Azure (The Silver Series Book 5) (15 page)

“
When we get out of here,
I'll make sure you're never hungry again,” I promised.

Several angry mutters rose from around the
room, but I was surprised that Jake kept quiet. I glanced his way
and found him watching me, a look of approval on his face. At my
questioning look, he nodded his head toward Gem's two empty bowls.
I gave a small smile and settled back on the hard bars.

The door opened and the older female
werewolf who had told me to stay strong cowered against the back of
her cage. The guards hauled her out and forced her through the
door, then grabbed the male werewolf in the cage across from
her.

“
They beat two at a time?”
I asked quietly.

Gem shook her head. “They usually take their
time with us unless they're saving it for someone in particular.”
Her eyes met mine and they widened. She looked across at Jake, her
expression pleading. “They're not going to take him again, are
they?”

A surge of fear ran through me at the
thought of the whips and silver gloves. I didn't know if I could
take such a beating again, but I tried not to let the fear
show.

“
It's hard to say,” Jake
replied, his tone truly bothered. “But Rob definitely has a burr
under his skin.”

The werewolves were returned about an hour
later. Both had phased to wolf form and bloody lines traced through
their tattered hides. They were thrown back into the cages where
they limped to their blankets and tried to sleep off the worst of
the pain. The guards moved to the next two wolves and the process
began again.

Gem didn't cower when they reached her. She
held her head high and gave me a brief, courageous smile before
they pulled her from the cage.

“
Leave her alone,” Jake
yelled from across the way. “She's just a kid. You are all
savages!”

The guards ignored him and took the werewolf
across from her. They forced them down the aisle and out of the
room. After what felt like hours later, they brought Gem back in
wolf form, her cream-colored fur striped in red. She met my eyes
briefly; her blue gaze was filled with pain and humiliation before
she ducked her head and hunched on the blanket in the corner. The
guards tossed in her tattered clothes, then slammed the cage
door.

She winced at the sound and I hated them
more than anything for hurting her and making her so afraid. I
wanted to tear the guards from limb to limb and had to fight to
keep from phasing. Jake's words echoed in my head, warning me that
they would destroy an Alpha as soon as he manifested. If there was
ever a chance to escape, I had to keep my wits about me because it
was the only way I could save Gem from this fate worse than
death.

The guards skipped my cage and finished with
the rest of the werewolves, fifteen in all. When the last pair were
thrown back into their cages, Jeff opened the door and walked down
to stop in front of mine. A taunting smile touched his face. “Rob
wants to see you, mutt.”

I checked the watch I didn't have and shook
my head. “Sorry, he's too late. All of my appointments are filled
for the day.”

Jeff looked like he wanted to rip my head
off. He motioned to the two guards. “Get him out of there.”

When they entered my cell, I fought back the
urge to phase and teach them all a lesson. I knew my life and
possibly the lives of those in the other cells depended on me
keeping my Alpha heritage a secret as long as possible. If I could
hold out until a rescue came, I would be in a position to deal much
greater damage to Rob's Lobotraz. I walked with them up the row and
tried to shut out the scent of fresh blood and fear that came from
the cages I passed.

“
What a coincidence that
Row Four’s interrogation day came the day after your initiatory
beating,” Rob said in a tone that indicated there was no such thing
as a coincidence at Lobotraz.

“
It's wonderful,” I replied
dryly. Pain tore through the healing wounds along my back and the
bruises on my ribs and stomach when Jeff attached my handcuffs to
the hook. I was pulled up again so my feet barely touched the
floor.

Rob walked around me slowly, a hand on his
jaw. He nodded when he reached the front of me again. “Looks like
you're actually healing quite well.” A gleam came to his eyes. “I
suppose we'll have to do all we can to make sure you're the least
comfortable before you phase or die.” His eyebrow rose
thoughtfully. “Of course, I have a suspicion that phasing and dying
will occur at the same time. My daughter won't confess as to your
coat color, but I'll take a stab that a werewolf who would stand
against his pack for a human would have to be an Alpha or they'd
tear him apart. It seems you animals can't attack your
superiors.”

