off limbs and dead eyes flashed through my mind. I fell to my knees and heaved, every inch of my body rebelling against what I’d been forced to witness. Tears flowing down my cheeks, I threw up every bit of what little food I’d eaten at dinner.
By the time I was done, the only thing I had left to vomit was bile. I collapsed on the ground, shaking, unable to process what was happening to me.
But denial hadn’t helped me in the past, so I did my best to put myself back together. I pressed my palms to my eyes so hard I saw stars and tried to focus. It worked and brought back some clarity.
For the first time since I’d woken up, I realized I was in a cavern of some kind. There was a makeshift bed on the floor, which was where I’d taken refuge. I’d managed to avoid throwing up on the already dirty cot and on my clothes – which I was fortunately still wearing – but that was about the only good point of my situation.
A dim light illuminated the cavern, but its source wasn’t natural. It came from outside, through a set of thick, sturdy iron bars. I stared at those bars in shock and horror, and the enormity of my situation struck me once again.
I was a prisoner here, a prisoner of the monsters who had killed my family.
I had hated them so much, hated the way they bragged and reveled in their cruelty. Their expectations and way of life had suffocated me. I’d wanted so badly to be free of them. But not like this. Never like this.
Like a woman in a dream, I got up. I could barely stand, but I was stubborn and wanted to look, to see.
“How is that going to help you?” a voice whispered at the back of my mind. “It never did when you were living with them. You only watched, and because of that, here you are. You did nothing, and now they’re dead.”
Choking, I stumbled toward the bars and tripped on a wooden bucket I hadn’t seen before. Still in shock from everything that had happened to me, I fell forward and hit the ground.
For a few seconds, I just lay there, in a daze, my brain having decided it was time to stop cooperating with me. And then, the pain from the fall hit. It wasn’t anything serious, just a twisted ankle, if that. But it was enough to tip me over into near insanity.
I screamed, cried, and sobbed, clutched my hair, and screamed some more. The werewolves – because God, those men had to be werewolves – had killed my whole family. I was trapped. God help me, I was trapped with these murderers.
“Let me out!” I shouted, sobbing. “Let me go! Please! Please!”
It was stupid to cry. Tears didn’t fix anything. But I couldn’t make them stop. It was as if a dam had broken and every emotion was spilling out, draining me of the last vestiges of my strength.
I didn’t know how much time passed while I sat there, shaking and bemoaning my fate. Several times, I tried to get up, but I couldn’t make my body move again.
At one point, my voice stopped working, but I still didn’t move. In the end, it was the silence that made my captors act.
The door to my cell opened, and the three werewolves who had killed my family stalked into the cavern. I scuttled back, ignoring the mild twinge of pain still coming from my ankle.
“Well, well,” one of them drawled as he approached, “looks like the human bitch finally decided to wake up.”
“I think she’s been up for a while, Reid,” the second werewolf said. “She had a lot to do, remember? Mourning her filthy, murderous family.”
Even if I could have spoken, I didn’t know what to say. It wasn’t a lie. I had been mourning my parents. My struggles to come up with a reply died a prompt death when the shifters stepped into the light. That was when I finally got a good look at them. During the attack, I’d been too confused and horrified to properly take in their physical appearance, but now, that was no longer the case. Even in the darkness of the cave, I saw more than enough.
The first thing that struck me was the physical resemblance between the trio. They were all dark-haired, large men, and the sharp angles of their faces spoke of