Page 14 of Wolf Forsaken

Dante turned his attention back to me and came close, pinching my chin roughly and moving my head from side to side to look at what I assumed were head wounds or bruising. I was so numb I didn't even feel them.

"Ivy's dead."

My wolf pushed forward, and my fangs descended. I whimpered and Dante squeezed my jaw harder.

"She has a set of lungs on her, let me tell you. Kept fighting until the very end."

I pushed back my wolf, unwilling to let him see how much turmoil brewed inside me. All the years of being the omega and stopping my wolf from putting my sister in her rightful place was paying off.

"What's wrong, omega? Did you think that was going to last? She was a parasite that was going to ruin this pack. It's bad enough Cole let the pack lose sight of itself."

"And you're not?" I spit on him, my saliva landing on his cheek. "You've forsaken the pack and all wolves."

He let go of me and wiped his face with the back of his forearm. He grinned and the blow he sent to the side of my head was so hard the chair fell sideways, slamming me into the floor.

* * *

Gasping for air,I woke as my body hit the hard floor. The cell door slammed shut, and the lock clicked into place. It had been a while since I'd been locked up, and I already wanted to claw my skin off.

"It's a real shame we couldn't get along, Elias." Dante wiped his hands on his jeans as I tried to sit up. "Now I have even more motivation to find that sister of yours."

My entire body ached, but that didn't stop me from pushing to my feet and trying to get to him, except there were bars in the way. "Why are you doing this?"

He lunged forward, grabbing me by the throat with both hands and dragging me close enough he could bite off my nose. "It's time for wolves to take their rightful place in this world."

He shoved me back, and I landed hard on my ass. "You won't get away with this."

Without another word, he and Joseph went up the stairs and slammed the door shut behind them. I sagged in relief that I was locked up instead of subjected to their abusive whims upstairs.

A whimper came from behind me, and I turned toward one of the other cages. Xander was in his wolf form again, his glossy eyes staring back at me.

"You're lucky they didn't kill you." Cole was slumped against the bars, his wound bleeding through the bandages.

He needed to have it cleaned and bandaged with medicine. All the moving around and lack of a comfortable resting place wasn't helping it either.

"He said he killed Ivy." Something about that thought felt wrong. I don't know how, but I still felt like she was alive.

"You really believe that?" Cole put his hand on Xander's head and rubbed it absently. Xander's eyes closed halfway, and I narrowed my eyes at Cole. "What's that look for?"

"Nothing." I used the bars to help me to my feet. I should have been the one comforting Xander, not him. What the hell was I even thinking? Xander wasn't mine, and I wasn't his. "We need to get out of here."

"We tried. They caught us." Cole's shoulders slumped. "Xander shifted when he woke up and I can't convince him to shift back."

"Can you blame him?" I pulled down my pants. "Shut your eyes. Both of you."

"I've seen your dick plenty of times." Cole laughed and then groaned in pain. "Fuck, it hurts to laugh."

Xander let out a small growl and cocked his head to the side, watching me intently.

"Fine." I pulled myself out of my boxers and flipped my dick up to reveal a key taped underneath.

Cole hissed in a breath. "Stop. Laughing hurts." He put his hand over his stomach. "Smart, but how did you pull that off?"

"Their first mistake was locking me in my room after they took my computer." I peeled the tape, wincing as it pulled at the sensitive flesh. "They were smart enough to put someone outside the window."

"How many are there?"

"It's hard to say. At least ten, but they also are heavily armed. I overheard them talking about wanting to hold a pack meeting tonight, but with the storm rolling in, they can't." I held up the key in triumph and pulled my pants back up. "I couldn't quite figure out why he would keep us alive."