Chapter 4

4

M y eyelids flutter, awareness slowly creeping in as I start to wake up.

Something isn't right. I'm not tucked up in my cushy bed in the Goldenleaf packhouse, surrounded by a cocoon of soft pillows and blankets. No, my back is aching because I'm lying on a hard floor, the surface of which is so cold that it feels like it's turning my skin to ice.

Though my head is pounding, I force my eyes open, blinking as my groggy mind struggles to discern where I am and remember how the hell I got here. My muscles ache in protest when I move to sit up, and as I take stock of my surroundings, my breathing stalls, pulse taking off at a gallop.

It's a cell. I'm in a goddamn cell .

What in the actual fuck?!

My throat tightens, panic gripping me as I swing my head back and forth, surveying the cramped space. The walls and floor are concrete, a row of steel bars across the front of the cell facing a dark hallway. The only source of light emanates from a small window at the back of the cell, about six feet off the ground and barely a foot high. From the view through the window, it appears to be situated at ground level, tufts of grass sprouting along the bottom edge of the pane. The window itself is dirty, though. I can't see much beyond the grass right in front of it through the grime coating the glass. Nothing that would help pinpoint my location, anyway.

I swing my gaze around the interior of the cell, taking note of the meager furnishings. There's a metal cot with a thin mattress- no bedding, because that'd be too kind- and a solitary toilet in the corner. That's it. I mean, I suppose I should be thankful that there's an actual toilet and not a damn bucket or something, but I'm finding it a little difficult to summon any modicum of gratitude when I just woke up in a fucking cell .

What the hell happened?

I rub my fingers against my temple, my head still throbbing in pain. My whole body feels like one big bruise. Whoever transported me here clearly wasn't gentle, but how the fuck did they get their hands on me in the first place, and why don't I remember?

My headache only intensifies as I try to weed through my memories. Whatever they knocked me out with has my brain feeling scrambled, but I vaguely recall having a conversation with someone in IT about one of our new border cameras suddenly going offline. Our community of wolf shifters has been on high alert for the last decade, ever since it became apparent that someone was hunting our kind, so we run a tight ship when it comes to matters of security. And as the daughter of an Alpha, I'm one of the leaders of our alliance's security squad.

Well, I'm technically the sister of an Alpha now. My dad retired a couple years back, passing his title onto my twin brother. The two of us, along with the sons and daughters of the other Alphas in our alliance, run the security squad, tasked with keeping the whole six-pack territory safe. We've been preparing for the hunters for years, but it wasn't until a couple weeks ago that we had our first deadly brush with them. They attacked two of our six territories on the night of the full moon, and though we managed to get the upper hand and take them all out, we know based on our intel that was barely half their forces. Which is why when we discovered that they'd damaged some of the border cameras that night, my brother and I personally went out to replace them with new ones.

When I got word that one of the new cameras had suddenly gone down, I assumed it was just a malfunction of the equipment. It wouldn't be the first time that we've had a new camera shit out on us after a week due to a manufacturer defect. So, I enlisted the help of another squad fighter to go out there with me and investigate, and Tommy Benson was happy to accompany me to the border of Riverton's territory to check it out. But when we got there…

I wince, rubbing harder at my temple as I focus on my hazy recollection of the chain of events. When we took a look at the camera, it was obvious that it'd been deliberately tampered with. Before we could even discuss how or why, let alone repair the damn thing, I saw a tranquilizer dart sink into Tommy's shoulder, and a fraction of a second later, I felt the sting of another piercing my own neck.

It was a trap, and we walked right into it.

I lift a hand to the side of my neck, ghosting my fingertips over the skin and feeling a small divot where the needle pierced through. It shouldn't still be there. It was dinnertime when Tommy and I went out to check the camera, and judging by the early morning light filtering in through the window, I must've been passed out all night… so why haven't I healed?

