Page 28 of Wild Wolf

“What’s that, pretty boy?” Benjamin goaded, sneering at me.

“You heard me well and good. Your death is written. You’ve given me fangs and I swear to the stars, I will rip out both of your throats with them.”

Benjamin scoffed. “The problem with that little plan is that you’re in a cage, clad in irons, all dressed up and ready to sell at the market.”

“One chance is all I’ll need. One moment of hesitation, one lapse in concentration and I will have you,” I swore.

“Good luck with that,” Benjamin said, turning his back on me.

Roland smiled creepily at me then swept after his Dragon friend. “The show is about to begin!” he called. “Bring him to the stage.” He snapped his fingers at a man who stepped from the shadows, his shifted form showing that he was a Minotaur. His horns were covered in metal studs and a thick bar was wedged through his bull nose. He made swift work of unlocking the cage then mooed at me to get moving.

I stepped cautiously out of the cage, desperate to run, but knowing I wouldn’t get far while he had magic and I didn’t. The Minotaur attached a chain to my collar then tugged me after him with a sharp pull.

I growled as he guided me down the winding passages between hundreds of stacked cages, the din of distressed animals growing in pitch as they noted my passing. Like they knew I was destined for some terrible fate. Roland and Benjamin had gone ahead, no sight of them now as I was led towards an unknown fate.

My fingers balled into fists as adrenaline pitched through me, my fangs extending in my mouth as the call of bloodlust took over. My head was foggy with it, the need to hunt building and building within me. It was primal, a part of this new Order I couldn’t fight as it coiled through me like a viper. I had to bite and kill and drink.

I lunged at the Minotaur from behind, my gaze homing in on a meaty vein in his neck, calling me to it and demanding I feed. He whirled around, his hand flying out, revealing a stun gun in his grip.

He jabbed it into my side and I roared as agony burst through me, my knees hitting the ground and pain flaring through every nerve ending in my body. He kept jabbing it at me with bruising blows, letting that electricity ignite in me time and again until I was ragged beneath him, gasping for breath. Then he yanked on the chain, forcing me to my feet and continued on like nothing had happened, leaving me nauseous and with an unwavering certainty in my soul that there was no escape.

He guided me through a heavy wooden door and the sound of a crowd filled my ears as we passed down a corridor towards a red curtain ahead. The din of the crowd grew louder and a voice echoed out above them all.

“I have worked for many years on mastering the ways of our kind, learning the intricacies of each Order and their inner composition. My work has made great advancements over the years, but not one of my subjects survived an Order replacement surgery…until now.”

The Minotaur dragged me through the curtain, the chain going taut and making me stumble as I hit a step and staggered up onto a large stage.

Roland stood at the centre of it, his voice amplified by magic as he continued on, declaring me his greatest achievement. I blinked at the too-bright lights aimed my way, finding a leering crowd beyond, taking me in with scrutiny. I spotted Benjamin at the front of the crowd, his chin raised high and a greedy look on his face that said he was here for the payout and nothing else.

“Behold,” Roland gestured at me, the tail of his long coat whipping out behind him as he turned my way. “A Nemean Lion shifter turned into a Vampire.”

He nodded to the Minotaur who immediately unclipped me from the chain. And that was it, the need to hunt took over and I sped towards Roland in a blur of movement, my fangs exposed as I aimed to kill him. I hit an air shield someone had cast around him, crashing back onto the stage with a bang, my head spinning from the impact.

Mutters broke out in the crowd.

“How do we know he wasn’t always a Vampire?” someone hollered.

“Yeah! Prove it!” a woman yelled then a series of boos rang out.

“You can’t change Orders,” someone laughed. “He’s full of shit.”

The Minotaur gripped my arm, dragging me to my feet and snapping his chain back onto my collar, leaving me snarling at him but knowing there was no point in fighting this. I would only end up on my back again.

“Of course you are sceptical,” Roland mused. “It is only natural. Which is why I brought proof with me.” He twisted around, gesturing to a large screen behind the stage and I scowled as footage from the Darkmore security cameras played on the screen. It showed me walking among the convicts, then changed to a view of me stepping into the Order Yard, stripping off and shifting into my Lion form. A noise of pain left me as I stared at the beast I’d once been, a hollow place inside me echoing with the loss of it.

“Give it back,” I rasped and the Minotaur glanced my way, a frown furrowing his brow. “He took it from me.”

The crowd gasped, looking from me to the screen as the footage replayed, proving what I had once been.

“How?!” someone cried.

“It’s not right,” someone else said in horror then retched, backing away from the stage and turning from me in disgust.

I shuddered, wanting to flee from my own skin, hating this altered form I was trapped in. I wanted my Lion. I wanted to be me again.

Not everyone in the crowd seemed horrified, a mix of gleeful and hungry looks falling my way too, but none looked so hungry as Benjamin, the scent of money on the air making his smile widen. The excited murmurs grew louder, my heightened hearing picking out too many conversations.

“This could change everything,” a woman whispered eagerly.

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