Caged

  “I never said this was my enterprise, Ethan,” Catherine said.

  Had that been what Kyle tried to tell me?

  “You’ve sold us out? To humans?” I went to pace away but whirled back to her before I’d even taken the first step. “Are you fucking insane?”

  “Very far from it, darling.” Her smile dimmed and only malice made home in her features. “Now, change.”

  Others joined in with the demands until the cries of ‘do it, wolf’ merged with the more insulting yells of ‘freak’.

  “Screw you!” I stormed away. Upon realising that only took me closer to the bellowing people on the other side of the mesh, I turned back. “I’m not playing your game, Catherine.”

  Her expression remained the same, eyes hard, mouth unsmiling. “You get five minutes to change. If you don’t, we fetch Gabe.”

  “Fuck! You!” I raged back to the bars, pressed my temples against the steel.

  “Rules are rules, Ethan. I did tell you before we brought you down.”

  With their limited vocabulary, the callers returned to their favoured shout of ‘change’.

  “This is bullshit!”

  “Five minutes—”

  “Five minutes is not long enough, dammit!”

  “Make them enough. And one of those has almost passed.”

  With a snarl, I lunged through the gap with my hand, my chest smashing against the metal.

  Catherine shot backward way too fast for my fingers to find purchase. She seemed unbothered by my attempted attack when her emotionless face lifted back to mine. “Four minutes, Ethan.”

  I withdrew my arm to my own side, and backed away from the two vampires. Whilst my gaze remained on the female, the continued chant of ‘change’ from the watchers beat inside my head.

  How the hell could I change? In a roomful of humans? Packs had spent years—hundreds of years—keeping our existence a secret. To change in front of one human—let alone a roomful—went against everything I’d been taught to believe in.

  Obeying would be a betrayal to my race.

  My hands fisted and un-fisted at my hips. The bulge of my chest heaved with each inhalation.

  Catherine moved back to the door. “Three and a half minutes until we go for Gabe.”

  Promise me one thing, buddy. Kyle’s words boinged around inside my mind. Promise me, you’ll swallow your pride.

  One face after another peered at me through the mesh. Every set of eyes held a hunger that made my skin crawl.

  The meaning of Kyle’s plea became so clear when mixed with Catherine’s words from upstairs. It’s amazing what results come from a sharp electro shock, or a decent shot of adrenaline into the bloodstream … then there are the ones we leave to their own demise.

  Swallow my pride and change of my own free will, or suffer a forced change and provide even further entertainment for an already sick crowd.

  Not swallowing my pride would bring worse consequences than that. It’d bring suffering for my brothers.

  I gulped down the phlegm sitting in the back of my throat. My fingers unclenched, and I reached down for my stud and zipper, tugging them both loose.

  Catherine’s eyes took on a high shine when I shoved my jeans over my hips and legs, and kicked them aside. With my eyes focussed entirely on her, and my mind on plans to slaughter her the second I got the chance, I blanked every sound in the room, every scent, every presence, and hunkered down to all fours.

  Through deep breaths, I concentrated, until a prickle teased at my skull and spread backward to bleed into my spine. My fingers caught the tingle, followed by my toes, and the sensation itched at the joints in its attempt to infiltrate my limbs.

  My lids lowered at a tug of flesh in my thigh. I forced them open, kept my eyes on the vampire before me—a reminder to myself of who needed to pay for the fuckup I’d been hauled into.

  I didn’t need to watch to know how every affliction affected my body. I knew the stretch of my flesh to be necessary for the deformation of bone beneath the surface. Just as I understood some parts needed to break before they could restructure into my new form.

  Muscles and tendons went into spasm, condensed and strengthened, to accommodate my bulked mass.

  Grunts passed my lips to the beat of the humans’ shouts.

  Cramps attacked every inch of my body—flexing appendages and twisting limbs from man to canine, contracting my rippling cheeks before the warping began.

  My breaths huffed past my rusted throat as each new wave of pain stabbed into me.

  Another distortion drew my muscles taut either side of my spine, solidifying them into a duet of ridges a split second before my vertebra cracked.

  One. Two. Three. All the way down to the thirty-third—a gasp arriving with each crunch and the arching of my body.

  The order reversed, and each realigned into place.

  Growls rolled up from my chest when the high line of my back plummeted to bow against the agony, and the growth of my hair hit my periphery. Each strand thickening and sprouting through my pores provided a rich, brown shaggy coating, as the surrounding flesh at my coccyx protruded to a throbbing extension, and my breaths panted from me throughout the delivery of my tail.

  The agony ceased, but I knew it to be nothing more than trickery of the mind. My transformation hadn’t completed.

  I tensed. My breaths came short.

  The splitting of my skull boomed through my mind.

  Feral grunts erupted up through my throat.

  At the elongation of delicate facial bone, quiet whimpers took over my vocals.

  Through the sharp stabbing to my head, my cranium re-knitted and, with a rippling snarl, I thrust forth from my change with the power of a missile.

  Victorious cheers filled the room.

  I grounded to a halt. Inhaled.

  Powerful sweetness invaded my senses, its sickly odour worse than any of the remnants of past battles.

