by E. A. Copen
Warren laughed again, clutching Mara tighter to him. He turned her head so that he could look into her eyes. “It was easy. Father had a deal with a lord of Faerie to import these plants, which he sold at a huge profit to your government. The night your priest friend came to confront him was a very bad night for my father. You see, I was already there. I had lured him out to that abandoned house with the intent of killing him. I was to take over here. Do you know how many months I spent molding the minds of these people to my will? The rem wasn’t enough. Even addicted, some of them wanted to leave. I fixed all of that. When father found out, he wanted to undo it. I couldn’t have that. When Gideon Reed showed up, he should have made my work easier. That is, until that werewolf messed everything up.” His hand tightened around Mara’s throat and she let out a small cry.
“Let her go.” Espinoza’s voice was hoarse and wavered, but he was still firm.
“Why? I saved her.” He loosened his fingers from around her throat and Mara gasped for air. “She’s mine to do with what I will. She’s not the problem here. The question is, what am I going to do with you two?”
Warren discarded Mara, shoving her aside so that he could stand in front of Espinoza. “I could have you shoot yourself. The stress of the job does get to you, doesn’t it?”
Espinoza spat in Warren’s face.
Warren wiped it away and shook his hand, a disgusted look on his face. “Then again, that wouldn’t be any fun.” He turned to address me, his eyes sparkling. “Is it true that you can summon shadow fire?”
I glanced at the little fire in my hand. One wrong move and I’d go up in flames along with the whole greenhouse. “You want to talk? I’ll be much more inclined if I’m not fighting for my life here.”
“You think so?” Warren cocked his head to the side. “I think there’s a part of you that’s like me. Pain changes you, you know. It makes you powerful. With a little work, I think you could be worthy of serving me.”
“No thanks. I’m good.”
His thin lips spread into a wicked smile. “I didn’t say I was giving you a choice.”
He gestured to Mara, who picked up a shovel in the corner. With sluggish movements, she came to stand behind me. “Mara, you don’t have to do this. Fight him. Fight him with everything you’ve got.”
“You want to know the funny thing?” Warren strode up to me, his hands folded behind his back. The little bastard leaned in and whispered, “She didn’t fight me at all.”
The shovel struck me in the back of the head. My head jerked forward and the world spun. Everything fell into a jumbled mess of light and sound as I fell.
Chapter Twenty-Two
I didn’t quite lose consciousness after Mara hit me, but my memory of the next hour is very fuzzy. I remember the sensation of being lifted and placed on something hard. Magick washed over me and I thought I would be sick at the sensation of it. That lasted a while. The only thing I remember seeing were the shadows of the men along with Warren, each one surrounded by a halo of light. I thought maybe Mara hitting me had done something to my brain, probably worsened the concussion that was already there, but I didn’t have enough medical knowledge to be sure.
After the nausea faded, the world spun as they lowered me to the ground somewhere else. The floor beneath my hands was flat and cool to the touch, smooth like linoleum. There was a bright light above, and looking at it hurt my eyes, so I closed them tight.
My arms and legs were left unbound, but I wasn’t coordinated enough to move them after being struck in the head. It took everything I had to fight the grogginess. When they lowered me to the floor, though, they decided it was time to change that. Someone jerked my arms above my head. I screamed at the pain of having my broken arm moved before I doubled over and threw up. My captors didn’t care. They fixed something metal with sharp edges around my wrists. Whatever they used had sharp teeth on the inside that dug into my flesh enough that I felt the trickle of blood. As soon as those teeth pierced my skin and tasted blood, a new feeling settled over me. It felt like I’d suddenly stood up too fast and all the blood rushed to the wrong place. Dizziness followed by the sensation that the bottom dropped out from under me. That lasted only a moment before an absolute and utter emptiness settled into my chest in the place I normally felt my magick. I reached for it and found nothing. It didn’t slip away from my grasp, wasn’t there just out of reach. There weren’t traces of it I could call on. It was just gone.
