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He hesitated at first, but ultimately, he agreed. “I give you my word as your beta that I will get Bryn and Tavi home safe.”
I pulled Dom in for a brief hug. “Thank you.” When we separated, I sent Dom to his cabin alone so I could walk home by myself.
In sharp contrast to the darkness of the situation, it was a gorgeous day. The sky was a creamy, azure blue, the clouds were fluffy and white, and it was the perfect temperature for a long walk. I took in the sounds of the pack—the chatter of adults and the delighted squeals of children. The air smelled of sweet mirth and joy and simple pleasure. At present, the Wargs pack was happy, and I tried to savor that. For all I knew, it could be one of the last times I experienced it.
I arrived at my cabin and headed straight to my bedroom. Mom wasn’t there; she’d probably gone to speak to the Elders or check on her garden. Either way, I was grateful for the time alone.
I sat on the bed and picked up Bryn’s favorite pillow. I held it to my face, inhaling her scent. My wolf sighed, calming for the first time in hours. Her scent did wonders for my peace of mind, but it wasn’t anywhere as good as having her with me.
“I’ve only wanted your happiness,” Mom had said. But it was what she hadn’t said that stuck with me. The truth was, I had found happiness. With Bryn. She was my mate, the only person I could see myself being happy with, my dreams made incarnate.
I’d accomplished so much in my life, including finding my soulmate. I still wanted to do so much more, but I had very few regrets about the way I’d lived my life. The thing that haunted me most was losing Bryn and Tavi, and the thought that I might die before I got to see them one more time. I wasn’t afraid of dying, and I wasn’t scared of losing my life. I was confident that I could kill Troy even at the cost of my own life. But I’d accept that price as long as I made my pack proud and saved Tavi and Bryn.
10
BRYN
I came to with a groan. I kept my eyes closed as I tried to get rid of the dust and cobwebs that had settled on my mind. Slowly, I recalled Troy, Samson, and Harlon’s sudden return to the cave to drug me and Tavi. Again. Whatever they’d injected us with left my body feeling heavy and slow. Then again, it could be that the Alpha wound was taking its toll on me.
Though I was groggy, I immediately noticed a few changes in my surroundings. The wall at my back was no longer jagged, and I couldn’t hear the distant sound of the Kootenai or smell the overwhelmingly muggy air.
That told me that I was no longer in the cave. I was lying on cold, concrete ground, and my hands and legs were still bound. This time, my cuffs were connected to the wall. I could be strung up if Troy wanted it.
I gave a tentative wiggle, trying to take inventory of my body, but that was a mistake. I gasped as pain shot through me. If I’d healed while I slept, I hadn’t healed enough—my neck still felt like it was on fire, and I ached in places I didn’t even know I could. And my ankles and wrists were swollen and sore from having been confined for so long.
At least I was still wearing clothes. They were the gross, dirt-and-blood-caked clothes that I’d been wearing for the last few days, but it was better than being naked in an unfamiliar place. I tried to force my eyes open, but it was a bit of a struggle with the blood and tears dried onto them. I hoped I could live long enough to feel clean again.
When I peeled my eyes apart, I found that I was in the basement of a cabin. It wasn’t Troy’s; I knew this because there was no trace of his gaudy furniture, and it wasn’t reeking with his scent. To my left, there was an old, wooden staircase leading up, and there was a plain wooden door in the wall across from me. With so few clues, I couldn’t tell whose cabin it was.
I turned to my left and found Tavi lying a few feet from me. She was clothed, too, and she was still breathing. Her arms were free, but there was a thick metal collar around her neck. A chain led from the back of the collar to a heavy-duty lock on the ground. The chain stretched for three feet, which didn’t leave her a ton of maneuvering room. My stomach turned at the sight. It was the kind of thing you did to a dangerous animal, not a person.
“Tavi, wake up!”
She stirred, the chain shifting slightly against the ground. For a second, her eyes opened, but they were empty and unfocused.
“Bryn?” she whispered. “What’s that? Where are we?”
“We’re in a cabin, but I don’t know where we are. Can you come closer to me? Maybe you could undo these chains?”
She tried to sit up, but the chain was so thick and heavy against her that she couldn’t do more than shift around. “I’m sorry. I’m too sleepy.” Her speech was slurred.
“Tavi, focus on me.” I tried to scoot closer to peer into her eyes.
She shifted a little closer to me too, but her strength gave out just as she reached my knee. Her head fell onto my leg.
“I’ll help, I promise, I just…I need to…” The rest of her words became mumbled gibberish, and then her eyes slipped closed.
I wiggled my leg, hoping that would wake her up again. “Wait, wait, wait! Tavi, no! Don’t go to sleep!”
Her eyelids twitched and she let out a brief whimper, but again, she lay silent.
I realized with a chill that she was still suffering from the effects of the drug. I had no idea if Tavi and I had received the same dosage or if we’d even received the same sedative. Tavi was alive now, but who knew what could happen in the next few hours? What if she was falling into a coma? What if she choked on her own tongue without ever waking up?
“Tavi, can you hear me?” I spoke more urgently. “Tavi—Octavia? Octavia Black!”
But no matter how much I tried to wake her up, it was useless. After those initial movements, she remained motionless even at the sound of her full name.
That wasn’t good. Bitter panic began to mount in my body. The only bit of relief I felt was that she was more comfortable on my leg than she was lying on the ground. This bit of comfort was the best I could give her, but it wouldn’t get us out of harm’s way, and it wouldn’t protect us.
