Page 2 of Wolf Bound

It's not different, however. The hatred ofother, of things different from the human race, is so deeply ingrained in the structures here. There was no peace for her in life, and there's nothing I can do to give her peace in death.

If I wasn’t being strangled by a deadly contract that not only holds my life in it, but the life of my own children, I would save her.

Instead of helping her, I sharpen the ice around my heart and turn to the guard beside me. With hands far steadier than the frantic beating of my heart suggests, I take the blanket out of his hands and wrap the baby in it.

“When she passes, be sure to get the new coroner, Dr. Lincoln, to incinerate the body. It’s the only way to ensure she can’t be resurrected.”

With that final statement, I walk out of the room, holding a brand new baby girl in my arms. As I take her into the nursery to feed her, I let a handful of tears fall, knowing that no one can see them.

Life is cruel, but I deserve every fucking second of that cruelty. It’s innocence like this sweet child, that should be spared from it, but they never are.

If you asked me if I believe in God, I would sayyes, of course I doto appease the cult that put this contract of death on my family. All the while, deep in my mind, I would be screaming no at the top of my lungs. If this is the sort of following that God encourages, he can’t be much of a benevolent God, now can he?

“You’re the closest thing to God these people will ever see,” I whisper to Talia, brushing a finger down her soft infant skin. Her name, picked by her mother, suits her far better than I thought it would. “I hope you make them pay for everything they’ve everdone to you, and those that came before you. One day, you’ll make them regret the path they chose.”

“For all of our sakes, let’s hope you’re wrong. Rebecca, grab the abomination,” Arthur Beaumont, the head of our section of The Croisés, speaks from the doorway.

My blood runs cold at the sound of his voice, and I know, down to my very soul, that I just made a huge mistake. All I can do is hope that when I'm killed, he spares my children's lives. I suppose it was only a matter of time before I couldn't keep up my act of faith anymore. In the light of the tragedy of today, it almost makes sense that I slipped up. That won't give me or my family any solace, though.

After I hand off the baby to the nurse, I push my lips tightly together and rise with all the strength and grace I can muster. I’ve done what I had to do for so long, destroying lives and committing heinous acts so that I could protect my children. It took a million acts to get here, and only one moment of weakness to bring it all down on my head.

Life really is a cruel fucking joke.

Chapter One

Talia

The throbbing pain between my thighs has me averting my eyes from the doctors and nurses around me. It's humiliating in a way their tests haven't been before. I count in my head to distract myself, starting at one hundred and going all the way down to one.

They have to be done soon. Please,pleaselet them be done soon.

The metal instrument they inserted is pinching me in such a private, sensitive area. The pain from it is making me feel nauseated, but I fight it back as best I can. I can’t afford to lose the small amount of food I ate today, since I have no idea when I will get to eat again.

The searing, pinching pain down below makes hot tears leak from my eyes as I hold back my whimpers of pain.

It’s moments like this that I struggle to find my will to keep surviving. They can do so much to me without breaking my spirit, but this is a line that, when crossed, it chips away at my soul and makes me question why I’m fighting so hard to survive.

As if they haven't done enough tostudyme, now they’re doing tests to make sure I’m ready for their breeding program.

The Croisés are getting desperate. They’re becoming angry with me and my lack of progress. They want me to show them what I can do, to unleash my power, and allow them to study it further.

Yeah, right.I may be naïve like they tell me every damn time they try to convince me they know better, but I’m not so naïve that I would play right into their hands and give them what they want.

The stuff they preach in this place is enough to set anyone’s teeth on edge. They truly believe they are above everyone else, and they believe themselves to be the closest living things to God. Now, I know little about God, other than he’s almighty and powerful apparently, but this God must not be a very good being if this is the worship he receives.

They torture, maim, kill, and hurt people and shifters alike in the name of this God. They steal, lie, and cheat to make themselves into something they were never born to be. How can they worship and preach the perfection of this God while also claiming he made a huge mistake, and it’s their mission to make it right? It honestly baffles me in so many ways.

If their God is almighty, why would he not have just given them the powers they seek? Why were they then given to me, and shifter-kind alike,mistakenly? Every time I voiced these questions in the past, as a stupid young child who just wanted allof the information I could get, I was severely punished. After the second lashing, I knew it was better to keep my mouth shut.

The pain slowly subsides as they start to finish up. It only took another couple of times of counting to one hundred this time around. They do this testing monthly right now. Something about cycles and monthly menstrual things. I tuned most of the medical talk out, honestly.

My peryton is curled against me in my mind, giving me all the comfort that she can right now. Her thoughts remind me that we’re fighting for a future, one outside of the confines of this hell. The chances of it happening are slim, we know that, but it doesn’t stop us from holding on to the dream.

This time she adds in a battle cry, one that makes my heart soar and ache at the same time. She wants to make all of them pay for everything they’ve done to us and the perytons before us. Vengeance floods our heads, pushing every last morsel of pain out until a numb, cold rage sits in its place.

It’s been twenty-four years in this prison, and every second that ticks by eats away at the person I should be.

Perytons were once known for their benevolence and wisdom, the mythical shifters that played the mediators to the others. We’re not the violent type. We live in the world of healing and light. Those times are long gone, and in its place is me, a girl trying desperately to hold on to her kindness as the people around me wear me down to a husk of who I should be.

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