by Lola Gabriel
He was her captor as well, which made this just too weird.
Now is not the time to develop Stockholm Syndrome, Ferren, she thought to herself, feeling slightly disgusted with herself for even thinking that way.
She pushed herself off the floor and stood up, the shackle around her ankle making her feel slightly off balance. Maybe it was because of the hit to the head, or the dart that embedded itself under her skin. Either way, she was off balance but she could see perfectly, which was definitely a bonus.
“Who sent you here?” he asked, his voice calm and eerie, but soothing and smooth at the same time. It reminded her of her mother’s chocolate mousse cake. Rich, sweet and smooth on the tongue.
She had no idea who these people were, and they had her locked up in a cage, shackled, like an animal. She didn't even know where she was. She could just remember the truck they forced her into, and the white snow around her as they dragged her out. Then everything was just dark and cold. Then he, Mr. Hot as Coals, shows up and demands to know who sent her here.
No one sent me here. Your buddies captured me, she thought with a raised eyebrow.
Ferren wanted to say it, but judging from the look on his face, he might just shoot her between the eyes. His eyes were fixed on her, and he didn't move even an inch.
She glared at him through the bars and shook her head. “No one sent me here. I don’t even know where here is,” she responded, her voice filled with confusion and fear. “A better question would be who are you, and why am I locked up here, chained like an animal?”
He stepped closer and introduced himself to her. “My name is Kodiak. You’re in my territory.”
“Your territory? What are you talking about? Are you a senator or something?”
“No, I’m the Alpha of the Washington pack.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Where are you from?” he inquired.
“I’m from Seattle. I’ve lived there my entire life,” Ferren stuttered and placed her hands on the horizontal metal bar of the cell door. “I don't understand why I’m being held here. I didn't do anything.”
“Then how do you explain the blood on your hands?”
She glanced down at her still bloodstained hands, and her eyes widened. This definitely didn't look good for her, but she sincerely hoped that he would give her the opportunity to explain herself. “I don't know. I woke up like this.”
“You don't expect me to believe that, do you?” he scoffed.
Of course not, it was the most pathetic excuse in the book. Who on earth would believe her? She couldn't say something like that and expect him to believe her. He came across as ruthless, and Ferren knew that it was only a matter of time before he snapped his fingers, and one of his henchmen or whoever would come barging into the room and cut off her fingers one by one until she started talking. A tear ran down her cheek, because deep down inside she knew that there was nothing to tell.
“I don't know what to tell you, because I don't know what happened. This past week has just been the strangest time of my life and I just...” Another tear trailed down her cheek and she shook her head, fighting the sobs in her throat that threatened to come out. “You have to let me go, please.”
“I can’t do that,” he responded simply.
Her mind raced, like her heart, and she tried to think of something, anything, to convince him that he shouldn’t be so cocky. “There are people looking for me. They know that I am missing.”
“And who are they exactly?” Kodiak inquired, smiling slightly at her.
She didn't like the menacing way he looked at her and answered, “My friends and my family.”
Mike.
“And my boyfriend, Mike.” She wasn't sure why she said that. He wasn’t her boyfriend, but she hoped that she was more believable than she thought she was.
“Did he help you?” His voice was accusing and interrogational and he stepped closer to the cell door.
“Help me with what? I honestly have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“You and your boyfriend attacked over fifty humans in the last year,” he answered stiffly, disapproval thick in his voice.
Her eyes widened and she shook her head. “No, we didn't do that. We would never do something like that. We’re doctors. We help people. We would never hurt anyone, accidentally or intentionally.”
“Again, how do you explain the blood on your hands, and all over your clothes?” Kodiak pointed out.
Hot tears stung her eyes, making it difficult to see, and she shook her head. “I don’t know. I woke up and I was covered in it. I don’t even know what happened before that. The last thing I remember was...”
Her voice trailed off and she shook her head. Her mind was completely empty. She had no recollection of what had happened to her, and she tried to think about the last cohesive thought she had.
“I don't have time for this,” Kodiak grumbled and grabbed hold of the metal bars so hard that it felt as though the entire cell moved, causing her to step back, almost tripping over the thick, heavy chain the shackle was attached to. “Now, for the last time, who is your Alpha, and why did he send you here?”
“Look, it’s Kodiak, right? I have no idea what you’re talking about. I don’t know what an Alpha is and I wasn't sent here. Your people brought me here.”
Kodiak’s jaw clenched heavily, causing a strange sensation to rise up inside Ferren. She wasn't sure what it was, but given a chance, she would gladly rip Kodiak’s clothes off and do him right there in this dungeon, or whatever it was. She imagined what it would feel like to see him naked and have his body pressed up against hers.
Ferren frowned at the direction in which her thoughts were traveling and she shook her head, lowering her gaze. She couldn't look at him at that moment, because then she might have to break down the cell door.
As if you possess the physical strength to do that, she thought with an eye roll.
“If you’re toying with me, I will strangle you with my bare hands,” he threatened.
