Eight
Gunnar
They left me alone for most of the day. That was a bad sign. Then, they took me out of my cell. That was an even worse sign.
“Come on!” It wasn’t Maestro or Legs or even Buzzy asking. Two guards, Lowell and Henny, showed up clanging a lead pipe against the rusted bars in the square cut out of my door. The sound grated, ringing through my bones. Finn groaned on his side of the cell. His fingers splayed out beneath the wall. He was having a really bad day. He hadn’t kept what passed for a meal down in over twenty-four hours. I was starting to get worried.
“Get on your feet,” Lowell said. He was the biggest guy in the camp other than me. Or at least, what I used to be. I hadn’t seen a mirror in months, but my hipbones jutted out and my skin hung slack everywhere else. I was muscle and bone, nothing more.
Lowell had a voice that didn’t match his stature. It was high-pitched with a lateral lisp. He was burly, like a lumberjack, with dark hair and yellow eyes that burned gold when he couldn’t keep his wolf under control. Not one of these men had ever shifted around me. There had to be a reason for that. My guess was that the powers that be feared it would stir the prisoners too much. We’d be harder to control. There was always the possibility that the shift itself might kill one of us. From what little I could see of Finn beneath the wall, I didn’t see how he’d physically survive it.
I thought about giving Lowell a hard time. I ached so badly from yesterday’s session with Maestro, I just didn’t have it in me. He’d flown into a rage when my blindfold slipped. I didn’t see his face, but it didn’t matter. My ribs were taking longer to heal today. Even a kick from Lowell might send me over the edge. I hauled myself up to my feet, dragging the dragonsteel chains behind me.
“Miss me already?” I asked, my voice scratchy and dry. They hadn’t brought any of us dinner today. That right there should have been another bad sign if I’d had the energy to recognize it at the moment.
“Shut the fuck up, Gunnar,” Henny said. He opened the door. Henny was tall, skinny with long, stringy hair. He almost looked like he could have been a prisoner once himself for as dirty as he was. For all I knew, maybe he was. He stank too. Even Lowell wrinkled his nose when Henny got too close.
It was in me to ask what was going on, but something made me stop. I didn’t want to know. I didn’t want to give either of these assholes the chance to goad me anymore. For as hungry as I was, I felt mentally stronger today than I had in months. Jett was the reason. She’d kindled something deep inside of me, even though I knew that was dangerous.
She might be dangerous. There was still every possibility that she was another one of Maestro’s head games despite my gut feeling.
“It’s your lucky day,” Lowell said. “You’re moving up in the world, Gunnar.”
“Gunnar?” Finn’s voice filled with panic. That was unusual for him. I wanted to chalk it up to whatever sickness seemed to grip him.
“Take it easy, Finn,” I said, trying to make a joke of it. I caught a glimpse of Finn through the square in his door while Lowell led me out. What I saw made my heart lurch. Finn was losing weight, fast. He had angry sores on his wrists, ankles and elbows from where he rested on the floor and his chains scraped. His color was all wrong, sallow and gray. But, when Finn locked eyes with me, I almost dropped. One was brown and red-rimmed. The other glinted gold. I’d never seen that before. One human eye, the other all wolf. It didn’t usually happen like that. There was something very, very wrong with Finn. This wasn’t sickness; I feared it was brain damage.
“Where are you taking him?” Finn yelled.
“Not your business,” Henny answered. “Go back to sleep while you can. You look like kooky-eyed shit.”
“It’s okay, Finn,” I said raising a hand, I put a finger to my lips. “Don’t worry about anything.”
“You don’t get it,” Finn said. He found the strength to rise. He curled his fingers around the rusted bars and pressed his forehead to them. “This is what they do, man. Are you taking him to the pit?”
Lowell looked back. He answered with a smile. Well, shit. I didn’t know what the pit was, but was pretty sure I didn’t want to go there. Ever.
“Don’t let ‘em take you there. Gunnar! They don’t come back from the pit.” Finn started to scream it. “You go in as you, you come out as Pack!”
My heart turned to stone. I’d been hearing the rumors all week. The Alpha was coming. This was it.
Henny banged his stick on Finn’s door. Finn jumped back and stumbled. He didn’t have the strength to stand anymore. Henny and Lowell led me past Finn’s cell. For the first time in all the months since they brought me here, I saw into the other cells as well.
