Chapter Sixteen
The Temple hall was filled with shadows that moved. Kele stood in the doorway with her feet rooted to the stone as a chill seeped into her soul. No clouds dotted the clear blue sky above, so where did all these shadows come from? Hesitant, she lifted her hand to touch the darkness. It slid over her skin cool and smooth like dragon silk.
Something roiled and surged to cover her flesh and she jerked away. The bulge formed into an ambiguous face. Peering closer, she watched as it became more detailed.
“Papa?”
His eyelids opened and empty sockets stared at her as his mouth yawned into a silent scream.
She bolted up, waking from the nightmare. Sweat coated her skin and her blood pumped so loud she couldn’t hear anything. She rubbed her tired eyes and blinked to refocus. She sat on a pallet on the floor of a prison.
And her parents were still dead.
Nahuel had fallen asleep at some point after she’d retreated to sleep. He’d retched the rest of the night with Peder at his side. She flopped back on the pallet and let her gaze wander around the holding cell.
There he was.
Peder stood by the bars, conversing with a guard. He reached between and touched the vampire’s arm and gave him a shy smile.
The guard laughed as he unhooked a water skin from his belt and handed it to Peder. He seemed nervous as he reached through the bars to stroke her male’s hair.
A growl tore out of her chest and before she knew it, she’d shifted and stormed across the pen with her dress torn yet clinging precariously to her body. Mine. She swiped her claws at the guard but he’d jumped out of her reach.
“Kele!” Peder inserted himself between her and the guard. In his civil form, he couldn’t match her in strength. Instead, he petted her fur and murmured things in her ears. “It’s okay. Shhh. It’s okay. Stop snarling like that. You’ll draw Timothy out. Come on now. Shift to civil form.”
She did as he asked. “You were flirting with him,” she shouted.
He clapped his hand over her mouth and manhandled her back to their pallet. Once he had her on it, he gathered her torn dress and helped her tie it back on.
“You were flirting.” She jabbed her finger at him.
He showed her the water skin. “Nahuel needs this. The guard refused when I asked so when I noticed that one watching me, I did what I do best.” He shrugged.
Her mouth opened but nothing came out.
“You’re jealous?” He traced the neckline of her dress, which was considerably lower now that she’d torn it asunder.
She jerked from his touch. “Of course I am.” Watching him touch another in an affectionate way had stung like a thousand needles. How would he understand? He had an omega’s nature. Easy lovers. No attachments.
He entwined their fingers. “I didn’t mean to hurt you. It was a means to get something we needed. Just a harmless flirtation.”
“From the way he’s watching us, I’d say there’s nothing harmless about it. You worry about the vampires having their way with me but have you ever considered they might do the same to you? You’re much prettier.”
He shrugged again.
She ground her teeth. “Peder.”
“What?” His gaze grew darker and his small smile vanished. “They can’t do anything to me that hasn’t already been done.” He left her gaping as he tended to Nahuel’s thirst with the water skin.
If only the ground would open and swallow her whole, she would have deemed in just. She leaned back and banged her head against the wall. When she stared at Peder, she saw a male of worth, someone who would climb mountains and scale a vampire castle to save another, no matter the personal cost. Yet in this morning light, she witnessed the cracks he tried to hide so well. The shattered pieces he somehow kept glued together. Was this where the haunted look of last night came from?
She rose and tugged on her makeshift dress to better hide the important bits, then approached both males. Nahuel appeared less pale this morning. A little rest, water and food would see him healed. “How does your head feel?”
Peder didn’t look at her.
“Better.” He gripped Peder’s forearm in a hunter’s greeting. “After yesterday, I would call you brother if you were Yaundeeshaw.”
Peder returned the gesture. “I’m happy if you just call me friend. It’s not the place of an omega to be called brother by a hunter.”
Nahuel snorted. “There’s nothing omega about you. I think you shed that skin when you took my place in the challenge.” He pointed to the other shifters in the pen. “From what I’ve heard this morning, many are grateful for your actions.”
Flinching, Peder twisted to look at the others, who had paused in their activities to face them.
