Caged Read online

  My gaze flicked to the vampire one more time before I urged away the tension in my jaw.

  I studied my space whilst I moved along the iron rods, my awkward and slow inching allowing ample time for it. To my right, the stone of the ceiling extended into a solid wall—of the exterior, I presumed—but only bars held me in on the other three sides.

  In a cell behind me, another female sat huddled into a ball. Although her arms cocooned her entire body, she stared up toward a spot in a corner of her cage, and words that couldn’t even be classed loud enough for whispers tumbled past her lips.

  I swung my gaze back to Lauren.

  She lifted her shoulders at my raised eyebrow, mumbled, “Witch, I think.”

  Nine paces to my left brought me to the front of my own cage, where peering out did little to alleviate any concerns I had about our predicament.

  Beyond my bars, about seven feet of empty space separated my cage from another. To its right, stood another cage, with a third next to it, and a fourth beside that. Even with my face pressed against my barrier, I couldn’t decipher how many enclosures stretched off to the right.

  To my left, I figured there had to be two or three more cages, before they altered course, shooting off at a right angle, stopping at a steel double doorway almost straight ahead.

  “That cage over there,” Lauren said.

  My head swung back round, and I followed the point of the finger she’d extended through her own bars toward a cage beside the one across from hers. Even with nothing more than metal columns to block my view, I couldn’t make out Kyle within.

  I searched harder through my gritty vision. “You sure?”

  “I saw them drop him down right before they put you in yours.”

  A quick check of the cage in front of me showed nothing but a pair of yellow eyes glowering back from the shadowed depths of the lined cube. “You know what’s in that one?” I asked, inclining my chin.

  “She’s a shifter.”

  “A … shifter?” Jesus. I rubbed a hand over my face. “She? She’s a shifter?”

  Lauren’s head bobbed in my periphery. “Keeps shifting all the while, though. From human to panther, then back again”—her finger did a circling motion—“then back again.”

  Panther? I guessed that explained why I couldn’t see her in the darkness. “What about in there?” I indicated the one between her and Kyle’s cage.

  “Werewolf.”

  The whip of my head toward her jarred my neck, and sparks flashed at the back of my eyes. “Have you seen him?” I blinked the light show away.

  She turned to me with a defiant lift of her chin—the kind that came naturally to teenagers. “’Course I have.”

  I tried to control my pulse as it attempted to surge. “He wouldn’t happen to have blond hair by any chance … would he?” I peered across the aisle again, straining my eyes to see the ball of male, but looked back as Lauren’s head shook.

  “He’s got dark hair.” Her gaze rose to my head. “Darker than yours.”

  My eyebrows scrunched together. “Have you seen any blond werewolves here?” I switched from clutching the front of my cage to clinging onto the bars between me and the young girl as I stared down at her. “Any at all. Young. As blond as you.”

  “You can’t see him from here.”

  Needing to check for myself, I clanged back against the bars, a small growl rolling out of me when my eyes proved to lack periscope abilities.

  “He’s all the way down there.” Eyes wide, Lauren pointed behind her. “’Round that corner.”

  I forced calmness into my tone. “Do you know if he’s still alive?”

  “Define alive.” Her mouth opened and closed at my glare. “Sometimes he looks alive. Other times?” She shrugged. “I’m not so sure.”

  I let out a low groan and brushed up my hair, ignoring the ache in my shoulders at the lift of my hands.

  “He wasn’t supposed to be taken upstairs.”

  My head pressed back against the bars as I thought of Shelley and what it would do to her if I didn’t get Gabe back home in one piece.

  “They only kidnapped him as bait.”

  “Bait?” Still leaning into the iron rods, I tipped my face to bring her into view.

  “Apparently, they only took him to get the attention of another werewolf.”

  I pushed up and straightened. “Another wolf?”

  With a nod, she curled her hands around the barrier between us. “A werewolf’s been training him, they said.”