Rackham was next. He sat in the corner of his cell, knees drawn up. When our eyes met, his were cold and dark. He had a mass of reddish hair and a long, unkempt beard. He raised his chin and gave me a slow, solemn nod. Next to him was Jones. So he was real after all. Jones stood tall and defiant in the center of his cell. His eyes flashed silver as the guards pushed me forward. Jones had blond hair slicked back with sweat. His body was covered with angry welts in a familiar pattern. They were from Maestro. Jones raised his fist, knuckles out, as I went by. I raised mine back.
“Enough,” Lowell said, pushing me forward. The fifth cell was empty. They led me away, to the other side of the camp. A single cell stood all alone. It looked no different than the others: four cement footers beneath walls that didn’t quite reach the ground. The rusted metal door had a small opening near the middle covered by bars. It was slightly bigger than the others, maybe ten by ten.
Henny opened the cell door while Lowell shoved me inside. He looped my chains through a giant metal ring bolted to the floor, all of it made of dragonsteel. I tested the strength, but it was no use.
“Relax,” Lowell said. “I promise this time tomorrow things will start looking up for you. You might even say it’s your lucky day.”
I couldn’t muster a response and didn’t want to give Lowell the satisfaction of knowing I was worried. But, as the door clanged shut, my mouth felt as though I’d swallowed ash. Lowell could only mean one thing by his taunting. If he was telling the truth, he figured I’d be subjugated into the Pack sometime in the next twenty-four hours.
The thing that scared me most was that a part of me wanted it. It would be so much easier. I’d felt and fought against the pull of the pack so many times. It called to me like a siren song. There would be no more pain, no reason to fight, I could give over to it, finally. I could have peace.
The price of that peace chilled me to my core. Subjugated wolves lived and breathed for the Alpha. He could make me fight for him, kill for him. And he could make me betray the people I cared about no matter how much my soul fought against it.
Now you’re thinking clearly. They’re not friends, Gunnar. You don’t need friends.
My heart dropped. No. No. No. I wouldn’t do it. The urge to conjure my friend’s names and faces pulled at me. He wanted their location most of all. I wouldn’t do it. I would not do it.
You know me. If you just let yourself believe it. I’m not your enemy. What I do I do for the strength of all of us.
“What you do you do for you? You’re sick. You kill innocent wolves and hurt women. For what?”
You can’t see the big picture. I can. Everything I’ve done makes us stronger. We’ve been hunted and cursed for so many years. I can undo all of that. I can bring back the she-wolves.
“No one can. Anything you try isn’t natural. It’s twisted. It’s evil.”
Again, the Alpha’s soft laughter drove out all other sounds. In the back of my mind, I knew the more I engaged with him, the stronger his hold might become. I quieted my thoughts. He held strong for a few moments, then quietly faded away.
Gathering my chains, I backed into a corner off the cell. Could I get them around my neck? I scanned the top of the cage in the dark. Was there a hook, a ledge? Anything I could brace it on? The walls were smooth. The metal loop in the wall kept the chains taut. I had enough slack to move against the wall, but not enough to wrap it around my neck.
One horrible night, I’d heard Finn try to bash his own head against the wall. It was early in my stay here. I’d tried to reason with him. Now, I understood the desperation he felt better than anyone. I tried it again, hitting the wall harder than the night before. I’m not proud. But shifters have heads harder than concrete. It made my ears ring, but little more. Besides, even if I’d cracked my own skull, it wouldn’t be enough to kill me, and I healed too quickly.
“Shit,” I whispered as I felt sticky, warm blood pour down the back of my neck.
“Knock it off. You’re no good to me unconscious!” Jett’s whisper hit me like a thunderbolt. Her eyes glinted in the gap in the wall where she crouched low to peer in at me.
With my ringing ears, I’d never even heard her approach. Was this the Alpha sending her to me again? Twice in a row, she’d appeared after I drove him out of my head. My pulse rocketed and I scrambled closer to the wall to get to her.
“What the hell are you doing here? The guards just left. They’re going to find you!”
Jett’s white teeth gleamed in the darkness as she smiled. “I’m smarter than I look. You let me worry about the guards. You made a deal with me. I came to collect.”
Letting out a sigh, I pressed my head against the wall. Jett crouched beneath the opposite wall, too far for me to reach her. As the throbbing in my head began to subside, I craved her touch, knowing instinctively that it would soothe me.
“Come here,” I said. “I can’t hear you very well.”
“That’s your own fault.”
“Yeah, it is. I still want you to come closer. I will not risk the guards hearing either one of us.”
