“If there’s anybody, please.”
I can’t hear Theo. I can’t hear Clarissa. All I can hear are the guards laughing at me as they throw raw meat into the cage. The only way I can stomach it is to change. The only way I can feed myself
is to change into the monster they’ve turned me into.
But it’s easier than they think.
It’s almost like the monster is my natural form.
I morph, busting out of the last of my clothes and lunge for the meat. The men are sneering and clapping like they aren’t Primals themselves. I devour the bloodied carcasses they’ve thrown at me and lick my lips, my muscles begging for me. I’m not eating nearly enough in this place, and it’s one of the many ways they’re trying to keep me down.
Trying to rob me of the strength I know I have to tear them all apart.
“All I want is to be let out. Please. Just let me out.”
“Kyle?”
My brow furrows as my head turns on a swivel. I hear Sebastian.
Why do I hear Sebastian?
“Sebastian?”
“What the fuck?”
“Can you hear me?”
“Yes, you idiot. I can hear you. I just don’t know how.”
“I don’t know either. Where are you?”
“In the woods still.”
“So you guys aren’t coming for me?”
My heart sinks to my toes as I flop down at the back of my new crate. A prison I would never really be free from until they want to inject me with something to knock me out. I ignore the pain in my neck and my spine. Being cooped up in my human form like this is murder on my body. It forces me to look at the padded scars all over my skin. It forces me to relive that night over and over again. The night I should’ve scooped Clarissa into my arms and made passionate love to her until the sun came up.
And instead, I was eaten alive.
Literally.
“We’re coming for you, Kyle. But we have to be smart about it. You say you’re underneath the Council building?”
“Yes. There’s an obscene amount of levels. I don’t know which one I’m on.”
“Do you see any numbers around you? Anything that could signal what level you’re on?”
I squint my eyes and look out beyond the bars and feel them change. Suddenly, everything comes alive. Heat signatures and high-definition snapshots and night vision. Everything around me is luminous. I dart my head around, trying to conceal my eyes from the guards as they fall into their own boring little step. Marching around with their useless spears and talking among themselves.
Then, I see it.
“There’s a six on the wall.”
“Good. That’s good.”
“You don’t sound too happy about that.”
“Not gonna lie. I’m not.”