I panicked and opened my eyes, fighting for breath. I tried to wiggle my arms out of the restraints, but the metal teeth just bit in harder.
“Don’t fight. You’ll only make it worse.” Warren grabbed a handful of my shirt and ripped it away. I screamed and fought, finding that I could scoot back and curl up against the wall if I really worked on it. Even curled up, I couldn’t stop them from ripping, cutting and tearing away my clothes to leave me naked, helpless, and alone in the tiny room with the bright light.
Once he’d stripped me, Warren let me curl up against the wall again, sobbing, and he stepped back, the painful light forming a halo behind his head. “Over the next few hours, days, months, years…however long it takes to break you, you’re going to lie to yourself, Judah Black. You’re going to tell yourself that someone is coming for you. You’ll convince yourself that someone out there is coming to your rescue. They aren’t. The shackles you are wearing, this place, all of it has been designed to cut you off from everyone and everything. As far as the outside world is concerned, you no longer exist. Killed in the line of duty, your body never recovered. No one is looking for you.”
“Why are you doing this?” I shouted. “I’m not the only one who knows. There are others. They’ll stop you. Even if I die, it changes nothing!”
Warren laughed. It was a cold, bitter laugh. “You have no idea what you are, do you? What you can do?”
His footsteps echoed through the room as he came closer. Warm hands touched my face and held it, even when I flinched away. “You’re like me. I can see it in your mind. There’s a part of you that’s been sealed away, a part they don’t want you to find, the part that makes you strong. I’m going to help you open the doorway to that part of you, Judah. I’m going to break your mind, take everything away from you, hurt you until there is nothing left but raw, unfiltered power. And then, when I am done, I’m going to use you. You will be my champion in this new world.”
“You won’t break me,” I shouted, glaring at him. “Better men than you have tried and failed.”
Warren just smiled. “We’ll see about that, won’t we?”
He turned his back on me, gestured to the ceiling and folded his hands behind his back. The bright light finally died and I relaxed a little as Warren’s footsteps echoed away from me. His figure hung in the door a long moment before stepping out and closing it behind him, leaving me in complete darkness.
For a long time, I sat in silence, listening, trying to learn what I could about the room I was in. Then, when I could hear nothing but the sound of my own breathing against the darkness, I started to think about what Warren had said. It wasn’t true. Ed knew where I was. He must have seen everything.
Espinoza, was he alive or dead? Maybe they’d found Ed, too and held him captive. My heart jumped into my throat at the thought. No, I reasoned. Ed is smart. Maybe he’d done the smart thing and turned to run away. If so, he could tell Sal and the others where I was. He would tell them everything. The pack and my few friends in the Kings would come and tear the compound apart looking for me. But even with all that manpower, could any of them stand against Warren’s powers?
My heart sank as I realized I was on my own, helpless against whatever Warren planned to do to me.
I thought of Mara and how I had failed her again. I should have taken her out of there the first night I saw her. Warren had her completely under his control. Inside, she was probably screaming for help and I had walked away, leaving her behind enemy lines all alone.
Hunter and Mia, what wou
ld they do when I didn’t come back? I shed my first tears in that place, imagining their reaction to the news that I was missing and presumed dead. Tindall would go with Abe personally to deliver the news. Over and over in my mind, I watched as Tindall tried to be delicate, as Sal lost his temper and Mia burst into tears. Hunter stood by, angry and numb.
My shoulders shook with cold and sobs. I tried to tell myself that I’d been in worse situations, but I couldn’t think of anything. At least when I’d been down in the pit when LeDuc held me captive, I had Ed. I had help. He’d left me my arms and legs and the glimmer of hope that someone might find me. I could die alone in that room and no one but Warren and his people would ever know.
At some point, the crying turned into screaming. I stood back up and set myself to trying to pull my arms free. I’d cut my own hands and feet off before I let that bastard get his satisfaction. The metal teeth cut in deeper with searing pain until my arms and chest were wet with blood. I shivered even harder from the blood loss, but I didn’t give up, not until I was too weak to keep going.