  “Who said?” I asked.

  Her eyes rose toward the ceiling again. “Them. They’ve been after the one who mentors the blond wolf, but couldn’t get close enough.”

  My frown spread across my brow like an infection as my pulse gave a small lurch. “Why?”

  “Dunno. I just know his name’s Ethan something-or-other.”

  My jaw tightened again. Hands rubbing at my face, I blew out a breath, trying to organise the spiralling thoughts that revolved around my sudden wash of guilt.

  Goddammit! They’d only brought him there to lure me.

  “So …”

  At her voice, my gaze flicked back, but didn’t remain on her.

  “You have a name if you’re gonna be living next door to me?” she asked.

  Blowing out a heaved breath, I tipped my face down to her. “I guess you could call me Ethan something-or-other.”

  “Holy fudge!” Her eyes widened, and her mouth hung open for a second or two. “I really don’t think you should let them”—her gaze darted upward—“in on that.”

  “I doubt it will make a difference.” I tracked the same route as she had. “Something tells me they already know.”

  14

  Minutes of watching Kyle’s cage didn’t alter the fact I couldn’t see him, yet I refused to change my focus. “You been here long?”

  Leaning back against the bars lining the front of her enclosure, Lauren had sunk to her rear, her folded knees gathered in her arms. “’Bout seven weeks … I think.” I caught her shrug. “Only two others were here then, besides me.”

  “That why you know so much?”

  “I guess. Plus, I listen … a lot. Mostly when they think I’m not.” Her tone altered as if she smiled. “I pretend to be asleep, and they talk around me. Or I pretend to take longer on my bathroom breaks and press my ear to the door.” A blown out breath drifted up. “Sometimes, they just talk around me, anyway, like they think I’m too dumb to understand. They’re the dumb ones.”

  I lowered my chin, bringing her into view. “Why’s that?”

  Her gaze lifted to mine. “Because they can’t figure out what I am.”

  “So, what race are you?” I cringed the second I’d outright blurted the question at her. Subtlety could have earned me more points—confirmed when her eyes chilled and she looked away.

  “I’m not anything.” Her words came out a quiet mumble. “I’m just me.”

  “If you weren’t a race, they wouldn’t have taken you … right?”

  She shrugged, but didn’t turn back to me.

  “You have … abilities, Lauren?” I shifted around to face her.

  “I’m nothing special.” The sulk in her tone betrayed a youthfulness I struggled to evaluate. “I shouldn’t be here.”

  My thigh muscles twanged when I dropped into a squat, taking myself down to her level. “How old are you, Lauren?”

  No response other than a hitch of her deep breaths.

  “Lauren, look at me.” Although gentle, my tone held a firm undercurrent.

  Chin dipped, she turned and peered up at me through the straggles of hair that flopped over her brow.

  I ducked down a little more, held her stare steady. “How old are you?”
r />   “Sixteen.”

  “Jesus.” I kept my whisper below her radar, but the lowered dart of her eyes told me she’d spotted the movement of my lips. “Lauren? You might not think there’s anything special about you. And you might think you pass for human.” I worked against the tightness in my jaw to keep my voice even. “But your scent tells me otherwise.”

  The slight widening to her eyes revealed her surprise. She hadn’t known?

  “And if I can smell it?” I pointed an index at the ceiling. “Chances are they can, too.” Whoever ‘they’ are.

  She lifted her wrist to her nose and sniffed. “I don’t smell of anything but me.”

  I kept my inhalation discreet as I drew her fragrance deep into my nostrils. Human definitely greeted me, so I understood her frustration, but an undertone of something I couldn’t decode hit my senses with far greater strength. That struck one of the alien aromas off my list of detected but unidentified. I saw no point in pushing on that angle right then, though.

  “Well …” I allowed a smile to creep in, hoping to keep her calm enough to continue talking. “For someone who claims to be just me, you seem to know a lot about supernatural races.”

