33. Lila
33
LILA
I woke up with the worst headache I had ever experienced in my life, while lying on a cold hard floor, face down, with my hair spread all around me. It was as if they had tossed me here. My brain was thumping in my skull, the pressure causing me to wince.
Slowly, I managed to lift myself up with my arms, sitting back until I was on my knees. The cell was dark, and it was just that, a cell. Iron bars, concrete floors, and absolutely no sign of any light, except for one lantern across from me, sitting on an old wooden stand.
The tightness around my neck had me reaching up, grasping at the fabric collar wrapped around.
“I wouldn’t pull that.” A rough voice came from the dark corner behind me.
I jumped to my feet, fighting back the dizziness as I backed away, keeping my eyes on the other prisoner in the cell with me, shrouded in the shadows.
“Once the box on the side doesn’t feel the pressure of your neck, a needle will snap out, injecting the liquid silver into your carotid,” he explained, his voice sounding exhausted.
“Where am I?” I asked.
“Ophidian.”
“I know that.” The sight of Markus standing over me while I lay, unable to move, at the precinct, gave me shivers. “I meant, where in Ophidian?”
“The holding cells.” I could almost hear the ghost of a smile in his voice.
I crossed my arms over my chest, having hit my limit with the damn male sass in my life. “If I know where I am, I might be able to reach out to my mates.” I had no idea if I could, but I could try. Then again, would they even listen?
After the number of times I’d made it known how much I loathed them, would they just cut their losses with me? I had no one else. I still was upset. Did that mean it would be wrong of me to rely on them at this moment?
“No can do. That collar also blocks out the powers within. No mates, no bonds, no…gifts.” He sighed. “Get comfortable, kid. The only way out of here is through a body bag.”
“That wouldn’t be logical for Markus. If he wanted to kill me, he would’ve done it right away. Everything else would be a waste.” I began walking around the cell, testing each of the bars, my eyes skimming the room for anything.
I was exhausted, but I couldn’t just sit and wait to see what Ophidian had in store for me.
Three sides of the cell were iron bars, and the fourth was a cement wall. The room was completely empty, except for the lantern and the table on which it sat. The coolness answered one of my questions—we were in a basement or cellar of sorts. What was the obsession with wolves and underground floors?
“You smell like Cridhe. I doubt you will give him what he wants, which means the only way out for you is a body bag. It was his mistake to think a member of Cridhe could give him details.”
I turned around and raised an eyebrow. “Oh?”
“Cridhe don’t talk. For a pack as large as theirs, they hold a loyalty to their alpha like no other.”
I scoffed. “Likely a loyalty carved out of fear.”
There was a pause as I heard the deep inhale. He was taking in my scent once more. “Who are you?”
“Didn’t you just determine I am Cridhe?”
“Beyond the stench of death, there are three male scents surrounding you. Whose mate are you? Which one?”
I could tell by the way he said it that he knew exactly who the males were. “All of them.”
His movement had me backing up against the bars, keeping space between us as he strode into the glow of the lantern. He was as tall as Kage, but nowhere near as muscular, and at least twenty years older. His dark hair was greying at the sides, his face beat up and bloody, lip swollen, eye bruised.
He was clearly a shifter—I could smell it—but why hadn’t he healed? My gaze fell to the collar wrapped around his neck, the little grey box on the side of it with a green blinking light.
His green eyes ran over my body, assessing, before he threw his head back, laughing. “You belong to the triquentra? That rat fucked up now. I apologize, I must’ve missed the ceremony while holed up in this hell.”
I relaxed but only slightly. “You missed nothing, and I belong to no one except myself. I didn’t exactly get a choice in the matter.”
“Fated?” he asked. I said nothing, and he went back to his corner, sitting on the floor. “He really won’t let you go, then. No matter how much you give in to his demands. I see Markus’s tactics now. He’s going to keep you locked up and use your safety to control Cridhe. Eventually, he will use your bond to bring them to their knees.”
