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CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

RIVER

R iver lay on the remains of the foam mattress, with the shredded blanket on top of her. She had no idea how long she'd been lying there. True to his word, Titan had only returned to place a tray of food on the floor by the door and then leave again. No words. No questions. Nothing.

A stack of now four trays sat mostly untouched where he'd left them.

He hadn't even questioned the fact that she hadn't eaten much or that the trays hadn't moved.

As with all the trays before, she removed a small portion of food from each and flushed it down the toilet.

She took the cans of soda and put them in the fridge to save for when she really needed them, since the twenty-four-pack hadn't lasted.

She had so much candy and soda over the last weeks, she wasn't sure she'd ever have either again after getting out of her prison.

But she couldn't afford to eat anything else.

She needed her wolf to get up. She needed help if she intended to escape.

But the additional strength her wolf had exerted to get Titan to leave her alone had depleted her.

The suppressors may be working their way out of her system, but whatever Titan had used on her hadn't entirely left yet.

She just hoped it didn't affect her baby.

After Titan's tirade, she had searched every inch of her room for hidden cameras. Even though Kane had told her there weren't any, she wanted to be certain.

Titan had done so much damage to the place that her making a bigger mess wouldn't be noticeable. When she was certain there were no cameras in the room, she went to work.

She'd walked to the fake electric window, which had previously displayed an outdoor scene, and inspected the area where it'd shattered and dangled on the wall.

Titan had put a hole through the wall beside the fake window.

Not too big. Roughly the size of a fist, but it had been enough to catch her attention.

Upon examination, she found space on the other side of the wall.

First, she reached her hand in and then up to her elbow.

She'd almost been able to fit her entire arm in the space when she felt cinderblock on the other side.

River peeled back the drywall enough to see inside the hole.

The room was a facade. She ripped the drywall more and stuck her head inside.

Though pitch black inside, she made out that the space ran down the entire length of the room, like a movie studio on a sound stage she'd seen once on a documentary.

She assumed it was because it had been made specifically for her.

River pulled her head out of the hole and looked at the shattered window.

It was a good forty-inch screen. She reached her hand through the hole and felt around behind it.

It sat on a wooden beam, and wooden beams surrounded it.

Cables connected it to an extension cord below.

River unplugged the LED screen and wrapped her arms around it.

She shimmed it from side to side until it tipped forward into her arms. She held it for a moment, checking the weight.

It was light for a flat screen. She lowered it to the floor and took a breath.

She looked at the door and then scanned the room.

She walked to a piece of the footboard from the bed and lifted it.

It might be big enough. She crossed to the door and wedged the wood under the handle.

It just fit. She kicked it in tight and then went back to the hole.

She hoisted herself up on the wooden beam and looked both ways into the small space inside the wall, but saw nothing. She dropped down inside the passage and headed to the left.

River crept along the narrow passage, her hands outstretched, groping through the utter darkness as she shimmied forward.

The space felt impossibly tight, only wide enough to accommodate her shoulders, and it carried the stale smell of dust and mildew.

Her heart pounded, the sound echoing in her ears and mingling with the loud thump of her pulse. She inched ahead, every sense on alert.

Her wolf whined, but excitement also coursed through her at the prospect of an escape.

After only a few feet, her fingertips touched solid resistance. She ran her hands along the surface, feeling the rough texture of the cinder block. Pressing her weight against it, she pushed as hard as she could, but the wall didn't budge.

"Damn it."

She turned around awkwardly in the cramped, stifling space, scraping her shoulder against the drywall and biting back a hiss of pain where her bruises healed.

The passage extended in the opposite direction, disappearing into darkness.

Sweat dampened her forehead as she slowed her breathing, desperate not to let the feeling of entrapment sink its claws in any deeper.

With no other option and her determination rising, River moved to the right, more urgently.

As she crept along, her mind raced with possibilities. If this passage ran the length of her prison, where did it lead? Was there a way out? Was this finally her opportunity to escape?

A swell of emotions threatened to overtake her.

Anger, hope, desperation, all tangled together, pushing her forward.

The passage stretched endlessly, and claustrophobia threatened to overwhelm her.

Suffocating. Endless. Just when she thought she might have to turn back, the space widened slightly.

Her outstretched hands brushed empty air, and she realized she'd reached the end of the wall.

Feeling around carefully, River discovered another passage branching off at a right angle, running along what must be the back wall of her room. Hope surged through her as she considered the new path.

River pressed on, her wolf sluggishly stirring with her heightened pulse.

New energy spurred her forward, though the familiar pressure of the enclosing walls soon reasserted itself.

When nothing but blackness lay ahead, her hope began to shrink along with the passage.

Her arms ached from stretching out. Her eyes watered from the grit in the air, but she dared not stop to wipe them.

She couldn't afford to stop. The terror of her confinement began to build again, gnawing at the edges of her mind.