  She dropped her arm. “I read a lot.”

  “And you believe everything you read?” My eyebrow lifted.

  “No, but I got eyes, don’t I?” Her arms folded as her lips compressed. “When you’ve been here for as many weeks as I have? When you’ve seen what I have? Try telling me you don’t believe after that.” Her booted foot kicked up dust as she shoved a leg out straight. “It’s not like I wanna believe all this stuff. I’d … I’d rather be home … and still flipping confused about … stuff.” Her chest heaved beneath a shuddered sigh.

  I knew absolutely nothing about teenagers, less so about the female variety, but even I could recognise the onset of a stubbornness they all seemed to possess. Although her comment suggested she knew more about herself than she shared, I figured I’d do better waiting before I prodded her some more.

  “Can I ask you one more question?” I asked. “If I promise it’s not about you.”

  Her eyes did a huge roll. “Sure.”

  My lips twitched. “Is food ever brought down?”

  “Define food.”

  “Morsels of edible substance.”

  Her eyes flicked to the side. “Define edible.”

  My chuckle arrived deep. “That bad, huh?”

  “No.” Her lips spread into a smile, the attitude back as she met my gaze again. “Worse.”

  A metallic clang reverberated through the space, attacking my ears as it bounced from one bar to the next and from wall to ceiling. The double doors hit the stone walls on their in-swing. Through the opening, two males barged in.

  The one on the left, with his dark hair framing even darker eyes, had to be vampire. His hip-swinging swagger reflected a cockiness. What looked like bundled clothing trailed from his hand, and dragged through the dust coating the concrete floor.

  A naked limp body that held the fine curves and scent of a female swung over the shoulder of the one on the right, concealing the second entree. Scratches and welts created a striated pattern across the flesh of the body’s legs, and something akin to teeth marks had left puncture wounds in the hip visible to me.

  I inhaled and, through the stench of blood, recognised werewolf and something else in the visitors. The something else smelled distinctly feline.

  Lauren’s head twisted around, and she glared behind her. Beneath the defiance, an element of fear peeked through. “Two go up.” She sent a rapid glance my way. “Only one ever comes back down.”

  Pushing aside the urge to ask her to elaborate, I returned my attention to the two males striding toward my cage.

  The vampire’s black-filled eyes appraised me on approach, and he smiled as the duo veered to my left, to what had to be the corner cell.

  Keys jangled. Metal clanked. The mechanics of a disengaging lock rang out. At my rear, the heavy thud of the carrier’s feet sounded again, followed by a swing of motion cutting through air, a thud, and a barely-given grunt.

  Beneath those sounds, quiet footsteps came my way.

  I kept my focus on the ground as the steps halted outside my cage. Leather shoes that had been polished to a high shine glimmered back at me. Above those, the cuffs of grey tailored trousers hung. I didn’t have to lift my head to know the vampire studied me. The heavy weight of his scrutiny drew the hairs across the back of my neck to attention.

  Clicks, clanks, and scuffling arrived from the cell his companion had visited, telling me he exited and locked the tossed body within. I followed his passage, made easy by the irritating squeak of his left shoe with each step, until he reached the vampire’s side. A slight eye shift to the left showed scuffed white trainers beneath the hems of frayed denim.

  One set of breaths, and one shallow, rapid heartbeat emanated from the duo.

  Although my squatted position burned through my weary tendons, I didn’t give them the satisfaction of knowing my discomfort by moving.

  The quiet stretched into a minute, maybe longer.

  “Is this him?” The gravelled voice, and unmistakable scent of werewolf, came from the trainer-clad male.

  “That’s what Catherine said.” More refined than the first, the speaker held a slight Irish lilt in his tone.

  “This is who all the hype’s about?” The voice held disbelief.

  A delicate chuckle followed. “Apparently so.”

  The white trainers kicked up dust as the wearer shifted his weight from one foot to another. “Doesn’t look like much to me.”

