50. Chapter 50

Chapter 50

T he light was more blinding when Layla opened her eyes. She closed them and tried to roll to her side, but something held her in place.

And then it all came back to her.

Her rage. That weird shift when she was half a beast, clawing Hunters' throats out. The blood and screams. And that gas that had knocked her out.

Her eyes snapped open as she sensed the danger she put herself in. It was all around her, even though she could feel no one else in the stark white room. She looked down at her bound limbs and torso. Her feet were spread apart, the silver chain holding them in place on bars on either side of the cold, metal bed they tied her to. Her arms were stretched above her head, also connected to some bars at the top. Only a pair of underwear covered her modesty, so she could see her smooth skin where she had previously been covered in wounds. At some point, between escaping her cage and waking up tied down, she had completely healed.

Her wolf did that. It tried to be a hero, killing everyone and healing her before being subdued again. She should have had better control of the beast. She could have picked a better time to try something.

She closed her eyes against the light. Who was she kidding? There was never going to be a better time. And there was no way she would have let them take Faith, beast or no beast.

She opened her eyes again and looked around the room. She was tilted almost upright, facing a white wall, but she could feel that was where the danger she sensed was coming from. It was pressing into her almost like a physical force. They were gathered behind that wall. Was she in for more torture? Would they bring their hounds this time? Would they kill her, too? They were never going to let her get away with killing their guards.

Her muscles started to burn from holding her weight up. Tugging at the chains didn't help; there was no give, and all she managed to do was rub her wrists raw. They bound her tighter than before, probably because she gave herself away and showed them how easily her wolf could free her. If it showed up again. There was silence in her head as if she hadn't just spoken to the wolf inside her.

But had they already known what she was capable of? Was that one of the reasons the Commander decided she was the one who would help him with his plan?

They had her mother, who was a lot stronger than she was. But that meant she wouldn't give up as easily. Rebecca wasn't useless like she was. She spent over a decade evading the Hunters. But now, her mother was imprisoned like everyone else. Just that thought sent a chill down her spine. She knew nothing about what she could do, but the Commander was excited to have captured both her and Rebecca. He knew more about them than she did.

There was a whoosh sound behind her, and the scent of the man she was thinking of filled the room. Her whole body froze. Would her wolf come to her rescue again? If she attacked him and ran—

"You're awake. Good," the Commander said behind her. "You're just in time."

He didn't sound nearly as upset as she thought he would be about her killing his people. He didn't sound upset at all.

His boots echoed in the empty room until the man stood before her, dressed in a full military uniform instead of the vest he'd worn when she saw him. It was black and full of medals and patches like the Hunters believed they were a real army.

And he had a smile on his face. Like a freaking maniac. Who could smile after witnessing what she did? After what the Hunters did daily?

The chill in her body became solid ice.

This wasn't good.

"You continue to surprise me, Layla," the Commander said. "I've been watching you since you came, and I was very impressed this morning. You proved that I picked the better wolf."

"For what? What are you doing here?"

"You'll see. You'll watch all of it as it happens. I'll lay the ashes of your brothers and sisters at your feet."

"I'll never help you," she hissed.

The Commander's smile widened, and his excitement leached into the air. He didn't look away from her gaze as he stepped closer, stopping beside the platform, only an inch from her face.

"You don't have much of a choice, Layla. You've already done more than you'll ever know, and today I will show everyone the culmination of all my hard work. This day has been two years in the making."

"Whatever you think you're going to do won't work. I'm going to kill you. I'm going to rip your limbs off and feed them to the wolves you've been starving," she growled.

"I welcome the challenge," the Commander grinned.

He brought his face closer, violating her personal space as he sniffed her hair.

"Though I think you won't be getting out of those so easily. You'll lie there and take everything I do to you like the pathetic, filthy animal you are. You'll be my bitch until I have no more use for you. Imagine how much fun we'll have."

Her anger surged again without the aid of her wolf. She tried to twist her body to reach him, to bite his nose off and wipe the grin from his face but she couldn't move. As he said, she could only lie there and take it.

The Commander chuckled and stepped back.

"I have a present for you before we begin," he said.

There was a sound to her left. Her eyes fixed on the wall as a panel started moving up, slowly revealing a glass wall behind it.

