Torment (Primal Progeny Book 1) (12 page)

Something was seriously wrong.

She could see no evidence of her captor and jumped violently when his reply to her question came from behind her. He whispered so closely into her ear that she could feel the heat of his breath on her face.

‘I am Lucy. ‘ He stressed the first word so pointedly that she could have no doubt as to his intentions.

She jerked forwards in terror, throwing herself off her feet only for a strong masculine arm to wrap about her waist and tug her backwards. She grunted in protest, throwing her head back and hitting nothing but air. Another hand wound tightly into her hair until her scalp felt it would tear, and yanked back her head so that she could see only the ceiling.

‘Don’t play with me you little bitch.’ He hissed at her, still out of sight but his voice unmistakable. ‘This is MY game.’

He pulled her hair back into him, pressing her squirming back onto the aching rod of his erection, and a scream tore from her lungs. Pressing his hips forwards he smiled and pulled her more tightly against him, her writhing drawing a low groan of animal lust from his lips.

‘Oh I’m going to enjoy this’ he muttered against her cheek, the sounds of her screams blotting out his words. ‘I have so much planned for you.’

He jerked her back hard against his still growing erection, her struggles and desperate screams taking his sick arousal to new heights. Feeling her firm buttocks thrashing around against him, he moaned in ecstasy at the idea of what was to come and with a deep laugh he threw her forward off her feet. A crooked smile cracked across his lips as she lurched against the chains and wailed in agony and terror; desperately scrabbling to regain her footing.

He never failed to surprise himself with just how much he enjoyed his little hobby; he never tired of their groans and screams…

Chapter 12

Inside the blue people carrier the three werewolves sat in tense silence. Each one understood what he or she should do upon their arrival, and the impending situation had their entire focus. Not once did any one of them try to break the silence, there was no place for idle chitchat.

The car sped through the woodlands and out onto more exposed countryside roads so fast that Hunter couldn’t have identified where he was even had he wanted to. The roads were dark and foreboding, lit only by the stars and moon and the cutting beams of the headlights. Stones and dirt skittered under the tyres and dust billowed in the wake of the vehicle, as Tobias skidded around sharp turns and pushed up rapidly through the gears on straight stretches of road.

Both Hunter and Eve clung tightly to their seats and lurched from side to side as the car swung around corners. Tobias did not pay heed to his passengers as he sped on his way, he was entirely focused on his destination and nothing could draw his inner wolf’s attention away from the situation at hand. It urged him on to fight the hostile intruder with a ferocity that could be clearly seen dancing behind his eyes.

The male beta was as good as his word, and it took barely a minute for him to reach the main road; and just less than eight before the imposing shadow of the barn loomed on the crest of a hill in the darkness.

All three visibly tensed at the sight of it, Hunter leaning forward in his seat to be greeted by a stony stare from Eve.

‘Be calm.’ She instructed firmly ‘this all swings on your ability to hold it together long enough to distract him. We need a clean shot at attack while he is unsuspecting.’

Hunter nodded as the car ground to a slow halt about a quarter of a mile from the entrance of the barn. He had known they would have to keep a bit of distance to allow the others to change, but wished that the car could have inched a little closer. He did not dare to think what state Lucy might be in, and was struggling to keep his internal beast in check. As he quietly stepped out of the car and watched Eve slide out of the passenger door, it gnashed its teeth and thrust itself forward in his mind. Pushing him to change with an intensity that left the skin all over his body prickling, but he could not allow it. Pinching the bridge of his nose against the headache that threatened, he looked on as Eve and Tobias moved silently into the long grass at the roadside. He shivered against the cold as they lowered themselves down and lay concealed behind the vehicle that had taken them there.

Out of respect he looked away when Eve pulled off her boots and began to hitch up her shirt. He knew from experience how painful the change could be and did not want to watch it happen to another if it were willingly forced. He had felt it so many times; he did not wish to see it as well. Though they both grunted in pain and he could hear their limbs squirming in the damp grass, he kept his gaze firmly planted on the silhouette of the barn. 

