Page 12 of Stolen Choices

Weston pushed her onto the ground and left her there as he strode from the room, cackling like a maniac. Katia just lay there, her body shaking. It was the only movement she could willingly make.

How could this be happening to her again?

She thought the past was behind her even if the memories troubled her most days, but to be back here again with the sounds of sex and screaming bouncing off all the walls. The smell of the place was so familiar: dirt, sweat, and the stink of skin on skin. It was horrible. She’d never found the smell of sex to be ‘enticing’ as Selene and Emma had once described it. To Katia, it was a horrific scent that brought back terrible flashbacks.

She called to Jessica in her mind, but it was a futile attempt. The link between them had been severed. Katia could only hope the witch would realize before it was too late. In a few hours, she suspected Weston would come back for her, and the torture would begin again. Only this time she couldn’t fight back, her own body betraying her mind. The spell placed upon her felt more degrading than the acts the men wanted to perform on her. Her own free will was exactly that: her own, and it had been completely stripped away from her.

The door opened again. Katia watched from where she’d collapsed on the floor as Weston walked back in with another man. He was a client. She could tell by the lust-filled smile that instantly appeared on his face. She was still naked from when she’d shifted after she’d attacked Jackson—the blanket Jackson had given her hadn’t teleported with her. All she could do was pray it wasn’t the last clothes she ever wore.

“Sit,” Weston ordered, and like a puppet on strings, she shifted to a sitting position with her knees tucked under her. Her hands went to her thighs, and she bowed her head in forced deference to her slave master.

“So she’ll do whatever I ask her?” the man asked

“Yes. It’s a beautiful spell. I’m so glad I was able to get her back with it in place. It’ll make her even more valuable,” Weston responded, and Katia imagined him rubbing his hands together in glee at the prospect.

“Let’s have some fun then—see where we can take this.” Both men stepped up to her and started orchestrating her body into different positions aimed at their pleasure and her torment. There was one thing they couldn’t control, though, and that was her mind and where she took it. Shutting her eyes, she imagined herself back in her childhood before all her innocence was lost, running and playing happily in the Glacial Blood lands.

It was her happy place, and if this continued, it was somewhere she would stay in her head forever.

Chapter Eight

“Are you here?” Ethern shouted out as he landed in the dark cave. He was due to meet the man he’d freed from the dungeons of the Reichstag.

“Over here,” the deep voice replied from toward the rear of the cave. “Always hiding.”

Ethern twisted his hand in the air and used the magical abilities he possessed as a multi-shifter to illuminate the darkness. In the shadows, he could just about make out the silhouette of the man he’d stayed away from for some time now.

“How are you feeling?” Ethern wasn’t scared of the other man, but he kept his distance from him. It was safer that way. The abilities the man possessed were powerful, but they were also unpredictable, which was something of a problem when he could shift into one of the most dangerous creatures that ever existed…

A dragon.

That was the secret of the man now standing before Ethern. He was the multi-shifter who’d made the ultimate sacrifice many years ago. He’d voluntarily touched the bones that could transform him into the mythological creature.

Ethern watched as the man’s eyes flicked between human and dragon. It was stunning to watch but disturbing at the same time.

“I’m tired and very hungry. The dragon has been wanting to fly again, so I’ve kept myself hidden away in here. If I shift within this cave, I’m likely to bring the ceiling down on top of myself, so it’s accepted that it’s not coming out at the moment. It’s subdued, but I don’t know for how long,” the man answered and scales fluttered over the side of his face. “No, no, stay calm.”

“I understand why you don’t want to risk being seen.” Ethern took another step backward. The cave was small, and if the man shifted, it would indeed bury them both amongst a pile of rubble. He couldn’t allow that to happen not when they were both needed.

Ethern took the backpack he wore over his left shoulder and placed it down on the ground. The man looked at him suspiciously.

“You’re nervous of me, Ethern?”

“A little. You brought down half the building when you left the Reichstag. I don’t fancy dying here today.”

“I can’t remember the last time someone wasn’t scared of being near me. Everyone always keeps their distance.”

“It’s a powerful magic you possess,” Ethern offered by way of some small explanation.

“It is. I feel it coursing through my veins all the time. I fight a constant battle in my head just to stay in human form. Why did we ever think that someone could control this power, Ethern?”

“Because we’re naive and hopeful. We don’t want to see our kind destroyed at the hands of the humans.”

“I don’t think we’re going to have much say in that over the next few months. The war is here. Nuka Lincoln and his druid are leading the vanguard. People will die on both sides, humans and shifters—the supernatural will be unveiled. Does our hope really rest solely on the shoulders of a young girl and the one she loves?”

The man got to his feet and walked over to a hole in the ground. A distinct pattern of bones lay there—the carcass of a dragon from a time in history long since forgotten. They were creatures of myth and legend, but Ethern knew the truth. Dragons flew high in the skies a long time ago until humans destroyed them out of their fear of something different. They were afraid of losing their own strength and superiority in the world. The irony wasn’t lost on Ethern—it was the same battle they were now fighting to save shifters.

“The girl is strong. I’ve spent much time with her. She’s powerful beyond my comprehension. She even learned to control her abilities in order to find love.”

---