Page 6 of The Lycan King's Captive

And lucid.

And staring straight at me.

My heart slammed against my chest. If Carl knew she was awake, he’d alert Roman. And there was no telling what they would do. Females were so scarce, they were unlikely to kill her. But they might pull her from the basement. Make her endure her first shift surrounded by hard-eyed men who thrived on others’ agony.

Holding her gaze, I shook my head once, hard.

She closed her eyes just as Carl swung toward her. He stared for a moment before turning back to me with a sneer. “You growing fond of your cellmate? I thought you were too good for one of her kind. Funny how a few months in a cage proves you’re nothing special.”

I lowered my gaze to a spot on the concrete. Let him think I was too beaten to challenge him. Whatever kept his attention off the female.

He gave a condescending huff and left the cell. After he locked up, he went to the stairs and shot me a final smirk. “Don’t get your hopes up, Romeo. That bitch won’t live through the night. But you will, and Roman has plenty of other fun activities planned for you.”

I waited for the sound of the slamming door to drift down before I dared to look into the other cell.

The female stared at me, fear and confusion in her eyes. As our gazes met, she opened her mouth.

“NO,” I said in a telepathic voice, transmitting directly into her mind.

She jerked as if she’d been hit, and a gasp escaped her dry, cracked lips.

Dizziness washed over me, but I pushed it away. Summoning all my strength, I spoke again, my mental voice rusty after such a long period of disuse. “Close your eyes and don’t talk. They have cameras down here. If they see you’re awake, they’ll come back.”

She squeezed her eyes shut and went still. So far, so good. If she could handle me talking inside her brain without freaking out, she might accept what I had to say next.

But there was no easy way to tell her what she needed to hear. If we had more time—if we weren’t in this forsaken place—I could feed her facts gently. Ease her into a world she’d probably only heard of in fairy tales.

But we didn’t have the luxury of time, and this world wasn’t gentle or easy.

Her brow furrowed, and her body tensed, as if she anticipated a blow.

I marshaled more strength and gave it to her.

“The man who bit you is a werewolf. So am I.” The last was a bit of a lie, but close enough to the truth for now.

Her heart rate sped up, but she kept her eyes closed.

I drew another deep breath and continued. “You were bitten. If you live through your first shift, you’ll become a werewolf, too.”

Her chest rose and fell more rapidly. On the mattress, one of her hands curled into a fist.

“Do you want to live, Doctor?”

She jerked again. Eyes still screwed tight, she gave a subtle nod.

“Good. Then you need to do everything I say.”

3

ABBY

Werewolf.

The word racketed around my fever-addled brain, echoing like a taunt.

But the man in the other cell wasn’t taunting me, and he wasn’t joking. His tone was deadly serious.

And he’d spoken inside my head.

---