She approached the cell door and wrapped her fingers around the vertical bars. “I swear, I didn't attack anyone, and I swear that I am not lying to you, nor am I toying with you.”
“What’s your name?” he wanted to know.
Somehow Ferren felt more at ease the closer she was to him, which was weird because normally in this situation it would be the opposite, or so she would imagine.
Kodiak’s eyes were what lured her in. They were a bright green with tiny flecks of gold in the inside ring close to the pupil, and his disheveled brown hair, paired with the stubble on his face and chin, simply added to the rough and rugged kind of hot he had going for him. His shoulders were broad and his stance was proud and strong, albeit guarded. He smelled of oak trees and campfires, exuding an aura of warmth, and when he smiled, which was only slightly thus far, his lips parted revealing a perfect set of pearly white teeth.
“What’s your name?” Kodiak demanded again and she tore her eyes and her thoughts away from him.
“Ferren Daniels. Dr. Ferren Daniels. I’m a resident doctor at Victoria Mason Hospital in Seattle.”
“You’re a human?” he growled.
She let out an incredulous laugh and nodded. “Are you high or something? What else would I be?”
Kodiak laughed bitterly and shook his head. “I knew it.”
“What?” she asked, wondering what was going on inside his head.
“Nothing,” he muttered and looked at her. “You’re a doctor?”
“Yes.”
“Then you’re in for a big surprise,” he snarled.
“What are you talking about? I don't understand,” she exclaimed and shook her head.
“Sometimes things aren't always black and white. There are a million shades between black and white,” Kodiak answered.
“I know that. As a doctor I know things aren't simple. There are a lot of things that are different. Even if two patients have the sam
e condition, they won’t necessarily show the same symptoms, or receive the same medication,” Ferren explained.
“Exactly,” he stated and turned around, making his way back down the hallway.
Panic consumed Ferren’s body and she called out to him. “Wait! Where are you going? You can’t just leave me here!”
“I’m the Alpha. I can do whatever I want,” he called out in an angry tone.
“The Alpha,” she scoffed. “Does that mean anything really?”
Kodiak stopped and turned to her. “You’re entering dangerous territory, Dr. Daniels.”
“What are you going to do? Kill me?”
“Is that what you want?” he asked, his voice low and ominous.
“Why else would you have me chained up like this?”
“Well, the moon is full, for one, so I wouldn't want you to intentionally hurt yourself,” he responded.
“Why would I do that?”
He laughed bitterly and shook his head. “You have no idea what you’re in for, do you?”
“Not until you stop being so damn cryptic,” Ferren answered. “Just tell me why.”
“Not yet. I’m still trying to figure out what to do with you afterward,” he said before opening a door at the end of the hallway.
“After what?” she called out to him, terror rising up inside her once again, but he didn't answer or acknowledge that he’d even heard her.
He just kept walking until he finally disappeared out of sight. The iron door closed with a loud bang and the temperature in Ferren’s cell suddenly dipped, leaving her feeling cold and empty. It was a strange shift in emotions from what she had felt moments before and she sat down on the cold ground again. She noticed the sliver of light seeping in from across the hallway and she tried to find the window it was coming from. She moved around the cell, which was quite roomy, and eventually noticed a small window at the end of the hallway.
A peculiar place to put a window, she thought, and as she stood on her tiptoes, she saw the full moon. She suddenly remembered that full moon shining through her window the night she was sent home from the hospital. The night before she was kidnapped from her own home. That meant it was still the same day, and everyone at work would be expecting her to rest and not answer her phone when they called.
“Mike,” she whispered and wondered whether he had tried contacting her. She hoped he did, and that his protective streak had made him go over to her place. Ferren hoped he saw the mess inside her house and called the cops.
Mike would do that. I know he would.
Her body started to heat up suddenly, causing Ferren to groan, wondering what was going on now. She rolled her shoulders and heard a cracking noise come from her spine. An explosion of heat erupted in her veins and she clenched her fists as she watched the veins in her hands bulge up dramatically.
She dropped down to the floor and as she stared at her hands in horror, her nails grew long and body hair sprouted almost instantly, covering her arms and legs in a thick coat of ginger-colored hair.
Like a fox.
Or a wolf.
“What’s happening?” she gasped as her lungs burned with every breath she took, like she was being suffocated from the inside.
Then the mother of all pains ripped through her, and it felt to her as if every single bone in her body was being snapped, broken and disintegrated.
She let out a torturous scream as her body started to change shape. She transformed into something she didn't understand. She changed in a way that no one would believe if she were to tell them.
Even she didn't believe it.
She reluctantly looked down at herself and her eyes widened, terror filling every inch of her.
She was a wolf.
How was this even possible? There was no scientific explanation for what just happened to her. There wasn't even a logical explanation for this.
