Chapter 17 - Thea

This cage felt smaller than the last one. I wasn't sure if that was my imagination, or if it was intentional. I supposed it didn't matter in the end.

I curled into a ball, closing my eyes as I leaned against the bar. For the first time, I felt completely helpless. I was exhausted and worn down. For the first time in years, I bristled at being an absent. If I'd been able to shift, I might have gotten out of here. I might not be in this position.

Who was I kidding? All those years I'd spent trying to prove myself, to show that I was just as good as any shifter. In the end, none of it mattered. I'd wound up in a cage. Tannen was going to run into their trap and die. And I'd be sold off to the highest bidder. Again. Nothing I'd done or tried to do had changed that.

And on top of all that, Tannen was going to die.

Tannen. I opened my eyes, staring out of the cage. He was going to die because of me. Guilt squirmed inside me, and I wanted to scream in frustration. Even if it was only because of the claiming bond, I cared about him. Maybe even loved him. The fact those feelings were forced on me didn't change the fact that a part of me would die when he did. The thought of seeing him killed nearly made me vomit.

I ran my fingers along my collarbone, tracing where he'd bitten me, where the claiming mark had…

Vanished?

I froze, looking down at the place he'd bitten me. There wasn't a claiming mark. There was barely any sign that he'd bitten me at all.

I stared, mouth open, my brain trying to accept what my eyes were seeing and its implications. But my eyes weren't lying. There was no mark, and that could only mean one thing.

Somehow, the claim hadn't happened.

So everything I'd thought about Tannen, everything I'd attributed to the claiming bond, it had been real.

My wolf growled in frustration, as if she'd known this the entire time and had waited for me to figure it out. I was in love with Tannen. And the things Tannen had told me, his willingness to give us a shot, that had also been real. All my worries about our connection forcing false emotions on us had been wrong.

The more I thought about it, the more it made sense. I should have noticed something was off ages ago. I'd heard stories about claiming bonds going wrong because the shifters ended up hating one another. Some of them suddenly didn't even like one another because of the bond.

I gave a breathless laugh, clarity and relief rushing through my body. My hands trembled. The knowledge felt freeing, liberating. New life and energy consumed me. I wasn't going to lie down and give in without a fight. I couldn't. I made a mental promise to myself. I was going to get myself out of this, and soon. I started coming up with a plan.

The door above creaked open. My head shot up, and my stomach twisted when a familiar scent filled the air. It wasn't Damien. It was Viktor.

Suddenly, all my plans and certainties started evaporating. My fingers clenched, and my breathing shallowed. Panic washed over me as my mind started to go blank. Every time I had gone against him, he'd beaten me. Not just that, he'd made me feel weak. Useless. Like all the stories about absents being useless were true.

The insecurities I tried so hard to ignore flared up. I was already at a disadvantage. What was the point of trying to get away?

The point was that I wasn't weak, no matter what Viktor said or did. Tannen was right. I didn't need to prove myself to know that. And even if he won, I still had to try. Not to prove myself, but because of what would happen if I just gave up. Damien and the rest of them would keep doing what they've been doing, and Tannen would run straight into a trap.

I hadn't given up before, and I couldn't now.

Forcing myself to go through with the plan, I retreated back into the corner and curled into a ball, leaning against the metal bars. I watched Viktor through half-lidded eyes, trying to look sluggish and tired as he started putting food into each of the crates. At each crate, he would wait to make sure the girl began eating before moving to the next cage.

Eventually, he arrived at mine. "Here," Viktor said, shoving the food through the opening.

I didn't move, just leaned against the cage, groaning with my eyes closed, breathing heavily.

"Hey, you," he growled. "Eat."

"I can't," I muttered. "I'm sick."

"Eat," he ordered again.

I didn't respond. I wondered if he could hear my thundering heartbeat as much as I tried to steady it. I didn't know what would happen if this went wrong—and there was a strong chance it would—but I couldn't just take all of this lying down.

When I continued not to move, Viktor swore under his breath, and I heard a rattling of keys. Grumbling, he opened the cage and marched in.

"If you're not going to eat, I'll force-feed you," he snarled.

"Do you want me throwing it all up on you?" I asked innocently.

He growled, his eyes flashing with anger. He grabbed the tray and marched over.

"Listen here, you little—"

I slammed my foot into his nuts.

He howled, stumbling backward. Before he could get too far away, I wrapped the chain around his neck, pulling it tight.

He gagged, flailing as he tried to swipe at me. I kept the chain taut, darting out of the way of his attacks, which grew weaker the longer we went. In any other circumstance, this might not have worked. But I'd managed to catch him off-guard, putting him on the wrong foot. Eventually, he dropped to his knees, then collapsed to the ground, still breathing but motionless, his eyes closed.

I waited for a moment to make sure it wasn't a trick. The second I was certain he was truly unconscious, I patted him down, looking for the keys. The instant I found them, I fumbled with them, searching for one that might unlock the collar.

