"And how are we feeling this morning?" His face came into view as he kneeled near me. His blue eyes were small and his chin wide, short dark brown hair was cropped close to his head, and he had a smile that was entirely too large to be friendly. Half of one ear was missing and I noticed a long jagged scar just peeking around one cheek. He definitely smelled more pleasant too, like tea. A very strong black tea with a hint of cinnamon.
"Go screw yourself." I was done playing nice and trying to barter my way out of here. I wasn't about to play the same game twice with another bear shifter.
"Now, now, is that really any way to talk to someone who has your friend’s life in their hands?" His eyes narrowed as he smiled, and he nodded toward his bear companion. With a gruff, the bear trudged his way over to the corner in my blind spot and opened something. The door creaked open with an awful complaint, and I heard something heavy being dragged across the ground. I didn't want to know, didn't want to see what he was about to bring into view, afraid of who or what they were going to show me.
I craned my neck and swallowed hard against my restraints, my heart pounding in my crushed chest. My worst fears were confirmed when the bear shifter dropped a body right in front of my face.
Madeline.
I struggled against my bonds as I called out for her, hoping she would respond. But I got nothing, no sound, no movement, save for the natural rise and fall of her chest as she continued to breathe. The fact that she was still alive was the small glimmer of hope I needed.
Her hair was matted to one side of her face and there were large bruises all over her. Her bottom lip looked a little swollen, as was the cheek under her right eye. She was still wearing the same outfit from the night we had watched the Fat Bastards.
No wonder she hadn't gotten back to me.
"What did you assholes do to her?!?" I screamed, desperate to wake her up. She had always been a better negotiator than I and would have better chances at talking us out of this. At the risk of being exposed to the world, I had been keeping from her for so long. Making her understand what I was, what these men were, however, was the last thing on my mind. I just wanted to get us out of here, with our heads still attached to our shoulders.
"We roughed her up a little, only because she wouldn't give us what we wanted." He shoved his hand through the bars and grabbed my chin, turning my head to one side as if he were inspecting livestock. "She put up a good fight for a normal human. But you on the other hand...we know what you are and didn't want to take any chances."
"So what you are saying is, that you are a coward." I tried to pull my face from his grip and failed. The restraints didn't afford me a lot of movement.
"You call it cowardice, I call it taking precautions. Now. What is a wolf like you doing in a place like this, thinking she can get away with hiding in plain sight?" He patted my cheek not at all lightly before he stood.
"You think we wouldn't find your kind eventually? We have people all over this city too, you know."
I guess I should have known that the Fat Bastards and I couldn't be the only ones trying to blend into human society without giving ourselves away. I cursed at myself for getting so slack with my abilities and making it easier for their kind to find me. I should have remained homeless instead of trying to make it big, remained a filthy guttersnipe so they wouldn't have found me. I had been panhandling for money, but that was a million times better than being in here like this.
"Don't think we haven't included your other friends on this little plan either. We know what the Fat Bastards are, and if you think they are just going to waltz in here and rescue you, then you have another thing coming."
I felt something hard being pressed to the top of my head and I heard the unmistakable click of a hammer being drawn back. I shut my eyes so tight that they hurt, and held my breath, waiting for the inevitable searing fire to tear my brain apart.
"If they so much as set foot in here, we will take you and your friend out. I don't think they will be holding any more concerts with that on their consciences. As for you, well, the media will probably make up some story about the half-bit starlet who disappeared. Maybe you ran off with some drug dealer, maybe you went into street work. I honestly don't care which because no one will be able to find your body."
It was true; bear shifters could reduce a body to absolutely nothing with those teeth of theirs, to the point of it being unrecognizable. I would be found, but there would be very little of me left to even identify. And who knew what they would do to Madeline to get her out of the picture. I didn't want to think about that. She had nothing to do with any of this and I had put her in danger because of what I was. Just another innocent they were using as a pawn to get what they wanted.
"How about you tell me what you want instead of threatening me?" I asked, struggling against my bonds once more to keep him distracted.
"Nice to see you considering your future. To put things simply, all we are asking for is your bank account info. You can give it to us and we will let you both go, pain-free...well, not more than you two have already been roughed up. Or you can watch us slowly rip your friend to shreds before we do the same to you. That wouldn't be the best thing for her to wake up to, I imagine. All that pain, watching her blood pool around here."
I grimaced at the imagery that danced through my mind, and he laughed in response.
"That's rich coming from a wolf. How many lives have you ended with those teeth of yours?" He chuckled under his breath as he stepped back and ran the gun along the bars, the din ringing inside my head.
I wanted to tell myself that I had only ended the lives of the undeserving and those regarded as food. Rabbits, deer, a fox or two. The only murder I had committed was the single life of a bear shifter who had been trying to invade our camp. That had been the only time I had sank my teeth into something that didn't die immediately, and as I had felt the life draining from the four-hundred-pound creature, I knew it wasn't something I would enjoy. A good thing, because I wasn't high up in the ranks to be considered for a leadership position.
