Page 15 of Connected

“Si… Yes—a little.”

“A little? What the hell does that mean?” Kat frowns, “and why isn’t she shifted like the others? Sophia, did the baby’s father, did he know you were pregnant—will he know you’re missing?”

“No. No, he not know—I no tell him. He, he was a soldier, he came, and he went.”

“He came, and he went?” Zak frowns. “What, the hell… Oh, do you mean you had a one-night stand? Did you meet him in a bar… a club?”

“Si,” Sophia drops her head. “I sorry I—”

“Sophia, this man,” Kat swallows, her mouth is dry, and her words stick in her throat. “Was he a wolf too?”

“Si… Yes.”

“Do you know where he is? His name? Where he came from?”

“No, I only know he called Rick, and he a soldier. He comes to the bar where I work. After I closed, we drink too much and, oh…” she wails. “When I woke, he gone.”

“Asshole!” Zak gasps. “What? Well, he could have had the manners to stay and say goodbye—check she was all right. I make sure of that, even with my casual hook-ups.”

Kat grins, amused by Zak’s weird idea of chivalry. Again, she slumps against the bars. Thinking, she desperately tries to make some sense of what’s going on. Taking a breath, her mind wanders, “Zak, I don’t understand what the hell’s going on here? Do you think this guy targeted her?”

“Maybe… but then wolves and one-night-stands—it’s kind of a regular thing, right? I mean, it’s not that unusual. I guess we’ll never know.”

“Something with this doesn’t feel right. Does she seem familiar? I feel like I’ve seen her before somewhere.”

“You think? I mean I guess… maybe there’s something but then she was at the village. Maybe you’re just mixing her up with that? Kat, it’s hard to make sense of anything in here.”

“You’re right but, I don’t know there’s something about her. It’s really odd, I feel like I’ve seen her face, but I can’t remember where.”

They both lookup. The heavy door clanks as it opens again.

Kat shuffles back towards Zak and they both sit silently as the rest of the room erupts into a frenzied round of barking, howling, and angry growls. Then, just as quickly, everything quiets.

They hear the sound of metal on concrete—feeding bowls filled with food get thrown into the cages and the ravenous wolves greedily take what little is offered.

Kat stares as the small hatch on their cage opens.

A pair of amber eyes appear at the bars and the face smiles. “Hola hermosa…” Luiz grins, “chow time.”

Kat sneers as three metal bowls are pushed across the floor towards her, then the hatch snaps shut with a loud thud.

Picking up one bowl, Kat scowls looking at the chopped lumps of ‘meat’ inside. “What the fuck is this?”

“Comida de perra—Mutt food.”

“Dog food? You really want us to eat dog food?”

“Eat or not—I no care. You choose it all you get—disfruta,”he smiles.

Kat takes a breath and sneers with rage, shoving the bowl away in obvious disgust. Zak sighs, he’s starving hungry, but even he can’t stomach the contents of the bowl. “Kat, leave it.”

“Zak, we can’t, hell I won’t—eat that. We’re not fuckin’ dogs!” she screams through the bars—her hand lashing out.

“Oooo… feisty one. We see how feisty, later, when I be back for you. We need to get some of that lovely blood.” He makes a kissing noise, which only enrages Kat more.

“Fuck you, you fuckin’ monster. I swear to God the minute you let me out of here, I’m gonna kill you.”

Raul and Luiz don’t answer—just slam the outer door shut—with a loud thud. The noise in the room subdues, as the caged wolves settle with a low snarl.

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