The fact that he was still trying and
failing to get information from Nora lifted my heart. I met Rob's
eyes, my own defiant. “You humans have to chain and handcuff your
superiors before you attack them.”

Surprise quickly turned to rage on his face
when my insinuation registered. He reached for the cat-o-nine-tails
and backed up so that he faced me squarely. “Let's make the chest
match the back, shall we?”

***

The skin across my chest and stomach stood
in tatters by the time they threw me back in my cage. Every breath
hurt. I pulled into a fetal position on the rag-covered bars in the
corner and willed my heart to keep pumping. Blood dripped through
the bars to the dirty cement below, forming dark puddles that
covered the prior stains and creating a soft patter that sounded
loud in the quiet room.

I closed my eyes and listened to my heart
beat and the flow of air through my wheezing lungs. An edge of one
of the whips had sliced along my ribs like a fillet knife, leaving
a wound clear to the bone on my right side. The pain mixed with the
wound that refused to heal in the same side was so intense I could
barely breathe.

“
You alright?” Gem asked
softly.

A wry chuckle escaped my lips and I winced
at the pain it brought. “Just peachy,” I said without moving.

“
That's what I thought.
Here.”

It took me several minutes to will my body
to respond. When I finally lifted my head, I found that Gem and the
other werewolves had phased back to human form and pulled on their
clothes. Most of the werewolves looked like they were starting to
heal, which made me wonder how long I had been with Rob.

“
We didn't think you were
coming back,” Gem said in a voice that quavered slightly with
suppressed emotion.

I pushed up to my hands and knees, but a
wracking cough tore through my lungs and had me hunched over in
pain for several more minutes. When I could finally breathe again,
I wiped the blood from my mouth and gave her a half-hearted smile.
“You know I'm harder to kill than that.”

“
You've got to be an
Alpha,” Jake said. “Otherwise he wouldn't hate you so much.” Jake
had torn a piece of his blanket off and wrapped it around half of
his face. It looked like one of the whips had caught him in the eye
when he was a wolf. I couldn't tell if he would be able to see out
of it again.

I let out a steadying breath and sat up
gingerly. Gem handed me a cup of water and I used it to wash out
the worst of the wounds. “He's got plenty of reasons to hate me; at
least he thinks so.” I met Gem's searching gaze. “I might have
saved his daughter's life on more than one occasion.”

She smiled in understanding. “Nora.”

My eyes widened in surprise even as my heart
leaped at the images her name brought. “Yes. How do you know her
name?”

“
You say it in your sleep.
You whispered her name over and over again yesterday when I
couldn't tell if you were going to live or die.” She sighed and
leaned her back against the bars, then winced and sat up. “Tell us
about her.”

“
I shouldn't.” I didn't
know if I could put the last few days into words, and didn't want
to bring worse punishment down on any of them by telling them
things Rob didn't want told. But the thought that Rob would want it
kept a secret spurred me on.

I told them about the attack on Two and
stopping Drake and Seth before they could kill her. They laughed
when I told how she shot me, then removed the bullet. I told them
about the hike and finding the missing hikers, then the full moon
and jumping into the ravine before she could be swept over the
cliff.

Everyone kept silent when I told them about
the kiss, surprising myself as much as them with the admittance.
When I told them about Rob's promise of safety and my own naivety
in believing he would actually uphold his word, several of them
laughed, but they were laughs tinged with bitterness at the outcome
instead of making fun of my costly mistake.

“
You love her, don't you?”
Gem asked after I stopped talking.

The words brushed my heart like the softest
kiss and I sighed. “I do,” I admitted. “We haven't known each other
for very long, but I felt from the first moment I saw her that
there was something there.”