I frowned. “Is he allowed to do that?”
“Does it matter what is allowed? Shifters do what they want. There are no morals or high values among packs anymore. No order or control. The balance is broken and has been for quite some time.”
“Who are you?” I asked.
“Malcolm Ophidian.”
“You’re in your own prison?” I raised an eyebrow, and then it clicked for me. “You’re the missing alpha.”
In the shadows, I could see the slight nod of his head.
“Why?”
“Markus cannot kill me without first challenging me, and he knows he would not win. If he does win, he will have a line of challengers waiting. He is strong, but not strong enough. Causing me to disappear was the only way he could step in as alpha. Holding the spot until I am found .” He shook his head with a chuckle. “I should’ve seen the rat for who he was since the beginning.”
“So, I guess you and I are stuck being prisoners forever. There really is no way out?”
“No. He controls you with the collar. The minute you step off territory, you will be jabbed. You cannot shift, call through your bond, or use any abilities.”
“No shifting?”
“No.”
“Do abilities include healing?” I asked.
“Yes. It uses your hearts power.” He confirmed what I had suspected.
“Yet I can use other abilities, such as scent.”
He cleared his throat, hiding a laugh. “Yes, young pup. Your senses are yours, they do not come from your heart.” His tone was very condescending, and I felt the need to defend myself.
“Go easy on me, old man. I wasn’t exactly raised by shifters.”
He fell quiet once more. Time ticked away slowly. I tried to reach out to Weylin a few times, but there was no response, no inkling of a connection to any of them. Then again, after seeing the aftermath of the pain and destruction Cridhe caused, did I want a connection to them in the first place?
“You come from Port Renderson,” Malcolm said.
I hesitated, thinking it through before answering, trying to figure out how he knew and whether telling him would harm me. “Yes,” I finally replied. In the end, it was clear Malcolm wasn’t a threat. Not here, not like this, not right now.
“Fated mate to Kage Cridhe?”
“And Weylin and Rainor,” I whispered.
“Fated mate to the three of them.” Malcolm gave a short laugh. “That old wolf would be celebrating in his grave right now,” he said to himself.
I raised my eyebrow, about to ask who, when the sound of a door opening in another room echoed along the cement walls. I stood up quickly, but Malcolm was there, stepping in front of me, shielding me.
“Stand tall and stay strong, pup. Don’t give in to any demands. Keep your chin up. Their objective isn’t to kill you, we’ve established that. They will likely use you to get to Kage.”
Three men holding short poles and four wolves strode into the room, led by Markus.
“Malcom,” Markus said, his grin sending chills down my back. “I see you’ve picked yourself up off the ground. Go away.” He hissed the last part.
Malcolm didn’t move from in front of me.
“Ah, got yourself a little playmate? Well, this one is mine. She’s too good for a disgusting omega such as yourself.”
A growl vibrated through Malcom’s chest, and Markus fell back half a step. It was a small movement, barely noticeable, but it caught my eye all the same. I held back a smile. Omega? Yeah, no matter what Markus called him, it was clear Malcolm was stronger than him. If it wasn’t for the collar, he wouldn’t be here.
Markus snapped his fingers, and one of them opened the cell door. Malcolm put his arm to guide me behind him, backing up until my back hit the wall. I heard the unforgettable crackling of Tasers, and Malcom sprang into action. He fought the three men, throwing punches, elbowing one in the face, smashing his forehead into their skull, all as they jabbed their Taser poles into his body.
I could see they were hurting him, leaving burn marks, his muscles spasming under the touch, but he pushed through.
“Stop!” I cried out. “I’ll go.”
But it didn’t stop. One guy grabbed my arm, yanking me out of the cell and throwing me into Markus’s waiting arms. The assault on Malcom continued as I was being dragged out of the room.
I could still hear the sounds of the fight as I was pulled through the doorway into another cement room. This one was narrow and damp, drains along the center of the floor, chains and shackles lining the walls.
