Page 97

Morgan

We were in a dark cavern, but the word was inadequate in describing the place. The walls of the cave soared so high, the roof was obscured by gloom. For a moment, we just stood there, my brothers and I, and stared.

“No.”

My voice was croaky with disuse. There was no point saying a thing, no one here fucking cared. My mouth was for other uses, and the people around me would let me know when it was needed. I surprised myself, being able to get it out, but it opened the floodgate, one it wasn’t wise to open.

“No, no, no.”

I knew this place, knew why we had been brought here. I looked across at Rick and Cam and shook my head, hating that my fear was reflected in my packmate’s faces.

“Not this again,” the man in black leather said. He glanced down at me with thinly veiled disdain. “You should know by now, that word is not for you.”

“Don’t do this. Don’t take them down here. I’ll go, I’ll go easily, but?—”

“You’ll all do exactly as I tell you,” the man said, jerking on the chains that bound us together. “Now shut the hell up. If you wake him before it’s time, there’ll be hell to pay.”

“Morgan, this is—” Cam started to whisper, but he didn’t get many words out.

The man with the chains wrapped them around his fist and drove it into Cam’s cheek, my packmate’s eyes rolling back as he was slammed into me.

I pushed him behind me, trying to provide a barrier between the cunt and Cam, and Rick shuffled forward to do the same.

“Yes, protect your little mate and keep him fucking quiet. The Great Wolf likes live prey, but warm is the only real necessity.” He turned to the other black-clad man. “Where is Zed with the women?”

“Some dispute with Warnan about his daughter’s inclusion, I heard.”

“Would have been nice to bloody know before we brought these things down here. Could have kept them in the holding pens for longer.”

“You know the Lords. Just as likely to be tossed in with them, if orders aren’t followed.” A great rumbling noise—the sound of thunderstorms and earthquakes all rolled together—silenced the men. “Fuck, he’s restive.”

“Fucking Warnan. She’s just a bitch, and a sterile one at that. Why fight this?”

“Too far away from the battle lines, that one. Lost his strength of arm.” The man thumped his chest with his fist in some kind of salute. The other did the same in response.

“Here they are. Look.”

“Finally.” The first man looked down at us for a second and then jerked on the chains. “On your feet.”

“No.” I put every bit of power I had into the growl.

Cam still lolled limply in my arms, his body way too light now.

They’d used him up until there’s almost nothing left, but the same could be said of all of us.

Rick shuffled next to me, teeth bared. I felt the prickle down our bond of an incoming change.

“No, Rick,” I hissed, but he ignored me.

“They’re gonna feed us to that thing. May as well go down fighting,” he snapped, just before shifting.

The light grey form of Rick’s Tirian appeared beside me, and for a second, I felt a foreign emotion fill my chest. Joy.

There had been none for us, not when we were forced through the gate, not when the Volken captured us on the first night, and none since they kept us chained and penned.

It’s been so long since I’ve seen the smoke of his fur, the strong haunches made for running along the plains, the huge paws planted firmly into the earth.

Rick’s growl filled the cavern, growing and growing in intensity, the sound bouncing off the stone walls and reverberating, getting louder and louder.

“You fucking idiot!”

Rick’s growl was cut short as the jailor yanked on the chains that bound us, and then he kept on pulling, his eyes darting about.

He didn’t see our fingers claw at the metal links as they closed around our throats, biting into the skin there.

He didn’t hear our rasping cries. Instead, his eyes were trained on something beyond the outcropping of rock we stood on.

“Drop them in! Now! He’s coming!” the other jailor said.

We went sailing over the edge of the rocky platform, landing with a thud.

For a moment, all I could do was gasp for breath as the bloody pressure of the chain around my neck released.

When I looked around, I saw Cam and Rick were the same, Cam now on all fours with one eye shot through with ruptured blood vessels, and Rick shocked back to human form.

I didn’t get to check on him or Rick or do anything. “Here he comes,” I whispered.

Our mothers harped on about the Great Wolf when we were kids, painting her as this all-knowing, all-loving mother figure.

I wish I could tell them how wrong they were.

He was great, alright. His body filled his side of the cavern, his back brushing against the stalactites that had formed on the roof.

“Fuck,” Rick yelped. “Fuck, that’s?—”

“It’s not. She’s not like this. She doesn’t fucking look like this,” Cam said, shaking his head over and over.

He was right, in a way. Where the women always described her as pure white with green eyes, he was black and had red ones.

They never said anything about him being an actual living breathing animal, either.

It was hard to make out his form, the smoky wisps of his fur were even more pronounced than ours, so he almost looked like he’d waft away and become one with the darkness.

He didn’t though. His head jerked right when another group was tossed down into his pit.

Women, if the screams were anything to go by.

He took a step forward, and the thud of his paw was felt throughout the cave.

There was a lot more of them, and they weren’t chained, which was perhaps part of the problem.

