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Rylan
The smell was the first thing that hit me when I stepped into the cage. It was musty, along with scents of mildew, urine, and body odor. The second thing that hit me was a fist to the face.
“Fuck! Get off,” a voice growled, dragging a body away from me.
The man was small and emaciated, but he still had strength. The punch had caused my teeth to cut my cheek, the coppery taste of blood filling my mouth. Finding a corner, I spit into it before turning back to the scuffle that was still happening.
“Apologies, Beta,” a wolf said, stepping closer and holding out his hand. “I’m Chord, and I run this section.”
“Nice to meet you,” I replied, shaking his hand and watching him closely.
“Pretty good hit, huh?” Ledger chided from beside me, his elbow nudging my side.
“Alpha,” Chord greeted, reaching forward to shake Ledger’s hand.
“I’m sure you’re aware of why we’re here,” I said, looking him over quickly. He was a big guy, a whole head taller than me, and his eyes were brown, as was his hair. A scar marred his left cheek, which hadn’t healed well, even by wolf standards.
“I’ve organized a tour starting at the north end and working our way south, ending at her cell.”
“Sounds good,” Ledger said, looking around the entrance to the cage.
Contrary to the name, it wasn’t actually a cage. There were no bars as far as I could see, but that didn’t mean there weren’t any. However, I knew damn well that there were other things that could keep a wolf contained.
“If you’ll follow me.” Chord gestured for us to follow him.
He led us toward an opening in the stone. It was dark beyond the threshold, and the air was noticeably cooler.
My eyes quickly adjusted to the dimly lit hallway while a chill ran down my spine. There was something ahead that was making the hairs on my wolf’s back stand up. I felt him withdraw from our current reality, and I couldn’t really blame him.
We found the source of the feeling when we turned a corner. Cells lined the aisle, each door made from bones.
I bit my cheek, suppressing a shudder when I saw them. I instinctively knew that they were wolf-shifter remains, both human and wolf.
From my research of this place, I learned that the builders used wolves’ natural aversion to shifter remains as a way to keep prisoners locked up. The cells were carved from stone, so escape was difficult but not impossible. Adding doors made from bones was a sure-fire way to keep them contained.
There were rumors that some were made of the bones of the person or persons the prisoner had killed. Facing that knowledge everyday would drive anyone crazy.
Chord slowed his pace as we passed the cells, giving me and Ledger a chance to look inside. Wolves in human form sat with their back against the walls, empty expressions on the doorway.
No one reacted to our passage, and it was eerie. To be trapped in a room of stone, faced with your victims’ remains, it was almost inhumane, but so was murder.
“How many prisoners are here?” Ledger asked quietly. I could smell his sweaty palms and knew that he was affected by the doors like everyone else.
“We can comfortably house 40-60 wolves, but right now, we have thirty-six,” Chord replied, giving no outward indication that he noticed the remains at all.
“The maps we looked at showed some sort of caves below.”
“Those are the pits and are reserved for the worst of the worst. It’s like a cell that you drop into. The walls, floors, and ceilings are all stone, but embedded in them are remains of dead prisoners,” Chord explained, coolly.
“Dead criminals keeping other criminals imprisoned.” It was genius but also barbaric and cruel, yet the punishment fit the crime.
Chord led us up and down stone hallways, all zigzagging together until it was impossible to know which direction, we’d started in. The past several hallways were empty, bone doors hanging open like they were waiting patiently to torment.
This place is fucked up.
I felt my wolf’s agreement. He’d inched his way back to the surface, but he was tense, poised to retreat again.
“Down these next two hallways are the pits. During my time here, only two have been locked inside, but now we are down to one.”
