Page 21 of Beginnings

It was one I recognised. I called him Misery. That word epitomised everything about him. All the guards that brought new prisoners down here were careful not to use names, so, much as I had for Walker, I made up my own for them. Apparently, names had special power over a fae, and likewise they could control those who were stupid enough to offer their own name. I guess names were a bit of a gift and a lot of a curse to the fae.

Misery looked up the steps. “Bring them down.”

I snarled as Perversion and Vice, two more of our regular guards, dragged a heavy looking male down the steps. His head lolled forward and he stank of blood and death. It clung to his skin and filled the air as they dragged him to the cell opposite mine. My blood froze. Under that blood and stink I knew that male’s smell almost as well as I knew my own.

They threw Rawson’s body onto the ground. A grunt escaped him but he didn’t move.

“Fuck. Fuck. Fuck!” My fists curled and uncurled.

“Hmmm? What was that?” Vice narrowed his attention on me. I stared out through the bars, a snarl on my lips. I didn’t need my wolf to challenge this piece of shit.

He sneered. “Oh, don’t worry, wanker, we’ve got a surprise especially for you.”

I held my breath. The mix of alcohol, cannabis, and his rotten teeth made it too vile to breathe in. Yeah, this one liked his booze and drugs. “Hey! Let’s go get the girl!” He slapped Perversion on his back.

The other man swung his head my way, his slimy gaze running over me. Lust oozed from him, just like it did when he looked at any of the other alphas incarcerated down here. Yeah, this disgusting piece of shit liked being in a position of power over those who didn’t like to submit. He got his rocks off tormenting and abusing the inmates. He hadn’t quite got to me or Owen yet, other than a few strokes of my dick when he’d locked us up. I guessed my time might be up soon. I held his eyes and he smiled, licking his lips.

I’d bite the fucker’s dick off or rip his throat out with my teeth if he came anywhere near me…

“Hey!” Vice smacked Perversion’s bicep. “The girl?”

Rawson uttered a word, and I turned my attention to him, but he just lay on his side, blood running from his smashed face. He dragged his knees up into a foetal position as if he were in too much pain to do anything else.

I strained my ears.

“Lyss, Lyss, Lyss…”

My heart froze. Seeing him like this, beaten and broken, I knew what had to have happened.

There was a scuffle at the top of the stairs, and grunts filled the air.

“Hey!” There was the sound of slap. “Behave, or I’ll ignore the boss’s warning and punish you myself.”

My fingers curled around the bars. Vice was a bastard and my stomach sank at the thought of him and his buddies dragging a woman down here. It couldn’t be Lyss, could it? I prayed to the Mother Wolf that Perversion wasn’t going to carry out his usual abuse. It would drive all the alphas in here mad, to hear another rape and not be able to stop it—me included. Maybe that was the point—more torture. Hearing Perversion’s grunts as he forced himself on the drugged newbies made me sick to my soul.

I placed my cheek against the bars and peered up at the three sets of legs at the top. The woman was fighting hard, kicking out at her captors’ knees. She managed to hook her foot behind Perversion’s knee and must have slammed her head back. There was a resounding crack and grunt followed by a vicious curse.

“Bitch!” he roared and yanked the woman out of Vice’s grasp. He shoved her, and she fell down the steps, bouncing off the walls. Red hair tumbled in a veil of fiery colour. There was the pop of bone followed by a high pitched scream.

My heart stuttered, and time stopped. That voice. That hair.

I gripped the iron bars, my muscles tensing as I tried to rip the iron apart to get to her. A vice gripped my chest. I couldn’t breathe! “Ember!”

Walker stepped up to the bars, his ice blue gaze fixed on me, but I didn’t care what he thought. I’d bare my soul for Ember. She shouldn’t be here!

“Connor? What’s wrong!” yelled Owen.

The cells were in an uproar, my pained roar awakening every alpha.

Perversion ran down the steps, followed closely by Vice. Blood ran from his broken nose and split lip.

“Don’t you touch her!” I thumped the bars with my clenched fist, hard enough they bent.

Perversion grabbed Ember’s stunning fiery hair and yanked her head back. He grinned at me, blood covering his teeth. “Hey, sweetheart, looks like the director was right. You’re gonna be a hot bargaining chip with these dogs.” He lifted her to her feet by her hair.

Ember clenched her jaw clearly in pain, but too stubborn to scream. Sheer fury burned in her eyes, a spark of flame igniting them. When she bent forward, I could see her shoulder was in an odd position. Gods, he’d dislocated it. My wolf snarled, clawing at my insides to get to her. There was no question she was in agony, with her wrists shackled behind her back. They’d put a silver collar around her neck as well. I smashed my fists against the cell bars again. They had caged her wolf just like mine.

I silently promised the gods above that Doherty and these men...everyone responsible for Ember’s pain, would die in deep fucking agony.

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