Markus yanked me by my hair, holding my wrists with one of his hands while he manhandled me to the chains. “Make them stop!” I shouted, trying to strain and stare at the doorway, as if I could catch a glimpse of Malcom. Instead, a few guards with their poles walked through. “I’ll do whatever you want, just please make sure he’s okay!”
“Now, why would I do that ?” God, his voice was awful, causing my stomach to flip. “You will do whatever I want, regardless of whether he’s bleeding out right now.”
He pushed me up against the wall. Multiple sets of hands were on me at this point, some of them beaten and bloody from the fight they were just in. I prayed Malcolm was okay.
A body pressed against my back, shoving me into the wall, while the others chained and shackled my wrists and ankles. The chains were pulled tight until my limbs were extended out. I tried to fight against them, but every movement had the metal cutting into my skin.
I cried out against the pain as blood dripped down my arms.
The body against my back was replaced with another. Markus’s hot breath brushed my ear as he hissed, “Let’s see if Kage enjoys his meat beaten and burned.”
He backed away, gripping my clothes as he did and ripping them off my body, the pull of the fabric burning against my skin. Tasers crackled to life, and I closed my eyes, trying to slow my breathing. Calming my whimpers, knowing exactly what was about to happen.
Each blow to my body with a fist, every searing prod with the Taser, reminded me of them. How romantic it would be, in my dying moments, that I thought of them. Of the time we’d spent during my heat. Of the places on my body Weylin had worshiped and kissed. Of Kage holding me in his arms, keeping me safe from whatever harm he believed lurked outside. Of Rainor, bearing not only himself to me, but also the beast.
How utterly beautiful it was…
Only, it wasn’t.
Acid brewed within my heart with every blow. Hatred grew within my mind, tainting my thoughts with every jab of the Taser. They did this to me. After a crack of my ribs, and a smack against my bare ass, I wished I had never touched them. I wished we had never been mates. I wished they had never cornered me in that alley. This…was their fault. Their lies shaped my reality. There was no romance found within my heart, only pain and malice created by them .
Before Kage, Weylin, and Rainor, Max had been alive. Before them, I’d been an accomplished detective. Before them, I’d lived comfortably in my childhood home, knowing nothing of the suffering that my biological family had endured.
Because of them, I had been stripped and lost every part of the person I thought I was. I used to be strong, and resilient, but they stole so much of what I loved from me, that I could no longer feel any love for them.
The beating ended, the men around me out of breath, and then the sound of a belt buckle being undone echoed in what I now learned would be my tomb. The place I became completely broken, not only physically, but as those fists and electric shocks lay into me, I was broken mentally. Reminded of the realities and dangers of being with them, living as a shifter, would cause.
I squeezed my eyelids impossibly tighter as a zipper was pulled down. Markus stepped up behind me, his hand gripping the back of my neck and pressing my face against the concrete.
That hatred, despair, and complete loss of self twisted something dark inside of me, and I wanted him to know. I wanted Markus to see it.
Why should I be the only one who was haunted?
I opened my eyes, and from the corner met his heavy gaze, snarling at him. A promise to haunt him for the rest of his life.
“Alpha!” someone yelled from the far side of the chambers. “We’re under attack!”
“Hold them off!” he growled back, his eyes not leaving me, his dick grazing the skin of my ass. Bile rose in my throat, but I held strong, letting my anger flow through my stare. I wasn’t going to give him the satisfaction of me cowering. I wasn’t going to let him take that power.
“Sir, there are too many. It’s Cridhe, they’ve flooded the land.”
Markus seemed angry by this. His teeth came out, viciously biting me in the back of my shoulder before pulling himself away. “Leave her!” he ordered.
I tried to struggle against the chains, but it was useless. I stayed there until my hands and feet became numb. Just as I began to drift off, completely exhausted and spent, shouts and the sounds of a fight broke out behind me.
