Total pages in book: 55
Estimated words: 50954 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 255(@200wpm)___ 204(@250wpm)___ 170(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 50954 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 255(@200wpm)___ 204(@250wpm)___ 170(@300wpm)
He raced on swift paws toward the gates they had recently driven through, but they were already closed. The fences were very tall, at least ten feet high. That was not an impossible barrier, but it did require him to make a roundabout run at them to build up speed.
Before he could, something heavy landed on his back and wrapped its arms around his throat. It was Gideon, the Maker. And he was riding him. Clawed fingers gripped the fur on the back of Will’s neck. He heard Gideon’s laugh of pleasure and felt his strong legs closing around his ribcage.
“Stop,” Gideon said, his voice clear through the rushing night air. “Stop or I will drive my teeth into your neck and bring you down as only a true predator can.”
Will bounded for the fence. Gideon struck just as he had promised. The bite hurt more than Will had expected. He had been wounded before, cut before. He had suffered before, but there was some dark, incompatible venom in the fangs of the Maker that brought him crashing to the ground, pulling him out of his form as wolf and leaving him naked, shivering, bloody, and worst of all, human.
“You are such a bad little puppy,” Gideon purred, tracing his fingers tenderly over Will’s hair and face as Will lay panting on the ground. “Now Raymond is going to be in a bad mood when he handles you, and that will not go well for you. It would be best, little pup, if you learned the ways of our world before trying rash acts of rebellion. You amuse me, but I will not show you any mercy merely because you belong to Madis.”
“I don’t belong to anyone,” Will cursed.
“Oh, but you do. There are many claims on your body and soul. Now, down to the kennels with you.”
Raymond came for him and this time there was no gentle escort. This time Will was grabbed by the back of his bitten neck and frog marched down to the dungeon waiting for him.
He expected a lonely, dark, cold cell. But the cage waiting for him was not empty. It contained someone he already knew. Or the shadow of someone he had once known, at least. Henry looked very much worse for wear. His dark eyes had taken on a hollowed, captive aspect. His musculature was more sinewy than before, a more desperate kind of strength. His tattoos had faded and distorted with the change in his body weight. He looked hungry. He looked tired. He did not look surprised to see Will.
There was also another friend present. Lorien. But Lorien was not inside the same mesh cage Henry inhabited. Lorien was on the outside, looking in, and when Will and Raymond appeared, he took several quick steps back, his eyes darting down, his head lowered apologetically. Lorien’s clothing was dark and formal. He looked as though he had been dressed by a third party. Will could guess who. Everybody here bore the mark of the Maker in one way or another. His affections were harsher than his hatred.
“What the fuck are you guys doing down here?” Will asked the question.
Lorien didn’t answer. His eyes were rimmed red with emotion, but not because of Will. There was very little acknowledgement there at all for him. Henry also remained silent. The meeting was oddly awkward.
“In the cage,” Raymond said, opening the door and pushing Will inside. Will had to stoop in order to avoid hitting his head. It was clearly designed to make him move about on hands and knees, or in the form of a wolf, though he felt the peculiar sapping energy that inevitably came with being near moonsilver. There was some of it about, somewhere.
“Hey,” Will said again, as he came within a foot of Henry. He was relieved to see the pack master. He felt a lot less alone. At least, he did until he saw the look in Henry’s sunken eyes a little more clearly. Henry looked angry, hungry, and something Will had never seen in his eyes before: afraid.
“Lorien, you are not supposed to be here,” Raymond said. “Gideon will discuss this with you later over his desk. Get out. Now.”
If Lorien had a tail it would have been between his legs. Will watched, concerned for a whole new set of reasons as Lorien quietly complied. Something was deeply, fundamentally wrong here. Lorien didn’t do as he was told unquestioningly. Lorien sassed and had attitude and was stubborn. Something terrible must have happened. Over, and over, and over again.
As Lorien exited, a dark-headed little bastard walked in. Will felt his hackles rise at the sight of him. As if the evening hadn’t been bad enough, he had to be confronted with this asshole.
“Now you’re going to get what you deserve,” Chauvelin interjected as he swaggered in through the door Gideon had exited through. “You should have stayed out of our affairs, pack master. As for you, Will, I finally get to see you where you deserve to be, in chains and behind bars. You are going to suffer for what you did to me, William. You are going to yearn for prison after what I do to you here. I am the keeper of this dungeon, and you are all mine to do with as I please.”