I feel a sharp prick at my neck, then pressure. What the hell? What was that?
The high stench of chemicals surrounds me. The scent seems to be coming from my own body, and the bitter taste of it burns on my tongue. I want to open my eyes now, but they are too heavy. My head is pounding—like I am drowning in a lake of poison. No matter how hard I try to thrash and fight, the waves of darkness continue pulling me under.
What did he—what is happening?
Even my wolf, who is normally silent in the presence of my father, is panting sharply… whimpering inside of me, frantic.
The last thing I hear is my father’s sneering tone.
“That’s it. Go to sleep, girl.”
Chapter 2
Willow
Please, no. I’m sorry about the steak. I’ll be more careful. Please… just don’t do this to me.
Wait.
Where am I?
The moment I wake up, I know this is definitely not my bedroom, and something is very wrong. Without opening my eyes, I try to make sense of the unfamiliar scents and sounds.
I inhale deeply, but my senses are… off. I can still draw on the heightened senses of my wolf… but it’s slow and shallow, like breathing through a straw.
Bleach. Latex. The vinegar scent of painkillers. The metallic stench of blood… and the acid whiff of cortisol in the air. A loud electrical buzzing makes it hard for me to listen. The sound is punctuated by the soft beep from some sort of monitor. But I don’t hear anyone nearby.Am I in some sort of hospital?
Cautiously, I peel my eyes open to a blinding fluorescent light flickering above me. As my eyes fight to adjust, I notice how coldI feel, and how hard the surface beneath my body is—this isn’t a hospital bed…
This isn’t real. I must still be dreaming. I blink several times, forcing my eyes to adjust to the light. I’m in a small, windowless room. Everything is stainless steel, including the gurney I’m lying on. Strewn about the countertops are glass bottles and vials, and various pieces of scientific equipment, including pages of hastily scribbled pieces of loose paper. Nothing about this place seems at all familiar, but even with my weakened senses, there is one thing I know for sure; the scent of my father is nowhere to be found—not even the faintest trace of him is present.
Why does that make me feel both relieved and even more afraid?
But whatever this place is, I can tell that it is crawling with humans. The only scent I recognize here is my own, and it is weak at best..
I strain to focus as I scan my body—my wrists areburning! Why can’t I move? I turn my head, jerking around to peer at them. My wrists are handcuffed above my head to a gurney. I single out the scent of the toxic metal that’s binding me—silver.
It can’t be pure silver; exposure to that would have me writhing in agony until it knocked me unconscious and burned through my skin. But this silver alloy does have a high enough concentration of the toxic metal to chase my wolf away… somewhere so deep within me I can’t even feel her.
Instead of her presence, there is silence. An aching wound instead of silky fur and wild strength.
My wolf hasalwaysbeen there for me ever since she awoke within me at my coming of age ceremony. From the first moment I felt her stirring beneath my skin, under the soft rays of the full moon she has been my protector…
She is always watching from the corner of my consciousness, doing everything she can to keep me safe.
Even when she couldn’t do anything against a high-ranking wolf like my father, she was always there… lending me strength in her presence.
But now? I can’t feel her anywhere.
It is too quiet… I am alone inside my head. I feel like I am missing a piece of my soul.
Whoever is keeping me here and is doing this to me must know exactly what I am if they are using silver alloy in my shackles. At least they know enough to keep me from shifting.
But how?
It doesn’t make any sense. Who would bother to take me away from my pack? The Evenfall Ridge pack wasn’t the largest wolf pack in the area, or the most aggressive, but there’s still no way that a human could slip past our patrols.
I can’t imagine ahumanbreaking into my home and taking me away—I am a shifter and my wolf is large for a female. Then there’s my father. EvenI’mhelpless against him; he would tear apart any human who posed a threat.