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She was stronger than anyone gave her credit for. Including herself.
Lincoln and his idiot henchmen led us by gunpoint from the SUV into a massive encampment that consisted of dozens of prefab buildings common to research facilities in remote locations. The site was remote but based on the number of inhabitants it felt anything but temporary.
They pushed us to the front of our party and walked us through the center of the pack’s makeshift town. Blinds and curtains were cracked as its inhabitants peered out their windows for a glimpse of the commotion happening outside.
The front door of a metal framed building that resembled the shape of a tunnel with weather resistant fabric stretched over its arches, opened up. A large man with ruddy skin and a white beard struggled against the wind to hold onto the door.
“Take them straight to the pens.” He cupped his mitted hand beside his mouth and shouted over the howling gusts.
“Pens?” Talia’s thoughts echoed my own through the bond.
“It’s going to be alright. Whatever happens, we’re going to get through it together. I’m right here with you.” I did my best to reassure her, sending all the love I felt for her through the bond.
“Come on, move it.” Lincoln jammed the barrel of his pistol into my back and nudged me forward. “Make a left between those two buildings over there.”
Talia and I trudged along a snow packed path between the two buildings. The sounds of barking dogs drowned out the rattle of the wind battering the metal structures.
“You two mangy dogs ought to fit right in.” Lincoln chuckled, stepped in front of us and pounded three times on the door.
The door cracked open and a raven haired kid that looked to be no more than fifteen poked his head out. He took one look at the party gathered outside scurried back in the building.
“Finish feeding the sled dogs and get your ass back home. This should have been finished an hour ago. Your mother will be looking for you.” Waylon forced his way through the door, yanking me behind.
“I was just prepping the fish for the morning.” The boy stammered, slipping on his puffy coat and outer gear.
“Good, now get the hell out of here and you keep your mouth shut about these two, you understand? I don’t need you worrying your mother over two rogues.” Waylon grabbed the kid by his collar, and heaved him toward the door.
The kid opened the door and disappeared into the snow that began falling in large wet flakes.
It occurred to me that Waylon assumed we were rogues. I’d made the same assumption about them. That they were a ragtag pack of misfit wolves with no real lineage or alpha.
That was an error in judgment on my part and theirs.
The smells of urine, feces and rotting fish were sucked up in a back draft of air when the door opened and closed. The putrid combination was like a sucker punch to the olfactory and a jump starter to my gag reflex. Saliva built in my mouth, my stomach convulsed, but I held down the ridiculous amount of hot chocolate I’d had back in Deadhorse.
Talia looked green around the gills as well. She swallowed hard a few times, her body jerking as she fought through a bought of nausea as well.
“There’s a couple open crates in the back. Lock ‘em up. Bryant will deal with them in the morning.” Lincoln instructed, pulling a blue and white bandana from his coat pocket to cover his nose. “I hate coming in here. It reeks. You two finish up and meet at my place when you’re done.”
An ear piercing chorus of dog barks erupted when we entered the kennel. Wylan and Jerry led us down an aisle with metal crates on either side to the empty boxes against the back wall.
The mix of huskies and malamutes paced circles inside crates just large enough for them to stand at their full height inside. The barking increased in fervor and decibel as the two men led us to our cages.
Cages that were not meant for humans - or werewolves in there human form. But I had a feeling we were not the first shifters to occupy these holding cells.
“Get your hands off me.” Talia spat at Jerry’s feet and jerked her arm free of his grip. “I don’t your help”
She dropped to her knees and crawled inside the crate.
“Looks like you’ve got experience on your knees.” Jerry snickered, elbowing his friend in the side. “That’s good. It’ll make things easier for you when you meet the alpha. He likes his women subservient.”
“I’m impressed, Jerry.” Talia took advantage of Jerry’s confusion and kicked him in the shin, landing a physical parting shot along with her verbal one. “I wouldn’t have guessed you knew what that word meant.”
“Bitch.” Jerry kicked the door of her crate, and punched a few numbers into the keypad secured to the right panel of the metal box.
“You’re not going to make trouble now, are you?” Waylon grabbed a cattle prod hung from a hook on the back wall and pointed it at me.
Rather than waste my strength in a fight with two shifters and four thousand volts of electricity, I dropped to my knees and crawled into the cage.
