Page 31 of Beginnings

Chapter 9

Connor.

Pain woke me.It throbbed in my shoulder and arm, reminding me I’d been shot. I bit back a groan as I tried to control the agony and awaken my wolf enough to heal me. He didn’t respond. Underneath me, the bed shook and vibrated. Weird. I twisted my head, and my face banged into something hard and cold. I grunted, lifting my hand to my forehead. My fingers connected with a large metallic structure. “What the hell?”

“Hey, man. Take it easy.”

“Brady?”

“Yeah.” He sounded weak.

I forced my eyes to open. My head ached from the brightness of the overhead lights. I blinked away the discomfort, attuning my hearing to that incessant drone.

“Engines. Why the fuck are there engines?” But Brady didn’t answer. My brain was foggy and my thoughts were muddled. The last thing I remembered was watching the alphas form a protective line in front of me. Hell, even Rawson had staggered over to join them. It was no use, they were taken down by a single shot each, and then pumped full of darts. Doherty himself had taken great pleasure in slugging me right in the shoulder, his face twisted into a mask of fury—one that promised retribution and pain. I had no idea what was going on, but that bastard would pay.

I closed my eyes again. Ember. A pain stabbed through my heart. She’d gone. I could only hope she had run far and fast. The memory of her taste, of her mouth on mine as she cried her goodbye against my lips… I would carry that with me through whatever hell we were facing. I sent her a silent promise that no matter what happened, I would find her again. I emptied my mind and pushed the limited power I had into my flesh to begin its healing. I lay there, recovering, and listened to that droning. It dawned on me what it was.

I pushed myself up. “We’re on a plane?” My throat was so dry, I only just managed to croak the words. I swallowed, trying to work some saliva into my mouth.

Owen lifted his head and opened his eyes. He was leaning with his back against the body of the plane, his face pallid, but I could see he’d healed his leg. “Yeah.”

“You okay?”

“I’ve been better, but at least the fuckers used normal bullets, not silver.” Sitting forward, he rested his forearms on his thighs.

I thought about it for a moment. “They wanted us to heal ourselves, but not until they were ready.”

“It seems so.”

Uncurling my bruised and stiff body, I sat up and took stock of where we were.

Metal surrounded us. Literally. We were in a metal cage that had been built into the body of the plane. The structure gleamed brightly, just as buffed silver would. It seemed we had swapped one cell for another. But, at least we were still breathing.

I noticed Stone watching us from the opposite side of the cage. His silver eyes were hard and glinted, his face a cold mask. I held his gaze, asserting my dominance. My wolf stirred. Stone merely nodded minutely and looked away. Next to him another male, with a broken nose, curled his lip and glared. I glared right back.

Owen followed my gaze. “Ah, shit.” He rolled his head on his shoulders and cracked his knuckles. “And so it begins.”

“It does.” Perhaps I said that with too much relish. But there was no way anyone in this cage was going to be an alpha over me. I snarled, cracked my neck and clenched my fingers into fists. I was ready to do battle. Stone turned his head and watched. Something told me he had my back, after all, he had fought fearlessly back at the prison. The other guy held my gaze longer than I’d normally tolerate, but I gave him another ten seconds. Three. Two. One. I stood up, never once moving my stare from his. He snarled, but dropped his challenge. A growl rumbled through my chest causing some of the prisoners around me to shuffle away, their eyes wide, the stench of fear seeping from them.

I sat back down and deliberately didn’t look at any of the others. Challenges would come from the males in this cage, but I wanted to study our captors more before I showed my strength.

On the other side of the silver bars, guards watched us. They carried weapons that looked even more space age than my own.

“They’re well funded.”

Owen took his time studying them, too. “Very. Look at their body armour. It's reinforced, and they have full face visors. Their helmets and gloves are sealed onto their uniforms, each plate overlapping the last. Even your Firecracker wouldn’t be able to get her teeth through it to rip it away.”

I breathed out and smiled. “True.”

“Hey!” yelled one of the males to a huge man who marched past the cage. He stood at least six inches taller than the other guards, possibly my height. He turned.

I studied him closely. “Shit. What the fuck is he?”

Searing red eyes fixated on the male.

“Where’re you taking us?” the male demanded.

Red eyes didn’t answer, he merely cocked his head and then swiveled his gaze to me, almost as if he sensed my attention. A sense of recognition hit me. Of what, I had no idea. Did I know this man? I frowned and blinked and the connection between us broke.

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