A few nodded in his direction until a large male strode toward them. He was almost the same size as the one Peder had bested.
Both she and Peder stood to meet him. Peder with a relaxed stance, Kele ready to claw out his eyes.
“Can we help you, hunter?” Peder met his stare. He didn’t kneel or even duck his head.
The hunter knelt instead and touched Peder’s foot. “I want to make my intentions clear that I will not challenge you and I observe your dominance.”
Kele’s chest swelled at how calm Peder kept his expression while her heart skipped beats.
He rested his hand on the hunter’s head. “I accept.” He raised his head and she saw the confusion in his eyes. So maybe not as calm as she’d thought.
She twisted to see what danger threatened them and found all the others had knelt as if Peder were alpha. She rested her chin on his shoulder and tangled their fingers. “There’s definitely nothing omega about you anymore.”
The chime of the meal bell broke the silence. As one, everyone rose and lined up at the door to receive their morning meal.
She stopped Peder from following. “It won’t look good for you to wait in line. Let me get it for you and Nahuel.”
Peder appeared torn. His gaze wandered from the meal line to the recovering hunter. “If you think it’s best.”
She rose on tiptoe and kissed his cheek before taking her place at the end of the line. The bread the shifters carried back smelled surprisingly fresh. Personally, she would have preferred meat of any kind, but any food was better than none. The line moved quickly. She had reached into the basket to gather their meal when a dark hand followed hers and grasped her wrist.
“White wolf, I was told you attacked my guard this morning.”
She met Timothy’s black eyes and cold claws of fear bit into her spine. “It was a misunderstanding.”
Behind Timothy, the guard who fancied her Peder smirked.
“I’m sure it was, but such behavior cannot go unpunished.” Timothy yanked her arm and she tumbled out of the holding pen and onto her knees.
Nahuel thumped Peder’s leg and pointed in the direction of the pen’s door.
Kele knelt on the ground, outside the bars at Timothy’s feet. What was going on? Then he spotted the vampire who’d given him the water skin watching Kele with a smug smile on his face.
Timothy raised his arm over his head, holding a flat wooden baton, and the blow landed on her back.
She grunted with the impact.
Peder sprang to his feet and raced to the door before the guard swung it closed. By the Goddess’s luck, he wedged his body through the narrow opening and bowled over the sentry. Peder grabbed Timothy’s wrist before he could swing the baton a second time.
The dark slaver blinked as if shocked to see him. “What is he doing out of the cage?” Tugging his arm out Peder’s hold, he landed the strike on Kele.
As Peder stepped forward, two guards seized his arms and tried to pull him back into the pen. “Why are you hitting her?” She seemed so tiny and fragile next to the big male. He could break her.
“None of your business, Goldie. Now go play nursemaid to your friend.”
Kele raised her head. “I’m okay. It’s my fault. Go back inside.”
He shifted to feral form. Kele had lived such a sheltered life. He had to preserve that for as long as possible. He needed her hope and her innocence to keep him going. These slavers were capable of worse things than hitting her.
Timothy lowered his arm. “Pup.” He pointed the baton at him. “This is your last chance to step away.”
“You didn’t give her any chances.”
“Of course not. A female needs to learn her place quickly in this business.”
“And what place is that?” Kele asked with her head still bowed and her gaze on the ground.
“On your knees and mouth shut.” Timothy kicked her in the stomach.
With a roar that hurt his throat, Peder leaped at the slaver, dragging both guards still clinging to his arms with him. He struck Timothy to the ground as he shook the guards free. If they wanted someone to hit, they could use him. “Let her go.”
Black fur covered Timothy’s flesh as he shifted to feral form. He rose to his hind legs, his feline face close to Peder’s. “Think you can take me, little pup?”
The snide endearment splintered his control. Sorin’s father used to call him that. In the same tone. He swiped his claws across Timothy’s chest, but only cut through air.
Timothy had moved out of his reach. “Have you ever fought a cat shifter?”
He shook his head. Timothy resembled a black predator feline. Like a creature of shadow. “I’ve never seen your kind.” And had heard very little of them.