Someone grabbed the shackles holding me up and undid the clamps, freeing my ankles and then my wrists. Without feeling in my feet, I fell to the ground, but Malcolm caught me. “He should’ve known it would come to this. Now Kage will kill the innocent to get you back.”
I stared up at him, unable to respond to what he’d just said. It was wrong. In my mind, I knew it was wrong that more bystanders would be killed all because of Cridhe. But I couldn’t muster up any emotion for it anymore. I truly was broken. I no longer cared.
Malcolm glanced into my eyes, and somehow, I think he saw it too.
“Come on, we need to get you out of here.”
I sat on the concrete floor as he pulled a shirt off a dead shifter and slipped it over my head. I did my best to get my arms into the sleeves, struggling with any movement.
The muscles along my back were so tight, it was hard to breathe. My ribs were cracked, I was sure of it. When Malcom scooped me into his arms, I couldn’t stop myself from crying out at the sharp pain. He ignored me and began running.
Every time we came to a doorway, he made sure to stop and dip his head out into the next room or corridor, checking out his surroundings before proceeding. I did my best to bite my lip and hold in my whimpers in case we ran into anyone, but the place was empty, deserted.
When we got to a set of stone stairs, Malcolm ran up them. The weight of my body seemed to be nothing to him. I was surprised by his burst in energy.
At the top of the stairwell, though, he set me down, opening the door and glancing out. The bright light from the day caused us both to wince and look away. Malcolm closed the door. “There's about twenty of them. I don’t know if their loyalty will fall with me or Markus.”
“Seems like you have a problem,” I said, wincing as my back fell against the wall.
Markus stared at me. “Over thirty years ago, Byron Cridhe and I were alerted to the order to destroy Scarab Pack.”
I closed my mouth, cutting out the sound of my breathing so I could hear him.
“Scarab were gentle shifters. They were strong with their wolf and very peaceful. We talked to their alpha, warning them to run and hide. The council had nearly every pack in the area on their side. But he was stubborn and refused. It was you the council was after. It was you that Scarab refused to give up.
“We came to their territory under the pretense of carrying out the council's orders. There were some we killed to keep the cover, until we were able to find you. We hid you between our territories, Cridhe and Ophidian, hoping you would be protected until the time came that you were ready to restore balance back to our world.”
“This makes no sense.” Tears fell freely from my eyes.
“You have to live, kiddo. You have to make it back to Kage. It’s their time to protect you now.” Malcolm reached up and, in one swift movement, ripped off his collar as quickly as he could.
It still wasn’t quick enough.
The sound of compressed air filled the space between us. Blood and silver liquid began leaking from his neck. “I will give you as much time as I can.” I could see he was struggling with the pain. “You are the fate of shifter kind.”
He transitioned before me, the process faster than I would have thought possible with the silver now coursing through his bloodstream. And then he burst through the door, tearing into the guards before him and creating a path for me.
I had no time to think about what he had just told me; I had to move. I had to make sure I didn’t waste his sacrifice.
With the feeling back in my feet, I ran from the stairwell and into the open. Some of the guards had knelt down, lowering their heads to Malcolm, those still loyal to him. I prayed they could save him in time. Weylin had lived when he had a silver bullet in him. I hoped Malcolm would too.
I followed the light, leading me towards the open doors and outside.
I didn’t know what I had expected to see when I walked out. Maybe chaos and destruction. Bodies of the dead lost in battle, houses on fire and burning down. Instead, there were groups of who I assumed were shifters from Ophidian Pack sitting down together. Black wolves that I recognized from Cridhe paced around the groups, keeping them in line. Gammas in tactical uniform and holding guns walked around in between the groups. Ophidian shifters were outnumbered by at least three to one.
“Told you I’d always find you.” The sound of his voice was both painful and confusing. Painful, because it reminded me of all I had endured at their expense. Confusing, because, despite the trauma I had gone through, my wolf still found solitude in the sound.
