Dungeon

RORY

Flailing around, presumably looking like a complete idiot—but because I’m small I can get away with it—I knock into an unwavering body, built just like a wolf.

So this isn’t the work of “she.” Maybe I should name her.

Evil lady.

Maybe that’s too presumptuous. I don’t know anything about her. “She” will work, I guess.

Back to why there’s some wolf kidnapping me and dragging me along with him to wherever we’re going.

I hear a few different grunts from different people, telling me there are more than two wolves in on this.

Is this a “hate the human” thing again? The last time something like this happened was when I died.

And my life got a whole lot more confusing.

I was thrust into a world of mystery and intrigue and the unknown.

I didn’t know anyone anymore and I had to leave my mama behind, especially for her own safety.

I don’t know who I am, or what I am.

I’m suddenly thrown into a dark, dingy place, down a flight of stairs, and into a cage, with steel bars enclosing me into it.

I look back out through the bars to identify my captors, but it is too dark to make them out clearly. We’re still inside the pack, thus they must be pack members.

There are a number of people who aren’t enamored with the idea of a human living in their pack. But not many would do something this daring.

They know I’m staying here with the Alpha’s blessing, and doing something like this would be going against his orders.

But perhaps they believe the consequences wouldn’t be too dire, considering I’m just a guest here.

Yet they don’t know I’m Everett’s mate, and entrapping me is a dangerous move. Who knows what Everett will do?

Faint chuckles can be heard from several captors as the distance grows between them and me.

They’re leaving me here, in this cell.

Why?

A loud clang of a door that I heard open when we came in tells me they’ve just left, with no explanation or reasoning.

“It’s not every day we get to see a little human girl in here,” a menacing voice comes from behind me that almost makes me shriek.

I snap my head around, my body following, and back up right to the bars. My eyes widen, attempting to see in this dimly lit dungeon.

“Who are you?” I ask, my voice shaking. I bite back the whimper threatening to escape my lips and calm myself down.

I haven’t quite taken in the fact that I technically have nothing to be afraid of. Whoever this person is, he can’t kill me.

I’m stronger than him, because I can resurrect and he can’t. If I die, I’ll come back. If he dies, he’ll stay dead.

That gives me unlimited chances at successfully coming away from this situation. It’s inevitable I’ll stay alive.

“Well, little girl,” he begins, stepping closer to me and more into the light that shines through the petite window from outside the cell.

I can now see his face clearly, and I realize he’s a rogue; he holds that aura. He bows to no one, radiates independence and power.

He has that look about him too, his countenance seemingly dangerous, dark features with that rough hint, drained by the lack of sunlight in here.

I assume he’s been here for a while. And as I look around the cell closer, I notice other faces in the dark: rogues.

This is the dungeon.

This is where they keep their rogue prisoners. In here. And I was put in here.

Because whoever it was thought I’d be eaten? Because I’m a weak little human girl and easily preyed on?

Rogues seem to like me usually.

“I’m trapped in here, and so are you. Let’s be friends. I’m Eden.”

He extends his hand to me with a devilish smirk, and for some reason, it makes me eye his movements.

He doesn’t appear very trustworthy, but I guess that’s why he’s in here. Although Everett locks up every rogue that trespasses on his lands, he sees it as a crime in itself.

“Over there, that’s Ian,” he declares, pointing behind him to a skinny guy with a contrasting dark aura.

“He’s Red,” he says, pointing to the one at the far back of the cell.

“And I don’t know the names of the two over there,” he tells me, gesturing over to a dark corner where the two men just glare at me, not maliciously but curiously.

“What’s your name?” Red asks, moving over to us.

“Rory,” I announce with confidence, trying to appear unafraid of these wolves.

Strangely enough, even with the nameless ones in the corner staring me down, I don’t feel too threatened by any of them.

“Why are you in here?” Ian interrogates, narrowing his eyes at me. “You’re a human. They must want to kill you, little girl.”

“Why would you say that? How would putting me in here kill me?” I question, although already knowing the answer.

But that’s the point. They should be trying to hurt me, and he’s proving that they do hurt human girls.

