Caged (Book 3, the Feral Series)

Seventh Chapter

"What happened to you?"

Pain grew in my chest, and I didn't know how to start. But I did start. Slowly. I told him how I just wanted to walk a bit, and how Birdie had found me.

"I tried to fight them, but they drugged me... I woke up in a cage. They..." I swallowed something. I was ashamed of this part. It was so demeaning. "Put a collar on me. Chains. I couldn't move in that cage. I was in my animal form most of the time... I don't think as much when I'm not human."

"You can shift now?"

I nodded. "We finally became balanced. You and Nat were my drive, for both of my forms. Something just clicked, and we ended up on the same level. It doesn't even hurt anymore. I slept inside, too, but I was shifted. I still can't sleep as a human."

"But you can shift." Che was smiling and kissed the side of my mouth so softly, I barely felt it, but it still left my skin tingling. "What happened, then?"

"They wanted me to tell them where you were hiding, but I couldn't do it. I couldn't sell you out. I just wanted to die..."

He ran his hand over my head and then down my back.

"But you kept me alive. I had to get back to you." I pulled back a bit and looked very seriously at him. "I don't think you understand how much I love you, Che."

"I think I do," he said seriously. "I knew you would come back. You wouldn't just disappear. You're too stubborn for that. My stubborn little kitty."

I tensed up completely. Everything froze. Something disgusting grew inside of me, and Shane's face emerged in my head.

"Nathan?" His voice sounded kind of warped.

I shook my head. "Don't call me that," I whispered.

"What?"

"Don't call me 'kitty'," I said coolly and slid off him.

"Okay...?" He narrowed his eyes at me. "What's going on here?"

"Nothing. Just don't call me that." I moved over on the couch and kind of cradled my broken arm.

"Nathan," he said softly and gently put his palm to my cheek, turning my head towards him. "I'm sorry if I offended you. Or hurt you. You know I would never hurt you intentionally."

"I know," I whispered. This was messing more with my head than I thought it would. I leaned against him and let him pull me closer again. "They pulled in a guy to make me talk. He... He tortured me."

"What was his name?"

"Shane Carlton."

"I know him." The muscles in his arms tensed and I looked up at him. "Was my brother there?"

"Yes."

"And he didn't stop him?"

"Not at first... He and another agent, Dean Simon... They intervened and got me out of the cage... But that was more than a month after they took me. And after he started using electric shock on me."

Che pulled down on the neckline of my shirt and looked at the burn marks under my collarbones. "That's what these are?" His voice was cold. It always got ice cold, when he was close to exploding in a fit of anger.

I nodded.

"I need to see my brother now." He rose from the couch, his hands clenched. I followed him in silence out in the hall. My dad was talking to the doctor and looked up at us. "My brother. Where is he?"