“
You're a romantic,” the
older female werewolf by the door said quietly.

“
You're a fool,” Jake
echoed.

I shrugged, then brought my knees up and
leaned my head on them in an effort to ease the strain on my
damaged chest. “Either way, it's a lost cause.”

“
You're getting out of
here,” Gem said firmly.

I gave her a slight smile. “Regardless, I
doubt I'll ever see her again. She's the daughter of a Hunter who
wants to kill me more than anything, but can't quite bring himself
to do it. He wants to break me first, to make me beg. I worry that
he'll bring Nora into it if I don't give in.”

“
He wouldn't dare,” Gem
breathed. “His own daughter?”

“
Not like he's shown any
scruples up to this point,” Rex pointed out.

I breathed out slowly and told myself he
wouldn't go so far, but the doubt in my mind scared me more than
his silver whip.

Chapter 13

I awoke that night to the sound of a
whimper, and looked over to see Gem roll over in her sleep, one arm
stretched along the silver-coated bars. I sat up and wrapped a
cloth around my arm, then stuck it through the cage and moved her
arm gently back to her side so it wouldn’t get burned. She opened
her eyes and looked at me with the bare gaze of someone whose walls
had been lowered by sleep.

I saw a scared girl who was afraid she had
been forgotten and left to die despite the brave front she put on
for the others. The pain she felt at the lashes along her back
burned in her blue gaze, and the hopelessness that reflected back
at me made my heart ache. I reached my hand back through and she
grabbed it as though it was a life-line.

“
We’re going to make it
through this,” I breathed softly, wary about waking up the
others.

“
I don’t know how much
longer I can last,” she said, her lips barely moving. She took a
breath and winced at the way it pulled at the healing lashes along
her back.

“
You’ll outlast every
werewolf here,” I said. Sadness swept through her gaze and I
realized she took my words wrong. I tightened my grip on her hand.
“You’re the bravest, strongest person I’ve ever met. You’ve got to
survive because you’re pulling every other wolf here through.
They’re all counting on you to make it.”

She closed her eyes and opened them again
wet with tears that she refused to let spill over. “I won’t let
them down,” she said, an edge of determination to her soft
voice.

I nodded and moved closer to the bars so
that I could sleep with my hand holding hers. The simple touch of
our fingers was so pure and innocent amid the scent of blood and
decay, pain and unwashed bodies. Neither of us wanted to let
go.

***

By the beatings, I had been in Lobotraz for
three mind-numbing weeks. Jake and then the older woman by the door
failed to come back from interrogations a week ago, and their cages
remained bare reminders of the lives they once held. I took heart
in the fact that no other werewolves replaced them, but between the
beatings, the poor quality of food, and the inhumane living
conditions, hope was fading quickly. Gem kept up her tirade abut
her parents coming to save her, but the lack of response from Two
nearly broke my heart.

The skin of my chest and back was covered in
blackened scars from the whips. My side still ached and Rob favored
the spot during his interrogations. Tomorrow night was the full
moon, and I knew if I refrained from phasing during today's
beating, I wouldn't be able to hide the fact that I was an Alpha
after nightfall.

The next round of interrogations started and
I waited in numb silence as each cage was emptied and then rejoined
by a beaten wolf whose eyes shone with less life than before. Gem
had been taken and it barely registered to me that the guards came
to get me before she was thrown back in. Two forms dressed in black
stopped in front of my cage. I rose stiffly to my feet and waited
for them to enter. My mind screamed for me to attack them, to
overthrow everyone at Lobotraz regardless of the fact that I would
be sorely outnumbered and weaponless even if I enlisted the help of
the other half-starved, weak werewolves who would get themselves
killed.

I toyed with the idea that being killed was
far better than being a prisoner at Rob's whim when an achingly
familiar smell touched my nose. One of the guards slapped on my
handcuffs and I noticed there was no pain. I glanced down to find
that the cuffs weren't silver.