Chapter 13: Kiara

Chapter 13: Kiara

When I woke, I didn’t know how much time had passed. There was no indication of the time of day in the cold room that I was kept in, no windows, no clock, just sterile buzzing light. My body was stiff from being cramped in the cage, and my shoulder hurt from lying on my side. Stretching my limbs in the little space I had, I sat up on my knees and stared blearily into the room, listening for evidence that somebody might be nearby. Not that anybody in this house would help me. But if Colt was around, there was a chance it would give me another opportunity to try to escape.

There was only stillness. I sighed, my shoulders sagging in dismay.

But the disappointment accompanying the stillness was so much heavier than I anticipated. It struck me like a freight train, the weight of some intangible sadness I couldn’t describe. My heart became lead and dragged me to the floor, where I lay and stared into nothingness, letting tears bubble up from my eyes and roll down my cheeks. Vivid empathy for some unknown loss strangled me, and if I knew what it was for, perhaps I would have been better equipped to deal with it. But I had no idea why I felt that way, and it overwhelmed me. For an hour, I lay on the floor quaking, suddenly doubting that I could be strong enough to endure this. Was I crying because I was trapped? My sorrow didn’t feel like my own.

The intense emotion drained me of energy, leaving my eyes stinging and my chest aching until I drifted back into a fragmented dream. Then when I woke the second time, it was to hunger, thirst, and my bladder being full.

Sorrow still haunted me, but it was tolerable now that the most intense waves of empathy had passed. My needs made it easier for me to concentrate my thoughts on escaping. I didn’t want to soil myself in this cage, and I especially didn’t want Colt to find me in a puddle. Although the idea of letting myself die of dehydration in human form was appealing.

I shuffled up against the door, sticking my fingers through the wire to examine the padlock. It was a standard 30mm brass padlock that took a small key. With enough force, it could be broken open, but I couldn’t access it well enough to strike it with anything. My only other option would be to pick the padlock. And fortunately, as a unicorn hybrid, my mother had been conscious enough of the dangers to our kind that she’d prepared me for instances where I might need to escape capture. She taught me young to pick locks, and that skill had come in handy more than once while on the run these past few months. I just needed something to pick the lock with.

The cage was in the middle of the room. I couldn’t reach anything, and all I had in the cage with me were two bungee cords.

Another wave of melancholy paralyzed me, slumping me against the wall as I retreated inward, bemoaning that I wouldn’t get anywhere without a lock pick. What was I supposed to do now? Was I going to be trapped here until Colt’s despicable pack came to drag me to my fate? Had I truly failed in rescuing my mother? No… it couldn’t be over so easily.

I gritted my teeth and pushed myself upright. I had to think. Grabbing the bungee cords, I linked them together and slung them between the wire walls of the cage, but as I predicted, I couldn’t reach anything—and even lost one of the bungee cords when it unhooked from the one in my hand. Damnit. Okay, maybe the lock pick idea was out. There had to be another way!

Returning to the idea of breaking the padlock, I stared at my enemy, assessing it, and then remembered that if I could pull the shackle and tap on the side, I could maybe dislodge the tumblers inside. But again, I couldn’t do that from where I was inside the cage, and not with the limited accessibility I had. With the bungee cord, however…

I looped the cord through the shackle, secured the hook, and then stretched the cord as far as I could, hooking the other end to a cross-bar of the cage’s wire frame. The tension on the shackle would pull it apart for me. Then I reached between the wires, tilting it carefully with one hand, and with the other, I tapped hard with my fingertip. Every now and then, I heard a click. It was mind-numbing—I kept at it for what felt like an hour, my fingers aching through my phalanges. Then, my efforts were rewarded when on one fateful tap, the padlock cracked open.

I stared in disbelief that it had actually worked. My reddened fingertips were worth it.

Then realizing that freedom was within reach, I frantically removed the padlock and kicked open the door, crawling onto the floor. A delicious moment was spent stretching my legs and arms, breathing deeply in relief at my victory. But I had to hurry—now that I was free, I couldn’t waste any more time.

Leaving the cold room, I made my way up the basement stairs and into the dinette Colt dragged me through. The sun shone brightly outside, clear blue skies suggesting warmth in the air. Even the sunshine pouring in through the glass porch door felt nice on my skin. The floor was strangely clean, though I remembered leaving a mess behind when Colt took me downstairs. No matter. I paused to listen a few seconds longer, but it was clear nobody was in the house and hadn’t been all day. Unlocking the door, I didn’t bother closing it again—perhaps an act of final defiance to Colt, leaving his doors wide open as I fled into the yard. Then I shifted, resuming the form of my hybrid beast.