  Lauren fidgeted a little. A sideways flitter of my eyes showed me hers faced forward and, even beneath her shirt, I couldn’t miss the high line of her shoulders as she sat rigid.

  “Appearances can be deceiving,” the Irish voice said. “Besides, I’d bet on him out-bulking you, Andrew.”

  “Size is irrelevant. The bigger they are, th—”

  “The harder, blah, blah.”

  A quiet growl rumbled from the werewolf.

  “Down, boy.” The vampire’s tone held only amusement, yet it seemed to calm his other half. “Are your legs working yet, wolf?”

  My head twitched as I wondered if the question had been directed at me. I didn’t look up, but it made no difference when the vampire dropped to his haunches and brought his face to my level. I clenched my fists—my only movement besides the shift of my gaze to meet his.

  The angle of his head matched my own, and a small smile tugged at the corners of his lips. “Ethan … Holloway? If I’m not mistaken.”

  Other than a slight tightening to my eyes, I gave no response.

  “Your reputation precedes you.”

  More shuffles from the white trainers exposed the one called Andrew’s restlessness.

  At the risk of later aches, I straightened my legs and forced myself upright, turning my attention to the werewolf. “Hey. Andrew, right?”

  His head jerked back, taking his body back a step with it, before he squared his shoulders and peered up the four inches to meet my stare. Grey eyes roofed a prominent nose and a narrow chin that could have used a good razor. The vampire had been right. The wolf, in no way, competed with my six-five for size.

  My lips curved into a smile, though I doubted they shared any humour with my unblinking eyes.

  The appraisal I received from him in return travelled the length of my body, before heading back to my face. “You don’t look so big without your shoes on.”

  The black dissipated to two solid balls of iris as the vampire gave an eye roll big enough to compete with Lauren’s. “Idiot,” he muttered. “That means he actually is that big.”

  “The bigger they are …” Andrew said.

  “Yes, ye—�
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  “Better make sure you’re not in my way when I go down.” My eyebrow lifted as I dipped my head to his level. “You wouldn’t want to get squashed.”

  A low rumbling chuckle drew a twitch from my ears. I leaned sideways to see past the vampire and verify the source.

  Lauren had been right about Kyle’s quarters. From behind the bars of the third cage along, his smile beamed white in the gloom as his quiet laughter continued. “Making friend’s with the locals, as usual?” A cough erupted from him as his forehead pressed to the bars, his white-knuckled grip no doubt contributing to his vertical bearing.

  The vampire spun and glanced from me to Kyle, as did the werewolf.

  I shook my head at Kyle as my fists came to settle on my hips. “It’s about time you stirred, sleeping beauty.”

  “Well …” Hoarseness affected the volume of his voice. “I heard the party you had going on …” He gave another tiny cough. “… wondered why I hadn’t got my invite.”

  “You should check your junk mail more often.” I ignored the avid interest we gained from our observers. “That’s where the trash usually ends up.”

  His temple rolled across the metal that supported him as he swayed on his feet. Once steadied, only his gaze lifted. “You’re pissed at me.”

  “Not yet.” Maybe I’d let him in on the knowledge that I’d been their target all along—once he’d stewed a little.

  “Joseph, we should go back up,” Andrew said.

  Kyle and I turned our attention to the werewolf with his hand on the vampire’s shoulder. So did the vampire—Joseph, I presumed.

  He dipped his chin a touch. “You’re right.” Joseph glanced toward me and Kyle. “It’s been interesting, gents. Now you’re awake, I’ll arrange for a meal to be sent for you both.” He took a few steps before peering back. “We’ll have to do this again sometime, though. You two are a hoot.”

  I didn’t watch them walk off. My gaze remained on Kyle’s. Neither of us spoke until the slam of metal sent a ringing echo through the space.

  “Exactly how much shit did I get us into?” Kyle asked.