Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Riot

I stalk through the cell door, seething with rage. The metallic clang echoes through the cell block as the guards shove me inside. Their faces twist with disgust, but I can smell the acrid stench of their fear.

Good.

They should be afraid. I’m a monster – a cold-blooded killer. The image of the Moscow Mule’s lifeless body flashes before my eyes, and I feel sick.

Parker’s smirking features shimmer on the edges of my vision, too.

I had no choice.

The stakes are too high. The thought of how much he holds over me tightens the knot in my chest. He knows I can’t defy him, no matter how much it destroys what’s left of my soul.

I whirl to snarl at the guards, my lip curling away from my teeth, which are still sharp and extended. I’d like nothing more than to take out one of their throats, too, right now – these blindly obedient minions of my master. But something stops me short. A scent…coming from the cell beside mine. It’s intoxicating, like moonlight and wildflowers.

Against my will, I turn. The cell next to mine is no longer empty. Normally, I don’t pay much attention to who comes and goes in this place. There’s no sense in forming attachments or even showing any interest in those around me. But today is different. Today, a woman stands there, staring at me with wide eyes.

Fuck!

Time seems to stop as our gazes lock. Her eyes are a warm, honeyed chestnut, fringed with thick lashes. Long, red-gold hair tumbles over her shoulders in untamed waves. Her full lips are parted slightly as if she’s as stunned by this strange connection as I am.

My heart stalls and then picks up speed. The air feels electric. It crackles over my skin, raising the hairs on my arms. I’ve never experienced anything like it. It’s as if an invisible tether is drawing me to her, overriding thought and reason.

God help me!

She is quite possibly the most beautiful creature I’ve ever seen. High cheekbones, a pert nose, flawless skin aside from the faintest smattering of freckles over the bridge of her nose…as if the sun took the time to kiss her there. But it’s more than that. And for the life of me, I can’t say what.

Questions race through my mind.

Who is she? Why is she here?

I want to ask, but I won’t. I never ask questions. I never speak to anyone here. So, I simply stare, drinking her in like a man dying of thirst. The guards forgotten, I stay like that…staring…staring for a moment that seems to last a lifetime. The pull is even stronger now, a living thing winding around us both. I ache to reach through the bars and touch her. To see if her skin is as soft as it looks.

Skin…

The feeling of skin beneath my fingertips… I can’t remember what that’s like – aside from those moments in the ring where I have a grip on an opponent. But the thought of touching someone I’m not about to kill-

I swallow hard.

I don’t want to think about that right now.

I focus on her.

Wolf…

She’s a shifter, like me. I can feel it in my bones, a connection that transcends the steel bars between us. A flicker of some strange, unidentifiable emotion passes over her features, and suddenly, I’m transported back to a time when I was free – free to run through the woods, to howl at the moon, to simply exist without the weight of this curse that has become my life.

The guards fade into the background as I drink in her presence, committing every detail to memory. The gentle curve of her jaw, the way her chest rises and falls with each sharp breath, the fierceness burning behind those eyes. She’s a spark of hope in this ugly place, a reminder that I’m not alone, that there’s still beauty in this cruel world worth fighting for.

Bullshit!

I yank my eyes away, angry with myself for allowing this moment of weakness. There is no beauty in this godforsaken hell. Nothing that isn’t just a fleeting hint at a life that’s lost to me.

Shoving the image of those eyes out of my mind, I turn and head for my bunk, sinking down onto it and keeping my back to her. I don’t need the distraction right now. Now, I need these moments to reflect. To honor the life I just took. However violent that male may have been, he didn’t deserve to die. Not at my hand, at any rate.

I settle onto the thin mattress, staring ahead at the concrete wall. Then, closing my eyes, I try to find that place of stillness inside me – the quiet meadow where the weight of my sins can’t reach me.

But it’s no use.

Every time I let my mind drift, those honeyed eyes flash before me, burning through the darkness. I growl low in my throat, willing the image away.

What’s wrong with me?

I won’t allow myself to be weakened, especially not by some pretty face.

Still, her presence lingers, a persistent itch beneath my skin. That electric current from earlier hasn’t faded. If anything, it’s grown stronger, humming through my veins, a strange energy.

I huff out a frustrated breath, punching the flat pillow into submission. It’s not going to make it more comfortable. The damn thing wasn’t designed for comfort, although I guess I should be grateful – nobody else down here has one. Certainly not her… I fight the urge to look back at her, feeling her eyes between my shoulder blades like a physical touch.