I stared at Weylin, standing twenty or so yards away. He wore the same tactical uniform as some of the other gammas and held his gun with both hands across his body. Beside him, the beast snarled and snapped, saliva dripping. I could see the restraint and struggle it took to stay where he was.
On the other side was Kage. His black fur, with white frosted tips here and there, stood on end. He wasn’t looking at me, though; he was looking past me. A low warning growl started, and the crackle was the only thing I needed to push forward towards them.
The enemy of my enemy was my friend, and I didn’t want to stay in Ophidian any longer. I wasn’t fast enough, though. The prod came out, hitting me in the back of the neck. I cried out, quickly reaching up and ensuring the collar was still in place, the strap now burned. I held the box to me, afraid to let go.
At the same time, the beast launched himself, barreling towards us with a speed both uncanny and impossible. I turned, backing away from his target as he threw himself at the guard, his jaws opening over his head and crashing down, snapping the guard’s skull and shaking it, blood and brain matter splattering around us.
I kept backing up to get out of the line of fire, almost making it off the front steps before someone hooked their arm around my neck, dragging me back.
“No!” I screamed. I could smell Markus all around me.
“I was going to be alpha, me! It was my turn!” Markus shouted.
The growl that ripped through the air had my heart stopping. Kage ran at us, his sights set on Markus.
“They stole from me. I will steal from them!” His fingers slipped into the already broken collar around my neck, yanking it until the fabric came undone, followed by the familiar sound of compressed air releasing. The pinprick was small, but it burned, spreading like wildfire through my neck and down my body.
Markus pushed me forward, and I staggered, trying to focus on Weylin running at me as Kage ran right past me. I collapsed, falling into Weylin’s arms as he slid onto the ground to catch me. My shoulders and head resting on his thighs, he bent down over me, his hands framing my face as his thumb stroked my skin.
Weylin’s scent fell over me, and tears rolled down my cheek as I stared up into his eyes. “Say something,” he begged.
“Wondered when you assholes would show up,” I struggled to say.
His lips twitched, the worry on his face relaxing just a fraction. “Love you too, babe.”
“’S’not what I said.” My body began to shiver.
Weylin frowned, turning my head to the side and pressing his fingers to my neck. I winced. “What the fuck?”
Kage was now in my line of sight. He had shifted into his human form, grappling with Markus and slamming him down to the ground. Markus scrambled back and transitioned to a wolf. Flawlessly, Kage was a wolf, the two of them attacking one another, teeth bared, blood flying.
Kage was…terrifying. I’d known his transitions were fast, but I never could’ve imagined he could change in and out of human form while in battle. One minute, two wolves were ripping one another’s throats out, and the next, Kage had his massive arms wrapped around the wolf’s neck, slamming him into the ground, and then he was a ball of black fur again.
My body was becoming more and more cold. “He’s so sexy.” I couldn’t take my eyes off Kage. “I loathe him so much, I don’t know whether to kill him or force him to deal with me every day of his life.”
“Medic!” Weylin yelled. “I need a medic!”
I turned my head towards him. “I hate you too. I hate what you did to me. I hate that you tricked me. I hate that you took Max away.”
Weylin pressed his lips together. “It’s the silver talking, babe. We are going to help you. We are going to save you.”
“Don’t bother.” I looked back to Kage’s fight. “What…is even…the point?” The shaking began to increase.
Weylin turned to his mic. “I need a goddamn medic! Bring me the doctor!”
Kage was human again, holding the wolf in his hands by his fur and staring him down. “Change,” he ordered, but half alive, the wolf did nothing. “Change!” Kage demanded.
Markus’s body contorted and shifted against his will. He fought every moment of it, and when he finally made it to human form, his limbs were hanging in a very unnatural way. Kage grabbed him by the arm and began dragging him to us.
“Angel.” I turned my head to Rainor. His eyes were lit like fire, all he wore was a pair of spandex shorts, and his hair was sticking up in different directions.
