Bound
Ryder—Before
The metal pole was cool beneath my thin fingers. Of all the ones that held us captive, this was my favorite. The worn spots and little indents left by time marked it as mine. It was my companion when our friends came to visit. My brother’s promises of bloodshed bounced off one wall to the other, but I refused to look Darebear in the eyes. The shadows whispered why, and I explained for the hundredth time that it tortured him more than it did me. Over time, more and more of him slipped away.
Sometime over the last few years, I realized my cries only hurt him. So I stopped. He said I wasn’t right anymore, but told me it was okay to be wrong. Craning my neck, I checked the crack in the ceiling, willing it to hold on longer. I didn’t want it to kill my brother. He was all I had in our little world.
I’m not sure when it happened, but I’d become numb. I made it a game to figure out when it could have. Was it when our uncle staged a coup against our father, the Wolf King? Or was it when the witch cursed us? We’d been reduced to how we handled our urges. The more we gave in to them, the more monstrous we became, in mind. I didn’t feel the effects of her curse, but Darebear had. The number of times we could hold a conversation were few and far between. He’d already lost his ability to glamour. That’s why my friend favored me. I could still make him see a young, scrawny human boy beneath him.
I tapped the metal as I searched for the exact moment I lost my soul. The fragments scattered throughout my memory. I just had to comb through them to win the game. It couldn’t have been the day our parents died. I remember gripping my chest and sobbing when blood spurted from my mother’s throat, coating her beautiful white fur. The ache there proved I’d felt something for someone other than Darebear. The red liquid had rained down on me and enveloped me like the warmest of hugs.
I remember crying then. I giggled at that because I thought it was the worst thing in the world. My body thrust against the dirty floor and shattered glass cut through skin—a reminder of what was really happening. No, I know when it happened. I lost myself when they hurt my brother. Watching the light dim from his eyes was too much. Do you know how hard it is to make glowing eyes look dull? The voices reminded me we weren’t supposed to think of that. The game had ended, but it wasn’t fun anymore. I jerked forward and the chain around my ankle clanged against the bars.
Slam!
Slam!
Slam!
Fingers yanked at my hair. I hated it when they touched my hair. The hand on the back of my head shoved me down into the ground. Pebbles forced their way into my mouth and ground against my teeth as he slammed into me mercilessly. There was a pinch and my friend cursed behind me about something tearing. Darebear’s friend whined about how I’d be useless now.
Once, I’d been a prince, but now I was nothing more than a hole. Staying alive depended on their use for me.
“A warm hole is a warm hole,” my friend laughed. My gaze wandered up and down the pole as I inhaled deeply. The stale scent of bodily fluids, feces, and vomit filled my nose. The retching told me my brother was trying to empty the contents of his stomach, but of course, nothing came up. Even with matted fur, he was beautiful. He’d grown since they first threw us in here. As hard as it was to keep track down here, we knew it had been at least 2 years. Our friends visited once a week. Four visits meant a month passed. We’d stopped counting after 100. We’d grown so much the chains cut into skin.
At first, they would take us separately. Then they’d both play with me—one did the riding while I was forced to jerk the other. There were times I had to open my mouth for both. It shouldn’t have been possible, but they’d found a way. I cried a lot in the beginning. They were cruel, but it got worse. They liked to see how long it took for me to pass out. I couldn’t remember how many times I’d woken up to my brother crying as he was forced to continue. I wasn’t like Dare. I liked it. His tears meant he loved me. It meant I wasn’t alone.
He hated it. Before he started ebbing away, he said it made him like them. Like mounting me made him a monster. Their words had an effect on him. They ate at him, consuming him from the inside out. But they were nothing to me. I enjoyed it with him. I felt safe when I looked up and saw him, instead of them. My body flushed, my ruined heart beat again, and it was like we were free again. With him, I was transported to the outside. Where we sneaked down the halls to sneak into the woods so we could run free. The smell of grass and wind in our fur. When he filled me, it was welcomed, wanted. I didn’t need the pole when I had Dare.