Jasper, Xavier, and Landon, on the other hand...this had been their job. Eliminating bear shifters whose adverse plans meant the death of our kind. Why hadn't I thought to ask them how many they had killed? Would they have even told me?
I found myself wishing I had gotten more time with them, better quality time so I could have learned more about them. The desperation of the moment, the chance that this situation might end with my life being taken gave me clear hindsight on how I should have approached them better. That I should have reserved my judgment until after I had gotten to know them better.
A shaky exhale escaped me as I came to terms with the fact that I could really die in this place. I wondered if anyone would even cry for me.
"Ahh, is that desperation I smell?" I heard him inhale deeply like he was regarding a carafe of expensive wine. "Don't worry little wolf. It will all be over soon. Just give us what we want."
I tried my best to compose myself, which seemed to be beyond the realms of his patience because I soon heard the dull sound of something being hit. I couldn't see but I could only guess that the bear was taking out his frustration on Madeline. My desperation gave way and I felt my wolf wanting to come out as my rage took over. I had no qualms about piercing their necks with my teeth and watching them bleed out. I would do it without hesitation if it meant getting Madeline and myself out of here safely.
"Your little temper tantrum isn't going to save anyone. You don't answer, she gets hit. You act out, she gets hit. The only thing you can do to stop this is to give us exactly what we are asking for. Are we clear?"
"I'm gonna gut you alive when I get out of here, you bastard! I'm going to rip out your insides and shove them so far down your throat, you will choke on your own bile!" I felt the change coming over me, felt my skin rippling and the heat radiating from within. Everything sharpened within my vision, and I could smell more than just the mustiness of this room. I could detect the hints o
f the bar on Madeline's clothing, I could smell the dirt on the man's boots as well as the carpet fibers from my own apartment, I could even smell what they had both eaten for breakfast today. It was a sensory overload in my brain that made it abuzz with static.
Another snarl escaped my lips and I felt the jagged edges of my canines getting longer. I thrashed against my restraints, no matter how much it hurt to do so. I just needed to shift, and I could get my feet free. Then I could break out of these chains and–
Everything went dark in that second and I was frozen mid-lunge. Confusion and worry filled me that I had only made things worse. But I felt no pain. I felt my ears pin back against my neck and I could make out the brief glimmer of moving shapes in the pitch blackness. The man and the bear were confused as well; Madeline was still in one piece.
Then all hell broke loose as a large explosion rattled the entire foundation. Even the windows vibrated within their housings, to the point of shattering. Before the dust had even settled, there was a cacophony of gunshots filling the air above our heads. A few yells followed and then the dull thuds of bodies hitting the floor.
"Go see what's going on," the man whispered harshly, his gun drawn once more. He pointed at the door this time instead of me, unable to see exactly where I was in the cage. It was likely he didn't want to risk missing and having the bullet ricochet right back into his face.
The bear complied, trudging his way across the room to the door leading to the stairs. He waited a second before slowly pulling it open with his mouth.
I could smell the blood from upstairs, and the fact that there was no more yelling meant that whoever was up there was dead. Common sense told me not to get my hopes up, that the ruckus that had taken place had nothing to do with me. But my optimism told me that people were here to rescue me, and this would be over soon. I just had to be patient and remain alive.
As the door creaked open, I realized there was no light coming through. Was it already night? Time had passed strangely, as it felt like both years and seconds since I had woken up in this place. I couldn't even be sure it was the same day, that's how out of tune I was with everything.
Silence remained. No one in the room moved, not walking to give their position away. And then the chaos erupted all over again with more gunfire. I heard a grunt and then the sound of something falling to the floor, something heavy enough to shake the very concrete it was made of. I heard the shuffling of feet behind me as the man recoiled. His movements were confusing, moving this way and that. He was probably looking for somewhere to hide and found none. This room wasn't the best to hold out against in a gunfight, not with how sparse it was.
I soon heard him collide with the wall behind him, having nowhere else to go. That left the cell to his left, but I couldn't tell if he was within my reach. From what I could tell, he was trying to keep something between himself and his assailants, so he wouldn't be taken out so soon. But there was no way he could get behind the cell, there just wasn't any room. And I highly doubted he would risk climbing in here with me. Not that he really needed to; he could threaten me with the gun through the bars at the first sign of someone spilling through the door.
Footsteps hurried down the stairs, definitely belonging to more than one person, and I craned my neck despite the darkness that surrounded me. Feral growls filled the air and there was a yell behind me, panicked and desperate. Gunshots cracked the air and the muzzle flash only revealed very minute details, one of which were several pairs of reflective eyes in those microseconds of light. My heart jumped in my throat at the thought of more bear shifters from a more territorial pack, seeking to claim this place as theirs. But there was a familiar scent in the air that swept those thoughts away and made me realize this man didn't know who he was messing with.
The Fat Bastards were here.
More shots rang out and I screamed below the din, covering my head, as bullets found root in the concrete and wood of the walls that made up the basement. There was a wheezing grunt near me and the sound of something sliding down the far wall. The potent smell of blood filled the air. At first, I was afraid it was my own, that I had been hit without realizing it. I slowly tested my limbs in turn, checked as much of my side as I could, and found no blood or bullet holes anywhere.
