Page 23 of Mated By the Pack
“Nurse Calla!” Fiona screams as Haggard carries her toward the house.
“There’s some food and drink over there,” Haggard motions toward the canopy. “Start a fire and enjoy yourselves until Carl wakes up. I know I’m going to.”
Watching Fiona disappear out of sight breaks me. I look at the vine wrapped around my wrist, still pulsing, matching the anguished beats of my heart.
“You’re as useless as I am,” I mutter, pulling and yanking at the vine until it pops free. I toss it into the mud and pull my knees close to my chest. “I’m sorry, Fiona. I’m so sorry.”
“Calla,” Tansy whimpers. “I think Nara is really hurt.”
I squeeze my eyes shut and swallow the rising grief as I turn my attention to Nara. She’s definitely injured. There’s a mark on her cheek and it doesn’t take more than a light press for me to confirm that the bone underneath is fractured. Her ribs are in worse shape now, and she’s slipping in and out of consciousness.
Fiona’s scream tears through the air and then I hear a door slam. It jolts me so hard tears run down my cheeks. I don’t want to think about what Haggard is doing to her. That poor child. She should be celebrating her assignment right now, not being raped by a savage.
“Are you okay?” I turn my attention to Brenna, who is huddled next to the side of the cage.
“I-I’ll live,” she whispers.
“How about you?” I ask, checking on Tansy.
“I got stuck in the mud,” she whimpers. “I’m fine.”
I have nothing to tend to Nara’s wounds. Not even a bandage. Our cuts and scrapes could easily become infected, if we’re not careful. Even some water would be useful to clean them.
I’d give anything for a fresh round of supplements. They may not be able to regulate the strongest emotions, but the ones coursing through me right now don’t have an outlet. I want to rage—tear this cage apart with my bare hands. But I can’t. I’m not strong enough. I couldn’t even tap into the strength I had last night when I grabbed Frank.
I start to sob softly, feeling the weight of everything, and then a door slams. I look up to see Haggard strolling around the corner with a grin on his face. Jed and Jeb have already started a fire, eaten a few rations, and are sipping what I assume is some form of alcohol.
“Already done with her?” Jed calls out. “That didn’t take long.”
“Nah, she was being a brat,” Haggard chuckles. “I gave her a spanking and put her in the corner. When I unlock the door again, I’ll let her decide if she wants to be a good little slut or get whipped until she’s begging to be one.”
“There’s no rush,” Jeb smirks. “She’s all yours.”
Haggard nods and walks under the canopy. He grabs a drink from his stash and sits down. “Anticipation makes it sweeter, too,” he adds. “Especially with a sweet thing like her. I’ll be thinking about that tight cherry until I make it bleed.”
“Plenty more where that came from, too,” Jed says. “I don’t think many of the girls in Haven North get fucked except for the ones they breed and those whores in the Lower District.”
Brenna bites her lip and looks down. She’s Unassigned. All she’s done is trade one horrible fate for another. Still, I think life in the Lower District would be better than slavery. She’d at least get half-rations, cleaner water than what Frank has given us, and medical care. She could even be one of my patients, if a serious illness or injury sent her to the Academic Medical Center.
The men drink, eat, and continue their misogynistic tirade. They clearly don’t value women as anything more than holes for their lust. I’m guessing there are no women here because they enslave every single girl they come across and sell them off.
“It’s getting late,” Jeb sighs, looking around the canopy and up at the sky. “Buyers were supposed to meet with us a while ago. We should probably send a message to them. You still got your errand boy?”
“Nah, someone offered me a gold piece for him,” Haggard chuckles and stands up. “But I can get a message to the buyers. I put them up at my brothel. The slave girls there aren’t as good as what they’re buying, but they’re better than nothing.”
So, therearewomen here. Just already enslaved. I wonder if they enslave boys too, like the one Haggard mentioned, or if they just prey on the weak. That’s what we are. Weak. We don’t have the numbers to try to fight them again. I’m sure Brenna and Tansy would try, if I asked, but I would just be putting them in danger. We may have to take our chances with the buyers—as scary as that is.
We sit in silence until Haggard returns. His sneer when he walks by the cage makes my blood boil, but I bite my tongue. He rejoins the others, and they continue drinking. The light fades overhead and it gets dark, but there’s still no sign of Carl.
“Hey, Calla,” Brenna whispers. “Your bracelet… it’s glowing.”
“What?” I move to the side of the cage and look where she is pointing.
Brenna’s right. The vine is lodged in the mud beneath the cart, but it’s glowing green like my hand was last night when I channeled a message to Frank. The vine slithers through the mud and I lose sight of it before it coils around the bars, several tendrils reaching toward me.
“Maybe it’ll open the door again,” Brenna says anxiously.
I glance back at our captors. Jed and Jeb are intoxicated based on the way they’re slurring insults at each other. Haggard isn’t interacting with them, but he’s steadily drinking.
