back to me,” I tell the goblin as I catch up with my line leader again.
He unlocks an empty cell and shoves the door open. Crossing his arms, he glares at me. “Get in and shut up.”
“Cheers,” I say brightly.
When I don’t walk in fast enough, the Warden grabs me by the collar of my shirt and shoves me in. I feel a sting at my tail as I go stumbling in, and I spin to see the warden shoving something orange in one of his pockets.
“Did you just pluck one of my feathers?” I demand incredulously, looking down so I can inspect the damage. He totally did.
“For my collection,” he replies ominously as he slams the door behind me, and a speckle of magical smoke bursts out from the lock to seal me in at the same time that the chains around my limbs and tail disappear in a puff.
He walks away, and I have no fucking clue what I’m supposed to make of that. Miffed, I pet the spot on my tail that’s now a feather down before turning around to take in my surroundings.
“Ahh. Cell sweet cell,” I say as I breathe in the nice stagnant air.
Seeing the extra prison-issued uniforms that are waiting for me on the bed, I gather them and set them on the small desk that sits at the foot of the bed on the same wall. I have a metal toilet and a small sink in here, and that about rounds up the decor. Directly across from me, I can see a wall and the very edge of another prisoner’s iron bars, but at this angle, I’m not able to see the supernatural inside.
I release a relieved sigh. I settle back on my lumpy bed with my hand under my head, ready to live the Nightmare Penitentiary life.
Ah. I’ve never felt so free.
By the time the cell doors open for dinner, I’m starving.
I’m going to have to get my new system worked out here. The holding jail was super easy to bribe some guards and ally with other inmates to get the good shit. Like Pop Rocks candy and extra pillows. Luckily for me, I was pretty much made for this prison life. There’s no way this place can be harder to navigate than my family.
I don’t need my matriarch and patriarch to sell me off to be mated to a shifter who just wants me for the alliance and money. I’m not property to be auctioned off, and I’ll be damned if I’m forced to become a trophy mate hanging off some douche’s arm—or worse, under his thumb like I have been with my mat and pat my whole life. No thanks.
Unfortunately, when your lounge leader decides to mate you to someone, there is no telling them no. I’d be exiled, clipped, and stripped of the Denali name, and that’s if I’m lucky. I’m never lucky, and my no would most likely be a death sentence, even though my matriarch is my damn mother.
But getting imprisoned? There’s nothing my mat and pat can do about that. Shifter packs aren’t above supernatural law. It can’t be held against me, and there isn’t fuck-all they can do about it. This is my self-induced vacation. The perfect way to get away from everyone trying to dictate or steal my future.
By the time I get out of here, Alpha Bowen will have moved on to someone else, and my matriarch’s anger will have faded. Hopefully. Now I just need to make sure this vaycay lasts longer than a year.
I walk in line with the other inmates as we head down the drab gray corridor with a pretty yellow line painted down the middle. I let the movements of the other convicts direct me where to go. After passing the rest of the cell block and heading up a set of metal stairs, the herd of gray clad bodies spills into a large cafeteria room.
It’s like the Great Hall in Hogwarts except with fluorescent lighting, cement picnic style benches, and it smells like toe-cheese. Okay, so it’s not like the Great Hall at all. It looks like it’s segregated by cliques and gangs rather than Houses. There are definitely no Hufflepuffs up in here.
I look around the tables, my eyes scanning over everyone. I see a dozen gorgons in the far corner, their hair snakes hissing at one another. They all start laughing as soon as I come in, like they can sense me even though