So why not me? Not that I don’t like living and hate the feeling of dying, my life force sucked out of me.

But why don’t these rogues hurt me? Why don’t any rogues hurt me? I need answers.

“We’re rogues, Rory. Rogues kill weak defenseless little girls like you. Especially ones who consort with pack wolves.

“We hate pack wolves. We hate this pack. They have locked us down here,” Red explains.

“Then why are you not killing me?” I ask.

“Because…” He pauses, staring at me like he has no explanation for it, like he doesn’t know what to tell me.

Maybe they don’t even know why they can’t, why they just find themselves protecting me, but they do.

Perhaps it’s because they’re rogues, and rogue territory is unprotected grounds. This “she” can get me there.

Maybe these rogues are like my protectors when I’m there, from “she.” Or perhaps that’s a reach. Everything is at the moment.

I have no answers, and without them, I can’t understand what’s going on, or what danger I’m in.

But what I do know is Achlys is an otherworldly being, and even she is afraid of “she.” I could see it on her face.

And just before I left limbo—or should I say, she pushed me out of there—I think she saw her. I think “she” was there. Whoever “she” is, she’s powerful.

I just need to know how much. I just need answers. And Achlys has them, I’m sure among very few.

Maybe my parents have them, my birth parents. Maybe they can tell me who I am.

I settle in after a while, giving up hope that I can just wait it out and ignore them. They have no answers for me.

They just…feel like they should protect me, at least that’s what Eden tells me.

“How long have you all been in here?” I ask.

“Those two were recent,” Red answers, pointing to the nameless ones in the corner who sit silently, just watching my every movement.

“I’ve been down here for a few weeks with Eden, Ian’s been here over a month.”

“For what?”

“I accidentally crossed over the border,” Ian states bitterly. “I didn’t even mean to. Yet I get stuck down here. I hate pack wolves. They can’t decide what to do with me though.

“That’s why I’ve been here for so long. Plus, I may have been part of a group that attacked one of their guys a while back. But I didn’t do anything,” he says defensively.

“Why are you here? Why are you in this pack’s territory? You clearly know about wolves.”

“I was adopted by a wolf, but my pack ran me out and tried to kill me. The Alpha here found me hurt out in rogue territory and helped me. He told me I could stay here indefinitely.

“I don’t think he knows I’m in here, but other wolves in the pack don’t like that a human is staying here,” I explain honestly.

“Warrior wolves,” Red comments, staring at me. “That’s who brought you in here, if you were wondering. They’re the same wolves who brought me in.”

Of course, the warrior wolves. They were scorned earlier by Ace and this is their revenge.

“So you like the pack wolves here?” Ian asks. “The ones that imprisoned me?”

“Yes,” I admit. “Something you want to say about it?” I question daringly.

I want to test the boundaries. Can I really say anything and they won’t hurt me? So far, I’m unharmed and they’ve remained civil, even friendly.

“No,” he utters with a raised brow. “You’re mated to one of them, right? You definitely are. Which one?”

I narrow my eyes at him and stay quiet, not really wanting to share that information.

But they won’t hurt me, right?

They could use me for blackmail if they knew, but they won’t, because they can’t. They feel the need to protect me.

“The Alpha, right? Am I right, little girl? You’re the Alpha’s mate. But those wolves don’t know that, do they? When he finds you’re in here, he’ll flip his lid.”

I watch him, and all the others, trying to see what they would do with this information Ian has deduced. But they all just seem curious.

“Alpha Everett of the Shadow Blood pack and his little human mate who clearly is more than she seems because I can’t even use this information to get me out of here.

“I don’t want to hurt you, I can’t hurt you. I don’t think any of us can. Yet, you’re the Alpha’s mate. That sucks. You suck.”

“Thanks,” I reply sarcastically, and he chuckles, along with Red and Eden. Ian definitely has warmed up to me, probably because he has a few more answers, which I would love too.

I really need those answers, because I’m going insane right now.

How to get them? Go back to limbo. But is that too dangerous? And is there a limit to how many lives I get?

So many questions and so few answers.