Page 32 of Beginnings

“Hey! You ignorant asshole! Tell us what’s going on!” yelled the male again.

Red eyes pulled his gaze from me and contemplated the shifter with no expression at all on his harsh features. The male reached out and grabbed the bars, and was immediately caught in a gruesome dance. His hair sizzled and caught fire, then the stench of burning flesh filled the cage. His mouth opened in a silent scream, his muscles contracting until his spine arched so far it looked like it might snap.

Still jerking, his burning corpse fell to the ground.

I screwed my nose up. “Jesus Christ.”

Silence fell.

“Put him out.” Red eyes didn’t even look at the dead man again.

One of the guards grabbed a fire extinguisher and covered the corpse in white foam.

“I don’t think JC is going to help us wherever they’re taking us, Captain,” Owen murmured.

I pulled my attention from the smoldering corpse. “No, probably not. Wherever we’re going, it looks like we’re expendable.”

“It does.” The skin between Owen’s brows creased.

My expression mirrored his. “They shot us to stop us running, and drugged us to make us easier to transport. These damned collars will stop our shifts and dampen our abilities. And that?” I inclined my chin at the burning corpse. “Well, that was just a show of power.”

Owen grunted in agreement, his attention on Red, his gaze predatory.

Red glanced at me before sauntering down the plane and in through the flight deck door.

Sitting against the rear wall of the cage, I studied my fellow prisoners. Some of the faces I recognised from our previous prison. Most of them I didn’t. They were big guys, all of them. And all wearing silver collars. With their beasts caged, tempers would become frayed. I kept my attention on two big guys who circled the dead body. They moved with predatory gaits. Their eyes focused on each other, and challenging snarls curled their lips.

“Where’s Rawson?” I asked Owen, unable to see him anywhere in the crowded cage. I blinked and my lips flattened into a tight line. Rawson was more than a benefactor, he was my friend and my brother, and I would always owe him. Exhaling slowly through my nose, I forced my worry away.

Owen’s shoulders sagged. “I don’t know, man. After they shot me, he attacked them. He took down two of those fuckers before he got shot. If he’s not here, maybe they killed him.”

My throat was so tight it was difficult to swallow. My fists curled, white hot anger simmering beneath my skin, but I managed to nod. “What about Ember? Did she get away?” All the prisoners in the cage were male. I held onto the belief she was strong enough and clever enough to escape. It would break me to know she hadn’t. My wolf growled in agreement, ready to tear the world apart if any harm had come to her.

Owen tilted his head, his yellow eyes noting every move the big guys made. There was a gap around the circling pair now, and the atmosphere changed. Aggression poured off the two males. “I don’t know. She ran into the woods. That’s all I know.” He turned and contemplated me, his big body leaning forward a little. “What’s it like? To meet your mate?”

Images of Ember tumbled around my head. I swallowed, my body heating. I rubbed my face then dropped my hand to my chest, rubbing at the ache in my heart. “Absolutely terrifying,” I admitted quietly.

Owen snorted and shook his head. “Bullshit. Nothing terrifies you.”

“She does.”

“Why? She’s just a woman. A damn hot one, but still, just a woman.”

“Nah, man, she’s the woman. I’ve known her for so long she’s a part of me. I tried to stay away from her...you know? While she was younger, but now…” I swallowed, thinking about the taste and softness of her lips against mine, her silky skin beneath my fingers. “Shit, she owns a part of my soul, she always has, and that makes me weak, because if it came to a choice between her life or anyone else's, even mine, she would always come first.”

Owen shook his head a little. Hearing me admit the depth of my feelings for Ember had to be a shock to him. After all, I’d been totally dedicated to my role as an agent. An acrid taste coated my mouth as I thought of Ava and Lance. Maybe I’d once believed in the principles and integrity of the SBI, but no longer. Doherty had destroyed my loyalty the moment he went after the people I loved.

Before I could say anything else, my wolf pricked up his ears and snarled viciously. Waves of aggression and dominance hit me from every direction. I rolled my head and loosened my shoulders. “Here we go.” A growl built, as I revelled in the change in atmosphere. I was spoiling for a fight. I’d lost my mate and ended up a prisoner, again. My fingers burned as I touched the collar around my neck. It might have taken my wolf’s freedom but I was still a Prime, one of the most powerful alphas in existence. A snarl curled my top lip. And these weaker alphas were about to find out just what that meant. My wolf surfaced, pushing against the confines of the silver. We growled together as my vision changed.

“You ready to fight with me, Beta?” I stood, pulling on my wolf’s power.

Owen’s throat bobbed. The position I’d just bestowed on him spoke of total trust. He’d have to fight to keep it, just as I would have to fight to gain and defend my position as Prime. Dominance and violence crackled in the waves of my Prime power. His eyes hardened then he gave me a vicious grin. His gaze moved, fixing on the two males, who roared and barrelled into each other, colliding in a torrent of fists, teeth and blood. The air vibrated, aggression rolling through the cage. It fed the other males who watched, their bodies coiled and ready to strike. None of us could shift but this would still be a fight to the death.

“Always, alpha.” Owen pushed himself up and stood by my side.

I forced all thoughts of soft skin and warm lips from my mind. If I wanted to get out of this mess and find Ember, I needed to survive. Inside my soul, my wolf bayed for blood. Every single, powerful male in this cage knew this fight had to happen. There could be only one alpha, one that all others feared, one who would rule them—or anarchy would reign, and we would kill each other off.

The guards observed us like they had seen this hundreds of times before. Warning bells went off in my mind and ice wound its way through my veins. They already knew we wouldfight each other to establish a pack hierarchy. I thrust that knowledge aside. I’d think about it later. Instead, I cracked my knuckles.

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