I try to call on my inner wolf, but I can't feel her at all- there's just a hollow space inside my consciousness where she usually resides. My wolf has been part of me for so long that I forget she's even there most of the time, but now that she's silent, it feels like part of my soul has been cleaved out. Awareness sinks in that there's a dull ache simmering in my veins, like I'm bruised on the inside, too.

Wolfsbane.

I've never been dosed with it before, but there's no other explanation for my wolf's sudden silence and my body's inability to rapidly heal. With my inner wolf dormant, my shifter abilities are suppressed. I'm weaker, I'm not healing… I'm basically human, which puts me at a distinct disadvantage in this situation I've found myself in.

Glancing around the cell once more, it takes everything I have to stave off the panic attack I feel coming on in response to my surroundings. Confined spaces are not my jam. I've always had this irrational fear of being trapped, and now that I actually am…

Shit.

I squeeze my eyes shut, focusing on my breathing. I need to find a way out. If there's one thing I'm sure of, it's that where there's a will, there's a way- and the only way to keep from panicking is to focus my mind on something else. Shoring up my resolve, I start to push myself up from the floor, every muscle screaming in protest and a groan slipping free in my struggle to get to my feet.

"Avery?" a deep voice calls out hesitantly.

"Tommy?!" I gasp, rushing to the bars at the front of my cell. I wrap my hands around the cold metal, trying to peer around them toward the sound of his voice. "What happened? Where are we?"

"I don't know," he replies defeatedly, his voice coming from my left. His hand comes into view through the bars of the neighboring cell, and I dart my own hand out as far as I can to reach for him, the tips of my fingers brushing against his.

Drawing a deep breath, I steady myself and snap into warrior mode. "It's going to be okay," I reassure him, even though it's all false bravado. "We're gonna get out of here. We just have to… "

My words are cut off when the harsh fluorescent lights overhead suddenly turn on, momentarily blinding me, followed by the sound of heavy boots thudding downstairs. I blink rapidly as my eyes struggle to adjust to the change of light, seeing four men dressed in black emerge from the stairwell and head straight for the cell beside mine.

"It's a good day for revenge, isn't it boys?" one of them announces gleefully as he brandishes a set of keys and starts to unlock the cell door.

"Who are you?" I demand, gripping the bars of my own cell tightly. "What do you want?"

None of them even spare me a glance, the door of the neighboring cell swinging open with a metallic groan and the four of them rushing inside. I hear the sounds of fists cracking against flesh, Tommy's pained groans telling me exactly what they're doing to him.

"Stop!" I scream, banging my palms against the thick steel bars until they're rattling. "Leave him alone!"

My pleas fall on deaf ears. Tommy wails in pain as the men laugh and continue beating the crap out of him, and although I can't see what's happening, the sounds alone are enough to tip me over the edge and throw me into the full-fledged panic I was hoping to avoid.

"Stop it!" I cry out, gripping onto the bars and pressing my body tight against them, as if I can somehow slip through. "What the hell are you doing?! Stop !"

"Someone shut the bitch up," a voice growls in annoyance, and a heartbeat later, one of the men dips back out of the cell next door, his knuckles coated in sticky red blood. He pulls a long black stick off his belt, and before I can even register what the hell it is, he touches the tip of it to the bars of my cell, electric current zapping through my body from every point of contact with the metal.

My breath whooshes from my lungs, muscles seizing as I collapse to the floor in a heap. An agonized whine leaves my throat as I lie there twitching and convulsing, the current still echoing through me.

Another set of footsteps sounds from the stairs, followed by raised voices and the rattle of keys. My cell door swings open, boots clomping against the floor as someone approaches my trembling body.

He nudges the toe of his boot against my shoulder to roll me onto my back, then leans down over me, his soulless dark eyes locking on mine. Then he lifts my twitching arm and jabs a needle into my skin at the crook of my elbow.

A pained sound escapes my throat and his lips curl in a cruelly beautiful smile as he depresses the plunger, pain searing through my veins as the drug enters my bloodstream.

It hurts so much.

Then everything goes black.