Page 101 of Scapegoat

The bottle was now clasped to my chest, the slight chill of the water helping me momentarily, but not for long. My body radiated heat, turning the water to a terrible lukewarm temperature when I took a sip. But my hands shook when I tried to put the cap back on, tears spilling down my cheeks. This wasn’t what I needed. Tears dripped down my nose, splattering on the ground at my feet along with the water that spilled as I battled to finally get the lid screwed on. And then I settled back against the wall of the cage.

“Tell them I’m here,” I commanded, trying to summon some kind of alpha bark, but failing utterly. When had I ever been able to force someone to do anything? My mother had neutered me, taken away all of my strength. All I could do was hope that someone, anyone would be able to find me, rescue me.

Yes, that, my mind said, grabbing at that idea, seeing the three of my mates walking in the door and then…

“Tell your sons and it’ll help you with Jenny.”

“No, it won’t!” Greg lunged at the cage and I found myself clawing back to get away from him. I’d said the wrong thing. Tears slid down his hollow cheeks. “Where do you think your mother got the idea of rejecting your mates from? Jenny rejected me, cast me out and I didn’t even want…”

I wondered for just a second about what had happened to him, because his eyes flicked to the door in an all too familiar way. He was terrified that my mother could have heard him. Greg got to his feet now and while I wanted nothing to do with the weak fuck, fear rose in my chest as he began to walk away.

“There’s no fighting Abigail,” he said, his voice perfectly flat now. “So don’t even try. Give her what she wants. It’s your only chance of getting out of here.”

But as he moved, I saw something on his neck. A reddish bite mark that looked fairly new.

“Who claimed you?” I asked, throwing myself forward, my hands gripping the bars of the cage. “Who claimed you!”

But Greg didn’t answer, walking out like a robot.

And that’s when the real hell began.

The drug Mum had injected into me? I’d been able to avoid its silken pull while I was fighting with Greg, but when I heard the door click shut, there was nothing else to distract me. Just the whine of the wind through a broken pane of glass, and this...

A feeling of terrible wrongness washing over me. The feel of the rough surface of the corroded metal through the t-shirt I was wearing, the stink of rust. This was not where I was supposed to ride out my first heat. I needed softness, quiet, low lights and nesting materials. My fingers plucked at my clothes instead, hearing the seams groan, then snap. The free fall of the now torn fabric on my skin was somewhat satisfying, but still not enough.

If I was with my mates, I’d be burrowing into piles of fabric that felt good on my skin. If I was home, I’d have my own room for my nest, something no one else would touch. I’d only smell them and me, coming together as we were always destined. Instead, I was stuck with the odours of dust and mould and dank stone. My fingers raked along the oversensitive skin of my thighs, leaving red marks in their wake, the psychological pain made flesh.

Just like I had when I was a kid, I went down, down, down inside my head. I blocked out everything, stopped thinking, feeling, seeing as I sank into the darkness. The wolf came forth then, whining at her inability to save me, her back cowed, but I gestured her forward. Here we could be together. I didn’t feel the heat or any of its alien passion down here, just her. I dug my fingers into the fur of the other half of myself and held on, just held onto her and to the thought that they’d find me, they had to.

Chapter 58

Jayden

“I can’t find her,” Atlas said.

My brother’s pain was the same as mine. I could hear it, raw and throbbing in his voice. And this from Mr Roboto, Atlas, who always kept shit locked down. But there was no fucking chill to be had here. We stood in a clearing in the forest, where the scent had tapered off. There were recent car tracks in the soil and that meant we were fucked.

“Abigail’s taken Kai,” Xavier said.

“No shit, Sherlock.” I rolled my eyes at him. “Of course she fucking has. That stupid bitch won’t stop until we do.” I glared at each one of them. “I said we needed to find Abigail first. I said that. Wring her fucking neck and leave her dead in a ditch first, then find Kai. We brought this shit down on our mate’s head.”

I swallowed then, my eyes going wide, seeing that moment on the stage in the town square again. It was supposed to have been a do-over, the start of something amazing, but of course Abigail couldn’t let us have that. Of course…

“I brought this shit down on her head.”

“Jay, no—” Xavier started to say.

“I made a big thing out of it all and we knew people were still talking to Abigail. It got back to her and she—”

“Jay, we had no way of knowing that.”

“Are we gonna stand around and work out who’s to blame?” Atlas growled. “Or are we going to find our mate? Fall on your fucking swords all you like after we’ve got her home safe.”

“So what’s your big plan then?” I snapped back at him.

“Go to fur. Follow the tracks,” he said.

Fuck, that wasn’t a bad idea.

---