Morgan
We were in a dark cavern, but the word was inadequate in describing the place. The walls of the cave soared so high, the roof was obscured by gloom. For a moment, we just stood there, my brothers and I, and stared.
“No.”
My voice was croaky with disuse. There was no point saying a thing, no one here fucking cared. My mouth was for other uses, and the people around me would let me know when it was needed. I surprised myself, being able to get it out, but it opened the floodgate, one it wasn’t wise to open.
“No, no, no.”
I knew this place, knew why we had been brought here. I looked across at Blake and Cam and shook my head, hating that my fear was reflected in my packmate’s faces.
“Not this again,” the man in black leather said. He glanced down at me with thinly veiled disdain. “You should know by now, that word is not for you.”
“Don’t do this. Don’t take them down here. I’ll go, I’ll go easily, but—”
“You’ll all do exactly as I tell you,” the man said, jerking on the chains that bound us together. “Now shut the hell up. If you wake him before it’s time, there’ll be hell to pay.”
“Morgan, this is—” Cam started to whisper, but he didn’t get many words out. The man with the chains wrapped them around his fist and drove it into Cam’s cheek, my packmate’s eyes rolling back as he was slammed into me. I pushed him behind me, trying to provide a barrier between the cunt and Cam, and Blake shuffled forward to do the same.
“Yes, protect your little mate and keep him fucking quiet. The Great Wolf likes live prey, but warm is the only real necessity.” He turned to the other black-clad man. “Where is Zed with the women?”
“Some dispute with Warnan about his daughter’s inclusion, I heard.”
“Would have been nice to bloody know before we brought these things down here. Could have kept them in the holding pens for longer.”
“You know the Lords. Just as likely to be tossed in with them, if orders aren’t followed.” A great rumbling noise—the sound of thunderstorms and earthquakes all rolled together—silenced the men. “Fuck, he’s restive.”
“Fucking Warnan. She’s just a bitch, and a sterile one at that. Why fight this?”
“Too far away from the battle lines, that one. Lost his strength of arm.” The man thumped his chest with his fist in some kind of salute. The other did the same in response.
“Here they are. Look.”
“Finally.” The first man looked down at us for a second and then jerked on the chains. “On your feet.”
“No.” I put every bit of power I had into the growl. Cam still lolled limply in my arms, his body way too light now. They’d used him up until there’s almost nothing left, but the same could be said of all of us. Blake shuffled next to me, teeth bared. I felt the prickle down our bond of an incoming change. “No, Blake,” I hissed, but he ignored me.
“They’re gonna feed us to that thing. May as well go down fighting,” he snapped, just before shifting.
The light grey form of Blake’s Tirian appeared beside me, and for a second, I felt a foreign emotion fill my chest. Joy. There had been none for us, not when we were forced through the gate, not when the Volken captured us on the first night, and none since they kept us chained and penned. It’s been so long since I’ve seen the smoke of his fur, the strong haunches made for running along the plains, the huge paws planted firmly into the earth.
Blake’s growl filled the cavern, growing and growing i
n intensity, the sound bouncing off the stone walls and reverberating, getting louder and louder.
“You fucking idiot!”
Blake’s growl was cut short as the jailor yanked on the chains that bound us, and then he kept on pulling, his eyes darting about. He didn’t see our fingers claw at the metal links as they closed around our throats, biting into the skin there. He didn’t hear our rasping cries. Instead, his eyes were trained on something beyond the outcropping of rock we stood on.
“Drop them in! Now! He’s coming!” the other jailor said.
We went sailing over the edge of the rocky platform, landing with a thud. For a moment, all I could do was gasp for breath as the bloody pressure of the chain around my neck released. When I looked around, I saw Cam and Blake were the same, Cam now on all fours with one eye shot through with ruptured blood vessels, and Blake shocked back to human form. I didn’t get to check on him or Blake or do anything. “Here he comes,” I whispered.
Our mothers harped on about the Great Wolf when we were kids, painting her as this all-knowing, all-loving mother figure. I wish I could tell them how wrong they were. He was great, alright. His body filled his side of the cavern, his back brushing against the stalactites that had formed on the roof.
“Fuck,” Blake yelped. “Fuck, that’s—”
“It’s not. She’s not like this. She doesn’t fucking look like this,” Cam said, shaking his head over and over.