Page 5 of Wolf Forsaken

Instead, I forced myself to stand, wrapping the thick blanket that had a giant wolf head printed on it around me. Oh, God. Yet another man had seen me naked. It was the norm, I knew that now, but it still irked me.

I shuffled across the room to the door, which was solid metal like the rest of the room, with a single skylight in the ceiling. It felt like I was in some kind of industrial building.

The door was locked from the inside, and I put my ear against it, the metal sending a chill through me. There were faint sounds of voices, both male and female, coming from the other side, but they were distant.

I needed a weapon. I wanted to believe that I was safe, but I had thought I was safe at Cole's and was wrong. Were Cole, Eli, and Xander okay?

Checking the normal hiding spots—under the mattress and in the nightstand—I came up empty-handed. I shivered and continued to the dresser, which had clothes hanging out of drawers and scattered nearby on the floor. He wasn't the tidiest of men.

I pulled a shirt from a drawer and sniffed it, making sure it was clean, and found a pair of sweatpants that had seen better days.

It had to be well into the afternoon, judging from the light coming through the skylight. How long had I been passed out since I was found?

The bathroom was small, but had all the necessities. I locked the door behind me and turned on the water, hoping it was hot because I still felt like I'd been swimming in an ice bath for days.

I should be freaking out more.Hell, I had done nothing except try to escape since turning twenty-six. I wanted a do over.

I stepped under the warm spray and my skin burned as the water hit it. I sighed in relief as the chill began leaving my body. If drowning didn't kill me, the chill should have.

Not wanting to stay in a vulnerable state for long, I quickly washed my hair and body before climbing out and cursing that I hadn't looked for a clean towel. Instead, I used the blanket to dry off, although that probably wasn't much better than the towel on the rack.

After pulling on the clean clothes, I listened at the door, and then went back into the room.

What the hell am I going to do?

I needed to find out what was on the other side of the door. If I opened it a crack, I could assess the situation and then plan my escape and find a damn phone.

I looked down at my bare feet before going back to the dresser to grab a rolled-up pair of socks. A picture behind a pile of t-shirts on top of the dresser caught my eye, and I picked it up to examine it.

Three men stood with their arms around each other's shoulders, two toddlers sitting on the ground in front of them. My heart sped up, realizing what I was looking at.

Cole and Silas both looked similar to two of the men, but the man in the middle... a chill ran down my spine as I brought the picture closer to my face. It was an old photo that was creased and a little faded.

They were laughing, the man in the middle with his head thrown back slightly. How had no one seen the similarities? Maybe it had been so long ago, and they'd never seenmelaugh like that. There weren't any other pictures for me to see, but something about it felt right.

I flipped the picture over and took the photo out of the frame, folding it carefully and putting it in my pocket. I'd need to stare at it a little longer to be sure.

Not to be deterred from my escape, I spotted a pair of boots shoved under the edge of the bed and put them on. They were too big, but they would have to do.

I listened at the door again. It was silent on the other side, so I unlocked it as quietly as possible and cracked it open to peek out.

The room I was in was upstairs with a large open area below. It had windows lining almost the entire upper portion of the metal walls. It was a warehouse or factory of some kind.

I sniffed the air, giving my wolf senses a shot to warn me of anything, but all I smelled was other wolves and food. I'd quickly come to realize that wolves smelled like freshly turned dirt with subtle differences between each wolf. An easily identifiable smell among the aroma of hamburgers and french fries. My stomach rumbled at the idea of biting into a juicy burger covered in gooey cheese.Not now.

I lowered to my hands and knees and crawled out the door onto the metal platform that overlooked the entire space. Staying low to the ground might be my best bet of getting out undetected.

I could see much more of the space once I was out of the bedroom. Quite a few people—wolves—lived or spent a lot of their time there. There appeared to be rooms on the other side of the space, and in the middle was a large lounge area, a dining area, and a swinging door that looked like it led into a kitchen.

On one wall was a large mural of wolves howling at the moon withWest Arbor Packwritten underneath. It was a powerful image, and had I not been in dire circumstances, I would have stared at it longer. Wolves sure did like their spray-painted art.

Rising to my feet but staying hunched down, I crept down the metal stairs, flinching every time my foot made a sound as I stepped.

Once at the bottom, I darted behind a group of chairs in a corner. It didn't provide the best cover, but was better than being out in the open while getting a lay of the land.

Where was the door? The space was so large with so many doors that I wasn't sure I'd ever find the exit.

Taking a deep breath, I decided on a door directly across from the large mural. If it were my place, I'd want the mural to be the first thing someone saw coming in. It was a straight shot across the lounge area, but I was going to stay close to the perimeter of the room and hope for the best. I hadn't seen anyone yet, but I'd heard them earlier.

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