Ice -- Wolv book II

15 - Broken

Through the haze in my mind, I was dimly aware that I was being carried. The world jostled around me, and for an instant, I was sailing through the air before my back slammed against the cold, steel bars of a cage.

The door was slammed shut behind me, and I rolled over onto my stomach.

"Put me down, you bastards! I'll rip your useless throats out!" Nadie's voice screeched through the air, and someone swore heavily in Cree. "Yeah, take that, kiskanak!!"

I peeled open my eyelids, seeing two people hauling her through the air by her paws through the doorway. One of them reached down and flipped open the cage next to me, than looked over at his partner.

"On three. One, two--"

"Don't you dare throw me!"--her two captors heaved her up--"Don't you even think about it, you frickin--"

"Three!!"

Slam!

I flinched as she crashed against the far end of her cage, letting out a pained yelp in the process. She growled out a blood curdling snarl, showing every one of her deadly teeth, and tensed up to pounce. "Oh, you're in for it now!" She lunged forward, ramming face first into the cage door, just as it slammed shut. "Ow!"

I lifted my head up painfully. "Are you okay?" I rasped.

"No! Let me out of here!" she screamed, throwing herself against the side of the cage.

One of the men shook his head at her. "Sorry, princess." He looked up to his partner in crime with a shrug. "I'm off to shift. Let's go."

With that, the two of them marched out of the room, pulling a large, stainless steel door shut behind them.

"You cowards! Get back here, I'll tear you to pieces!" Nadie snarled. "I hate you all!" she spat.

I looked around lazily, taking in our prison. Our two cages were situated in the middle of a house-sized room, sporting a cold, concrete floor, glaringly white walls, and exposed wooden rafters above us. In any direction, there was at least thirty feet between the edge of our cages and the opposing wall.

"We need to throw up," I gasped.

"What?" Nadie spun around, her eyes full of fire.

"We need to vomit. Maybe there's still time." I knew full well that there wasn't; mostoswehk had already proven itself to be a conniving little plant, holding the promise to bring about an irreversible change.

She doesn't know that. Maybe she'll be okay, even. She didn't seem quite as doped up as I was, maybe she could still avoid the coming transformation.

I stood up, and tensed my abdominal muscles, forcing myself to retch onto the ground. "Yeck!" C'mon! I tried again, managing to spit up a tiny portion of my meal. Nadie stared at me silently through the bars in horror.

"Please, hurry!" I begged, mustering the best puppy-eyes I could. "You might still be alright!"

She slowly shook her head, falling into a sitting position as she did. "It's too late. I can feel it inside me already." Her ears flopped down on her head, and her back sagged with sudden defeat.

I slumped back down onto the floor. "I'm so sorry," I sobbed through clenched teeth. I could feel the tension building up in my ribcage as it prepared to start changing. "I'm such an idiot. I should have smelled the food first, I know the scent better than anyone. I left you again, didn't I? I shouldn't have left you to fend for yourself--"