Chapter Eleven
Lissa: Caged in Captivity
My head throbbed when I came to, but that wasn’t what had my attention. My skin prickled from the cold surface I was lying on. My heightened senses also picked up that I was someplace unknown. It didn’t help that I could feel something around my neck that wasn’t there when I awoke this morning.
My eyes flew open as panic set in. My hands grabbed the strange collar, pulling and tugging, but it wouldn’t break free. I tried to summon my dragon strength, but nothing was happening. My eyes went wide with shock. For the first time, I couldn’t reach my dragon, and I whimpered, not understanding what was going on.
“It’s to dampen your powers,” said a female voice in a soft tone.
I peered up and saw a blue-haired woman with stunning blue eyes and a fair completion staring at me. She was in a cage in front of me, and it was the first time I noticed that I was in a cage similar to hers. A few other women were all wearing similar collars and locked in cages of varying sizes. They weren’t big enough for us to stand, only sit or lay huddled into a ball.
There wasn’t much lighting for me to tell how big the room was, but the air was cold, and I was glad I was still wearing my clothes.
“It’s so you can’t shift or use your magic,” she said as she looked around as if she was taking a risk talking to me. “The collar.”
That wasn’t helping me at all. I had gotten used to having my dragon. It suddenly felt like I was empty, that my dragon was gone, and I felt my anxiety welling up. I rolled over onto my backside, drew my legs back, and kicked the door of the cage hard, but it wasn’t budging. I kicked harder a few more times until a large, bulky man stormed into the room, approached my cage, and hit it with a baseball bat.
“Hey,” he shouted, whacking the cage door again hard enough that the cage vibrated. “You’re not going to break free from that no matter how hard you kick it. So, knock it off.”
I kicked once more in defiance, and he let out a loud laugh.
“Keep on, little dragon. I like that fighting spirit of yours. Going to fetch me a nice price for you.” His eyes ran over my body hungrily, and I shivered in disgust.
I didn’t like the sound of what he said either. What did he mean by that? Was he going to sell me? For what purpose and to whom? Horrible thoughts of when I was to be offered to the alpha of my former hoard flashed through my mind. I wouldn’t stick around to find out if that was what he planned on doing. I was going to get free. Was Vince a part of this? Would he find me if not? I was kicking myself for not accepting some sort of mating bond with him. I knew that if we went through with it, he would be able to find me without any issues.
I watched the man walk away, but not without looking at everyone locked away in a cage. I waited until he was entirely out of hearing range before I turned my attention toward the female who helped me.
“What did he mean he said he was going to ‘sell me’?” I asked.
“I think it’s a sex trafficking ring for some sort of breeding program,” a woman beside me replied. I glanced over at her, but she had her back turned toward me.
“What?” I scoffed. “How do you know?”
She sniffed and then wiped away a tear. “I overheard them talking.”
“This is horrible,” I said with a snarl.
“It is,” the blue-haired woman answered. “There were a few other women here, but they left. I overheard that guy talking to another, saying they received a good payout for them because of their species.”
I’m sure she was right. I knew that the numbers were down for us purebred dragon shifters. It was the main reason why the alpha wanted me so badly. He had hopes of regrowing our numbers. I understood where he came from, but I wouldn’t be forced into that. I also enjoyed my freedom very much. I couldn’t imagine how these other women were feeling.
“Try not to fight them,” the blue-haired said.
“Why not?” I asked, feeling slightly irritated at being cooped up in such a small cage. I wasn’t going to give up so easily. The moment they opened my cage door, I was going to give them a fight.
“They’ll use a tranquilizer on you,” the blue-haired replied.
“Thank you for helping me.” The blue-haired woman nodded, and then I asked, “What are you?”
She offered me a small smile. “I’m a selkie. What are you?”
“Wow! I haven’t heard of a selkie before.” I was genuinely amazed to meet my first one. I’m sure she was quite valuable, and I had to shake my head at the thought. We were all valuable in our own way.
“We’re very rare. I think I’ve met a few others like me besides my mother and her sisters.”
“I’m a dragon. There aren’t many of us left. Females are even rarer these days, from what I was told.”
“That’s probably why we’re here.”
“Probably so. Whatever the reason, we must find our way out of here.”
“I’m not sure how we’ll manage that. I don’t even know where we are.”
“I’m sure we’ll figure it out soon enough,” I replied.
I wanted to give her hope, but then again, I didn’t know if anyone was coming for me , let alone us. I’ve only ever relied on myself and have done such a damn good job of it too. I was too stupid to have let my guard down. Would Vince think I had left him without saying goodbye? I did the first time we slept together. I had no way of letting him know what happened to me.
Selkie and I, and the others, needed to stay strong. If we worked together, we could get out of here.