By the time I was animal again, I roared with hunger. My first priority was to eat, but all I had to do was forage, even though the anger rekindled in me made me want to attack something. Sorrow lingered deep in my chest in a way I couldn’t dispel. Contending these emotions, I focused firstly on tracking down a meal.

Once I got something in my stomach, I could think a little more clearly. Anger won out. I was unbelievably angry at Colt, remembering how he spoke to me like he was on my side, like our mate bond was enough to make him want to defend me from his wicked family and the dragons. Obviously, he was just lying to me, which made it even worse that he dared to get close enough to pleasure me. He was using me! Blood poisoning aside, I wanted to sink my teeth into him. I had to find my mother, and when I did, I would make Colt pay.

But how was I going to find them?

I was in the heart of Dalesbloom territory now. There was no sign of wolves or dragons here except for old, stale scents. My only option would be to scour the territory until I ran into them.

That became the rest of my day, powered by vengeance as I ran the perimeter of Dalesbloom from the northwest to the northeast, only catching whiffs of day-old stench. I would have thought they’d visit their own perimeter, but it seemed they hadn’t come through that entire day. Following the eastern perimeter south, I approached the neutral zone that met with Eastpeak’s territory, then headed west again. It seemed unlikely I would encounter Dalesbloom or the Inkscales on the perimeter adjacent to Eastpeak or Grandbay, but I did catch something of interest.

They caught me at the same time.

Two voices barked through the trees as the sun sunk westward. My fur bristled, body tensing as I zeroed in on the two approaching wolves. One a delicate golden palette clutching a backpack in her teeth, the other fiery auburn, both of them with tails wagging and ears pointed forward. I stood my ground as Billie and Aislin trotted up to me, sniffing and exchanging lupine whimpers of joy to see me. What did they care? Their eyes showed worry—then I realized they must have smelled Hexen Manor on me.

Raising my head, I conveyed without words that I still intended to hold them at arm’s length. The girls pulled back, Billie dropping the bag before her tongue dashed against her nose and Aislin flashing teeth with enthusiasm. They both turned away, then looked back at me, imploring me to follow. I didn’t know what they intended to show me, but if they were taking me back to Alpha Everett’s place, I wasn’t going to stick around. Still, I’d trail after them for now.

Loping behind the girls, we ventured into the mountainous terrain approaching the junction of Eastpeak, Grandbay, and Dalesboom territories. The area was still neutral ground, and for a good reason. The closer we walked, the more I could feel discomfort in my veins, a ringing in my ears, and nose blindness that I wasn’t accustomed to. Something seemed to be distorting my senses, and the girls felt it too.

Under a rocky ledge, the girls transformed. I took their cue and transformed as well. Our naked bodies caught the faint glow of the waxing crescent, an omen of what little time we had left before the Lycan ritual.

“Half a mile away is an abandoned silver mine,” Aislin pointed out, pulling on shorts and a t-shirt from the backpack, although it was much too cold on that autumn night for such sparse clothing. She was unaffected by the chill. “Billie and I were thinking that’s where they’re hiding.”

“That would be stupid of them. Wolves are vulnerable to silver,” I said. “Why do you think they’re hiding there?”

“Exactly,” said Billie, in leggings and a long-sleeved shirt. She handed me leggings and a t-shirt too. “The silver masks their presence to wolves. We never would have been able to detect them. But Gavin told me he and Catrina used to come to the mine, which made me think the Hexens aren’t afraid of going there. Aislin and I decided to check it out, just to see, and if we found evidence of them there, we’d go back and tell everyone.”

I pulled on the clothes Billie gave me. “If we find them there, I’m going right in. I don’t have any more time to waste to rescue my mom.”

Billie’s eyes widened. “That would be suicide. We need to be strategic and enlist the help of the Mythguard. Walking right in would be handing yourself over to them.”

“But I have a feeling you might have already done that,” said Aislin, scrunching her nose.

“Colt captured me and locked me in his basement. I didn’t go with him by choice,” I said.

Aislin rolled her eyes. “Oh, of course. Fucking Colt.”

Lacking the patience to discuss my plan, I charged ahead, intent on investigating this silver mine.

“Wait,” said Billie, reaching after me.

I glanced back and saw her extend a handgun to me.

“I brought this just in case. I already know there’s no arguing with you, so here. Take this to protect yourself with.”

I grabbed the gun, weighing it in my hands. I’d never used one before. My thanks was expressed in a brisk nod to Billie before I continued, this time leading the girls. If Dalesbloom and the Inkscales were hiding in that mine, then my mother would be there too, and I’d put a bullet in anyone who stood between us.