Finally, I found one that worked. I jerked the collar off, sighing with relief as air brushed against my bare neck. Before he could start moving again, I snapped the collar around his neck, grabbed his gun, and ran out of the cage, slamming and locking it shut behind me.

My legs wobbled with relief and disbelief. I'd done it. Giving a shaky smile, I hurried to the steps, then slowed, looking at the row of cages, already a quarter full. I couldn't leave the girls down here.

I knew what I was risking, knew that there was a chance I was risking my own freedom. But I couldn't just let them stay here. Once they found out I had escaped, there was no telling what they would do to the others.

Knowing it was a risk and knowing I had to do it, anyway, I rushed to the nearest cage, fumbling with the keys, hurriedly opening all the doors.

When I had freed all the girls, I motioned for them to follow me upstairs. We hurried through the halls. I kept the gun clutched in my hand, ready to use it if it became necessary.

We didn't meet anyone as we hurried to the front door. For a wild moment, I thought we might actually get out of this alive. I thought there was a chance I could get to Tannen and tell him what I'd found out, to admit to him how I really felt.

I ushered all the girls out the door, muttering to the first few to gather everyone in the woods when they all got out. I gave them directions to Brixton, just in case.

The final girl ran out. Just as I was about to follow them, footsteps thundered behind us. My stomach lurched as I spun around, just in time for Damien to clamp his hand around my throat and slam me against the wall. His eyes blazed with hatred and anger. I tried and failed to pry his fingers from my throat to no avail, and I could only watch as he kicked the door closed and locked it. He was so furious that he seemed not to care about any of the other girls, at least at the moment.

Clasping me by the throat, he dragged me into what looked like a sitting room. I gaped as his grip constricted my breathing, and I fumbled for the gun, raising it and trying to aim it at him.

"You little snake," he hissed, jerking the pistol out of my grasp with ease. "You're lucky I need you right now, because if I didn't, you'd be dead already."

He threw me down onto a sofa. Rage and hatred radiated off him in waves as he glowered down at me. He pulled a pair of handcuffs out of his pocket and tossed them to me.

"Put them on," he ordered, brandishing the gun at me. I obeyed, feeling the cold metal clamp around my wrists.

"The instant that Silver Wolf of yours is dead, I'm going to kill you next," he hissed. "And I'm going to take my time and really savor the moment."

I kept my face blank, knowing that if he found out Tannen wasn't coming, the odds of my getting out of this became slim to none. The longer I got him to wait, the better a chance I had at finding a way out of this. So I kept my mouth shut, sitting on the sofa, waiting for Tannen even though I knew he most likely wouldn't come.

Damien waited in another seat, gun trained on me. Neither of us spoke. After some time, he got up, beginning to pace. He peered out the window.

"Where the hell is he?" he grumbled to himself.

I couldn't help it. I started laughing, the sound bouncing through the room, echoing and harmonizing with itself. Damien frowned as he turned from the window to look at me.

"The claiming bond didn't stick," I said, still keeping my eyes locked on the gun. "Guess he won't be coming after all. So you might as well go ahead and kill me now."

His eyes widened with shock and confusion, then narrowed in disgust. "You're lying," he snarled.

I couldn't stop laughing. He probably thought I'd gone insane, but the whole thing was just so absurd that I couldn't help it. All his leverage had been thrown out the window. I could tell by the desperation in his eyes.

He jerked back my collar, and his face paled as he saw bare skin.

"I don't know about you," I said, "but I'm pretty sure a claiming bond isn't supposed to look like that."

His eyes burned as they turned wolf, and his hand lashed out and gripped my neck again. His fingers dug into my throat. Warm trails of blood trickled from where his claws pierced the skin. I kept laughing, even as they turned more into wheezes as his grip on my throat tightened.

"If that's the case," he snarled, "then there's really no reason for me to keep you alive, is there?"

The gun pressed against my temple.

I met his gaze evenly, with no fear or hesitation. "Nope," I said.

I punched him in the face, elbowing the gun away with my wrists still bound. It flew across the room, hitting the floor and skittering across it.

He grunted, staggering backward, his hand releasing my throat. I darted around him, heading for the door. I didn't care how Tannen felt. I wasn't going to die until I got the chance to tell him the truth.

Something grasped my hair and jerked me backward, sending me stumbling. I cried out in alarm as my scalp burned. Damien threw me to the ground. My head slammed against the floor as all the breath rushed out of me. I tried to gasp for air, my head swimming from the pain.

Damien scrambled on top of me, pinning my hands against my stomach. He loomed over me, his eyes filled with hate as he bared his fangs.

"I'm going to enjoy this," he snarled. "And when I'm done with you, I'm going after the Silver Wolves. All of them."

I squirmed, trying to wriggle out from underneath him, but he sat on my stomach, making it nearly impossible to breathe. There was nothing I could do.

I watched as he withdrew a knife—my knife—and pressed it against my throat.