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I realize that I didn’t brush against a tree when I was coming through here. I brushed against him. The abductor. Something had snagged on me, and at the time, I was running so fast that it didn’t matter. What if the captor had tried to grab me instead of Erin?
What if tonight’s abduction was a big misunderstanding?
I hear the horn of howling, suddenly, and I turn to run back to the castle. That horn has never been sounded before as long as I’ve been alive, so it must mean something terribly important. I have a feeling that Heather figured something out. Why else would they be calling us all back?
As I turn to leave, though, I realize that I’m too late. The smell comes again, overwhelming me this time, just as someone drops from the trees and slides a thin needle through my fur and into my skin. I’m worn out, and I’m simply not fast enough to counteract the movement.
“That’s right,” a deep voice says. “Go to sleep little wolf.” I start to feel dizzy, and even though I move to snap my jaws at my captor, I can hear him laughing at me. “You wolves are always so slow after a run. You make it too easy.”
Then everything fades away.
I WAKE UP IN A CAGE.
I’m cold, and I feel like I’m going to puke, and I’m back in my human form. I sit up and look around. I’m in a round room. No, scratch that: a tower. From the looks of things, it’s one of the lost towers of the forest. There are quite a few, and none of them are very important or often thought of.
They’re just...abandoned.
There are legends and myths surrounding the towers, but the truth is that nobody really knows what they were used for. Did witches live here at one point? Maybe vampires? I have no idea. All I know is that that’s where I am, and I’m not alone.
In the other cages are the missing shifters from my pack: Frank, Angela, Leah, and Erin. They all stare at me silently.
“You’re here,” Frank finally says.
“Sorry for the late arrival.”
“Better late than never, old friend,” Leah smiles gently.
“How’d he get you?” Erin whispers, and I can smell the fear wafting off of her. “What’s he going to do to us? Why are we here?”
Erin looks close to tears, and I look at the other shifters. They all look strangely well-fed, but looks can be deceiving. I’m just happy they aren’t dead. Who knows why they’re being kept alive here? The other shifters exchange wary glances. They don’t want to say what’s been happening. I’m guessing they want to spare Erin, but they can’t do that.
Not now.
“What is it?” I ask. “Who’s done this?”
“He’s acting out a fucking book,” Angela finally spits out, and I’m shocked by her language and anger. “He keeps us here and doesn’t let us shift or run around or do anything. He drugs the food, and he drugs us, and we just stay here.”
“Rotting away,” Frank adds silently.
Leah is strangely quiet.
“What aren’t you telling me?” I ask.
“He’s not human,” she whispers.
“What?”
“The man who’s taken us. He’s not...he’s not human.”
“What the hell does that mean?” I growl, but I instantly regret it because Erin starts to cry and shake with sadness.
“There, there,” a deep voice says, and I look over to see him. It’s the man the other packs described as looking for the academy. Instantly, I know. He’s tall and strange-looking, just as they warned, and he has a wolf tattoo on the inside of his wrist. “I didn’t mean to take you, little one. You were an unfortunate accident when I couldn’t nab your leader the first time.” He turns to me then and shakes his head.
He’s obviously unhappy with me.
Does this guy blame me for his failures?
It’s then that I realize what he is.
