Chapter 19 - Iris

The boards to the basement creaked beneath our feet as they started dragging me down into the dank, dark interior of the house. I struggled and writhed, trying to fight as much as I could even though my hands were bound behind my back and my dad was in front of me, pulling me down, while my brother was behind me, pushing and shoving.

Water dripped from a pipe onto a puddle on the cement floor. The puddle was the only feature in the room except for the iron manacle snaking out from the wall. That was new.

My blood turned to ice as my mind zeroed in on that singular item, then snapped back to the situation. My shriek of protest was muffled by the cloth still stuffed in my mouth. I tried to tug away, to wrench myself out of their grip and back toward the stairs. But it was no use. Years of hunting and training while keeping me locked in my room meant my brother and father were far too strong for me to fight back. I could do nothing as they hauled me over, my back slamming against the cold cement blocks that made up the wall.

Something cold and heavy snapped around my ankle. I didn't have to look down to recognize the feel of rough iron or know that they had just chained their daughter and sister to the wall.

They undid the ropes on my wrists once I was chained to the wall. A small mercy. I winced as blood rushed back to my hands. I yanked the cloth from my mouth, spitting and trying to get rid of the flecks of fabric I could feel clinging to my tongue and the roof of my mouth.

"You assholes," I spat, my voice trembling with barely contained rage mixed with fear. "You fucking assholes. Let me go now, or I'll—"

"You'll what?" Jason asked, a faint smirk on his face as he studied me, clearly amused.

I just glared at him. I couldn't tell if I was furious or terrified. The emotions were too closely entwined at the moment.

I took a deep, shaking breath. I needed to get out of here. And quickly.

"Dad, Jason," I began, licking my lips as I tried to figure out the right words. "You don't want to do this."

The words were feeble in the damp basement air. What evidence did I have to back them up with, anyway? I was chained to a wall. All they had to do was walk out of reach, and there was nothing I would be able to do. The damp chill washed over my legs and arms, the cold intensifying as the severity of my predicament skyrocketed.

"Or what?" Jason asked, laughing.

I said the only thing I could think of. "Or Alek is going to come after me," I said. "Do you think he's going to let me or his unborn babies stay stuck in a basement? He'll have guessed where I am. He'll come after me."

Their laughter echoed, bouncing off the stone walls and harmonizing in a sickening symphony that made bile boil up my throat.

"That wolf man won't be a problem," Dad said with a dismissive flick of his hand. His smile turned malevolent. "Our friend said he would take care of that before he left. Apparently, you weren't the only one that wolf was pissed off at."

Cold panic washed any remaining warmth out of my body. I tried to keep a composed face but failed miserably. Dan. They were talking about Dan.

"Dan's going to kill Alek?" I asked, my voice soft and flimsy.

"That seemed to be his plan," Dad responded, examining his nails with cool indifference. "At least, he mentioned that was part of his plan before he'd leave town."

My breaths came out ragged and shallow as my head swam.

"Bet you didn't see that one coming," Jason gloated with a knowing smile.

My mouth opened in shock as the true meaning of his words slammed home.

"You knew," I croaked, my throat dry. "You knew I was psychic."

All this time, all those years of wondering what the hell was wrong with me. All those years of confusion and feeling lost, of wondering why I just knew things out of the blue. My dad had known that entire time, and he'd kept it from me without a second thought.

Disbelief and rage and hurt swirled inside me, gnawing at my guts and twisting my thoughts. All this time, my dad had known the answer. And he had kept it from me.

"Your mother was one, too," Dad said off-handedly, as if he was talking about the weather. "I know the signs."

"You did this to Mom, too?" I thought back to the horrible way Dad had treated Mom when she was alive, like she was his personal slave, ignoring her whenever he felt like it. How she hadn't usually been allowed out of the house, either; she'd just stayed indoors.

I suddenly realized I didn't even need him to answer that because I had just hit the mark. I remembered the few times Mom had gone missing for a handful of days. "You didn't even love her, did you?" I asked him, my voice bitter.

"It's important to keep useful commodities close," Dad said. "Why do you think I've put up with you all these years?"

My head spun as I tried to take in everything Dad was saying. It couldn't be true. And yet, one look at Dad's smug, triumphant expression was more than I could take. It told me everything I didn't want to know. Every word he was telling me, every mocking insult, was the truth, and I could see it on his face.

"So what now?" I asked, trying to give myself enough time to sort out all my emotions. "You expect me to spout out visions whenever you like? I don't know how to do that."

