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2
Becca
“She’s coming around.”
I blinked, moaning as I shifted my sore body in an attempt to find the slightest comfort. The cold metal of the cage and bars left my body in a constant fight for warmth as the zip ties at my wrists bit into the flesh relentlessly. Dried blood caked around the plastic where my skin was raw and chafed. Disoriented, I tried to understand where I was and failed to recognize anything familiar.
My mouth was dry, and I could barely swallow. “Hello?” I croaked, blinking several more times to focus clearly.
“Hey there, little wolf. About time you woke up.” The male voice was one I didn’t recognize. “There’s water in the bottle to your left.”
A plastic drinking bottle was clipped to the side of the cage. I was immediately reminded of a dog kennel and cringed. Swallowing my pride, I leaned in and sucked through the metal straw as cool liquid trickled down my throat. After a few minutes I had enough to quench my thirst although I couldn’t help the overwhelming sense of dread that sank into my weary bones.
“Where am I?”
The man leaned forward, his dark hair falling into his face in stringy long strands. A corner of his lip lifted up, but it wasn’t with a smile. A jagged scar tugged at the flesh and distorted his looks, transforming the man from an average looking human male into something decidedly more sinister. “The factory. A fun little place where we like to conduct our experiments in privacy without interference.”
Experiments? “I recognize you from the forest.” I didn’t say he’d been snooping around Cedar Creek pack lands. We both knew that information to be true already and I wasn’t interested in riling him up. Right now, I needed as much knowledge as possible to escape.
“Ah, yes. That’s when we had the pleasure of locating your pack. I didn’t expect to find such a sweet little shifter among your kind. I admit, I’m quite intrigued.”
Something about the way he said those words made my skin crawl with an itch I couldn’t reach. His dark blue eyes were dull except for the hint of aggression and promise of pain that steadily held my gaze. I could sense he was toying with me and I would soon regret that I ever noticed this particular human and his friends.
When I didn’t respond he continued, leaning closer to the bars of the cage. “Have you ever heard of the term conditioning?” At my blank stare he sneered. “It’s the process of training or accustoming a person or animal to behave in a certain way or to accept certain circumstances.” A wide grin tugged his smile into some kind of demented leer. “Person or animal . . . how about both? That is what you are, isn’t that right?”
For the first time I began to feel afraid. I knew I could shift into my wolf but in his eyes, I saw a determination to bring suffering and harm. Trembling, I was tempted to beg. Would he give up this foolish pursuit if I pleaded for his mercy? As his gaze traveled the length of my body, I knew I could never pay the price for such a bargain.
“I’d rather stay in my cage,” I finally answered with more bravado than I felt.
“You won’t think so for long.”
Numerous men stepped forward, all with guns as my cage was unlocked. I didn’t jump out in a hurry and the man with the scar laughed, the sound viciously hungry and deeply disturbing.
“No one believed me when I said you weren’t a fool. Much too pretty to for your own good, too. I think we’ll have a lot of fun cataloging the results of your trials.”
“Stop fucking around, Hall. We need to begin before she gains back her full strength.”
Hall, the scarred kidnapper, yanked me from the cage roughly and hauled my body close to his own. “Let’s see if we can bring your wolf out to play.”
I stumbled as he shoved me toward his friends, and I was led down a dark tunnel that hid most of the interior from view. Too dark to make out where I was, I tried not to panic. If I shifted now, I’d end up killing these men. No matter what they believed, I wasn’t a murderer. It was this precise moment that I realized I hadn’t heard from my wolf at all. She didn’t whine or howl or snarl. It was almost as if she was sleeping.
I’d been drugged. That was the only explanation, but I didn’t remember being injected with any needles. The only recollection I had was a faint memory of darts from multiple guns. Stifling a gasp, I realized I’d been tranquilized like a wild animal on the run. Fury boiled beneath the surface of my skin and I felt the faint stirring of my wolf in response.
Something burned the side of my thigh as I jerked and fell down to the ground, shocked when I realized I had been zapped with a stun gun. My wolf snarled as she fought against the heavy blanket of lethargy that covered her whole body. My nails lengthened as she tried to push through and tear these humans apart.
“Another dose!” Hall yelled as I was shot with a dart and it impaled the opposite thigh.
Screeching with pain and rage, I lunged toward the shooter but dropped when two more darts imbedded in my body.
“We have plenty more where those came from. Don’t worry, we already know the drugs burn off fast with your metabolism. Shifters like you are an abomination. We’ll end your kind and the stain you have placed on humanity.”
The torture continued for hours.
Every time I began the transformation to shift, they would drug and prod me, forcing my wolf to retreat. This went on for so long I lost track of time. Hours blended into days. Days blurred into a week. Back and forth, I was shuffled from the cold metal cage to the room where they continued their endless torment. I knew it was bad when my wolf no longer answered the call to violence, she had been reconditioned and no longer wished to surface, effectively making me unable to control my wolf form.
Just as Hall threatened, I was now useless. No longer a threat.
Depression quickly settled in and I didn’t care what they did anymore. I allowed their beatings and snide remarks, the insults and abuse. There was no other choice. Only enough food and water were given to keep me alive. I was far too weak to escape and continue the fight.
The Society cheered as they realized I had been completely broken.
My limp and naked body was returned to my metal prison.
As I lowered my head and succumbed to the fatigue, I could only hope that Theo decided to come after me and found my note. If not, I would probably die here before the pack would ever find my location. Eyes fluttering, I sent out a desperate signal to any shifter from the pack close enough to catch it.
Danger. Hunters.