“I hate you too,” I told him, narrowing my eyes.
“I know.” He threaded his fingers with mine and brought my hand to his lips. “She is like ice.”
There’d been a challenge, down in the bay back home, a number of years ago. It was called the polar bear dip, and a bunch of officers completed it to raise money for charity. I was part of the group, but the icy cold of the winter water hadn’t bothered my shifter body when we jumped in. Though, watching everyone else take gasping breaths against the frigid dunk and then begin shaking… I imagined I was now feeling what they had felt.
Rainor slipped his arms under me, and I screamed out in pain. Even without the collar, my body had done nothing to heal the broken ribs, burns, and bruised muscles from my earlier beating. No doubt, the silver had stopped any possible healing. I arched my back away from his touch.
Weylin grabbed hold of my shirt, raising it and exposing Markus’s handiwork. A chorus of curses and growls erupted.
Rainor gingerly scooped me into his lap, holding my back against his chest as carefully as he could.
Kage threw Markus before me. He was still alive, his eyes wide and filled with fear as he stared at me. Kage held out his hand, and I watched it morph, changing into a hybrid of a wolf and human, neither one nor the other, but a combination of both. He drove his claws into Markus’s chest.
Markus screamed as his ribs were cracked wide open, but only for a moment. Though his eyes were blinking, tears trickling down, and blood bubbled from his mouth, he had fallen silent, and I was now staring at his heart, still beating.
Kage reached in and pulled the organ out, tendons and muscles stretching tight until snapping off. He walked over to me, tangled his other hand into my hair, and tugged my head until I was looking up at him.
How tragically beautiful Kage was, I thought as I stared into his blue eyes. Absolutely broken inside and out. His only way to survive was to shut any semblance of emotion out of his body. I guess I now understood.
“Show me your teeth,” he said.
I knew where this was headed…and I couldn’t. I hated everything they had done to get to where they were. I hated the greed for continuous power. Greed that jeopardized so many innocent lives. This was where I was meant to die. And die, I would. They were making me one of them, and I refused, jutting my chin out defiantly.
I pressed my lips tightly together.
Anger flared behind his stare. “Show me your teeth,” he ordered, and for the first time ever, I felt the persuasion. This whole time, I’d thought I was immune to them, when in reality, he just hadn’t used it on me. Kage had gone on and on, stroking my ego as he told me how much of an alpha I was. Relinquishing control to me now and then while holding his true strength back. It was all a tactic. Kage was stronger than me, more alpha than I could ever be, and had the power to hold complete control over me.
And he used that power now.
The force was pushed upon my body, and my teeth began elongating through no want of my own.
The heart, still warm and twitching, was then held up to my lips.
“Eat.” The persuasion fell on me again, and I bit into the flesh. It was almost hot and chewy, the blood thick and coppery against my tongue, but it was smooth. I tried not to hold it in my mouth too long, swallowing large chunks to get it over with, because it became apparent my body wasn’t going to stop consuming until it was all gone. My wolf obeyed, even when neither of us wanted to.
The moment the flesh moved down my throat, I could feel a pulsing energy within me. I could feel my body healing, my own heartbeat becoming stronger, the coursing waves of power filling me with every thump-thump.
Thump-thump.
Thump-thump.
This was a dangerous drug, however…the silver still wrecked my body, and even though I was healing, I could still feel within myself that I was dying. The liquid metal killing me faster than a weak heart like Markus’s could fix me. The shakes worsened, my body going limp and shutting down.
I kept my eyes locked on Kage’s, because for some reason, I wanted him to see. I wanted him to watch me die. I wanted him to feel the pain of losing me, his efforts to save me all for nothing. I wanted to punish him by dying because, as the heart restored my outer body, it had also restored the bond.
The damaged bond that I could feel him opening as wide as he could and, within it, allowing me to feel his weakness. There was nothing he could do now to save me, and that killed him.