"You'll learn," Dad said simply.

"Did you run Mom into the ground the same way?" I asked. "Is that why she died?"

"She died from the flu," he snapped back. "Do you think I would have let her die before she could train you? It would have made my life a million times easier."

"Let me guess...she got flu from being locked in this basement?"

"Watch it," Dad warned, stalking forward until he was right in my face. His rancid breath slammed into my nostrils. "You keep up with that lip, and you'll regret it."

I opened my mouth to snap back, tired of being his punching bag, of letting him walk over me. But when I saw his arm twitch, I let it drop, instead asking another question that was bothering me.

"What is it you even want me for?" I demanded. "You wouldn't have dragged me all the way back here at this specific moment if there wasn't a reason or you didn't want me for something. So, what is it?"

"The wolf men—"

"Shifters," I corrected, and I felt a small sense of satisfaction as Dad glowered at me. The smirk on my face was quickly wiped away as Dad's arm blurred, hand moving toward my face. I flinched from a blow that never came, the back of his hand halting just inches from my face. When Dad knew he had my attention, his hand lowered and his smug expression returned.

"The wolf men have been terrifying us for too long," he said. "It's time for us to make a change."

I stilled, the fire in me quenched by dread. "You want to wipe them out," I said.

Dad nodded.

"You realize how stupid that is, right?" I asked, my voice raising in pitch. "They're twice as strong as humans. They can shift into wolves. There's no way you can win."

Dad just smirked in a way that made me want to throw up.

"We've been acquiring weapons for a while now," he said. "We've just been waiting for a good excuse to move in on them. And what better excuse than the fact that one of theirs kidnapped the leader of the village's only daughter?"

Shit. I'd known Alek's move to take me away from here had been impulsive and reckless. But I hadn't expected it to mean war.

"And your abilities will give us the edge we need to wipe them out," Dad continued.

"You want me to give you visions to tell you what the pack is up to?" I asked. When Dad nodded, I added, "What if I say no, or what if I lie? There's no way you'll be able to tell."

He grinned, showing crooked yellow teeth. "Your mother asked me the same questions," he said. "I can promise you don't want to go through the same lessons she did. But she learned eventually." He took a step back. "We'll give you some time to think over how you want this to go. I can promise you that one way will be a lot more pleasant than the other."

With a sneer and a laugh, he spun on his heels and stalked back up the steps, Jason right on his heels, the wooden stairs creaking under their weight. The door above closed, leaving me in near-total darkness.

I took a shaky breath, my entire body shivering from the cold and from dread. Alek was in trouble. The pack was in trouble. I thought about how nice everyone had been, how welcome I had felt. There had been a few outliers, but for the most part, everyone had been sweet to me. I thought about Jenn and her baby, the other girls. I thought about how Malcolm had treated me when he found out I was psychic. He hadn't acted like I was a freak or something to be used to his advantage. He'd treated me like a person.

He'd accepted me. Nearly all of them had.

And now I was stuck back here with a family who hated me. Who only wanted me here so they could use my power.

Grasping the full truth, just how accepted I'd been in Brixton, flooded me with a mix of anxiety and love for the community there. I'd been an idiot to be afraid of them when the signs of their kindness had been all around me. And Alek…just the thought of him possibly being in danger was enough to chill me to my core and shake every bone in my body.

I couldn't let them hurt him. I couldn't.

Because I loved him.

Finally admitting to myself how I truly felt about Alek was a relief. But that relief was marred by the overwhelming horror of knowing that Dan was out tracking him, hunting him. Would Alek even see Dan coming? I knew they had been friends once. I could only hope he would figure out what his so-called friend was doing before it was too late.

I took a deep breath as I slid down the wall. The chain clanked, thundering through the basement as I stuck out my legs.

I went into my mind and tried to reach out to Alek, focusing on the way he made me feel, the warmth of his body, the way his hair looked like fire in the morning light, and the way his boyish smile filled me with happiness every time I saw him. I held him in my mind and reached out through space, trying to find him and see what was in his future.

The smell of the woods. Dirt between paws. Heavy panting as wind raced through fur. Trees blurring as they raced by—

I gasped, my eyes flying open, my heart thundering. I'd never had a vision like that before. Malcolm had told me I could learn to sense people in the moment. Was that what had just happened?

I didn't know. What I did know was what I sensed deep down in my bones. I gave a soft, breathless laugh as a relieved smile came over my face and my hands trembled.

Alek was alive. He was still alive.

And he was coming.