Slowly the sound of movement and the quiet noises of pain began to subside and he chanced a glance at the thick grass by the roadside. He turned his gaze just in time to see a large and well-muscled black wolf lurch to its paws and give itself a shake, sending droplets of dew flying from its dense pelt. The wolf inside him perked up its ears at the creature that stood before him, and he could not help the flare of his nostrils as he stared into its piercing blue eyes. Eve’s lupine form was equally as strangely beautiful as her human one.

She stared coldly back at him as Tobias hauled himself upright and took a protective pace forward to stand beside her. His scruffy pelt was perhaps a shade lighter than his dusky blonde hair, and Hunter could not help but feel a little intimidated by the sheer size of him. His paws were enormous; almost the size of dinner plates and tipped with sharp black talons. He towered over Eve’s lupine form, and his gargantuan skull hovered at Hunter’s chest level as he scented the air; small puffing sounds issuing quietly from his muzzle.

Hunter and Eve watched him as the fur on his nape bristled, his eyes narrowing as he jerked his head towards the barn to motion that they should move. Turning smoothly on his pads he sloped off down the roadside without looking back.

Glancing at Hunter’s worried expression Eve nipped at his fingertips gently before turning tail and loping after her co-beta. Despite the mans obvious nervousness, she knew without doubt that he would follow. There was too much at stake for him not to.

Hunter watched them go, hesitating for a moment to allow them time to get towards their positions. He noted how silently they moved despite their size and could not help but wonder how his own wolf would measure up next to Tobias. He had no idea how large he was in comparison, and found himself quietly grateful that they were on the same side.

Once the pair of them had almost faded into the darkness he moved off, checking the car door was locked out of habit before he went. He moved as quietly as his clumsy human form in cumbersome work boots would allow. Crunching through the roadside grass, carefully avoiding the tarmac that was rapidly becoming a dusty, disused dirt road. The chill night breeze skittered across his back and ruffled his hair as he approached, sending a shiver across his work hardened skin. He was acutely aware that the wind direction was carrying his scent towards the barn and picked up his pace to a jog, fearful that Varulv would kill her and run.

Every small sound seemed to echo through his head as he hurried towards his destination. There was no time to feel fear or upset, all he felt was his inner wolf insisting that he should change. There was danger ahead and he should change, he was stronger that way. He shook his head to clear it, ignoring the beast’s insistent ramblings; he had to stay calm and focussed… And human. He had no doubt that if he padded into the barn in lupine form he would have his throat torn out in a second. He had the element of surprise on his side in human form and he needed to utilize it. He was the distraction that would allow the others time to attack and he had to remain focussed. If only the wind would change and allow him a scent of what was in the dilapidated building ahead of him... He would have felt a little less tense if he could have at least smelled the faintest hint of Lucy. Or even the basic whereabouts of the creature he was about to face.  But no, relentlessly the air battered into his back; announcing his presence as clearly as a neon sign above his head.

Despite all his best efforts as the barn loomed closer and closer, Hunter felt his skin begin to burn. Within his clenched fists his nails bit painfully into his palms, growing ever longer and sharper. His wolf was desperate to break out and it took every bit of self-control he had to keep it within him. Lucy didn’t need to see him half changed and wild. She would need him to be strong and contained; and the human, protective male she had grown to love.

He knew that she loved him and the thought burned in his mind as he stepped closer and closer to the towering wooden structure before him. It all seemed too coincidental; that Varulv would have chosen another human being who was a part of Hunter’s façade of a life to attack. How could they be so certain that a werewolf as ancient as he had no idea that he had created another in his image? It had all felt too much like a cruel stab at revenge. Revenge for the fact that he had dared to survive. Yet they had seemed so certain and perhaps fate was simply being cruel, but Lucy did not deserve this.

Filled with a determination he had never dreamed he could feel; with rage flickering behind eyes set into a stony expression, Hunter stormed through the shadowy mouth of the barn doorway.

Instantly he knew something was wrong.

The place was filled with a darkness so deep that he could not even see his hand in front of his face, and the smell of fresh blood was heavy in the air.

With fear rising in him Hunter stopped just within the doorway and called out a single word. ‘Varulv?’