Jett disappeared. A few seconds later, her hand slid beneath the wall close to me. Still out of my reach, but close enough I could hear her heart beating. It had been a lie. She could have stayed a hundred yards away and my wolf ears would have picked up every whispered word. I had the sense she knew that but chose to get close to me anyway.
“So, tell me what I need to know,” she said. “You made me a promise. I want to know about Birch Haven. What happened there?”
Snorting, I shifted my weight and slid lower so she could see my face. “You know what that place was? What they did to girls like you there?”
“That’s not what I asked you. Is it still standing?”
I don’t know why I hesitated. She was right; I had made her a promise. But, when I told her everything I knew, she might not have a reason to stay. Of course, that was better for her. Safer. And yet, my need to stay close to her burned through me.
“I don’t know,” I finally answered. “That’s the truth. But yes, I was there. There was a battle. That’s when I got captured.”
Jett let out a choked sob. “The women. Tell me what happened to the women. Did you see?”
I squeezed my eyes shut trying to conjure up my last few minutes of freedom before the Alpha’s guards captured me. “It was chaos. But yes, they got away. I don’t know how many. Dozens. Fifty, sixty, maybe more. They broke through the gates and ran into the woods. Some got out on foot. Others were in vans.”
“You saw that?” Jett was openly sobbing now and my heart broke. More than anything, I wanted to pull her into my arms. I wanted to inhale the sweet scent of her hair as she leaned against my chest.
“Yes,” I said. “I saw that.” There was more. I could tell her how Mac and Payne and I waited by the riverbank. Mac had someone working with him on the inside. His sister Lena had been there. I was pretty sure she was one of the ones who’d gotten out along with Mac’s mate, Eve. There were others, but I couldn’t see their faces in my mind as clearly. The Alpha’s bodyguard had hit me hard, cracking my jaw. I rounded on him and killed him. Payne had gotten hurt badly. At first I feared he was dead. But, as the Alpha’s other guards overtook me, Payne locked eyes with me. He was alive. Thank God, he was alive.
“I saw a fire,” I said. “I don’t know who set it. It could have been my people, or one of the girls. Hell, it might even have been the Pack. They swarmed the place. I told you. It was chaos.” I was careful not to say or think anything the Alpha didn’t already know.
“But, they got out,” Jett said, her voice taking on a dreamlike quality. What I wouldn’t give to see her face full on. For now, it was enough that I could feel her rapid pulse beating in time with mine. I don’t think she was aware of it. She hung on my words. For a moment, she had a trancelike quality as if she were trying to picture what I’d told her.
“You were from there,” I said. Horror filled my heart. It would make sense of why Jett cared so much about what happened to Birch Haven. She knew what it was because she’d seen it firsthand. Rage rose within me, squeezing my heart. Had she been marked by one of the Alpha’s men? Had she been touched against her will or hurt? My vision darkened. Jett’s eyes flicked to mine and I knew she could see my wolf shining within. I’m told they are silver, though I’ve never seen them myself.
Jett’s hand disappeared. I heard something crinkle, like stiff paper. She slid a tattered rectangle under the wall. “Tell me if you recognize her.”
I took the paper from her, letting my fingers brush hers. Again, that electric spark shot from her heart to mine. She pulled away as if touching me burned her. Slowly, I picked up the photograph and squinted into the darkness. It was one of those cheesy class photographs on a blue background with an American flag in the corner. A pretty, light-skinned African-American girl smiled back at me. A mass of beautiful braids framed her face and inquisitive dark eyes. In this picture, she couldn’t be much more than fifteen or sixteen.
“Who is she?” I asked.
Jett hesitated, then finally answered. “Her name was Jasmine.”
“She was at Birch Haven?” I asked.
“Yes. I need to know if she was one of the ones who got out.”
I slid the photograph back to her. “I’m sorry. I don’t know. I didn’t get out. The Pack caught me during the battle. I don’t know what happened after I got separated from my…”
I stopped myself from saying the rest of it. I couldn’t reveal the final truth to this girl. There was still the very real possibility she was working for the Pack. Though my heart and instinct told me no, I couldn’t risk betraying Mac and the others.
I dropped my head and closed my eyes. In twenty-four hours, it wouldn’t matter anymore. If I was still alive when the Alpha got here for real, my mind would no longer be my own.
When I opened my eyes, Jett’s hand lay flat on the ground, still covering this Jasmine’s photograph. I reached for her with snake-like speed, circling my fingers around her wrists. Jett clenched her fists and tried to pull away.
