More time passes.
It could be five minutes or five hours. I have no way of judging how much.
But it's enough time for me to have a new guard, a familiar one who, when I blink my eyes open and turn my head toward the cage, is crouched on the other side, a familiar sneer on a face I haven't thought of as pretty since the first time I saw him in the pizzeria.
"Oh, it's you, Apollo," I murmur. "Or was it poor man's Hercules? Did we ever work out which one you were?"
"You think you're special because you have an alpha who'll look twice at you?" he growls.
I attempt to sit up, and I'm relieved when things are a little less wobbly than before. "No. I think I'm special because I have an amazing personality and I'm good at sex."
He snorts. "Well, you're not."
I start to get to my feet. "Not what? Good at sex?"
"Not special."
It's my turn to snort as I get my legs under me, more slowly than is strictly necessary. "That didn't stop you panting after me."
There's a moment of silence and then a low growl that tells me my words hit their mark.
I rise to my feet, but after less than a minute, I put my hand to my temple and sink back to the floor, this time settling on my knees. I squeeze my eyes tightly shut. "Urgh, what the hell?"
"You're not looking so hot there. Maybe you should take it as a lesson to be more careful with that mouth of yours."
I lower my head and close my eyes. Not because I'm about to be sick, or I'm feeling worse after standing. No, it's so I can concentrate on looking as pitiful as I can because I've just realized who's going to be letting me out of this cage. He just doesn't know it yet.
"I don't feel good. Do you have any water?" I murmur, trying to sound as pathetic as possible. As it's something I've never done before, I'm not sure how believable I sound. Since I know Leo would love nothing better than to pay me back for repeatedly humiliating him in front of his pack, I'm hoping he'll see what he wants to.
"I might," he murmurs. "What will you give me in return?"
This guy… this whole freaking pack has issues. Serious issues. Kier was right that wiping them all out and starting afresh seems the only way to deal with them.
"I have nothing to give you," I say, lifting my head once I'm confident I've wiped all traces of anger from my face.
I turn to him and sit up straighter so Leo can't miss that I'm without my top.
His gaze slides down my body, lingering on my breasts, and I fight back the disgust I'm sure is on my face at his heated stare. "Well, I'm sure we can work something out," he says, licking his lips.
Yeah, this guy has to die. He seriously has to die.
I force myself to cast an anxious glance toward the corner of the cabin, the draftiest spot, and where I'm guessing the way out must be. "I don't know. Erin said Jaxon has plans for me. I don't think he'd appreciate-"
"He's otherwise engaged. So for now, it's just you and me." He gets to his feet and moves to the cage door, fumbling in his pocket for what I hope are the keys.
But he doesn't open it. His eyes glint at me through the iron bars, and his furrowed brow tells me that I haven't convinced him yet. Given the way I've spoken to him before, my attempt at sounding weak and helpless is an abrupt change.
So, before he can have too much time to think, I lower my head and retch. "Oh, god, I feel bad. I think I'm concussed. Please can I have some water?"
I take a moment to think about whether someone concussed would care about water or be in any fit state to ask for some, hoping I haven't just given myself away.
But the sound of keys in the lock has me sagging in relief because it's working. I retch again, so he moves a little quicker.
"I hope you're not about to throw up, cause you can just save it for after."
I think I'm going to enjoy killing him.
"Please, hurry. I feel really bad."
Finally, he's inside the cage and turning to close it.
Quietly, I rise.
"Best get on your hands and knees, I'm not having you throw up-"
I move.
He doesn't know what hit him, which, after everything he just said, is more than he deserves, but I don't have time to beat the shit out of him before I go.
When I shove Leo's body on the ground, he doesn't move. Despite me bouncing his head off the iron cage pretty hard, hard enough I thought it would kill him, I'm sure I catch the faintest sound of him breathing.
"Trust you to have a hard head," I mutter as I step out of the cage and slam it shut behind me, remembering to lock it and take the key with me.
Maybe some alone time will teach you to treat women better in the future, Leo.
Finding the way out is easy; just follow the draft.
I push open the cabin door and step out into a late afternoon day. The sky is darkening into night, and as if my stomach was just waiting for confirmation of the time, it chooses that moment to rumble. Loudly.
"Quiet you," I mutter. "I'll feed you after we save Kier."
Yes, I'm talking to my stomach. After more than likely suffering a concussion which would've sent an average human to the hospital for days if not weeks, a little strange behavior is okay in my eyes.
I close my hand tight around the keys to the cage before launching them as far away as I can, in the opposite direction to where I glimpse cabins in the distance. Once I've done that, I get to work stripping so I can shift.
Since I'm so far from the rest of the other cabins, it makes sense that I shift to wolf so I can get back faster. The benefit of those four legs is that they come with sharp teeth and claws, things I'm probably going to need when I get there.
So I drop to my hands and knees, close my eyes, and focus.
I'm not alpha or beta, or even one of the most dominant wolves in my pack. I'm somewhere near the middle, but what I lack in dominance I more than make up for in focus and determination.
I open my mind and let the wolf half of me sweep through, while the human side of me retreats.
You know that guy who you wouldn't mind as a mate? He's in trouble, so we're going to need to do this quick.
As always, there's no verbal response from the wolf side of me, just a sense of determination and understanding. An image of Kier flashes in my mind, one of him gazing up at me after he halted my plan to make him scream because he said he wanted to kiss me.
There's a tender look in his eyes, and I swallow hard at the memory.
Yeah, I love him too.
She sends me love and a wave of fierce anger that someone would try to hurt him, to take him from us. And I hold on to that anger because I'm going to need it.
It's a good thing I'm clinging so tightly to my fury because in the next minute my change is sweeping through me so fast that it feels like it's happening all at once.
I'm used to a steady and gradual change. This? I'm nowhere near used to this.
I swallow my scream of pain as my skin shifts to fur, my bones reshape, my vision sharpens, my nails lengthen and strengthen into sharp claws that can strip flesh from bone.
Agony isn't an accurate description. It doesn't come close.
But I fight off the need to scream, to cry out, to collapse on the ground and wallow from the pain of my fast shift.
I don't have time. Kier could be fighting and losing this challenge right now because he thinks he has to do it to save me. I don't have time to waste on my pain.
In seconds, it's over. It's done.
I shake my head and take a hesitant step forward to test my balance. The pain is still there. My skin-fur now-still feels rubbed raw, and my joints ache. And strangely enough, I still feel human, which can happen when you shift too fast. You don't give your mind enough time to prepare to embrace a new form.
For a regular human, it might be like getting out of bed when you're not fully awake yet. As if you jump out of bed the second the alarm goes off, and for that first step, your body doesn't know if it's still asleep or awake.
But only for that first step.
I take another, and my balance is stronger. My legs tremble less.
With the cabins still visible in the far distance, I don't even need to use my nose to guide me back. So, I set off. Back to the main cabins. And back to Kier.