Ferren paced the cell, having a harder time moving around in her wolf body, and the shackle around her hind leg was now too tight and uncomfortable. She tried to get it off, but regardless of the strength she knew she had, she didn't have the right hands to get the job done. Her paws weren't made for prying open a steel shackle. She continued to pace around the cell, the chain still interfering with her, and she let out an agitated bark.
Great, I bark now. What next? Or maybe I’d rather not know, she scolded herself.
Ferren felt an unusual mix of emotions rise up inside her: anger, fear, and rage all muddled up into one single intense emotion.
Survival.
She yanked her hind leg a few times in an attempt to break the chain, and she ended up getting angrier the more time passed by. Soon she angrily and frantically tried to free herself from the chain, but it was no use. This obviously frustrated her even more, and after about an hour of struggling, she collapsed on the floor, panting heavily. She wasn't sure what was going on with her, or whether this was all a terrible yet very vivid dream. She sincerely hoped she was dreaming, as nothing would please her more than waking up any minute now and being in her comfortable bed.
Well, that, or Kodiak walking through that door.
Even though she had only seen him once and spoken to him for less than an hour, there was something about him that called out to her, that pulled her in. She had never felt that way about a guy before, and no man had ever made her feel all these things she was feeling right now. Truthfully, she had never been in love before, and had found the concept of love a little foolish. It was a hard concept for her to grasp, that one person could willingly devote themselves to another person with no guarantee that the other person would love them forever.
Ferren had been in too many empty relationships to know that love wasn’t always what you saw in the movies, and that even the most seemingly perfect relationships could have the most flaws.
People lied, cheated and hurt the ones they loved, which was wrong on so many levels. If someone truly loved another person, they’d make sure not to hurt them or deceive them. They’d do whatever was necessary to ensure the other person was happy and felt loved.
Life wasn't like that.
People weren't like that, either.
Ferren lay in the dark, still panting from straining against the chain and trying to free herself, listening to the fast thumping of her heart in her chest.
There were so many things that flipped through her mind at once and she struggled to form a cohesive thought that made any sense to her. She tried to gather her thoughts as best she could, trying to figure out what exactly had happened this past week.
She remembered waking up in the hospital, with Mike telling her that she had been attacked by an animal. She remembered the searing pain in her shoulder and that the painkillers they had administered via an IV line didn't help her one bit. That was the first thing she noticed that seemed strange to her, as she was a wimp when it came to medication, and any type of painkillers made her feel drowsy and would normally put her to sleep for hours on end.
Ferren remembered the next few days going to work and although she was still in a lot of pain, everything seemed brighter and more intense than it did before. Usually, menial tasks seemed to be more interesting in a way, as if she had gotten a bigger appreciation for it. It was probably because she nearly died, and for that week she had never felt more alive.
Now she was lying on the cold floor of a dark dungeon, locked up in a cell that was barely big enough for her wolf body, shackled to a chain that was practically a part of the wall.
She frowned, realizing her thoughts sounded ludicrous, and she was convinced she had lost her mind or that this was a dream. She gathered she would either wake up from this dream, or she’d realize that she was actually locked up in a padded room and needed more antipsychotics.
The other alternative—the one she was actually trying to avoid—was just too insane to believe. She had turned into a wolf. She was a wolf now.
That was probably what Kodiak meant when he said that she was in for a big surpr
ise.
Her eyes narrowed slightly as she realized that Kodiak knew this was going to happen, which meant that he had experienced this before, and that he, too, was a wolf.
Ferren felt a tear run down the outside corner of her eye and disappear into her fur. She felt completely out of her depth.
As a child, and even as a teenager, she had known exactly what was real and what was not. Her parents never tried to fool her into believing in the Easter Bunny or the Tooth Fairy, not because they didn't want her to experience the magic, but because they were realists, too. Ferren was a curious child, wanting to know how things worked, and how to fix them. She regularly brought injured animals home, trying to nurse them back to health. It was during her freshman year in high school when she knew she wanted to become a doctor. She wanted to help people, but also satisfy her own need to figure out what was wrong and see the process of them getting better. It was all she wanted to do, and her parents happily allowed her to pursue her dreams. She was an only child, and although some people may have said or thought that she was a spoilt brat who got everything she wanted, her parents raised her to appreciate everything she was given, and she was rewarded according to what she gave them. Her grades were perfect, and even though there were isolated incidents of rebellious behavior as a teenager, she was a well-adjusted, respectful, and decent human being.
Ferren wondered if everything her parents had told her was a lie. Sure, they told her that the Tooth Fairy didn’t exist, but what if that was a lie? At sixteen, she distinctly remembered that after watching a movie about a girl who fell in love with a vampire and a werewolf, she asked her mother which one of the two she would have chosen.
“Probably the werewolf. They’re warmer and will protect you no matter what,” her mother had answered.
“What about the vampire? He also protected her,” Ferren pointed out, referring to the human girl in the movie. “Better than the werewolf, actually.”
“But the vampire was driven by his need to drink her blood. The werewolf was driven by his love for her,” was her mother’s answer. “But they’re not real, so it doesn't really matter.”