanna grant a dying man a final request?”

  “Un desiderio di morte?” I teased. A death wish?

  “Fuck, keep talking like that and I’ll come in my pants without you even needing to touch it,” he said with an exaggerated groan.

  My smile grew as I looked into his dark eyes. “That doesn’t sound like I’d be getting a lot out of the exchange.”

  “How about I bargain for my life then? I’ll pay a ransom in orgasms. I can give you one before you leave this table as a down payment and no one would even notice…aside from the fact that you’d be screaming my name loud enough to rock the foundations of this underground hell of course.”

  “Perché dovrei fidarmi di un morto?” I breathed, shifting even closer to him so that the space between our lips was reduced to almost nothing. Why should I trust a dead man?

  Sin opened his mouth to reply just as a bang shook through the table.

  I looked up to find Officer Cain standing over us, his baton in his hand from using it to strike the table.

  “Am I going to have to put you back in the hole for trying to stab someone with a fork, Eighty Eight?” he demanded, glaring at Sin.

  “No one’s stabbing anyone,” Sin replied casually, easing the fork away from my stomach and tossing it on the floor with a clatter. “This is just foreplay.”

  A smile tugged at my lips as I drew back too, tossing the plastic knife aside as I looked up at Cain with my most innocent expression.

  “Poor Sin just looked so lonely over here all by himself,” I said. “I thought he might like a new friend.”

  “Eighty Eight doesn’t have friends because he is immensely unlikable,” Cain growled.

  “I have friends,” Sin replied, clutching at his heart like he was mortally wounded by Cain’s words. “What about Alf?”

  “If you’re referring to Ninety Six then you know full well that he’s dead. Someone beat the shit out of him and drowned him in a toilet before writing the words don’t fuck with my pencils on the walls in his blood,” Cain snapped.

  “That does sound familiar, now you mention it,” Sin said thoughtfully.

  “It was the same day that you were reprimanded for hoarding all of the pencils in the library so that you could build a nest out of them,” Cain growled.

  “It was a wigwam – side note, pencils aren’t great for building wigwams.” Sin sighed like that was supremely disappointing and I laughed.

  “Fuck off, Eighty Eight. Work assignments are starting and as you don’t qualify for a job, you need to get back to sitting in your cell and staring at the walls.” Cain pointed towards the door with his baton and I glanced around as the rest of the convicts filed out of the room.

  “I’ve had a lot of practice staring at walls,” Sin replied casually as he got to his feet, his gaze sliding over me hungrily. “And luckily for me, my little wild girl has given me plenty of fantasy ammo to keep my imagination busy.”

  I laughed again and Cain growled, giving Sin a shove to get him walking.

  He swaggered from the room, looking casual as fuck and I let my eyes wander over his broad frame as he walked away.

  Cain slammed his baton down on the table beside me again to draw my attention back to him and I flinched as I turned to look up at him innocently.

  “You’ll keep away from Eighty Eight if you know what’s good for you, Twelve,” he growled. “People who get close to him have an unfortunate habit of ending up in body bags.”

  His dark hair had been cropped closer on the sides and the product he’d slicked through the top of it kept the style in perfect position. The closer cut brought the strength of his features into sharper focus and I found myself smiling as I appreciated it.

  “Have you had your hair done, sir?” I asked as my gaze travelled over him. “It looks good.”

  His eyes lit with anger and he stowed his baton back on his belt as he glared at me. “You seem to have a problem with your ears, Twelve. Did you listen to what I just said?”

  “Yeah… You’re jealous of me hanging out with Sin.”

  His lip pulled back and I eyed his white teeth, wondering how much it would take to draw his fangs out to play.

  “The day I’m jealous of an inmate will be a cold day in hell. I’m just being a good C.O. Eighty Eight is only after one thing from you. Once he’s had it, he’ll cut you up and dump you in a trash heap alongside the rest of his corpses.”

  I nodded thoughtfully as I looked up at him, gripping the edge of the table with both of my hands as I leaned forward. The angle offered him the perfect view down my shirt, but he kept the stick firmly up his ass as he refused to fall for the bait. “The thing is, Sin may only be after one thing... But so am I. So unless you know anyone else who wants to help me scratch that itch, I might just find out why everyone makes such a fuss about Incubuses.”

  Cain growled but he dropped the subject, refusing to get pulled any further into my net. He reached out and grabbed my arm and I accidentally lost my footing as he pulled me from the table, stumbling into him and resting my hand on his chest. He stepped back instantly, his growl deepening and sending a shiver down my spine.

  “Vuoi inseguirmi, Vampiro?” I breathed. Do you want to chase me, Vampire?

  I was pretty sure he had enough grasp on my language to understand the off
er and the way his eyes lit made me certain of it.

  “You’re late for work,” he snarled. “You’re cleaning down on the maintenance level again today.”

  I bet I am.

  Cain hadn’t brought me back down there since the last time he’d lost control and bitten me. I was pretty sure he’d been meaning to stop our little arrangement since I’d threatened to tell the Warden all about it if he sent me to interrogation. But seduction was one of my specialities and I knew he was running out of excuses to stop himself from taking what he wanted from me. I’d have to be careful down there now though, he was on to me and I couldn’t afford to let him figure out my plans.

  I wasn’t ready to make any moves down on Maintenance anyway and after Sin had interrupted me and Ethan the other day, I was more than a little in need of something to get my blood pumping. If that meant playing chase with a dark and dangerous hunter then I was prepared to make that sacrifice.

  “Get moving, inmate, or I’ll write you up on an infraction.” Cain gave me a not so gentle push and I smirked at him before trotting ahead and making my way to the doors.

  We headed for the staircase where the distant echoes of other inmates’ feet moved away from us as they either headed to their jobs or went back to their cell blocks.

  I hesitated on the top step and turned to Cain, placing my hand on his chest to halt him. He snarled at me in warning but I just shifted closer, tilting my head so that my hair slid away from my neck.

  My fingertips were pressed against his black shirt right above his heart and I felt the strength of his desire in the way it pounded for me.

  “Why don’t you give me a head start?” I suggested in a low voice. “There’s no cameras on the stairs, right?”

  His eyes lit with that dark hunger again and I shifted a little closer, sliding my hand up his chest.

  “Maintain your distance, inmate,” he growled.

  “How much distance?” I breathed, moving closer so that my chest brushed against his and I had to tip my head back to look up at him.

  Cain growled and adrenaline trickled through my limbs. I knew I should have been afraid of him, but I was mostly excited by his anger. I really wanted to see him when he let go entirely. A beast like him didn’t belong on a leash and that was what the rules of his job were. They were caging his true nature and I wanted to set him free.