Still, I fight. I will myself to move, to lift my arm, to do something.
My hand flinches.
“Hmm,” the sorcerer manipulating me says. “She’s a strong one.”
Another one with a shorter build and wavy hair cocks an eyebrow. “Can you handle it, Douglas, or should I join you?”
Douglas frowns but then shakes his head. “I got it.”
When Douglas has me completely incapacitated on the table, the third male shifts to stand at my head. I’m panting as exertion sets in. I’m fighting Douglas with everything I have, but no matter how hard I try, other than a few twitches, my limbs won’t move. I grit my teeth and try harder.
“Actually, Olaf, I might need your assistance,” Douglas says.
The shorter sorcerer swirls his hands and whispers those foreign-sounding words, just as my forearm breaks through Douglas’s spell, but in the next instant, it’s as if a cement block suddenly drops on top of me.
My arm falls, and my breath catches.
Olaf cocks his head. “You’re right. She is strong.”
Thanks for talking about me like I’m not here, numb-nuts. I grit my teeth again since I can’t scream at him.
“Shall we begin?” The third sorcerer widens his stance. He spreads his fingers and places his palms alongside my ears, but Kelly cuts in.
“Hold on, Geoff. We need to identify her.”
Geoff rolls his eyes but drops his hands. “Right. Go ahead.”
She gives him a pointed look and says sternly, “Protocols are in place for a reason.”
He dips his head. “You’re right. Sorry.”
I breathe faster as sweat pours from my temples. The immense pressure is still on my chest, but sometimes it feels for a fraction of a second that I may be able to move.
Still, I’m helpless to resist when Kelly flips my arm over like a ragdoll’s. “You’ll have to forgive us for all of this, Brianna,” she says as she holds up a tablet and aims it at my wrist. “We take no pleasure in this, but it’s necessary for our survival. Please know that we’ll be as quick as possible so you can go home.”
I eye her as she does something on the tablet. An eruption of lasers swathes my skin before a glowing symbol appears on my inner wrist. My eyes widen, but just as quickly as the mark materializes, it vanishes.
Kelly’s lips part. “What the heck…” She positions the tablet over my wrist a second time, and the lasers appear again.
Some of the fight goes out of me as I watch all four SF members lean over the table to peer at my wrist.
They all share incredulous looks when the same glowing symbol appears and then vanishes.
“Douglas and Olaf,” Kelly says in a clipped tone. “Release her.”
I gasp when the magic abruptly disappears from my body. The second I’m free, I fly off the bed to the corner of the room, ready to fight them if I have to, but Kelly just holds her hands up in surrender.
“Brianna, I’m sorry. We shouldn’t have done that, but we didn’t know.”
I keep my stance wide, not letting my guard down. “Didn’t know what?”
“That you’re a female werewolf.”
Chapter 33 – Collin
I’ve been in here for at least twelve hours. And in all that time, nobody will tell me how Brianna’s doing, but I think I overheard one of the guards say Brianna was going to the sorcerers this morning.
When I’d heard that snippet, I’d yelled for the guard, pleading with him to tell me what he knew, but he’d ignored me and slammed the door.
Still…
My mate’s alive.
Such an enormous weight lifts from my shoulders. For the first time since the SF caught me, it feels as if I can breathe.
But they’re taking her to the sorcerers. She won’t remember me.
A new dread forms in my belly, but I shake it off.
No, don’t think that way.
I do my best to distract myself. It would be easy to go mad in this place even if one’s wolf was sane. Above my cage, a light buzzes. It’s the only light source here. The fancy electronics, and high-tech lighting used in the personnel section don’t extend to the prison cells.
Here, the walls are thick, the lighting dark, and the air humid. I know I’m underground, as for how far underground, I don’t know.
The guards changed an hour ago, and the new one brought me a hot meal. It was a meal made to accommodate a werewolf’s high metabolism. I inhaled the three steaks, four potatoes, and pile of vegetables. I need to keep my strength up, which