The slapping of bodies jolted me from my daydream. He picked up speed, grunting as blood dripped down my knot. I rocked faster against the ground, the glass cutting deeper, the world spinning on its axis as he chased after something I only felt with Dare. One time, we sneaked through the woods, and into the human realm. We’d been stupid. Held onto our glamour like our lives depended on it. Hungry from our travels, we’d broken into the first house we saw, and raided their fridge. We filled our stomachs with chocolate pudding and had the shits all the way home. Our mother scolded us and we couldn’t step outside for months. He groaned with his release, ripping me from the memory. Relief filled me. This meant he was done.
“Finally warming up to me? I felt the way you gripped me,” he chuckled in my ear. I giggled because it was my brother I thought of. My vision went black as he punched me in the back of the head.
“What’s so fucking funny?!” he yelled. His anger only made me laugh harder.
“He’s finally cracked—” Dare’s friend’s sentence was cut short as he screamed. The tearing of flesh and crunching of bones followed. My ears perked as I turned my head to find my savior. It was the first time I’d seen him stand in a very long time. He’d doubled in size since we’d first been thrown in here. Now, he resembled the wolf from the story our parents told us about a girl with a basket. He’d done it. He’d turned the tables. Glowing eyes promised death. They slowly starved us, but Dare looked massive even in his malnourished state. I pushed off the floor, my lower half tingled as my friend pulled out of me. Cowering against the wall in a pathetic attempt to stay hidden.
That wouldn’t work. I would know.
I watched as blood dripped from his jaws. The corners of my lips lifted as the man dangled in the air. His intestines hung from my brother’s mouth. Mine growled and my mouth watered as I inched closer. I reached for my twin.
“I’m hungry,” I rasped.
“Come eat. What’s mine is yours,” he whined, as he turned his head in my direction.
“See, I would, but…” I trailed off as I banged the cuff around my ankle.
“Forgot,” he whimpered. Dropping his prey, the man gargled on his own blood as he hit the ground. For a second, I watched him as he tried and failed to scoop his organs up before turning back to my brother as he came for me. For the first time in a long while, he wasn’t wobbly as he stood on two feet. He’d gone from telling me to be patient to speaking less and growling more. Now, as the ground shook with each step, it felt like he moved on instinct. He reached down and dragged a claw along the metal. Grabbing hold of the chain, it snapped with one yank, and I was no longer bound. He whined as he lowered himself to the ground. Bringing his head closer to the ground where I lay, he nudged my hand. He was still in there.
“Don’t worry about me. It’s nothing but another day in the life. Go, have fun. I’ll catch up,” my voice shook. We had the upper hand now.
Yellow eyes stared into my soul. Once dull, they now held a spark. When he turned, I crawled toward the bleeding mess that was left of his friend. Yanking the squishy organ from his hand, I bit into it. The man yelled out and then slapped me across the face. One second his hand was pulling it from my hand, and the next it was gone. The man howled as my brother removed his arm. There was a shuffling behind us as I stuffed the squishy thing into my mouth. My brother lunged toward the sound.
“No, no, no!” my friend’s voice was panicked. Liquid oozed down my face and dripped from my chin. Grabbing the arm off the ground, I was ready to feed until the hole in my belly was filled. It’s my turn to watch the show. He screamed. Darius stood above him, the man’s cock in hand. Throwing it down, he scrambled to grab it, when my King mounted him.
“Yes, yes, yes,” I mocked. My friend’s gaze darted to the doors before returning to me. His mouth hung open as his eyes widened with understanding.
“You’re not getting out of here,” I confirmed as I bit into the arm in my hand. My brother tilted his head and saliva dribbled from his jaws.
“My brother’s screams. No one listened. I’m your friend now, but I’m so hungry,” Darius panted.
“Then eat, but don’t kill him,” I urged. He growled, his tongue lolling out as he panted. My friend looked up at me.
“Thank yo—”
“It would be a mercy,” I said, cutting him off. His eyes widened with fear, and I giggled. “Isn’t it our turn to play?”
“Our turn,” Darius agreed, eyes sparkling. Both cocks bobbed against flesh as he yanked the man back against him.
“How about a game? How many bites can you take without killing him?” I giggled as my friend struggled against the glass pieces on the floor. It was his screams that bounced off the walls and echoed down the dungeon halls. I took another bite. My wounds would heal, but this guy’s wouldn’t. Lining himself up, Dare thrust his hips.
“Come now. At least spit on it. That can’t feel good at all,” I sighed.