Chapter 87

[ 1,429 words ]

Liam

“Get your fucking hands off my sister,” I shout as a pair of Assembly bastards drag her away and into one of those tunnels.

Fuck.

Fuck.

Fuck.

My wolf thrashes under my skin, fighting against the inside wall bearing down on him.

He gets smaller and smaller until there is barely a difference between now and before he had emerged.

I smother my panic in anger.

I need to keep my head.

There is no time for panic.

Panic is what gets people killed.

Beside me, Felix shifts back into his human skin, only it doesn’t look right.

It looks painful.

He was forced back by the cuffs, I guessed.

“Shit,” he groans, as he orients himself.

I move closer to him, the need to protect my pack mate when he is vulnerable overpowering my other feelings.

“I’m good,” Felix says, keeping his sharp eyes on the males surrounding them.

A hunter lunges from the left side corridor with silver blades aimed for my throat.

“Time to get better acquainted,” he says as several of them grab us, pulling us up and taking us in the opposite direction of Aira.

I growl and bare my teeth and the male branches.

I laugh as I’m forced forward.

The male made the mistake of assuming that Felix’s size, mixed with the suppressant nature of the cuffs, made him weak, fragile.

They only had one warrior with him.

Before they could move, Felix grabbed his wrist, snapping it out of its socket before tossing him to the ground.

The male went down on a dry and three females piled on top of him, finally taking him seriously.

My wolf snarls viciously inside me.

“What’s wrong, can’t handle a little flirting,” he teased darkly.

One of the hunters tries to lunge at him, but one of his buddies puts a hand on his shoulders, holding him back.

We’re dragging into another room.

They secured us onto vertical standing clinical tables, strapping us down to restrict our movement.

The hunters stand back, and one of the Assembly members steps forward.

Oaken.

The oldest member and one who rarely leaves the citadel.

“Welcome, Hybrid. Last time you were here, we didn’t get the pleasure of meeting,” he says with a sneer.

“Can’t say that was much of a disappointment,” I answer back.

“A missed opportunity, perhaps. But no matter, we are here now,” he says evenly.

“Are you expecting a reward?” Felix snarks.

Oaken’s gaze snaps to Felix.

His lips purse in displeasure.

“No, but you should expect thorough lesson manners.”

“Will these lessons include how to hide like a coward? Don’t think your absence during our fight was missed.”

Oaken snarled at Felix.

One of the warriors goes to him and whispers something in his ear too low for me to hear.

Blood drips steadily down my side from a blade slash one of the Hunters dealt during the scuffle.

It should have been halfway healed by now, but the blood still smells fresh.

Does suppressing my wolf also suppress other shifter abilities?

The possibility leaves bile on my taste buds.

If that’s the case, I will have to be even more careful moving forward.

I look to the side, gaze sliding over Felix as quickly as I can.

A few bruises, some shallow cuts, but nothing life-threatening, thank the Gods.

He catches my eye briefly.

Our years of friendship allow us to have a silent conversation with our eyes.

You okay?

I’m good.

“Looks like we’re all ready for you now,” Oaken says as a burly Hunter comes and joins him by his side.

I know he wants me to ask for what, wants me to give a hint of feeling uneasy, and be at his mercy.

I’ll play ball.

After all, it’s always useful for your enemies to underestimate you.

“Where the hell is my sister?”

The burly Hunter tuts condescendingly.

“If I were you, I would be more concerned about what is going to happen to me.”

“Guess that’s the difference between you and me. I’m not a pussy.”

My head jolts to the side as he backhands me.

Felix let’s put a warning growl, his eyes narrowed on the hunter, and if eyes could kill, he would currently be flayed alive.

I smirk despite the blood in my mouth.

“Sensative aren’t we. Then again, if I had to make myself pets to those I considered beasts, I wouldn’t feel too good about myself either. I guess you just couldn’t hack it alone.”

A few of them bristle.

Good.

Angry people talk more.

“Oh, we could, but why would we waste the energy.

Your Assembly was happy enough to see the reason.”

“You mean to slum it,” Felix said.

“We adapted,” Oaken says simply.

