7. Seven

seven

It was too much, too fast and it all caught up to me. The reality of everything that happened crashed over me like a tsunami when I'd heard him growl that I was his. I couldn't shake the idea that he meant to possess me, like some sort of prize. Or a hunter's trophy.

It wasn't fair to him, and I knew it, but I wasn't capable of sorting through my emotions at that moment.

The fear when I'd been kidnapped, the panic when I was thrown into the basement and the other women explained what the men had planned for me. The determination to survive, losing hope at that happening as, one by one, they took the women out and they never returned.

Sarah, Grace, Catherine.I would remember their names.

Evading the hunters long enough to think I might make it to the wire, and knowing it didn't matter if I did. Falling and being rescued by a beast. A monster I should have been more terrified of than the hunters, but I only felt safe.

Tears poured down my face and I gave in to everything at once.

It took most of an hour for me to calm down enough to think clearly about my situation. The men had gone to a lot of trouble to kidnap me. They had spent a fortune setting up the house and grounds for their sick entertainment. With that kind of sunk cost fallacy in full effect, I had to believe they would want me back.

I'd be safest staying there, with the monsters who sheltered me. With Drym.

But I couldn't turn a blind eye to what those men were doing—what it was clear they'd been doing for a long time. The evidence we hadn't been the first was in the cells where we were kept. Broken bits of painted fingernails, crude hash marks keeping time. I needed to alert the authorities. They would do it again, to another woman.

The thought turned my stomach.

I had to go home. The idea terrified me, but the decision strengthened my will. Those men would not get away with what they'd done. I would make sure of that.

A twinge of sadness hit as I thought of leaving the beasts behind. Kragen had said something about me being able to help them. I would do what I could to repay their kindness.

I was going to need so much therapy after this.

I stood and walked to the edge of the light. "Drym?" My voice was ragged from crying so I cleared my throat to try again. Before I could, he stepped out of the darkness. I backed up a step. He towered over me and I craned my neck to look up at him.

"What do you need, little one?"

He looked so eager, like a puppy who'd just heard his first ‘good boy.' I almost started crying again when I remembered the look on his face when I'd gotten angry.

I rubbed at my chest. "I wanted to apologize. It was wrong of me to lash out at you."

He was shaking his head before I finished.

"I am at fault. I never should have pushed you. You have been through so much… I deserve your anger."

"No, you don't." I sighed. "But I'm too tired to argue over who's at fault. I need to go home."

He startled, and then I watched him deflate. It's hard to explain, but it was like some of the life drained out of him.

"Of course."

He looked away and I had to swallow hard not to take it back. To say I'd stay. It had to be the trauma, making me feel this way. Didn't it? I cleared my throat again. "Kragen said something about me being able to help you? I'd like to try, before I go."

The tips of his forked tongue flicked from between his teeth a few times and I thought I heard his teeth clack together.

"We would be grateful for the help."

I had no idea what help I could offer them, but I'd do what I could.

It didn't take long after rejoining the others to understand what they needed. They had been kept like lab rats for their entire lives. They only had vague intel that the director of the lab remained at large, and that an entire second society existed, one made of supernatural creatures—including the werewolves and dragons they'd been created from.

My head spun by the time Kragen went over what they knew, and what they needed.

Isabelle—the witch who'd facilitated their escape—seemed disturbed by what was happening. They had to hope that this secret society of supernaturals didn't know of their existence, or the experiments that led to it. That they would shelter them, if only they could make contact.

When he finished telling me everything they knew, I sadly shook my head. "I'm afraid I won't be able to help find them. Until you, I had no idea supernaturals existed outside books and movies." I watched all of their muzzles drop toward the papers scattered on the table. "I bet, if I put out feelers, someone will find me. It can't be accidental that average humans don't know about creatures living among us. There have to be people who work to make sure word doesn't spread."

Drym was shaking his head. "If that's the case, talking about us to draw them out would put you in danger."

I caught his eyes and held them. "It's the least I can do after you saved my life."

He stood across the table from me, but I could hear the low growl rumble through him. Quin punched him in the arm, and the noise cut off.

"We can watch from the shadows. That way, you'll be safe, and if someone reveals themselves, we'll be there to ask for help."

The others nodded in agreement.

It was no surprise when Drym spoke. "I'll go."

Kragen was shaking his head. "It's hard enough to hide looking like we do. It'll have to be Cavi or Quin. Their eyes are easiest to hide."

Drym snarled, but in the end, relented. Before I knew it, Quin was leading me to the surface. As I passed Drym, he brushed my arm with the back of his hand.

"Be safe."

I couldn't speak past the lump in my throat, so I nodded. It had to be the trauma making me feel like my heart was being ripped from my chest as I walked further away.

Right?