Enough blood had been spilled that he could taste it on his tongue as he spoke, and the only reply he received was the echo of his own voice. It did not sound as confident as it should have, as he had been instructed to sound.

A growing sense of dread filled him as he took one step forward, wincing at the splash of liquid when his foot hit the floor.

‘Lucy?’ He called, desperation tainting his voice.

The answer he received was a quiet growl, a low rumble that vibrated through the darkness.

‘Varulv?’ He repeated, reverting back to anger ‘show yourself!’

For a brief moment there was nothing, and then the whole place filled with a blinding light. Staggering back Hunter shielded his face with his hands; his eyes screwed half shut against the glare.

It took his eyesight just seconds to recover as the sound of paws splashing through water snatched his attention to the rear of the barn. In the farthest corner Eve stood with her front paws upon the barn wall and her nose just inches from a large switch, which was obviously new to the building. It was her who had had turned on the lights.

Another sound snatched his attention away and his eyes darted to find its source. In the centre of the barn stood Tobias, his nostrils flaring over the prone form of Hunter’s oldest friend.

‘NO!’ The scream tore from Hunter’s lungs full of pain and anguish as he ran towards the wolf looming over Lucy’s still form. With each footfall his addled mind took in a little more of the scene before him. Like snapshots of a horror movie that he wished he wasn’t a part of.

The barn was longer than it had seemed from the outside and so pointedly vacant but for the horrific scene at its centre. The concrete floor was awash with icy water and dotted with floating islands of matted straw, with deep red tendrils swirling beneath the shallow surface. The centre of the building was so harshly lit that it hurt his eyes to look upon the scene before him, burning it forever into his mind and for hours into his retinas. It was as though he had somehow stumbled into some kind of twisted theatre production, and before him, Lucy was at centre stage. The contraption that she had been restrained in glinted menacingly in the harsh light; chains hanging limply above her like the cold, dead tentacles of some giant threatening monster.

He was barely aware of the water splashing around him as he ran, time flowing for him in torturous slow motion. He could only vaguely see Lucy’s delicate tanned form slumped beneath Tobias’ thickly furred belly, as the blonde wolf sniffed her from head to toe.  He screamed a sound of pure rage and threw himself at the unsuspecting wolf, thrusting him from over her and almost knocking him from his paws. Hunter screamed again in rage and pain unlike any he had experienced since that fateful night in his infancy.

‘Get off her!!’ He screamed into the snarling face of the werewolf who was supposed to be helping stop this… The wolf who should have already killed the beast who had taken first his family, and then his only real friend… The wolf who was practically slavering over her.

Hunter did not care that he had no chance against the other werewolf, and threw himself at him again. His eyes were wild and his fists flailed madly in the air where Tobias had been stood. How dare he sniff over her like a piece of meat?!? How DARE he?!?

But then out of nowhere something thudded into the bereft werewolf’s side and sent him flying; and before he could react in anger a set of razor sharp teeth were at his unprotected throat.

Gurgling in terror and confusion he rolled his eyes to see Eve stood over him, her forepaws planted firmly on either side of his chest and her eyes stern and unforgiving. Her black pelt bristled around her and her tail was held high above her back. Here she remained for what seemed like an eternity, before releasing her grip and arching back her neck to stare into his eyes. She shook her head firmly before stepping away.

Hunter slowly sat up, cautious of sudden movements with the wolf in him cowering like a pup after a shaking from its mother. He knew on some level; or at least his lupine self did, that he had stepped out of line and that was not acceptable in any situation… Not even this one. Not that it mattered; it was only at the insistence of his internal beast that he paid any heed to the reactions of his fellow werewolves. His human self was entirely focussed on Lucy, on protecting her and reviving her. Both halves of him were fiercely protective of her, she was his and his alone as far as both sides of him were concerned. He would save her. He had to save her.

Glancing at the two wolves only briefly, he turned and crawled to Lucy’s side. His hands and knees sloshing loudly through the bloodied water which coated the floor.

Finally being able to really see her he gasped in shock, his mouth falling open in horror. Scrambling towards her he took up her head in his arms and wept silent tears as he cradled her limp form in his soaking lap.