“To work with monsters?” Felix growls.

The burly hunter actually laughs.

“That’s rich coming from you.”

“You know what I don’t get? What happens when this techy alliance doesn’t work out?” I look at Felix.

“Who do you think will betray whom first?”

Felix makes a show of thinking.

“You know, I’d like to say the Hunters but the Assembly have proven themselves to be more serpent than wolf.”

The burly hunter kept his eyes on us, but his lackeys shifted uneasily at our words.

That’s right.

Let the seed of doubt take root.

Let it make you question all you think you know.

I let the words sit.

After a moment, I casually ask the main Hunter, “Is money worth risking your life?”

The burly Hunter snorts.

“You think this is about money?”

“What else could make you stay your hand and work with us beasts?”

“This is about survival and a future we are both interested in,” the Hunter says.

The hunter says it so matter-of-factly that it almost catches me off guard.

“And you trust the Assembly to give you this?” I keep my voice neutral.

The hunter clasps his hands behind his back.

“You know, there was a time your kind stayed hidden.

There was balance.

Until packs started expanding.

Started slinking out of the dark and corrupting humanity.”

“We didn’t start this war,” Felix snarls.

“Yes, you didn’t, you started it when you took our land, infested our communities and our homes.” The Hunter hisses.

That gets my attention.

Still, I say, “Sounds hypocritical to me. You like to pretend you’re better than us, but in the end, you can even get rid of us without help from our own kind.”

The Hunter’s cheeks flush a ruddy red.

I keep my expression neutral even as pieces begin clicking together.

Oaken steps up.

Most likely beginning to sense the unraveling of his partner’s calm.

“Question time is over.”

Oaken looks over at the Hunter, and he nods once.

Hunters go and tip back Felix’s table using the wheels on the bottom to roll him out of the room.

I do my best to keep emotion off my face, but Oaken is smirking at me.

“What’s wrong, hybrid.

Don’t like being alone?”

“If you hurt him or my sister, I’ll—”

He’s in front of my face in a flash.

“You’ll what?” There is nothing you can do.

Nothing that would make this stop.

Not anymore.”

I grit my teeth.

Oaken takes a small step back, a look of triumph on his face.

“You should have said yes when you had the chance.

Perhaps your sister will be smarter.”

“I wouldn’t bet on it.”

“I would.” He says as another pair of hunters start to roll me through the same door they did Felix.

“That’s the thing about females, their hearts are so…tender.

Especially if those they love are dangling on the hook.”

“Bastard,” I spit, even when I want to tell him he doesn’t know my sister.

She wouldn’t break so easily.

She would trust our plan.

Trust us.

At least that is what I told myself, even while a part of me whispered that she would do anything for us if she believed we would fail.

If she believed we would be overwhelmed, hurt, or killed.

We stop in front of an open grate, and I can see greenery beyond the iron.

“You should feel honored,” he says.

I glare at him.

He wants to feel big, so I’ll let him.

“Why?”

His smile is cold.

“Because you’re going to be part of the game that makes her say yes.”

Game.

“What if I don’t choose to play?”

“You and your pack mate don’t have a choice,” he shrugs a shoulder dismissively, “Well, you do. I suppose you could just let them have their way with you.”

His words are cruel.

Gleeful.

Like the twisted asshole is looking forward to watching it happen.

Then it clicks.

The collars.

The forest.

The Hunters.

The Game.

“You’re making us prey.”

The burly Hunter’s smile widens slightly.

“You animals always look so offended when the roles reverse.”

Rage explodes through me so fast my vision blurs red.

I surge upward despite the binds holding me down.

“Let’s see how smug you look with these cuffs off.”

Three hunters grab me immediately.

One slams the butt of his rifle into my ribs.

Another punches my jaw.

I barely feel it.

“All this,” I growl, struggling violently, “because you’re afraid.”

The older hunter steps close enough for only me to hear.

“No.Because eventually one species will wipe out the other. We simply chose to act first.”

Something crashes into the back of my skull.

Pain detonates behind my eyes.

The forest beyond the gate spins sideways.

Then there is only darkness.

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