The slave dealer snorted. “I am a panther shifter from the Jaguar clan.”
“Why would you sell our kind to vampires? We’re cousins.” Maybe he could reason with the cat. Who knew how the vampires had made Timothy turn his back on his own kind.
Ears folding back, the Jaguar shifter crouched low and bared his teeth. “Our kind share no blood, dog. Your people are just gold in my pocket. I can’t capture enough to meet the demands.” Timothy leaped higher than Peder thought possible for such a heavy creature and landed behind him.
He spun around and absorbed a punch to the center of his chest. Pain exploded through Peder’s ribs and stole his breath. It seemed as if his lungs had forgotten how to work. Gasping, he stumbled back, wheeling his arms before he went tail over bucket.
“Peder.” Kele raced to his side and steadied him.
He pulled her close. She needed to stop attracting so much attention to herself.
Timothy yanked her from his grasp and handed her to the guards. “I’m not done with her yet.” Then he circled him with slow deliberate steps. “Let’s test these fighting skills.”
Kele struggled against the vampires holding her.
One of the guards set a sword to her throat. “Stay in civil form. Your master doesn’t want you that bad.”
“Take your time, Goldie. Catch your breath. I’m in no hurry.” Timothy bared his sharp feline teeth. In feral form, he appeared similar to a wolf—except for the face, more needle-like claws and longer canines.
Sorin’s voice whispered in his head. Find your center, push any emotion to back of your mind and focus solely on your opponent. Do any other thing and you may as well submit.
Should he submit? Would fighting Timothy make things worse? He scented Kele’s terror. He would not die omega. He had worked too hard to find his inner hunter to just surrender at the first sign of real conflict.
Pack challenges seemed so childish after the last few days. He wouldn’t let his fear rule him anymore. If ever they ever managed to escape, no one would take Kele from him without a fight. Not in the future, and not now. He centered his thoughts and pushed them away. He lowered himself to all fours and stalked Timothy like the pussycat he was. “If rubbed on the belly do you purr?”
The slaver chuckled. “You’re just pretty enough for me to let you find out.” He struck quick and silent as the wind. The swipe of his claws sliced through the flesh of Peder’s left bicep.
He rolled away before Timothy could land anymore strikes. Burning spread through the limb but he embraced the sensation. Blood trickled through his fur and dripped from his elbow. Timothy was faster than Sorin and he wouldn’t pull his claws.
Each time he lunged at Timothy his claws and teeth met nothing. The cat shifter could jump higher and always landed on his feet, no matter how complicatedly he twisted in the air. Peder might as well have been trying to fight a large bird. At least, he managed to keep the big cat from gaining any more strikes against him.
Timothy seemed out of breath though and his last leap didn’t soar completely out of Peder’s reach.
Peder jumped as high as he could in his attack to see if he could meet Timothy in the air but the more experienced fighter rolled under him and came up from behind.
Locking his arms around Peder’s, Timothy slammed him to ground with enough force to rattle his teeth and send stars spinning in his vision.
“Shift to civil form or I drag her into this as well,” the cat shifter whispered.
Peder glanced at both versions of Kele swaying in his vision, then brought up his trigger memory to shift. His fur receded as bones and flesh returned painlessly to civil form.
Timothy clamped both of his hands on his back while the vampires rushed to restrain his wrists with manacles. The slaver lifted him to his feet and pushed him forward. Always shoving him from behind, the vampires didn’t let Peder catch his balance until his shoulder hit a thick wooden pole on the other side of the compound.
Timothy unlocked his manacles and linked them to the top of the pole, raising his arms above his head. “You lasted longer than most.”
He assumed Timothy meant in a fight. Peder’s chest heaved as he sucked in air and his body shook from the exertion. He’d had one bowl of stew in days and fought two challenges. Not to mention having taken care of Nahuel all night had kept him from any sleep. The muscles in his already sore shoulders cried out at the abuse of being wrenched above his head.
Timothy moved behind him and Peder heard instruments of metal being dragged across the wood of a table. The sound was familiar. Timothy was going to hurt him.