  I sneezed—sneezed a second and third time.

  Mocking laughter overtook the cheers.

  Another inhalation resulted in a second round of chuffed breaths spurting past my nostrils.

  I lifted my gaze in search of the source until it fell on the two vampires before me.

  Dad’s insistence over the stench of vampires flashed through my mind. Damn thing blocked my sinuses up for days after I killed it.

  Was that the big why? We had to be changed to detect them?

  I certainly smell you now, bitch.

  My lips drew back to reveal my teeth. I lowered my rear, tensed my hind muscles, sprang for the duo with a roar and collided with the barrier.

  Breath gushed from me as Catherine and Joseph took a hasty step back. I poked my muzzle through the bars, instincts urging me after them, despite rationality telling me I attempted an impossible task.

  With each effort, the cheekbones of my face crashed against the metal.

  I didn’t care—not whilst consumed by the vampires’ scent.

  A squeak tugged my ears up. Whistles from the humans hit with the same effect. At a shout of ‘that’s one pussy I’d love to stroke’, I paused long enough to take notice.

  Catherine squatted down to my level. Her lips curved into a smile. “Showtime.” Her chin lifted as her eyes flitted to something at my rear. “Watch your back.”

  I whirled round.

  Cat essence mingled with vampire before I’d made the full turn.

  My gaze lifted the full length of her body, past the long dark hair brushing each breast, until it met with the golden gaze.

  Shit, no!

  Before me, Brook’s lips held a thin line of determination. Although her usual elegance refused to leave her, tentativeness affected her step forward. When she dropped into a crouch, regre
t showed in the fluttered frown that creased her brow. “Ethan, I’m sorry,” she said in a warm tone.

  For what? I wanted to ask, although I already knew the answer.

  Every fight had been a battle to the death. I had no right to believe Brook would allow me to win. Just as I didn’t intend to be the one carried out in a body bag.

  Her head lifted, yet she didn’t fully straighten as she took a few steps back. With her stare locked upon mine, she leapt with the grace of a gazelle. Midflight, a shimmer rippled the length of her body and the beauty of her fresh midnight silkiness held me rapt.

  She’d barely landed as panther when a whip of her paw sliced scalpel-sharp claws through my shoulder.

  A loud yelp burst from me. I staggered to the left.

  The watchers cheered out their approval for the cat, along with their disgust for my weakness.

  With a harsh shake of my head, I spun. Thunder grumbled within my chest.

  My hackles rose as I brought the circling feline into my sight, and I matched her round route with a smaller one of my own, following every one of her movements.

  Five more paces, and she halted.

  So did I.

  Her body revealed its flexibility in her change of direction. Muzzle low, shoulders high, I turned to stalk the same direction as her.

  The lack of sound from her steps told me her claws had retracted. Quiet descended upon our audience, no more than whispers crossing their lips.

  Each clockwise move I made took me a fraction closer to the feline. Although she showed no concern, I doubted my manoeuvre went unnoticed by her.

  She paused, turned to face me. Altering her path, she slunk to the left.

  My shoulder wound stung in my sudden switch of course. I took one step, two.

  Before my paw regained its third contact with the concrete, she’d pushed from the ground.

  A heartbeat behind, I dived for her with my jaws already open and aiming for her gullet.

  The enthusiastic shouts arrived loud enough to endanger the foundations.

  Brook’s spurted breath bristled the hairs of my face on impact.

  Stomping feet enhanced the humans’ cries of encouragement.

  Snarls tore from both of us.

  A scream of ‘come on’ vibrated through my mind.

  Brook’s head whipped side to side—as did mine.

  The cage rattled beneath the onslaught of bodies as if the spectator’s bottlenecked to get closer to the action.

  Claws slashed through my flesh.

  My internal roar arrived loud enough to drown out every other sound as I swung for her. When my teeth located her throat, I locked on with full strength and drove her to the ground.

  Pinned by my jaws, she wriggled and bucked. Feline-like whimpers screeched out, their pitch irking my ears.

  I growled in warning, pressed down harder.

  Her head tossed side to side. Each jerk heightened the risk of my teeth piercing her flesh.

  I willed her to calm. Tried to meet her eyes. Her thrashing rendered the attempt a failure.

  Please, Brook, don’t do this.

  With the kick up of her legs, she sliced the underside of my belly.

  Agony poured outward and into my limbs. My grip slackened, as did my stance. I stumbled sideways as my forelegs gave way.

  A second boot against my chest sent me sprawling. As my chin smacked against concrete, Brook rolled to her paws, and slunk off to my rear.

  Calls of, “Get up, mutt,” flew from the crowd of humans.

  I forced myself to rise and shook my head with a disgruntled growl.

  Shouldn’t have misjudged her.

  I wouldn’t make that mistake again.

  Another head shake, and I turned to face her, but I’d taken no more than a step when the black blur flashed into the corner of my vision.

  My claws scratched against the smooth surface before I found enough traction to thrust myself forward. On collision with the mesh barrier, I expelled a grunt.

