Page 20 of The Lost Child

The crank snapped forward, pulling me back to the floor as both men put their weight against it. I bellowed in rage as Master pulled away, a swatch of leather still clinging to my claws. They all hurried out of my cage and slammed the door behind them.

“So,” Master spit, chest heaving with exertion. The darkness was full of their pathetic panting and scented with fear. He whispered into one man's ear, sending him away.

I stared at the master as if finally seeing him for the first time. He was smaller than the other men and less muscled. Why did they follow him?

More men came into the tunnel until my cave reeked of their scents. A wall of men advanced on me as the cage opened again, and they bound to the ground so I could do nothing about it. Soon they were on me, knives and fists flying. There were too many. I couldn’t fight them all.

“Leave him alive. Barely,” Master ordered, his voice far away on the other side of the cage. “As always, leave the wings alone. Can’t send him out to fight if he can’t fly.”

Coward.

There were three whips then, maybe four. I didn’t think I’d ever had more than two on me at a time. Was I on fire, or was that simply how it felt to have the skin flayed from your back?

I shouldn’t have disobeyed like that. I deserved the pain.

No! There was more out there: kind hands, food freely given, and a female with soft smiles and big hair.

I hung onto the image of her as I screamed in pain, the floor beneath me sticky with my own blood. I remembered her scent. I remembered how her body felt against mine even as she’d screeched and clawed at me. It only made me want her more. She was a fighter, like I was a fighter.

“WHAT ARE YOU DOING? YOU’RE GOING TO KILL HIM!”

A voice cut through the agony, high-pitched and angry. It wasn’t … it couldn’t be …

“GET AWAY!”

I stopped fighting the moment she got close and the men backed away. She ripped the whips from their grasp, fire blazing in her eyes as she stood over me. My chains had loosened enough when the men scattered that I could twist my head for a better look.

Surely, she wasn’t here to protect me?

The concept was so strange I almost didn’t think of it. I was seeing things wrong, surely.

But no.

The female clearly stood between the men and me, murder in her expression and a short sword in her grasp.

The master watched with narrowed eyes, and I felt the first tremors of fear, not for myself, but for the slim female in front of me. Her hands shook slightly, belying her own terror.

Master jerked his head at the crank, gesturing for one of his men to see to it. My muscles tensed, ready to be crushed harder to the ground. To my surprise, the chains loosened completely. I staggered to my knees, hands still flat on the ground. I was bleeding everywhere, but the pain in my body was secondary while she was here. Everything was spinning.

The other men had left the cage. I had to warn her to go now, before it was too late.

“Canavar, attack.”

I flinched at the command, and growled in response. I refused to move a muscle. I’d rather lose a wing than hurt her.

The furrow in Master’s brow deepened.

“Helikesyou,” he sneered, a look of disgust twisting his face. It disappeared quickly. “Well, he is likely approaching his majority. It’s not too surprising he can smell your cunt from here.”

The other men laughed, and the female turned a deep red, fear and embarrassment wafting through her scent.

“Leave us,” Master commanded, and then it was just the three of us: me, the female, and the master.

He took two steps forward toward her into the cage, her weapon lowering to her side.

SMACK.

I roared in fury as he cracked his hand against her cheek, a shocked gasp emanating from her as she dropped her sword and cradled her face in her hands. I took two steps forward to lunge, but the white-hot fire in my back took me back down to my knees. I crawled forward on my claws, but slipped and fell in a pool of my own blood. I was free with the chains slackened, but too weak to help her.

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