“I’ve held up my end,” I said, my voice dropping an octave. “Time to hold up yours.”
Jett froze. “One in a million shot.”
“I’ll hold still,” I said with a bitter laugh. Jett put her other hand under the wall. In it, she held her nine millimeter. I’d have to lie flat on my belly, sliding as close to the gap as I could. She had a silencer twisted on the end, but the shot would still make plenty of noise. The same shot that would free me from subjugation might put her at even greater risk. Every protective instinct in me flared hot. Could I do that to her? Would my freedom be worth her safety?
Voices rose on the other side of the camp. Finn’s scream was so loud it reached me just as if he were still in the cell next to me. My head grew foggy and started to buzz. Beneath all of that though, that familiar pull started dead center in my chest. My limbs went slack and it got hard to breathe.
“They’re coming,” Jett said. “Shit.”
“It’s the Pack,” I shouted. There could be no doubt. My wolf eyes flared; a red haze seeped into my vision. This was bad. This was very bad.
“There’s no time,” I said, all hope leaching out of me. “You have to run. If they find you here…”
But Jett was already on her feet. I strained to see what was happening. From my vantage point and the few inches of clearance under the wall, I saw her booted feet begin to run. Then, she slid to a stop.
“Hey! You!” Oh, God. It was Lowell. With a high, bright moon at his back, Lowell’s shadow fell across Jett. He’d come alone, but it wouldn’t matter. He was only a beta, but he was still ten times stronger than Jett, at least. She planted her feet wide and aimed her weapon at him. Her bullet would be no match for his shifter speed. She fired anyway. I couldn’t see if she’d hit him.
Lowell muttered something unintelligible and lurched forward, his gait all wrong. She’d hit him. Holy fuck, she’d hit him. How in the hell had she been fast enough to get a shot off? He dropped to his knees, blood pouring from a wound in his shoulder.
Fuck. It would only be enough to stun him for a moment. To kill him, she’d have to hit him in the frontal lobe at close range. Even then, it might not have been enough.
Lowell clutched the wound on his chest. His eyes went from red to pale yellow. Then, he fell forward face first and started to twitch. He wasn’t dead, but something was wrong. Shifters don’t go down like that from gunshots to the shoulder.
More shuffling. Jett was on the move, but I couldn’t see her. Further away, something worse was coming. I caught their scent moving fast. There was no time. The Pack was on its way.
Metal scraped at the door. Keys jangled then dropped to the ground. Jett swore. Then, the cell door swung wide and she stepped inside.
“Come on,” she said. “We’re out of time.”
“What are you doing? Jesus! You gotta get out of here.”
Jett held a ring of keys in her hand. She stood before me, chest heaving.
“Lowell!” A shout filled the air. “You back there, man?” It was Henny and he wasn’t alone.
Jett tossed the keys to me. “Hurry up if you want me to help you.”
“Help me? Woman, have you lost your damn mind? They’re going to tear you up!”
“Then you better get moving.”
With shaking fingers, I unlocked the dragonsteel chains. They fell to the ground. The constant burn I’d felt around my ankles and wrists stopped at once. The relief of it nearly drove me to the ground. Jett’s hand on my arm made me stop.
“Come on!” she said. “We’ve got to move.”
I rose slowly and took two steps forward. Then, it was as if a sledgehammer hit me in the chest.
Stop! You will not move!
The voice inside my head drove out all reason. It was him. It was the Alpha. He was moving fast. My body wanted to obey; my mind was chaos.
“Gunnar!” Jett shook me.
“No,” I said, clamping my hands over my ears. We wouldn’t be fast enough. He would catch us. He would make me submit. Too strong. Too many. It was over.
“I can’t,” I said. “I won’t. You have to do it. Now.” I took Jett’s hand and pulled the gun up, centering it on my forehead. “Pull the trigger. Don’t let them turn me.”
Jett locked eyes with me. Hers burned with fury. Her breasts heaved with measured breaths. Her fingers trembled on the trigger.
“Now!” I pleaded as the Pack drew nearer. “You swore it.”
A tear fell down Jett’s cheeks. She bit her lip then slowly lowered the gun. She held out her hand to me.
“I know another way,” she said. “But you’ve got to run.”
“No, do it. For the love of God. Do it! I won’t be one of them. I can’t. You don’t understand.”
“I understand more than you realize,” she said. She gave me a little half smile that tore at my heart. Then, she turned and ran out of the cell. “Follow me if you want a second chance. Or stay here and be one of them.”