37. Chapter 37

Chapter 37

L ayla winced at the loud jackhammering in her head as she rolled over. Something cold and hard dug into her back, making her more uncomfortable. Why was her body hurting so much? And what was that smell?

She slowly opened her eyes, only to close them again. The light above her was blinding, and it made the headache worse. Her limbs felt so heavy that she couldn't lift her arm to cover her nose. It smelled like crap in the room.

‘Miss Layla?'

The voice in her head sounded louder than the pounding. Her eyes opened and widened as everything came back to her.

She'd been caught! And somehow, she could hear Faith's voice.

She sat up slowly, wincing as her muscles refused to move like she'd been comatose for months. But once she was upright, she had to suck in a breath as she looked around her.

She was in a cage. A metal cage used for wild animals and not high enough for her to stand. There were several similar cages around her in the large, cold room that looked like a warehouse, and there were no windows. The only light in the room was the over-bright spotlights on the ceiling.

Did they even allow them to go outside? To see the sun? Being deprived of this was a wolf's worst nightmare.

She put her hands on the bars and tried to shake some of the drowsiness from her head. Big mistake. Her head felt like someone sliced it in half instead. Everything was spinning and not making sense.

There were so many cages in the warehouse, some stacked on each other. All of them looked occupied.

So many people... So many wolves. A shiver went down her spine at the severity of the situation. What the hell were the Hunters doing to them? Why had they imprisoned and not killed them, as Jax told her they always did? And why did it smell so bad?

She looked down at her body and realised there were bruises on her arms and legs. Normally she healed before any bruises could form, and her head wouldn't have hurt for that long. Her wrists and ankles had been rubbed raw by something— probably whatever they used to tie her. Someone had undressed her and put a white hospital gown on her.

They'd also put a tagging bracelet around her ankle like she was an animal.

‘Miss Layla, are you okay?'

She looked around again at the people in the other cages, looking for Faith. Though she caught her scent, it was very faint. Her head was too unfocused to allow her to pinpoint where she was.

Some people in the cages were lying down while others were sitting in the middle, hugging their knees. There were closed buckets in every cage. The smell hit her more when she realised what it was. She didn't need to be a genius to know what the bucket in her cell was for. But there was another smell that she couldn't pinpoint.

‘Don't let them know that we can communicate. I'm behind you."

She took her time inspecting the other people she could see in the room. Besides the awful smells in the room, she picked up a few different familiar scents. People from her pack. Were the scouts there, too?

When she finally looked behind her, her heart broke.

Faith's hair was wild and matted already as if she had been there longer than they had been told. Dirt and grime covered her face, and a filthy hospital gown covered her body. It looked more brown than white like hers was.

What did they do to her?

Her hand came up to her mouth to stop herself from crying out. Faith couldn't fight off so many Hunters... Lead settled in her stomach as tears filled her eyes.

‘They have cameras set up all over the warehouse. We can't move or talk without them knowing about it. They monitor us twenty-four-seven.'

Faith didn't move as she mind-linked. She didn't give any indication that she knew her. The young girl kept her arms around her knees, resting her head on them.

‘Keep yourself on the mat. The cages are silver; they're using them to weaken us."

Only then did she notice the small, square mat Faith was sitting on. They were all sitting like that, not out of choice but out of necessity.

‘You've been out for a few minutes, lying directly on the silver bars. Move quickly; you might be able to explain it away.'

She looked down at her hands and realised she was still directly on the silver. There were no burns on her skin like there should have been. If the Hunters were watching, then they would have seen that. There would be no explaining that away.

She moved to the mat quickly and avoided Faith's gaze. The last thing she wanted to do was make them target her.

Her worst fear came true, after all. The Hunters came back for her. When that menacing Hunter called her Catrina Smith, she'd known she was screwed. He still remembered her fake name from their run-in in the woods, and he'd done his research to find her real name.

Because he'd also found her mother?

Her heart pounded as she rose to her knees and looked around the warehouse. Her vision was limited, and her other senses scrambled, but if her mother was near, she would have caught her scent the same way she'd caught Faith's and the scouts'.

‘How long have you been here?' she asked Faith.

There was silence for a while. Had Faith not heard her? She glanced at her and saw the tears falling down the girl's cheeks.

‘I don't know,' Faith answered finally. ‘The days and nights are all the same. I don't know what day it is. Even when they take us out...'

She turned her head quickly to look at the young girl.

‘Take you out? Where do you go? What do they do?'

A sob left Faith's mouth, and her tears fell faster, no matter how often she wiped her face.

"Miss?"

For a second, she couldn't figure out where the small voice came from. She looked behind Faith and to the cage next to her. A man in a pair of shorts sat in pretty much the same position Faith was in, but cuts covered his whole body. She could see his body twitch as if his muscles were protesting. The mat wasn't big enough for his large body.

"Miss?" the voice said again.

She looked up at the cage directly above Faith's and sucked in a breath when she saw a little girl, no older than nine or ten, peering between the silver bars. She smelled faintly of a wolf but was too young to have shifted. The silver wouldn't hurt her as much as it did the shifted wolves.

"I think he's dead," the girl said, looking at the cage that was beside her.

And sure enough, the man who'd sat on the little mat when she woke up was slumped over. The smell of burning flesh hit her nostrils but the man didn't react. He was gone.

She covered her mouth again.

Was this going to be everyone's fate? Were they all going to give up and die rather than endure more torture?

The little girl didn't speak again as she moved backwards in her cage as if she had seen that horror so many times already.

Feeling hopeless, she sat back, hugging her knees like Faith, and the tears rolled down her face. Her gaze fell on the poor man who'd lost his life senselessly, filling her with despair. She squeezed her eyes shut to hide from the sight. She'd been stupid. She'd run out of the territory with no plan other than to save Jax but was now the one who needed saving. Her body was stiff and the wolf that encouraged the madness had retreated again. She was no stronger than a human, no match for one Hunter, much less a whole army.

Would Jax go through the same thing? She didn't know if they caught him, but Jax would find his way to her, just as he always promised. Of that, she had no doubt.

And then they would both die in the hell hole the Hunters created for them. It was over. And it was all her fault.