64. Chains
“Wake up, little werewolf lover,” a man whispered next to my ear.
I could feel his breath fanning over the side of my face, stirring my hair.
“Don’t call her that.” Another voice—further away but also more familiar than the last.
The breathing beside me stopped.
I tried to make sense of what was happening around me but the world was too foggy. It was like I was sifting through a haze, unable to see five feet ahead of me.
Even the voices of the two men nearby sounded muffled and warped.
Where am I? Why does my body feel full of lead?
“Can’t we put her somewhere a little more comfortable? Is keeping her chained to a chair really necessary?”
Why did I know that voice? I felt a distant familiarity, memories I wasn’t quite yet able to muster.
“I’m not taking any chances,” the other man grunted. This voice I didn’t know as well. It was cold and abhorrent.
Everything hurt. Everything. The pain stemmed from my head and coursed down my body, leaving me
sore and weak.
Why can’t I open my eyes?
The last time I felt this way was after my car accident when I was fifteen. Fear gripped me, wrapping around my lungs like barbed wire, making it nearly impossible to breathe.
“She’s human, not a werewolf. Silver chains aren’t going to accomplish anything that rope couldn’t.”
“She’s mated to Ace Stoll. Who knows what kind of power that gives her? If nothing else, the silver will suppress their mate bond and make it harder for him to mind-link with her.”
“I thought you wanted her cooperation. She’s going to be terrified when she wakes up.”
“That’s why you’re here. You’re going to calm her down and get her to talk. She’ll trust her father.”
My father.
My eyes fluttered open. “D-Dad?” I could just barely make my lips move.
It wasn’t my real Dad—I already knew that just from the sound of his voice. It wasn’t the man who took me in and cared for me since the age of six. It wasn’t Joe Kennicott.
No, it was my biological father, Mitchell Cooper. The man who abandoned me and my mother when things didn’t go his way and who moved across the country.
As my vision came into focus, I saw Mitchell standing several paces away. He was wearing khaki pants, a polo shirt, and a pair of dark brown dress shoes.
His head was bowed, but it snapped up the moment I said his name. “Dorothy!”
Mitchell ran to me, crouching down so that his face was level with mine. I winced when he tried to put a hand on my cheek. He dropped it.
“What…?” I searched for the other person who I had heard speaking but found no one but my father.
“What’s going on? What are you doing here?”
I seemed to be in an unfinished basement: cinder block walls, a concrete floor, and wooden joists along the ceiling.
There was a laundry machine and dryer in the corner and storage bins stacked under the stairs. Pull- string lights hung loosely above me.
It was a big space, one that I could tell didn’t get a lot of use.
Well, except for now apparently. Now, when they were using it to hold me hostage.
My head was pounding, my face throbbed, and the world spun around me slightly.
I raised my hand to my nose, which I could tell was broken, but found myself restricted by the chains around my wrists. They were secured to the armrests of the uncomfortable wooden chair I was in.
The chain continued down my body, around my stomach and ankles, leaving me completely immobilized.
“I’m sorry,” Mitchell said when I struggled against the restraints to no avail.
“They’re just temporary, I promise.” He reached up and pulled a very bloody wad of toilet paper from my nostril.
I hadn’t even realized it was there; my nose was throbbing too hard for me to feel anything other than pain.
“Your nose wouldn’t stop bleeding,” he explained. “It should be fine now though.”body, leaving me He tossed the wad to the side. “How are you feeling?”
Was I dreaming? I knew my birth father and I didn’t have the best relationship—in fact, we didn’t really have a relationship at all—but I never would have expected him to aid my kidnapping!
And then to behave as if he were the average, loving father, simply concerned for his daughter’s well- being. He had the nerve to ask me how I was feeling?
What the fuck.
“What are you doing here?” I repeated. “What’s happening?”
Mitchell dropped a hand on my knee and squeezed, perhaps attempting to comfort me. He did not succeed.
“I know this might seem a little scary right now but I promise you, you’re safe and have nothing to worry about. Everything is going to be fine.”
“Everything is going to be fine so long as you cooperate,” someone else corrected.
I gasped and twisted my neck to look behind me.
So, I hadn’t made up the second voice. It was Robert, the person responsible for breaking into my house and bringing me here. Wherever here was… Robert put his hands on the back of my chair, and I figured he’d chosen to stand there so I wouldn’t see him when I woke up. He wanted me to feel unsettled.
It was working.
“He’s not going to hurt you,” my father tried to reassure me when he saw the look of fear on my face.
I gave him my best Are you serious? look. He’d ~already~ hurt me. I could feel the dried blood all over my face, courtesy of my broken nose and the open gash on the side of my head.
And when I looked down, I saw more along my collarbones, all over my white cotton shirt, and even on my plaid pajama shorts.oden joists along To add to all that, my left eye was so swollen, I could barely see out of it. My right eye felt loose in its
socket, it was throbbing so hard. I was struggling to even think through my pain.
