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The sound of someone humming penetrated the thick fog in my brain. I tried to open my eyes, but they were stuck together. The smallest movement sparked agonizing pain, so I lay still for a few minutes and tried to get my bearings.
Everything felt muddled. The last thing I remembered was walking along the trail. Did I fall? Had Cole found me and taken me back to the cabin?
It didn’t smell like the cabin. Instead of pine, wood smoke, citrus, and cinnamon, the rank scent of sweat and urine made my stomach heave.
I reluctantly forced my eyes open and attempted to sit up. It was semi-dark, but there was enough light from a solitary naked bulb to show me I was in a concrete room with no window.
“Finally,” observed a feminine voice. “I figured you were dead.”
A girl with matted black hair rested against the opposite wall. She wore a pair of shorts and a strappy vest, but although it was cold enough to make me shiver, she seemed comfortable.
“Where am I?” I croaked. My throat was sore. Every part of me hurt, not just my head.
“No idea. They don’t tell us anything, and when they take us to the fights, they knock us out first.”
“Fights?” Panic flared swift and bright. What was happening? Why couldn’t I remember!
“Yeah. They have us fighting so they can make money on the outcome. At least some of us fight. I haven’t been here long, so I don’t know for sure.” She crawled across the cement floor to where I lay. “My name’s Lily, what’s yours?”
“Eva.” I fought the urge to vomit. The way my head throbbed, something or someone had hit me. Hard.
Brent had hit me many times. This felt similar. I closed my eyes again and forced my brain to rewind back to the last thing I remembered, but there was nothing. Just a black hole in my memory.
Had Brent found me? This wasn’t his basement, though. I’d recognize that place anywhere - it had starred in my nightmares many times.
My heart rate climbed as adrenaline flooded my system. I was an idiot. I’d let the guys lull me into a false sense of security. Just because they were strong, it didn’t mean the cabin was safe. If I was here, locked in a room, someone had found me.
The girl looked at me curiously, her black eyes alive with intelligence.
“You’re pretty. That might be why they took you.” While I was having a panic attack, she seemed curiously unfazed.
“How did you end up here?” I asked. The girl was young; younger than me. I couldn’t let panic overwhelm me. I wasn’t the only one stuck in this place. It sounded like there were a few girls with us. There wasn’t much I could do, but I had to keep my wits about me.
“I had a fight with my boyfriend. He left me alone in a bar and some older guy bought me a drink. It knocked me out long enough for him to throw me in the back of a van. When I woke up, I fought like hell, but he must have injected me with something that weakened my wolf.”
“How long have you been here?”
“Not sure. At least a week. Maybe longer. There are no clocks or windows, so it’s hard to tell.”
She had to be a shifter. No human girl would be this relaxed about being locked up in a freezing-cold concrete cell. “Which pack are you from?”
Her eyes widened in surprise. “Oh, you know about shifters?”
“Yes, I’m mated to three of them.”
“But you’re…human?”
It didn’t sting. I had bigger problems right now than worrying about what people thought of me.
“Last time I checked, yeah.”
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean that in a nasty way. It’s just unusual for shifters and humans to mate. Who are your mates, anyway?”
“Cole, Silas, and Tanner. So which pack?”
“Oh my, I can’t believe those assholes have finally found a mate! The Lone Pine pack. My dad’s a trusted beta.” Her face fell and some of the bravado slipped for the first time. “He’ll be worried about me.”
“We were there a couple of days ago, for the Full Moon Party.”
