57. Eva

The sound of someone humming penetrated the thick fog in my brain. I tried to open my eyes, but they were stuck together. The smallest movement sparked agonizing pain, so I lay still for a few minutes and tried to get my bearings.

Everything felt muddled. The last thing I remembered was walking along the trail. Did I fall? Had Cole found me and taken me back to the cabin?

It didn't smell like the cabin. Instead of pine, wood smoke, citrus, and cinnamon, the rank scent of sweat and urine made my stomach heave.

I reluctantly forced my eyes open and attempted to sit up. It was semi-dark, but there was enough light from a solitary naked bulb to show me I was in a concrete room with no window.

"Finally," observed a feminine voice. "I figured you were dead."

A girl with matted black hair rested against the opposite wall. She wore a pair of shorts and a strappy vest, but although it was cold enough to make me shiver, she seemed comfortable.

"Where am I?" I croaked. My throat was sore. Every part of me hurt, not just my head.

"No idea. They don't tell us anything, and when they take us to the fights, they knock us out first."

"Fights?" Panic flared swift and bright. What was happening? Why couldn't I remember!

"Yeah. They have us fighting so they can make money on the outcome. At least some of us fight. I haven't been here long, so I don't know for sure." She crawled across the cement floor to where I lay. "My name's Lily, what's yours?"

"Eva." I fought the urge to vomit. The way my head throbbed, something or someone had hit me. Hard.

Brent had hit me many times. This felt similar. I closed my eyes again and forced my brain to rewind back to the last thing I remembered, but there was nothing. Just a black hole in my memory.

Had Brent found me? This wasn't his basement, though. I'd recognize that place anywhere - it had starred in my nightmares many times.

My heart rate climbed as adrenaline flooded my system. I was an idiot. I'd let the guys lull me into a false sense of security. Just because they were strong, it didn't mean the cabin was safe. If I was here, locked in a room, someone had found me.

The girl looked at me curiously, her black eyes alive with intelligence.

"You're pretty. That might be why they took you." While I was having a panic attack, she seemed curiously unfazed.

"How did you end up here?" I asked. The girl was young; younger than me. I couldn't let panic overwhelm me. I wasn't the only one stuck in this place. It sounded like there were a few girls with us. There wasn't much I could do, but I had to keep my wits about me.

"I had a fight with my boyfriend. He left me alone in a bar and some older guy bought me a drink. It knocked me out long enough for him to throw me in the back of a van. When I woke up, I fought like hell, but he must have injected me with something that weakened my wolf."

"How long have you been here?"

"Not sure. At least a week. Maybe longer. There are no clocks or windows, so it's hard to tell."

She had to be a shifter. No human girl would be this relaxed about being locked up in a freezing-cold concrete cell. "Which pack are you from?"

Her eyes widened in surprise. "Oh, you know about shifters?"

"Yes, I'm mated to three of them."

"But you're…human?"

It didn't sting. I had bigger problems right now than worrying about what people thought of me.

"Last time I checked, yeah."

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean that in a nasty way. It's just unusual for shifters and humans to mate. Who are your mates, anyway?"

"Cole, Silas, and Tanner. So which pack?"

"Oh my, I can't believe those assholes have finally found a mate! The Lone Pine pack. My dad's a trusted beta." Her face fell and some of the bravado slipped for the first time. "He'll be worried about me."

"We were there a couple of days ago, for the Full Moon Party."

"Fuck, that means I've been stuck in this shithole for over a week." Her lip curled, and she clenched her small fists. "At least now you're here, we might get rescued. There's no way Tanner will sit back while his mate has been kidnapped."

She sounded positively cheerful now she knew who I was mated to, but I didn't share her sense of optimism.

"Hey, Jessa," she yelled through the door. "Tanner has a mate!"

There was a loud squeal from somewhere nearby.

"What? No fucking way! My sister will be so pissed! She's been after that hot-as-fuck wolf for years. Thirsty bitch."

Lily laughed and a spike of hot jealousy shot through me at the thought of other females ogling my mate.

"How many girls are in here?" I asked in a low voice, unsure of whether anyone else was listening.

"Er, right now, there are just the three of us. They took the other two away earlier."

"And will they be back?"

Lily chewed her lip and looked down. "Not sure. Depends on the outcome of their fights." She picked at her nails and said nothing more.

My blood ran cold. "What do you mean?"

"They have us fighting for money, but these aren't regular fights. Because we're shifters and are a lot stronger than regular girls, they put us in skimpy costumes and have us fighting against full-grown men. They don't let us shift, though, so we're basically hamstrung."

I had no words. What kind of twisted fucks put a teenage girl in a ring with an adult man?

"Hey, don't worry, we can take care of ourselves. We heal real fast and I haven't lost a fight yet!" She grinned at me, but I could see the fear in her eyes. She was trying to be brave, but she was still a kid.

"How many girls haven't come back?"

"One. Sherry. She wasn't from around here, and she looked puny for a wolf shifter. There was another girl too, but she only stayed a day. I don't think they wanted her for the fighting ring. She was way too pretty; blond, like you. I heard one of the guys who brings us food say someone called Carlos had a buyer for her."

Carlos…that name rang a bell. If only my head didn't hurt so much, I could figure out who he was.

I was just about to ask her more questions when the sound of an outer door clanging open made us both jump.

"Stay quiet," Lily hissed. "They won't hurt you if you keep your head down."

"Well hello, baby girl. It's good to see you again!" drawled a voice that haunted my nightmares.