Chapter 32 Syra
Thorus almost looks like he's dead, but I know he's not. My mate-sense tells me that he's still alive.
Alive and in pain.
The second floor walkway is about ten feet above the ground, and Thorus is hanging from the railing of it, his arms outstretched and bound to the metal crossbars with chains, his feet dangling below. The pose reminds me of some statues and images I've seen in the old temples of the ancestors.
His body is covered in bruises and dried blood. The sight fills me with pain.
Delphine sees this.
"Yeah," she says, "That's what I thought."
Too late, I realize I should have masked my feelings for Thorus. I should have feigned a lack of empathy or pretended I've never seen him before. Now Delphine knows I care about him. She's probably guessed that he's my mate, and she's planning to use that knowledge to toy with me somehow—another part of her sick little game.
She gestures to me from beyond the bars of my cell.
"Come here," she says.
I hesitate for a moment, not because I'm afraid of her, but because I just don't want to do anything that bitch tells me to do. I'm worried, however, that she might hurt Thorus if I don't comply, so I let go of Brik, rise to my feet, and advance to the front of the cell.
As I move closer to the bars again, I realize that Delphine and her alphas are not the only ones out there. Numerous figures are standing and crouching all along the walkways of the prison, their eyes watching me with a kind of cold hunger. Most of them are keeping to the shadows, so I cannot see them very clearly, but I can certainly smell them. Their rancid, goatish odor nearly makes me gag.
The tranquilizer must have dulled my sense of smell, but now the chemical is wearing off, and my sense of smell is returning.
I kind of wish it wasn't.
It occurs to me that Brik made the right decision earlier. There are at least twenty Farlanders inside this prison, maybe more that I can't see, and I'm sure there are even more of them still outside patrolling the perimeter. There's no way we could have snuck in here without getting killed or caught.
Of course, we got caught anyway, so it really doesn't matter.
At least Markus didn't get caught. He's gone to get help. We just have to survive long enough for him to return with reinforcements. That means I'm going to have to play along with Delphine's game.
I can do that. I can get through this.
Can I?
I don't even know what the game is yet.
I stop in front of the bars of the cell, keeping a safe distance just in case Anton or the other alpha should try to make a grab for me. The strength is gradually returning to my muscles, but I still don't feel quick enough to dodge an attack from an alpha.
"Skin," Delphine says.
At first, I don't know what she's talking about. Then one of her alphas—the one I stabbed—picks something up from the floor outside the cell.
A waterskin.
The alpha hands it to Delphine, who in turn passes it through the bars to me. When I don't take it right away, she grins.
"Don't worry," she says. "It isn't poisoned. See?"
She opens the waterskin, tilts her head back, and pours a stream of water into her open mouth. Her throat works up and down as she swallows. When she's finished, she lets out a refreshed gasp.
"It's good," she says. "Nothing but cool, clean water."
She passes it through the bars again, and this time I take it, but I don't drink.
"I'm not thirsty," I lie.
"That's alright," Delphine says, still grinning. "I didn't really mean for you to drink it. You're going to use it to wash off the rest of that shit you're wearing."
The shit she's referring to is the scent-masking paste. Most of it has already been rinsed away from my head and upper body thanks to the several pails of water the alphas dumped on me a few minutes ago, but the stuff still clings to my lower body like a pair of very tight, very dirty pants.
"Go ahead," Delphine says, staring at my legs. "Wash it off."
Source, why is she staring at me like that? Does she want to see me naked, or is there some other reason for her excitement?
"No thanks," I say. "I'm good."
Delphine glances at the balcony behind her.
"Hadrian?"
An alpha steps out of the shadows on the second-floor balcony. I can tell by his appearance and his piercings that he's not a Farlander. He's one of Delphine's alphas. The one whose penis I injured during our tussle in the barn. He gives me a brief, hateful glare, then he draws a stone dagger from a sheath on his hip. It looks incredibly sharp. He walks over to the place where Thorus is hanging and crouches. He slips his arms between the bars of the railing and places the blade of the knife against Thorus's throat.
"Stop!" I shout.
There's no longer any point bluffing like I don't care about Thorus. Delphine already saw the look in my eye. She already knows that Thorus is my mate. And she knows I'll do anything to keep him from getting hurt.
The alpha named Hadrian pauses, holding the knife to Thorus's neck. He glances at Delphine. She motions for him to wait.
When she turns to face me again, the look in her eyes is almost demonic.
"Wash your legs," she says.
It's not a request, it's a command, and there's an unspoken second part: if I don't do what Delphine says, she's going to tell her alpha to slit Thorus's throat. There's a possibility she's bluffing about that, but I'm not willing to chance it.
I open the waterskin and start to rinse.