I closed my eyes and shuddered, not out of fear but in anticipation of getting out of here. I wanted to be out of these chains, I wanted to be in my bed, I wanted to pretend as if all of this had never happened and was all just a bad dream. I felt the tears prickling the corners of my eyes as I wished again for all of this to be over.
Then the light flickered back on and I jolted upright once more to see what was going on. Standing before me were three naked men—Landon, Jasper, and Xavier—with a handful of equally undressed men behind them. They were just as built, if not more so, and they were more interested in examining the rest of the room than concerning themselves with me.
Despite the joy that filled me, there was a wash of embarrassment through my body at my current position. There was nothing I could do to change it, chained down as tightly as I was, and I looked away from the trio as they approached. This wasn't how I wanted them to see me.
In the aversion of my eyes, I saw the man who had been threatening me slumped against the wall. A vacuous black hole was in the middle of his forehead, leaking blood and brain matter. His eyes were bulging and askew, and there was also more blood coming out his ears. The revolver hung limply from the ends of his fingertips, the chamber completely empty. I worried some of the wolf shifters might have been hit and had been injured on my account.
"You worry too much, you know. You keep that up, then maybe I will regret ever coming to save you." Xavier kneeled down and touched my cheek through the bars. I didn't want to look at him, even with his joke. I felt humiliated and stupid that I had been taken so easily, and that I’d had to rely on them to save me.
"Leave her alone, Xavier. I don't think she is in the mood for a joke." Jasper came into view as he stuck his hand into the dead man's pockets and eventually extracted a number of keys. I closed my eyes as I listened to him fiddle with them one by one, trying to find the right one to open the cell. Finally, there was a high-pitched squeak as the door swung open and I could hear someone nearing. I barely flinched as hands brushed against my cold skin, fiddled with the chains, and did their best to avoid my more sensitive areas when it came to getting rid of them. I sat back and hugged myself to protect my privacy, staring down at the horrible chains with glass eyes and a bitten lip.
"Are you all right?" Landon helped me to my feet and wrapped a large blanket around me to cover me up. It stunk of the bears who lived here, and I shuddered even more under it. The smell alone made me want to puke and I swallowed back on my nausea. I wanted to be stronger than I felt.
"Better," I whispered, touching at the tender skin on my neck. I wondered if there was any bruising, but it didn't feel appropriate to ask for a mirror. There would be time later, once we were out of here and I was back home.
Home. My apartment. It had been broken into while I was still there. The one place I had considered my solace and I could no longer trust feeling safe there. I didn't want to go back there tonight, probably not tomorrow either. I just wanted to be anywhere else.
"Is Madeline all right?" I asked as a distraction, leaning against his shoulder. His arm curled around me and made me feel a little secure.
"She looks a little banged up but still in one piece. I'm just a little glad she hasn't woken up yet, or else..."
"No, it's understandable. Explaining all of this to her would be difficult." I didn't want to think about that, but it was a fact I was going to have to face. I didn't know how I would explain to her I wasn't something of this world while still retaining her trust. In fact, she would have likely dropped me as a client if she had, and then I would be out of a job.
"We are going to have to come up with a good cover story for all of this, you know," Xavier chipped in but maintained his distance. He lo
oked quite awkward about the situation, and his eyes couldn't quite meet mine.
"I'm sure we will come up with something before she wakes up. Right now, we should get you all out of here." Jasper gestured toward the stairs and headed over to his other men, likely to give them instructions on how to take care of the situation. One of them gathered up Madeline in his arms and carried her upstairs bridal style. I couldn't help but imagine how much she would have fawned over such treatment and from such an attractive man.
The others were struggling to drag the bear's dead body up the stairs as well, but they were managing to make do. I didn't know why they were bothering; it would have been easier to just leave it here and burn down everything around it. But I imagined that wasn't how they worked.
When it was just the four of us and the dead man, I felt safe enough to pepper them with questions to satisfy my own curiosity.
"How..." I cleared my throat. It still felt dry. "How did you guys find me?"
"I told you I led an elite squad of spies and recon men. We just put them to good use. Those old friends of yours, the ones you lived on the streets with, they were pretty helpful in finding you. They saw those strange men carrying you out of your apartment, so they were very forthcoming with information. They care about you." Jasper tugged the edges of the blanket around me a little tighter. It was a nice gesture, but I would have preferred to shrug the damn thing off and be stark naked. Being so close to the bear shifters’ scent was still rattling my nerves.
It was heartwarming to know I was cared for. My eyes welled with tears and I quickly wiped them away with the back of my hand. Landon’s grip around my shoulders tightened a little.
"You have a lot of good people on your side," Xavier said, still not chancing to near. I didn't know why that made me so upset but I didn't want to push it. I didn't have the energy to argue or question him about it. I, instead, wanted to focus on the positive.
Loved by the Alpha Wolves Page 10