TobyA new guard came into my cell. He set my daily tray of food on the dirty floor and strutted over to me, keeping his gaze averted. He unlocked my shackles and shoved me against the stone wall. I braced myself and managed to not have the wind knocked out of me that time. He spun around and marched out, slamming the door behind him. It clicked as he turned the lock.
I scrambled over to the tray. It was my usual, leftovers from the restaurant thrown into a single bowl. It wasn't much, but I'd adjusted—and lost weight. But I'd kept my muscle tone, exercising with the meager free time I was given after my meals.
My bones were starting to ache, indicating that it was probably almost the full moon. I wasn't sure how close, since I'd been locked in the dark room for so long.
Not that I cared when my food waited for me. I picked up the bowl and dug in, eating as though I were in my wolf form. Aside from using my dirt-crusted hands, I had no other option. If the jaguars had cameras on me, they were sure to enjoy reducing me to acting like my inner animal.
Let them gloat. I was determined to have the last laugh one way or another. I'd survived Victoria's death so many years earlier. Now that she was alive again, I would find a way out of this and get her back.
I finished the scraps and dropped the bowl onto the tray. It was only a matter of time before someone returned to lock me up again, so I didn't waste time allowing my food to digest. I simply stretched and ran around the room a dozen times. Then I dropped to the floor and did as many push-ups as I could. I ran again to give my arms rest before doing chin ups on the pipe that stuck out of the ceiling, which was also the hated carrier of the chains that I hung from most of the day.
Since I had some extra time, I rested and then did sit-ups until the doorknob jiggled. I jumped back and leaned against the wall, pretending to be bored.
The club owner came in, holding his dart gun my constant reminder of what would happen if I tried to take him down again.
He stared at my tattered, dirty pants. "You really should do something about those." He laughed. "Ready to be chained back up?"
My bones were growing sorer, preparing for the impending shift. "I'm going to shift soon."
"Oh, right. I nearly forgot about the full moon. I've been so distracted watching all the videos of Carter and Victoria."
I jumped up and lunged for him.
He held out the dart gun. I skidded to a stop, only inches from him.
"They've got extra tranquilizers today. I wasn't sure if you'd already be in your wolf form."
"If your son is already in love with Victoria, why don't you let me go? What use am I to you?"
"You think that's why you're here?" He shook his head. "Why then?" I shouted.
"She was here as bait for you."
"What?"
"That's right. I've got you exactly where I want you, Foley."
I stared at him, confused. "What do you want with me?" "First, we're going to continue torturing you."
"And then?" I clenched my fists.
He shrugged. "Then we kill you. But don't worry, we have
plenty of time before that, wolf. Let's get you locked up." "You can't seriously—not now."
"Why not?"
"You'd have me shift while tied to the ceiling?" I cringed, imagining my wolf form hanging from the shackles.
"Like I said, we're going to torture you, even in your wolf body."
I backed away, my pulse drumming in my ears. There was a lot I could power through, but not that. "Can't we work something out?"
A sly smile spread across his face. "I like to see you squirm. This is kind of fun."
"What about some other chains?" I gestured toward the ones still attached to the skeleton in the corner. "I'd still be in chains, but I won't be hanging in the air."
He appeared to think about it. Then he turned to me. "No. I like the other one better. That's why you've been there this whole time."
"I'll go without my meal tomorrow."
"Stop begging. It's pathetic."
"I'm negotiating."
"No you're not. You have nothing to offer. Now move, before I shoot you."
I stared at the darts. Being tranquilized would be my best option if I had to hang in shackles in my wolf form. I jumped at my captor, knocking him onto the ground. Apparently, he hadn't seen that coming.
The dart gun flew from his hand and spun across the room. Our gazes met for a moment before we both scrambled to our feet and jumped after it.
He reached it first, turned to me and aimed for my chest. I didn't bother trying to move out of the way. It stung as it broke through my skin. A moment later, the hard ground flew toward my face. When I came to, I was still in my human form and chained to the ceiling. This time, my ankles were cuffed, also. My bones ached with a greater intensity, indicating the shift wasn't far off. This was likely going to be one of the worst shifts of my life.
A sharp pain ran from the base of my neck down to my toes. It was probably what had woken me from the tranquilizer.
My right cheek felt tender. He had probably taken advantage of me being passed out to hit me a few times. Acute pain squeezed my shoulders and moved around through my body. My arms and legs fought fruitlessly to free themselves from the restraints.
The door opened, though I hardly noticed because of my torment.
"Still haven't changed?" came my captor's voice. "Because you're not out under the moon?"
