Chapter 7

Zailah

The fucking audacity of this arsehole, standing there with his designer suit and polished shoes. My eyes caught his wrist as his hand was in his trouser pocket, and the suit jacket was pushed back. A gold and black Rolex watch adorned his wrist. There was no way he would experiment on himself. My eyes travelled back to his face. He had the same arrogant look as most wealthy people did. Since I interacted with them professionally, I knew what they were like.

He had wavy, thick, dark brown hair cut stylishly, so the lustrous locks sat in perfect waves on his stupid head. Even his eyebrows looked plucked to perfection. The dark colour of his hair, trimmed beard and eyebrows made his blue eyes more prominent. He might have been wrapped up in a pretty package but was evil. His eyes showed anger and ill intent towards me.

“Fine. If you want me to be the villain, I will be more than content with the role,”

he said as his lips lifted to one side to give me a lopsided smile.

His eyes darkened and became menacing enough for me to think twice before giving him an incendiary response. An icy shiver ran down my spine as his piercing eyes remained on mine. I held my breath as he began to turn towards the door.

“You should know that while you were a werewolf, I fed you those men’s liver, kidneys, heart, lungs and limbs. You gobbled them all up like a ravenous little bitch,”

he said with a chuckle as he walked out of the door.

He closed the metal door, and I saw the vicious claw marks on them. The proof was on his phone and in this cell. Once I let out the breath I held, I began to gag and retch. It continued for a long time until tears at the exertion followed. The need to dispel any human flesh from within me was all I could think of.

The men's faces flashed through my mind as tears of horror began to drip down my face. I brought nothing up from my stomach other than clear liquid. I sat back down on the cold cement floor with a shiver, but the nauseous feeling remained.

He said we could eat animals, so why would he have fed those men to me?

I retched again at the thought, unable to control myself.

Remus Hawkins wasn't just a villain. He was a sick fucking monster.

My eyes caught the water bottle, and I crawled towards it, cringing when the chain followed me. My neck ached from where the thick collar sat. It was very loose around my neck, but it must have rubbed when I turned into the wolf. I wouldn't have believed him if I had not seen it on his phone.

Was it ironic to be turned into a werewolf on Halloween? My head was a fucking mess.

I unscrewed the cap, glad the bottle was still sealed, only to shake my head. He was going to experiment on my body with God knows what, and I was worried about my water being tampered with.

I felt unkempt and grimy, but considering I was on a cold floor and naked, I didn't feel as cold as I should have. There was a small window, but it had silver bars over it, and I could just about see out of it. There was nothing but treetops and grass. I sniffed before taking a long sip of the water, trying not to think about the men.

I glanced at the blue and white packaged sandwich. He had tossed it to me as if I were a dog, and he enjoyed calling me a bitch. It was evident in his voice. I mulled over his age and how he spoke like an older person. He must have been around thirty when he became a werewolf. My mind flashed to the malicious glint in his eyes. He was cold, and he had no empathy. I was less than nothing in his eyes.

A wave of despair washed over me as I thought of the hopelessness of my situation. He had deep pockets, and he could make me vanish. If he was a wolf, this could be my final resting place, a madman’s lair or a den. I rubbed my face only to feel how matted and greasy my hair was. I glanced at the door as another realisation hit me.

He was humiliating me on purpose to corrode my self-worth. The way he threw food at me, leaving me dirty, naked and chained to the wall. These were techniques that had been documented and used on prisoners. I sat up a little straighter when I thought of what my Mama used to say.

Never let them see how much they hurt you.

My dad left when I was four years old. My mum discovered he was having an affair with a colleague from his workplace. There were no assets to divide over the divorce, but my Dad couldn't keep up with child support payments. They stopped entirely once he had his second kid with his partner. Once they had their third child, they got married, and I never saw him again until my Mum’s funeral.

When I was ten, we moved from Nottingham to Ketterby for a quieter life. My mum wanted me to be in a good high school. She sacrificed so much for me. It was difficult not to feel abandoned by her death. She had been larger than life in person.

The funeral fiasco was on the next level. Telling my Dad that he was dead to me and I never wanted to see him again hadn't been on my agenda, but seeing how disrespectful his wife and brats were, I had no regrets. No one invited him, and he shouldn't have been there. The hurt he caused my Mum was unforgivable. My friends were my rocks all throughout the process. I swallowed when I thought of Charlotte and Emma. If I knew them, they would continue to harass the police until they got themselves thrown out of the police station or arrested.

As I sat here pondering my life choices, I wished I’d lived a little and not played it as safe.

◆◆◆

When I heard the door open, I awakened instantly. Remus walked in, but he was missing his navy suit jacket. His fitted shirt was ridiculously tight around his body but also showed his strength. He was more bulked up than I’d anticipated. He was at least a foot taller than me, and I was 5’9. I sat up and pulled my knees up to cover my body up. He might have been factoring in his weird experiments, but I didn’t miss the amorous glint in his eyes earlier.

The scent of food made my mouth water. When he put the plate on the floor, I saw meat on it and pushed it back towards him. The food looked beautiful and fresh, but the steak could be human.

“It’s Aberdeen Angus beef, not human,”

he said as he stood up. “I tried human meat when I wasn't a werewolf, and it's not as—appetising.”

He glanced at the sandwich that lay on the spot he threw it on.

“If you finish your food, I will bring you down some bedding,”

he said with a shrewd look.

His lips tightened a fraction when I didn't respond, and he looked down at me. Literally.

“You're going to be with me for a very long time, Zailah, so I suggest you stop trying to antagonise me by acting like a child,”

he said in a low, deep voice.

I continued to stare at him, but I had nothing to say to him until he started to treat me like a human. His face suddenly became emotionless.

“I met with the doctor this evening. The one who will work on you, and we decided it was best to see the capabilities on both the human and werewolf sides. Some of the procedures will be—uncomfortable. If you want to survive this, I suggest you eat. As long as I get the result I need, it won't bother me if you live or die,”

he said coldly.

“You must love the sound of your own voice,”

I said sarcastically, unable to stop myself from reacting to him casually dictating what my life was about to become.

With any luck, he would fuck off and leave me in peace.

“Fine, sit here and wallow in your filth,”

he said before he stalked off like the child he accused me of being.

I tried to resist the urge to stick my fingers up at his retreating backside, but since he had cameras in the room somewhere, I didn't.