Defeated, I slumped and fought the quiver of my jaw. I couldn’t cry, not again. I didn’t have the fluids to waste. Exhaustion threatened to force my eyes closed and, if it hadn’t been hoovering near freezing in that room, I might have fallen asleep. But it was just cold enough that getting comfortable was impossible. Instead, I hung there, fighting fatigue, waiting for something, anything to happen to me.
~
Light flooded the room after what felt like many hours. It was as blinding and painful as fire. I flinched away from it, my head down between my knees, suddenly torn from my groggy state. I shifted my arms up over my head and curled into a tiny ball as best I could, pressing myself against the wall to make myself as small as possible. Every inch of me hurt. My brain wanted to associate the strange, new pain with the light, but I knew better. Light doesn’t hurt. Heavy footsteps came into the center of the room followed by a clang and something very wet sounding. “Supper time,” said a harsh woman’s voice. “Eat up.”
“I’d rather die than eat whatever poison you’ve brought me,” I spat.
The woman reached out and grabbed me by the hair, jerking my head up. “Leave her,” called another woman from the doorway. “She’ll eat. They always do.” I finally recognized Amanda’s voice. Hector’s wife.
“I won’t,” I said, fighting the chattering in my teeth.
“Maybe not today or tomorrow, but by the end of the week, you’ll eat. Come now, Pam. We have more to do.”
The second woman let me go and turned to join Amanda at the door.
“Wait!” I screamed after them and strained against my restraints, drawing more blood. “Espinoza. Ed! Tell me if they’re still alive!” They started to shut the door and I pounded against the wall with my foot. “Hey, I’m talking to you, bitch! Where are my friends? Tell me. Tell me!”
I screamed at her long after they shut the door and left me in darkness, until my throat was dry and painful.
I didn’t bother with whatever gruel they were feeding their prisoners. It had to be low in calories and nutrients. They meant to wear me down, keep me weak so I’d be easier to manipulate. I had no idea what they wanted from me but I also had no intention of waiting around to find out. I still had some strength left and, over time, that was going to wear down. If I was going to make an escape, it would have to be sooner rather than later. I didn’t have the luxury of being able to wait for an opportune moment.
Without access to my magick, though, that was going to be a difficult task to accomplish on my own. I still had no idea how they were keeping me from accessing it. There had to be wards in every stone of the place or some kind of anti-magick circle around the whole building for it to work. Just leaving the room wouldn’t be enough to get me my power back. And I had to save Espinoza, Mara and Ed. I couldn’t leave without them. That wasn’t even an option, not after everything.
If they were bringing food, that would have to be my chance. I had to convince them to free my arms or legs. Maybe if I hurt myself bad enough that I was in danger of bleeding to death, they’d pull me down. It was dangerous. I’d have to take myself to the brink and do it at exactly the right time. That meant right before I expected them to show up and open the door. Without a clock or any sense of time, I didn’t know how I would do that other than to hope my ears worked well in the dark. So, with no other plan, I curled up as tight as I could to keep warm and waited, listening.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Ed
The air was alive with smells. It was always that way after a rain in the desert. Rain pulled down the cold scent from the upper atmosphere and churned it with the dry dust. Back in Colorado, I could always smell snow on the rain. Texas rain smelled different than Colorado rain. It smelled of electric ozone, like the scent of exposed wiring. I’d never gotten used to it.
That’s why I doubted it at first, that weird, cold but spicy scent of magick Judah always leaves behind. The blood on the ground had to be hers.
I circled the spot where it had fallen, wolf nose to the ground, deciding what I should do. I could shift back and drive the car away in search of help, but shifting would leave me weak and vulnerable inside enemy territory. The wolf in me didn’t like that idea.
A flash of light from one of the second-story windows made me perk my head and ears up. Muffled voices on the wind, male, and something that made my nose itch. I sneezed. Someone was in trouble, someone who wasn’t quite pack. If it was one of the pack, I would have felt the gentle tug of them in my head. This was different, too distant to be one of them. Judah.