"A few presents, really," the Commander said.

A panel to her right started lifting, too. She felt the sheer terror coming from behind it as if it were her own. Her eyes widened as they fixed on the glass wall. She saw the feet first. Adult feet and a couple of children.

And then she saw the first face. The little girl she tried to save from the Hunters—the little girl who hadn't stopped crying since they put her in her cage. Even now, tears streamed down her face. The second face was the older child. The girl who'd stopped crying. The girl who'd witnessed all the death around her that it numbed her. Her eyes stared blankly ahead as if she already accepted her fate.

The third face was Faith.

She sucked in her breath when she saw the young woman she was supposed to rescue tied up against the wall with silver. The room appeared soundproofed because she couldn't hear Faith's sobs, and it seemed sealed because she couldn't smell her blood or sizzling flesh even though she could see it. They hurt Faith. Her face and gown were bloody, and her head hung limply. There was blood in her hair and some dripping to the floor. Faith had been exhausted before, but now the chains held her up as if she couldn't stand on her own.

‘Faith!' she screamed in the mind link.

Faith didn't look up or indicate that she'd heard her.

‘Faith, hang in there. I'll get you out.'

Faith finally lifted her head. Her gaze was lifeless as the little girl's as if she finally gave up hope that Jax would get them out.

‘I'll get you out,' she repeated.

Somehow. Even if her wolf chose to stay hidden, she would rescue her or die trying.

"I knew it. You can communicate in this form, can't you?"

The Commander's face lit up at that revelation.

"What have you done to her?" she whispered.

"I'll do a lot more if you don't do exactly as I say," the Commander said with a sinister smile. "And I'll do it to those children you seem so fond of, too."

The man looked at the other side, and his excitement was almost tangible.

"I'll do it to her, too. I don't need her anymore," the Commander chuckled.

She turned her head to the panel that opened first, and the anger that built up in her instantly wilted. Ice returned to her veins and fear to her heart. Rebecca was tied down the same way she was, with more heavy chains around her body. Her face was almost unrecognisable, but no one could mistake her red hair. The Hunters put a muzzle over her mouth and another chain around her neck.

And her eyes were closed.

"She's been more trouble than she's worth," the Commander continued. "I could slit her throat right now, and she wouldn't even know it."

"Why are you doing this?" she shouted.

"I'm glad you asked," the Commander said, indicating something behind her.

The sound of the door opening again filled her ears, and the scent of more Hunters polluted the air. A man dressed in only a pair of shorts came forward and stood beside the Commander with his arms behind his back. He looked larger than the others, and the air around him felt different, like the men who guarded the restricted area.

There was nothing in his eyes as he waited.

"I will let everyone go back to their cages if you work with me, Layla," the Commander said. "I want you to bite him."

What?

She looked from the Hunter to the Commander, wondering if she heard him correctly. Why would she bite him? Jax told her that werewolves were born that way; they couldn't be created.

But what if they could? What if the Commander found a way? Was this how she was going to become responsible for killing her people? Was she going to turn the enemy into one of them?

"One little bite and you and your friends can go back," the Commander continued as he walked back to stand next to her. "It's a small price to pay, isn't it? Or should I just end it all now?"

As if they could hear everything happening in the room, the doors opened in the rooms on either side of her, and two Hunters walked in. Both had their weapons drawn.

The fear from the girls turned to terror. Their soundless sobs became more frantic. The youngest girl tried to run, but the chains held her in place. And in her mother's room, there was silence because Rebecca was unconscious and vulnerable.

"Say the word," the Commander urged as the Hunters lifted their weapons.

"I'll do it!" she screamed.

What other choice was there to make? Even if the Hunters got what they wanted, she couldn't risk Faith's and Rebecca's lives.

"I knew you were the reasonable one," the Commander said as the Hunters stepped back and left the rooms.

The panels started to lower, hiding the prisoners from her view again. She bought them a little more time.

As the two shutters came down, the one in front of her started to go up. She was right about the Hunters on the other side. Row by row, the shutter revealed them. Hunters in all shapes and sizes sitting in chairs as if they were about to watch a show.

The Commander turned to face them, his hands behind his back.

"Welcome to the new era," he said. "Today will be known in history as the day we won."