Captured - Cara Wylde Page 0,8

a shed on the property. It was bigger than a shed, actually, and much more sophisticated, but from what I could tell, it wasn’t a guest house, either. Chase’s scent came from inside. I banged the door open, and my heart stopped. Deer, squirrels, birds, wolves, and a bunch of bear cubs stared at me with glassy eyes. They were everywhere – mounted on the walls, arranged on shelves. In the back, there was even a boar in a corner, and a medium-sized bear next to it. The place smelled like death, chemicals, and decay. And my brother… Chase was on the huge table in the middle of the workshop, still in his wolf form. How they’d managed to take him down was beyond me! I couldn’t comprehend it.

“I don’t get it,” Thorn whispered, mirroring my thoughts.

“He didn’t see them coming,” Reid said.

“Even so,” I said. “A couple of bullets aren’t enough to take down a werewolf.” I stepped closer to the body. There hadn’t been just a couple of bullets, there had been a lot of bullets. “They shot him once, and he tried to get away. They chased him, shot him again and again, hunted him down. They really wanted him as a trophy.”

“I still don’t get it,” Thorn said again.

“Me neither.” I shook my head. Alright, so the hunters had taken Chase by surprise, but even so… he should have been able to outrun them. Something didn’t add up.

“Savages,” Reid said as he studied the stuffed animals. “Heartless savages.” He squeezed Isabel’s ass, and she whimpered. “Is this a hobby, cunt? You kill animals and mount them on your walls?”

“Please… I’m sorry. I’m sorry for what they did. I told them it was wrong. So many times. They never listened to me.”

“Is that so?” Reid mused. “You told them it was wrong… Oh, then that makes you innocent, doesn’t it?” He laughed darkly.

She was smart enough to stay silent.

“Thorn, help me get him out of here.”

Together, we lifted Chase off the table and carried him outside. We dropped him in the grass, at a safe distance from the house. Since Thorn didn’t feel like playing with fire, Reid threw Isabel into his arms, and ran after me to help me set the place ablaze. We found the gasoline and poured it all over the furniture, going from room to room. We drenched the mangled bodies of Isabel’s family, and then we did the same with all the stuffed beasts in the taxidermy workshop. I’d found matches in the kitchen and kept them. I’d also found a pack of cigarettes on the dining table. It was stained with blood, but that didn’t bother me. As Reid set everything on fire, I lit a cigarette and watched the flames lick the walls and spread until they enveloped the whole structure. Reid pumped his fist in the air, jumped, and let out a cry of victory. I laughed. We stepped away from the fire, and when it was too strong, we went to join Thorn. I noticed Isabel had her arms around his neck. She was so terrified that she didn’t even realize she was holding on to one of the men who had killed her family. She watched the fire with wide, curious eyes.

I finished my cigarette, threw it away, and grabbed Isabel’s chin between my fingers. She looked at me, tears running down her cheeks. She didn’t let go of Thorn, though.

“You’re ours now, bitch.” She swallowed hard. I snickered. “Our property until we get bored of you, snap your neck, and throw you off a cliff.”

She opened her mouth to say something, but no words came out.

“Only after you’re broken, bleeding, and dead will I consider my brother avenged.”

She looked at Chase’s body on the ground, and that was when she finally understood why all of these horrors were happening to her. He’d been our brother. Not a wolf to be stuffed and mounted on a wall. A wolf shifter.

Her arms went limp around Thorn’s neck. Her head fell on his chest as she fainted.

Three

Isabel

When I opened my eyes, the first thing I became aware of was the fact that I was cold, sore, and uncomfortable. I frowned and got up on my haunches, trying to figure out what had happened.

That was when the memories hit me.

“No! Go away! Leave her alone!”

“Please! Stop! Don’t! Don’t hurt them any longer!”

“Is this a hobby, cunt? You kill animals and mount them on your walls?”

“You’re ours now, bitch.”

Images of torn