I lifted one paw, intent on throwing myself at the front door. Maybe I could knock it down? On second thought, who was I kidding? Even as a werewolf, I only weigh in at a hundred and thirty pounds or so. I’d break my shoulder trying that stunt. I lowered my paw into the squishy mud and panted, deciding. Judah might not be pack in the strictest sense, but Alpha loved her. I couldn’t let anything happen to her, not on my watch.
So, I did the only thing I thought might help. I threw my head back and let out a loud howl with a small yip at the end. “I am here!” I shouted from the back of my wolfy throat, hoping Judah and Espinoza would hear me and know I hadn’t left them.
I trotted forward to a patch of grass that smelled faintly of car exhaust and motor oil. Someone had parked there recently, close to the door. “I’m still here!” I tried to howl, but it came out as a sort of whining howl.
A shuffling sound filtered through the door and out into the night. I moved directly in front of the door and crouched a little, pulling my ears back and making my teeth visible. When the door opened, it was a man in dark jeans and a white t-shirt. He walked out on the porch and down the steps before he stopped. The man didn’t have a gun, but I could smell the silver on him from where I stood. I recoiled when the scent of it stung my nose and snarled at him.
Adrenaline bled out over the wet Earth and ozone smell of Texas rain, carrying with it undertones of fear. Prey scent.
I crouched low, ready to spring at him when he attacked. Instead, he did the absolute worst thing prey can do in the presence of a predator. He let out a frightened whimper, turned and ran.
I don’t like to chase and kill things, but I can do it. Valentino made sure of that. Where most werewolves see fleeing prey and charge to take it down with the intense urge to kill and devour, the only thought that I usually entertain is chase. But, when this man turned, I caught a whiff of something else, something that crowded out the instinct to chase and catch, replacing it with pain.
Judah’s pain.
I felt it for an instant, the fluttering of fear in her chest, strange hands on her wrists. She fought, was fighting, cursing, hurting. It was a flash and then it was gone, replaced with something new that made me pull back and cower. Alpha’s rage. He must have felt it, too.
The shock of it stayed with me. What did that mean? Judah and Sal weren’t bonded, not the way pack is, so that shou
ld have been impossible. Chanter had always said werewolves and humans cannot bond. Was Chanter wrong?
I shook the thought from my head. Something else was coming through the pack bonds now, a call down through the ranks, one I had to answer.
A low, feral growl echoed through the night, shaking my bones. I was charging across the yard and up the stairs after the man before I even realized that it was me who’d made that sound. The terrified man scrambled behind the safety of his threshold and into his den, swinging the door closed behind him. I reached the door just before it caught and wedged a foot into the narrow space. I snapped at him through the gap, saliva dripping, my heart pounding. The thoughts in my head weren’t my own. They were the alpha’s and I was little more than an instrument of his will.
Behind the door, the man screamed and kicked at my paw with his steel-toed boots. He slammed the door harder and put all his weight against it, crushing my paw. It was too much. I had to pull my paw back or risk them cutting it off. I pulled it free. The door closed. I stepped backward and charged into it first, and then tried the window beside it.
That’s when I saw the guns.
There were two men at the bottom of a set of stairs, each one with an assault rifle pressed to their shoulders and aimed at me. Something about staring down the barrel of a gun snapped me out of my mindless rage and I put my paws down halfway through my run at the window, causing me to slide across the porch. Lightning flashed and gunfire popped. Glass shattered and I slammed into the side of the house between the window and the door. I let out a loud yelp when a sharp pain hit my hindquarters and scampered to move away and crawl down the stairs.
The gunfire let up and I knew they were about to come out and get me. I couldn’t run, not at full speed, but I could still outrun a human. I booked it the hell away from that house as fast as I could, trying not to put much pressure on where my back leg had been shot. I ran through the field, across the road, until I was so far away there was no way they could catch me. Then I kept on running.