Chapter 2
Jade Rivers
How much time had passed? I couldn’t remember as I pressed a hand into my aching forehead. The room was dark and smelled like laundry detergent but that was it. I blinked to let my eyes adjust to the light but it didn’t matter.
“Nalia?” I whispered into the darkness. She should have risen to the surface by now to help with my eyesight.Nothing.
“Your wolf won’t help you here, girl.” The voice startled me and I sat up straight on what I imagined to be the bed.
“Who are you?” My voice trembled into the darkness. Where was I? What happened? How I had gotten here seemed to be a blur.
“I am a prisoner here too,” The rough voice rolled through me and I could feel the power in their wolf even though I couldn’t smell them.
Without Nalia, I felt like I couldn’t breathe. I felt like I couldn’t live. There was a void in my soul that only she could fill. What happened to her? How could I get her back? A sharp pain shot through my temple and I sucked in a quick breath as I doubled over. Chains on the wall clanked together as the shackle on my wrist yanked me back. The back of my head thumped against the wall and a tear leaked from the corner of my eye.
“How long have I been here?” I winced as pain shot through my head again.
“Possibly a week, maybe two.” A chain scraped the floor and I realized the man was in the same room as me. Were there others in here with us? “Everything blurs together when you’ve been drugged and in the dark.”
“If you’re a prisoner like me then how did you know Nalia was my wolf?” My head was spinning now and all I wanted to do was lie back down to let my consciousness leave me again.
“Nalia is an ancient name, I can feel the power when you say it.”
A banging on the door had my back going rigid. I sat up straight and scooted as far away from the sound as I could. The chain scraping the ground from the other side of the room stopped. Bright light blasted through the darkness as a door opened across from me. I sucked a breath between my teeth and closed my eyes. The light still hurt. Moisture flooded my closed eyes and I turned my head down. I couldn’t let my captors see me weak. I wouldn’t let them see me weak.
“Stop talking in here or you’ll be separated.” The voice rolled over me in waves and I felt my tongue swell behind my lips. My body wanted to obey but my soul was objecting. It was a new sensation that reminded me of the night Rafe Crimson had forced a change on me. But instead of fighting his Alpha order, I had obeyed. With the order rolling through me from this stranger, I wanted nothing more than to fight it. Pain rolled up my spine but I managed to blink my eyes open and look to the corner of the room. The place where the other stranger was being held.
I sat up straight as I got a good look at him. The man at the door didn’t seem to care that I could see as long as we weren’t speaking to each other. I relaxed my shoulders and came to a conclusion. I would obey,for now.But I would find a way around all of this. The stranger didn’t look to be much older than me. His body was thin from being starved and his cheeks were gaunt. His dark brown eyes flashed to mine and his brown skin looked to be coated in a thin sheen of sweat. I held my breath. He had a long beard covering his chin and some of his neck. His dark hair was long past his shoulders in thick waves.
I wouldn’t allow them to take me prisoner for much longer. I would fight till my last breath.
Gods save them. I was going to make this placetheirliving hell.
The man in the doorway took a step in before he flipped the lights on overhead. I flinched against the brightness again and turned my head down. After the moisture and pain had left my eyes, I lifted my gaze to the gatekeeper of my prison cell. He wore a black ski mask over his face and had a long rifle in his hands. I inhaled hard through my nose.
Nothing.His scent was either gone or Nalia’s absence was taking a toll on my body. The rest of his clothing was black and thick. I couldn’t tell if he was stocky in build or if it was just the baggy clothing.
“Nice to see you’ve finally decided to join the land of the living,” The man’s voice was gruff. It sounded like his wolf was ready to come to the surface but his eyes were clear blue before they went a shade darker. “If you keep trying to fight, we will put you down again. There is such a thing as a lethal dose of wolfsbane for your wolf inside you.”
What did that mean? I couldn’t remember fighting them but that didn’t mean I hadn’t tried. My hands curled into fists at my sides.
“You would kill off my wolf then?” I sat up straight against the wall. My chains clattered together and echoed around the room.
The man took a step forward and I realized the gun he held wasn’t one with bullets, but one with darts instead. “Yes, I will kill your wolf. And do you know what happens to the human side when the wolf is dead?”
My throat dried as I tried to swallow. I didn’t want to hear this but I knew I needed to.
“You will die too, except your death will be much longer, much more painful.” He twitched his head and it made a loud crack. “And I love to be the one to snuff the life out of wolves.”
The door slammed shut behind him but at least he had left the light on. The room we were in looked like a regular bedroom without windows. I was chained to the wall beside a mattress that was on the ground. No box spring or frame to be seen. The other prisoner didn’t even have the luxury I did, but at least his clothes were clean. He leaned against the wall and I noticed the purple spots under his eyes. The walls were white and so were the floors. There was absolutely nothing in the room that I could make into a weapon. I pulled on the shackle around my wrist to test my strength but it was no use, they had somehow made Nalia go away.
My eyes surveyed the walls as the man leaned forward in the corner. “You will not escape here, I hate to break it to you.”
“You know nothing about me,” I whispered angrily. I wasn’t going to go down without a fight. Too many things had happened to me. I wasn’t going to continue to be the victim. I was going to save myself. The rest be damned.
“That may be true, but you have no idea where we are. You will get yourself caught and killed trying to play the hero.” The man shook his head and the ends of his hair brushed his shoulders.
“Then where are we?” I asked as his eyes flicked to the white door the prison guard had come through.
The man licked his dry, cracked lips. “We are somewhere that nightmares come alive. If you have information they will torture it out of you…” He paused. “There are people here that are held captive in their minds.”
My eyes flashed to his. That sounded like Carden. Is this where he had come from?