Some looked up at the huge animal and screamed.

I would’ve probably done the same, if I’d thought it’d do any good. They screamed, and they ran.

His muzzle moved so fast, it appeared as a blur as he snatched up a tiny woman. We were only just able to see her limbs flailing before he tossed back his head and swallowed her down. I imagined his red eyes glowed brighter for a second before he lunged again.

“What the fuck... What the actual fuck...” Rick babbled as we watched.

“Rick…”

“No, no, it’s been bad enough, this fucking place, but this?” When he turned to me, I saw the tears on his face before he angrily dashed them away. “We’re not going down like this, Morgan, we’re fucking not!”

“I know, mate,” Cam said, and placed a hand on his shoulder. “I dunno if you’ve got much anymore, but we’ve gotta try.”

“What?”

I shuffled in closer, placing a hand on each of them and sending what I hoped was reassurance down our bond. We couldn’t do this terrified, and by fucking god, we needed to. This was our last hope.

“C’mon, boys,” I said, affecting the tone we used when we melded with our mate. Fuck, Eileen. I hoped she was too far away to feel any of this. “We need to mesh together. The line stays unbroken, remember?”

“Got it.”

We huddled together as we watched the big bastard pick off every single woman, downing them like a fox might with field mice. Each life, just snuffed out like candles. Cam’s arm went around my shoulder, Rick’s hand grabbed mine.

“Take a deep breath,” I said. “Feel the oxygen in your lungs, feel the movement of your chest.” The wolf took another ponderous step. “Don’t worry about that cunt, stay with us.”

I felt it stutter down the line of our bond, that feeling of connection. It was small and fragile, something that needed to be nurtured and protected, not used to face down some kind of fucking monster wolf. But we lost that choice once the matriarchs chose to exile us.

“I’m sorry, so fucking sorry...” Cam said.

“None of that, mate.” I shook my head, but my eyes stayed trained on the big bastard. “We’re greater than the sum of our parts, remember?”

When the link was made, it felt as easy as it always did.

Before we bonded with Eileen, we were close, growing up together and basically living in each other’s houses.

Our mums always thought we’d form a pack.

We didn’t tell them we had well and truly done so before Eileen came on the scene.

For a moment, all I could feel was my mates thrumming through me.

Part of me wanted to stop there for a second, just to savour the feel of them with me.

We’d clung to the bond desperately at the start of our time here, but learned pretty quickly that melding just brought pain and anguish. But we had no time for that now.

All that we were hummed as we got to our feet, the clank of the chains, the burn of the bloody wolf’s eyes all dropping away.

“Draw the power up,” I said, taking hold of each of their hands.

“It’s not gonna be enough,” Rick said, but there was a peace to his words rather than hysteria.

“Maybe not,” I said. “But if this is the way we have to go out, there’s no two blokes I’d rather do it with.”

“And Eileen will finally be free,” Cam said.

The wolf’s jaws were black when they opened.

Not the colour, but the complete absence of light.

We stared into the abyss, and the abyss stared back, growing larger and larger, while we were the most feeble point of light in all this nothing.

We sent fireballs of energy into the wolf’s mouth, tiny little pinpricks of light that were instantly smothered.

I felt the shudder of my brothers’ bodies under my hands as we struggled to strike back, as they watched it all come to nothing.

We were not enough, had not been enough since we got here.

Nothing about growing up in Sanctuary had prepared us for this place.

All the crap that had seemed so important back home crumbled to nothing in the face of this darkness.

For a second, I saw Eileen’s face, clear as a bell, my eyes hungry for every detail.

“It’s not working,” Cam said.

We each looked at the other, and then Rick nodded.

“See ya in the next life, brothers,” he said, and then the wolf’s jaws snapped shut.

Jules

I sat straight up in bed, drenched in sweat, my cry dying on my lips.

“You dreamt it too,” Jack said.

“We all did, I think,” Slade said. “What the fucking hell?”

“I dunno about you guys, but I’m not going back to sleep after that,” Aaron said.

“Me neither, I need a beer.”

Slade and Aaron slipped free of the covers and strode out of the room.

“Finn?” I said as Hawk’s arms went around me. That wasn’t entirely comfortable due to our clammy skin, but I appreciated the gesture.

“What the fuck is the fucking Volken bastard playing at?” Finn growled in response.

“Something we need to find out,” Brandon said, getting out of bed as well. “I’ll go and get Sylvan. It’s beyond time to discuss exactly what he knows.”

I moved over to lie by Finn’s side, and when I touched his arm, I felt it—the overwhelming rush of worry.

I blinked, my heart beginning to race from what felt like a standing start.

Pain was threaded through it, as well as guilt, but it was all being smothered by a rising tide of anger.

He gently removed my hand, placing it on the bed between us.

“It’s OK, Jules. We’ll get to the bottom of this.”