  From a few inches behind the fencing, the stench of humans intensified. I sent them a growl; they scrambled backward, almost falling over one another as I pivoted.

  In my vacated space, Brook tumbled and skidded across the uneven flooring.

  Without waiting for her recovery, I pounced, landing hard along her spine. Finding her throat, I took hold and used my entire body to bind her movements.

  Beneath me, she bucked.

  Growls rumbled from within my mouth, past her black satin coat, and lent vibrations to my lips.

  Another thrash of her body almost lifted me, until a shove down rammed her head to the ground.

  “Ethan?”

  At my name, my brows knitted together. I lifted my gaze to Catherine’s solid blacks beyond the door.

  She smiled. “Finish her.”

  Had my vocal chords been available, I’d have told her to fuck off. My snarls increased, and my attention on her clarified for whom the warning was meant.

  “Play the game, Ethan.” She dropped to a crouch, wrapped her fingers around the bars. “You win.”

  Play the game? Over my dead body.

  I closed my jaws around Brook’s windpipe, throwing every ounce of control I had into the action.

  The panther’s struggles knocked me up with each jerk. Whimpers burst out with each effort she made.

  I tightened my grip. Applied more of my bulk to restrain her.

  Mumbles arose from the spectators.

  From her position, Catherine’s smile widened until her fangs extended to the longest I’d seen them.

  Brook’s thrashing lessened to wiggling.

  I kept my jaws rigid around her throat.

  Her whimpers faded. Gasped breaths took their place.

  My own chuffed from my nostrils to steam the cool air, whilst saliva trailed over my chin.

  The twitch of her limbs arrived next. Her breaths no longer held substance—a pathetic intake followed by a pitiful exhale.

  I counted down from thirty in my head, the estimated seconds she had left.

  At ten, a final flutter affected her right foreleg.

  At five, she stilled.

  Only once I reached zero, did I release my hold.

  23

  Silence whistled through my ears at a much higher pitch than any of the shouts had. Those around me appeared to be waiting for something, as though poised on a pivotal moment in time.

  I removed my muzzle from Brook’s throat and sniffed her face. At the soft breaths that warmed my nose, I let out a sigh, and lifted my gaze to Catherine.

  Something within her expression told me my charade had not gone unnoticed, and the small pump of her fists at her waist sent an unspoken urge I struggled to interpret.

  I risked looking to the left and caught the stares of the watchers—every one of them directed on the innate panther at my paws.

  Shit!

  Did they suspect?

  With little other option, I let the rumble brew within my chest. Like an overheated volcano, it vibrated through me, until a howl of victory erupted from my throat.

  Gasped complaints responded. Hands slapped over ears. Feet shuffled the humans back in one big stumbling unit of movement.

  As my call faded to a low growl, I stepped over Brook’s body to disguise the shallow rise and fall of her chest. Whilst my thunder continued to roll, I took in the faces around me.

  One by one, my mind absorbed them: from hair the colour of a Red Setter, green eyes and sweaty scent, to golden blond with blue eyes and the aroma of mint. I made a personal promise to return for each of them the second I got the chance.

  At the choking waft of vanilla smoke, I lifted my gaze upward.

 
The cigar dropped from mouth to waist with the wave of the human’s hand. With the meaty fingers of his other hand, he slapped the shoulder of the companion who shared his balcony. The duet of almost bald heads shone beneath chandelier light I hadn’t noticed before. Each dome held nowhere near the brightness of their teeth when they flashed smiles my way.

  The resonation of my snarls escalated.

  Whistles loud enough to compete with the howl I’d provided came from the audience.

  My focus remained on the two men, on their paunchy stomachs I already knew would hinder them when they ran. Back to their faces, I committed them to memory.

  I’ll be coming for you, fuckers.

  I dropped my face to Brook’s. Her breaths continued to ease past her parted lips. With as much care as I could muster, I enclosed her throat with my teeth. My jaw locked into place and a gentle tug slid her along the floor between my legs.

  Mumbles rolled from the watchers. “Hey, you see any of the others behave that way before?” The deep tone held disbelief. I distinguished it as the one who’d made the lurid comment at Brook’s initial entrance.

  Other than ensuring I could recognise that last voice again if I needed to, I ignored them and headed for the farthest spot from them all.

  Brook weighed a lot more than I expected from a panther—no doubt a result of solid musculature. Each haul of her limp form risked puncturing her with my teeth. My waddling made the manoeuvres awkward, but I reached a spot in the cage the spectators couldn’t get near and laid her down. Once an inhalation of her neck revealed no wounds had come of my mauling, I settled back on my haunches to wait for the farce to be over.

  • • •

  After they’d gotten over their amusement at my protection of the conquered ‘meal’, the watchers dispersed. As if the degradation of being made to fight for the despicable humans hadn’t been enough, Catherine and Joseph left me in the cage whilst winnings were collected, losses mourned over, and hands shaken—a final slap to an already splintered soul.

  Throughout, I kept my attention on the two bald guys peering down from their self-imposed pedestal. Once or twice, I stalked side to side in front of Brook, but my gaze stayed fixed on those I believed responsible for the outrageous setup.