Chapter 38
THIRTY-EIGHT
OCEAN
I woke to rough hands grabbing me and dragging me from my cell.
It wasn’t Casey this time; it was alphas, with their auras out. I didn’t fight as they took me from my cell and down a harshly lit corridor.
I could hear the roar of the crowd as we stepped into a round chamber, bare except for one cage in the corner and a huge, round cage in the middle. Above the round cage was an opening that was flooded with light, though I didn’t need to see up to know it was the Blood Well.
The alphas took me into one of the ante-cages. I was dragged to my knees, my bound arms secured to an alpha hook set into the floor. I blinked up at a bored-looking beta medic, who held a syringe in her hand.
All the mental preparation and reassurance I’d given myself drained away as I faced the medic.
“You have quick reflexes. Good instincts. You’ll be okay, kid,” Hugo had said to me before we’d been returned to our cages.
I wished I could believe him.
The medic ripped open an alcohol swab and rubbed a patch on my arm. A cold sweat started down my back, and the voice telling me there was no use struggling was ignored. I bucked, trying to get my arms free as she picked up a syringe with a clear liquid and flicked it with her finger.
Rofetamine.
It had to be.
My struggles were useless, the shackles on my hands digging in so hard, I was sure they’d leave bruises.
There was a sharp pinch, then white-hot agony spread from the site, tearing through my veins.
I distantly registered footsteps hurriedly leaving the ante-cage and the sound of the metal door slamming.
But my head was pounding as the drug overwhelmed my body.
I’d had a rut before, but this was so much worse. There was the sharp taste of metal in my mouth, red bled to the edges of my vision, and there was fire in my veins, pulsing, demanding to be let out.
I roared, surging forward and slamming into the wall. As a bright light invaded the space, I turned. A door opened to my right, and beyond that, the smell of blood and sweat and threat—of another alpha.
I roared again, and I could do nothing but charge into the light, determined to meet this threat and vanquish it.