A whirring sound floated from somewhere up ahead.

She swallowed down the panic as her hand snagged on a splinter of wood, and she twisted it free with a grimace.

The splinter pierced her palm, burning her skin.

She ripped it free and sucked on her bleeding palm, realizing anything could lie ahead of her.

Wires. Nails. A drop off. Who knew? She could be putting herself in more danger by walking around outside the room than inside it.

She had to keep moving. Despite the risk, she had to try.

She continued in the same direction, and at last, the space widened once more. Her hands brushed against open air, and she discovered not only a wider turn but another branching passage. The whirring sound grew louder still, and she turned right but ran into a wall.

Left it was then.

River made a mental map of her location in relation to her room and took a step into the open area when a sudden noise froze her in place.

A thud sounded distantly behind her. Then another.

"River!" Titan's voice boomed, muffled but unmistakable in its fury. "Open this door!"

Her heart leaped into her eyeballs.

River scrambled backward, away from the promising escape route. If he discovered the passage, he'd seal it or move her, or worse.

River scrambled back through the passage, her heart hammering against her ribs. Another crash echoed from her room, the sound reverberating through the walls.

"River!" Titan bellowed again, his voice nearer now. "Open. Now."

She moved faster, scraping her elbows in her desperate rush to return. The darkness seemed thicker now, more oppressive, as if conspiring to slow her down. Her wolf whined and paced before dropping again.

She reached the hole behind her broken LED screen.

"What do you want?" she called out, trying to keep her voice steady as she hoisted herself up onto the wooden beam.

"Open this door!" Titan demanded, the handle rattling violently.

River gripped the LED screen, her fingers trembling and blood slicking her hand as she maneuvered it back into position.

"I don't want to see you," she shouted, buying seconds as she reconnected the power cord.

"Either you open this door right now, or I'll break it down!" His voice was a growl, primal and threatening. "And trust me, you won't like it if I have to do that."

"Just leave me alone!" River positioned the screen in its frame, her heart nearly stopping when it wobbled precariously. The wood of the door shook.

Just as she secured the last corner, Titan's boot slammed against the door.

The piece of footboard wedged under the handle shuddered but held.

River scrambled across the room, throwing herself onto the mattress and pulling the shredded blanket over her body.

She forced her breathing to slow as the door exploded inward with a deafening crack.

The footboard crashed to the floor, making her jump.

River didn't move, feigning sleep as Titan's footsteps approached the mattress. He loomed over her, his breathing harsh and angry. The thin blanket whipped away, exposing her to the cold air.

"Get up," he growled.

River's eyes snapped open, genuine anger flaring. "What the hell is wrong with you?"

Titan's eyes narrowed as they swept over her, then around the destroyed room. "Why didn't you answer me?"

River stood, her hands clenched into fists at her sides. "Just because I'm your prisoner doesn't mean you have the right to burst in here whenever you feel like it. I have a right to privacy! And I did answer you, you just didn't like the answer."

Titan's nostrils flared as he sniffed the air. "Privacy? In my house?"

"Yes, privacy," River shot back, refusing to be intimidated. "You've taken everything else from me– my freedom, my choices, my mates. The least you could do is knock before entering."

He scanned the room, lingering on the broken LED screen. "I did knock."

"Doesn't mean I have to let you in."

"Yes," he said. "It does."

River crossed her arms over her breasts. "What the hell do you want anyway? Just wanted to come and see what? If I am miserable? If I learned my lesson? I was ready to beg you to take me as your mate because you left me alone? Am I ready to be a good girl?"

Titan growled.

River snorted and snatched up the blanket from where he'd thrown it on the floor, covered herself up, and lay back down, turning her back to him.

She tried to keep her breathing even, though her nerves held on by a thread of dental floss. She just needed him to leave so she could explore the passage again.

Titan didn't move, and finally, he yanked off her blanket for the second time and looked over her.

"Now what?" she demanded.

He sniffed the air and then looked at the bed where she'd been lying. "Why is your hand bleeding?"

She snorted. "Why do you think? Because there is glass and debris everywhere in here. People tend to get cut when they live in a wrecked rage room."

He growled at her and looked over her as if searching for a lie.

"What time is it?"

He blinked and looked at his phone. "Four p.m."

"Great. That means dinner in a couple of hours, and then I can get some sleep without the fear of you barging in again until morning."

"Maybe by then you'll have a change of heart. We have work to do, and this childish behavior won't serve you at all."

She snorted. "Why don't you try holding your breath until then and see how it turns out. What did you want anyway?"

Titan watched her, then strode from the room.

River waited as his footsteps receded.

Four p.m. She just had to wait until after dinner, then she would try again. Titan wouldn't wait much longer for her to change her mind. If she didn't escape soon, she was likely not to get out alive.