My body convulsed, so close to the shift and fighting the upright position.
"I have a surprise for you."
"You're going to release me?" I struggled to focus on him. "I'm going to shift, too. It's been a while, so I figure why not?" He turned his back to me and stripped off his clothes, throwing them into the corner. He flexed one butt cheek and then the other. "Like the show?"
I rolled my eyes and let my chin fall to my chest. My stomach and chest were already sprouting fur. I braced myself.
My wolf let out a howl. He was taking over. This time, we would shift as one. We needed to if we were going to fight a jaguar—while chained to the ceiling.
A roar echoed around us. Our captor had shifted, and his glowing yellow eyes stared right at us.
The door opened and two men in suits appeared. They threw off their clothes and shifted before my eyes.
Blinding pain overtook me. My wolf yelped. We fell to the ground, landing on our tail. My pants—what was left of them —lay next to us shredded into rags. Our paws had been too small to keep us restrained in the shackles.
Three spotted jaguars crept toward us, growling and baring their teeth.
We scrambled to our feet. I felt myself melting into him. As one, we stood a chance. Fighting each other, we didn't.
One of the jaguars lunged at us. We ran in the other direction, needing time to think. The other two ran over and blocked us, growling.
What did they expect? That I would fight both of them? If it were true that they wanted to keep me alive for a while, they wouldn't kill me. But he seemed so giddy at the thought of making me suffer.
Play dead, my wolf whispered.
What? Get bitten, and then we'll fall to the ground, tongue hanging out. Maybe.
If they hold the door open for any amount of time, we can make a run for it.
It sounded better than anything I could think of. Okay. He took over and ran to a corner. One of the jaguars cornered us. He jumped, roaring.
I tried to run out of instinct, but my wolf held us still. Bitter pain surged through our shoulder as the beast's teeth sank into our flesh. Blood pooled into our fur. Though it wasn't enough to take us down, my wolf threw us down. He forced our eyelids shut and our tongue hung out, resting against the nasty floor. It tasted of dried blood, vomit, and feces.
The jaguars bumped and nudged us. My wolf did a great job of keeping us still. Our captors would likely think they'd killed us.
One let out a howl. Another growled. One jumped on the other, and the two of them rolled around, hissing at each other. The third continued pushing us around. Finally all the commotion stopped. Bones crunched, and I assumed they had shifted back.
"I can't believe you killed him," the owner exclaimed. Something hit a wall.
"Hey, I didn't bite him that hard."
"Oh, right." Sarcasm dripped from our captor's voice.
"Our end of the deal is to hand the wolf over alive. It's pretty hard to do that if he's dead."
Sounds of pulling on clothes echoed around us. "Check for breathing."
"I don't have time for this. You better hope he's still alive." "He is."
"Like I said, you better hope so. I have to focus on the wedding."
My ears perked. Surely, he couldn't mean Victoria and his son. He just couldn't.
Disappointment, fear, and anger ran through me. I couldn't tell which belonged to me and which belonged to my wolf.
The three humans left the room. My wolf and I were too shocked by the mention of the wedding to even consider attempting to escape.
The door slammed shut. After a few minutes, I got up and paced, limping on our bad leg. It felt like the jaguar had torn the muscle. Luckily, we healed pretty quickly in this form. The ache eased with each step.
It couldn't be Victoria's wedding. She'd just met the jaguar at the beginning of the school year. That had been— what? A month? The last full moon had occurred right before school started. My chest constricted. Guilt tore through me. This was my payback for having had a relationship some years earlier. That's what this was. Even though Victoria had long been deceased, I should have never allowed myself to fall for another. Wolves mated for life. Technically, we never mated with Victoria, my wolf told me.
I growled and snapped. I'd given my heart to her.
You also spent almost all of your years since her death alone. But I gave myself to another for a time. I wanted to go back in time and knock some sense into my younger, dumber self.
And you also knew the girl's heart belonged to another. We all knew it wouldn't last. Let it go.
I shook our head and picked up our pace. Even though Victoria had been dead at the time, I'd betrayed her. If I did manage to win her back, I'd have to tell her about my indiscretion.
Then you'll be even, my wolf said. She's seeing that jaguar kid now.
But she doesn't remember being with me! I remembered her when I dated Alexis.
You couldn't have known Victoria would return. Also, it's not like you set out to date her. You were just trying to pull the girl out of a depression, right? Then one thing led to another...
Guilt continued stinging. But still. My heart belonged to Victoria.
Hey, I told you dating a vampire was a bad idea. I hung our head in shame. I should have listened. What if I'd lost Victoria forever?