Mitchell let out a frustrated sigh. “I know. He shouldn’t have done that; he realizes that. He regrets hurting you.”
Robert rounded my chair so I could see him. “I don’t regret anything,” he said curtly. “I needed her to know there would be consequences for messing with me. I trust I got the message across?”
Oh, he did more than get his message across. I was pretty sure he’d permanently rearranged the bone structure of my face.
I studied the two men. Although they looked very similar, with light brown hair, average statures, and typical ‘dad bods,’ Robert was much more intimidating than my father.
He knew it too. The way he stood demanded attention. He had the confidence of a middle-aged, white man who had been given everything in his life.
“Dorothy,” Mitchell said, “you don’t have to worry, I’m not going to let anybody else touch you.” He paused, glancing back at Robert. “Just answer their questions, and this will all be over. Okay?”
“Their questions?” I repeated stiffly. What information could I possibly know to warrant all of this?
“I want to know about Ace Stoll and his pack,” Robert stated.
I sucked in a breath. Although I had hoped it wasn’t the case, I wasn’t surprised to hear that this all had something to do with Ace. It was the only explanation that made any sense.
Fear pierced my stomach; fear for whatever sort of danger this meant my boyfriend was in.
“I don’t know anything,” I responded, my heart hammering against my rib cage. “I-I mean, I know something is going on. I know he’s keeping secrets from me. But I don’t know what.
“You’re not planning on hurting him or anything, are you?”
Mitchell ducked his head.
Robert clenched his jaw. “I knew they would have her fucking brainwashed,” he muttered under his
breath.
“She’s not—”
A door opened, cutting my birth father off, and I heard three sets of footsteps walking down the wooden stairs to join us in the basement.
I recognized the first man, the blond, from my house. Elias. Out of the five men now in the room, he was the youngest, probably only a few years older than me.
The second man I didn’t know. He was older than the rest, probably in his early seventies. His hair was so I wouldn’t seedark gray, and he used a cane to wobble down the stairs.
The third and final man was Mr. Callahan. My chest tightened. He looked freshly groomed and bathed and was wearing a new set of clothes.
In fact, all the men around me looked well-rested. Obviously, they had no trouble falling asleep after poisoning several little boys and kidnapping helpless girls.
Elias’s footsteps faltered. “She’s awake,” he said, sounding surprised. shirt, and even onHow long was I out for?
Robert nodded and glared at me. “And she’s already being difficult.”
Elias approached Robert as if he were walking on eggshells. “Oh? How so?”
“Playing dumb.” Robert’s voice was jagged. “Acting like she doesn’t know anything.”
I shook my head. “I’m not playing dumb, I swear.”
My frantic gaze flew to Mitchell who was watching me with a worried expression.
“Dad, please, I’m scared. I don’t understand what’s going on. W-what did Ace do?”
Robert scoffed.
My father held a hand up at him when Robert approached me with determined steps. “Hold on. Let me speak to her. We knew this might happen. She’s probably just scared they’ll hurt her if she talks.”
He looked back at me. “Listen to me, Dorothy. Everyone in this room already knows about werewolves. Most of us have had our own encounters with them, just like you.
“You’re not going to be revealing any big secrets or breaking any pack laws by speaking with us.”
He put a hand on my knee. “Do you remember the day I promised to get you away from those monsters? This is me keeping that promise.
“These men are werewolf hunters. They’ve promised to protect us if you just answer their questions.
Then I can take you home with me. You have nothing to be afraid of so long as you cooperate.”
I stared at him, attempting to understand the words that just came out of his mouth. “I… What? Did r that this all hadyou say werewolves?”
ies. His hair was
“Playing dumb.” Robert’s voice was jagged. “Acting like she doesn’t know anything.”
I shook my head. “I’m not playing dumb, I swear.”
My frantic gaze flew to Mitchell who was watching me with a worried expression.
“Dad, please, I’m scared. I don’t understand what’s going on. W-what did Ace do?”
Robert scoffed.
My father held a hand up at him when Robert approached me with determined steps. “Hold on. Let me speak to her. We knew this might happen. She’s probably just scared they’ll hurt her if she talks.”
He looked back at me. “Listen to me, Dorothy. Everyone in this room already knows about werewolves. Most of us have had our own encounters with them, just like you.
“You’re not going to be revealing any big secrets or breaking any pack laws by speaking with us.”
He put a hand on my knee. “Do you remember the day I promised to get you away from those monsters? This is me keeping that promise.
“These men are werewolf hunters. They’ve promised to protect us if you just answer their questions.
Then I can take you home with me. You have nothing to be afraid of so long as you cooperate.”
I stared at him, attempting to understand the words that just came out of his mouth. “I… What? Did you say werewolves?”