Get a grip, Riot.

She’s nothing special – just another lost soul trapped in this hellhole like the rest of us.

But even as the thought forms, something deep inside me rebels against it. She’s not like the others. I don’t know how I know, but I’m certain of it.

A harsh clang startles me from my thoughts. My eyes snap open as shouts echo through the cell block. Instinctively, I tense, body coiled and ready for whatever fresh horror this place has in store.

The door to her cell shrieks open, and I hear guards barge inside.

“Get your filthy hands off me, you assholes!” the woman shouts. There’s the scuffing of feet and the sound of a struggle.

I turn my head, and my breath catches at the sight of her, all wild tendrils of fiery hair and blazing eyes. She’s magnificent – a force of nature caged behind these soulless walls.

“You can’t do this!” she shouts. She tosses her head, and our eyes meet for a second. Strangely, there’s no cry for help there; she’s quite prepared to fight her own battles. Yet, something stirs within me, urging me to act, to protect her.

I’m on my feet before I realize what I’m doing.

“Don’t you fucking hurt her!” I roar, surging toward the bars of my cell. The metal rattles and groans under the force of my assault, but it holds firm.

My lips peel back from my teeth in a snarl, and a rumbling growl builds in my chest. The guards flinch and shrink back, their grips on the woman momentarily slackening. She seizes the opportunity, wrenching free of their grasp and stumbling back a step. A flash of hope flickers in her eyes, and I know what she’s thinking. That she can get away from them. I feel my heart sink.

Even if she could get away, where would she run to?

She whirls to face the guards, her eyes blazing with defiance. “I’m not going anywhere with you,” she spits, squaring her shoulders.

The guards recover quickly, rushing forward to grab her again. She fights back, lashing out with sharp nails and bared teeth. But they quickly overpower her, dragging her from the cell.

I curse under my breath, my fingers curling around the burning bars until my knuckles turn white.

“No!” I bark, my voice echoing through the cell block. I throw myself against the bars, muscles bunching as I reach a clawed fist through them. “Leave her alone, you motherfuckers!”

“Back off!” one of the guards snarls. He raises his hand, and something crackles as he aims a heavy baton her way. “You know what this is, don’t you?”

I back down a little. He’s right. I know exactly what that is. I’ve felt the bite of that fucking cattle prod more times than I care to remember. If she was in her wolf form, it would hurt. On human skin? I don’t want to think about it.

He smirks at me, and I bare my teeth, but that’s all I do. I can’t do more.

It wouldn’t do any good anyway. The bars between us are unbreakable. I learned that during the early years.

The woman stares at me for a moment. There’s no recrimination there. She doesn’t blame me for the situation she’s in. Although I feel it like a weight on my chest.

I feel so fucking powerless. Which is ironic since the very reason that I am here is because of the power I wield.

Except I only wield it for him.

I hate Franklin Parker with a level of venom that sometimes surprises me. And now, more than ever, as I watch another of his victims fighting for her life.

The woman hisses and snaps her teeth at the guard closest to her.

“We have our orders, girl,” he growls. “Stop being a goddamn idiot!” He turns to me. “And you!” The baton crackles again. “Back the fuck away!”

Reluctantly, I release the bars, ignoring the now-familiar burn of silver on my palms. I step back until I sense the shape of my bunk behind me. I sit and then turn my back on them.

Forcing my gaze away, I stare resolutely at the wall, fists clenched against the onslaught of confusing emotions. There’s nothing I can do that won’t get her hurt. Besides, this is how it has to be. Attachments only lead to weakness, and weakness is deadly in a place like this.

Still, I can’t fight down the growing rage as the sounds of her struggles intensify.

“No! I said let me go!” Her voice is strident. And even so, I like the sound of it. It’s warm and sweet. Too fucking sweet for this place.

Stop it. Stop fucking thinking!

The commotion dies down as they finally subdue her, dragging her away with her curses echoing off the walls. I don’t watch, keeping my eyes trained on that same spot until the last sounds of her struggle fade into silence. I clench my jaw hard enough to crack bone.

It’s better this way.

Better that I never learned her name or got tangled up in whatever brought her here. I can’t afford to care. Caring only leads to pain – a harsh lesson I’ve learned more times than I can count.

It’s better that she’s gone.