I start with my left leg, pouring the water a little at a time, then using my hand, I wipe the moistened paste away from my skin. Once my left leg is more or less clean, I do the right one.
"Don't forget to wash in between," Delphine says.
Her tone is that of a mother reminding her child to wash behind her ears, but her smile is anything but loving. I guess she likes forcing me to expose myself to the audience of Farlanders.
I don't want Thorus to get hurt, so I do what she says. There is still a good amount of dried paste covering the center of my pelvis and everything between my legs. Using the last of the water, I carefully wash it all away.
My heat-scent fills the air.
Across the corridor, Thorus groans as if in pain. His penis, which until now has been hanging flaccid between his legs, starts to move, rising a little with each pulse of his blood until it is firm and fully erect.
My scent does not seem to have much of an effect on the Farlanders or Delphine's alphas, however.
Delphine chuckles coldly.
"Well, well. Just as I thought. This alpha really is your mate. And would you just look at those piercings! My goodness, I bet those felt just lovely sliding in and out of your little cunt, huh? Maybe I should give them a try myself. Anton, bring me the ladder."
Anton obediently scurries out of sight. A moment later, he returns carrying a tall, rusty step-ladder from the days before the Change. He doesn't need any instructions about what to do with it. He just carries it right over to where Thorus is hanging and unfolds it.
"Thank you, darling," Delphine purrs.
Anton bows subserviently, then he steadies the ladder with his hands while Delphine climbs it. When her face is level with Thorus's groin, she reaches out with her right hand and takes hold of his massive erection. She begins to stroke it.
The sight of another omega touching my mate like that makes my blood fire with rage. I want to yell at her to stop, but I know that would only encourage her more. I've never felt so helpless in all my life.
Fortunately, I do not have to endure the sight for very long. Almost immediately, Thorus starts to lose his erection. After only a few strokes, he is completely limp again.
Delphine frowns.
"What's the matter?" she purrs. "Don't you want to play with me?"
She climbs another rung on the ladder, then leans over and takes Thorus's flaccid penis between her lips.
Her alpha mates look on with excitement.
I look on in rage.
But Delphine's mouth does nothing to revive Thorus's arousal. If anything, his penis seems to become even smaller, as if trying to retract itself into his body.
He growls.
Before Delphine has a chance to pull away from him, Thorus's leg snaps up, and the top of his thigh connects with her throat. If it had been his knee, she would be dead. Instead, she just goes tumbling backward, arms flailing. Her feet get tangled in the rungs of the ladder, pulling it out of Anton's grip. The ladder crashes to the floor, and Delphine lands beside it with an extremely painful-sounding thud.
For a few seconds, chaos ensues. Some of the Farlanders shout in surprise. Others laugh. Anton rushes forward and leans over Delphine with a look of concern on his face.
And Delphine's other mate—the one named Hadrian—takes his dagger away from Thorus's neck. Then he raises it as if he's going to plunge the blade straight into the alpha's heart.
My own heart clenches with fear. Tears spring to my eyes.
"Stop!" I shout.
To my surprise, Hadrian actually does stop. At first I can't believe it. Then I realize that Delphine shouted at the same time I did—and she shouted the same thing.
She's sitting up now, bracing herself against Anton for support. She has one hand stretched out toward Hadrian, gesturing for him to halt his attack.
"Don't kill him," she says. "It will ruin the game."
"But he hurt you," Hadrian protests. "We must punish him, mistress."
With Anton's help, Delphine climbs back to her feet and stands in front of Thorus. She stares up at the hanging alpha for a moment, then shakes her head.
"That alpha's not afraid of dying," she says. "He's not afraid of pain, either. But there is one way we can punish him."
She turns and approaches my cell again, walking with a slight limp from her fall. I'm tempted to taunt her, but I know that wouldn't be wise. I'm pretty sure Thorus would be the one to get punished for my insolence, and I don't want that. He looks like he's already been through hell and back at the hands of the Farlanders.
Delphine stops in front of my cell and looks me up and down. She isn't smiling anymore.
"You're still in heat," she says. "I can tell by the effect your scent is having on your two mates."
She's right. I can already feel the terrible need twisting at my insides again. I think the tranquilizer dulled it a little, but now that the drug is wearing off, I can feel my heat returning—and it's returning with a vengeance.
She's also right about the effect my heat is having on my mates. Now that Delphine is no longer touching him, Thorus is fully erect again. I don't even have to turn around to know that Brik is similarly aroused. I can smell it in his scent, which is filling the air around me, driving my own arousal higher by the moment.
"Game time," Delphine says. "The rules are simple. If you need to satisfy your heat, you may employ the services of the alpha locked inside the cell with you. But there's a catch—as soon as you so much as touch him…"
She glances back at Thorus.
"…your other mate dies.