Here's the second.
Titus blinked
awake. His head ached and he felt as though cotton wool smothered his brain.
His vision blurred and his arms ached. He pulled his arm down and growled at
the fire around his wrists. When his eyes focused, he glared at the silver
cuffs that shackled him to the wall. No wonder his arms felt as though they had
lead weights attached. Some bastard had chained his wrists to the wall either
side of his head. He could neither stand nor lower his arms so he sat there and
swore vengeance on whoever had done this to him.
Another
concerted yank at the chains set his flesh on fire again. Once he broke free,
someone would suffer for this. Another few blinks to fully clear his vision,
and he focused on Viola’s face as she stared down at him. “You didn’t need to
drug me. I couldn’t have been more wrong about you and by way of apology, I
took down a gazelle and left it on our doorstep.”
He shut up when
he realized he sounded like a human’s pet cat presenting its owner with a dead
mouse, but then Lykae didn’t keep pets. Usually, just being around their inner
beasts traumatized domestic animals. Then again, Lykae lived to be the baddest
things out there.
Viola staggered
backward. “Thank goodness you’re awake. It wasn’t me that gave you knock out
drops, but they’ve kept you out for hours. I worried you might never wake. As
near as we can tell, it’s early afternoon now. And really? You brought me a
dead gazelle? That’s the nicest thing anyone’s done for me in years.”
His inner wolves
howled with satisfaction that he’d hunted and provided for…a woman he needed to
claim his true mate, but they still raged at the silver restraints. Whatever
drugs he’d ingested, they left him lightheaded and weary. “At least I’ve done
something right then. If you didn’t drug me, who did? And where the hell are
we?”
Viola sat before
him, one leg curled under her, her twisted knee stretched straight out beneath
her long skirt. “Do you remember Tansy talking about cats with women faces? She
was right. They hunted me down, but Iris burrowed into the murder thorn you
rescued Tansy from.”
Titus’s hackles
rose. “Did they hurt her?”
Viola shook her
head. “They threatened her, but thank goodness they didn’t do more than that. I
thought they intended to kill me with her watching. It was almost a relief when
they flashed me here and threw me in their dungeon with Tansy and Daniel. We’ve
been her most of the night and half of today, but you scared me when you wouldn’t
wake up. We can’t find a way out, and I think those things might be nocturnal.
Titus, as near as we can tell, it’s just before mid-day, so we’re probably okay
for a while. I daren’t even think about what’ll happen when it gets dark?”
Solid stonewalls
surrounded them and a small grill high above let in the tiniest glimmer of
daylight. The only way out was through a solid oak door, but it wouldn’t last
long against his primal beast. Only, with the silver binding him in human form,
he could neither change shape nor flash away. Hell, he couldn’t even stand up.
He’d never felt so useless in his life.
Concentrating
hard, he felt the fog clear from his brain and his thought processes went up a
gear. “Cat things? They sound like sphinxes to me, but they’re so dam reclusive
some wolves claim they died out a couple of centuries back. Your pack’s
territory abuts Condita, the sphinx homeland, and the forgotten territories.
Did no one ever need to explore the surrounding land? Don’t tell me, Zebadiah
forbade it. “
Viola nodded,
and although she said nothing, she hated that Zebadiah had conspired with the
sphinxes against his own pack.
Titus jaw
tightened and he spoke through gritted teeth. “When I get out of here, he’s
going to answer some questions. Anyway, your cat creatures. Are their bodies
like oversized versions of lions?”
Viola nodded.
“I’ve never seen one, but from what people have said, I think so. In their
shifted form, they have long tails with a tufted end and sleek bodies covered
in fur. Just like Lykae, they can turn human at will. My hands were bound when
they dragged you in here and chained you to the wall. Not long after I got my
hands free and tore strips off my skirt to keep the silver from branding your
flesh. It’s not a good shield, but it’s the best I could come up with.”
His smile
blossomed, as lopsided as his broken nose. “You did well. I’d have been in a
bad way if you hadn’t thought on your feet.”
Viola winced at
words, but for the life of him he couldn’t understand why. Behind her, a woman
whimpered.
“Who’s there?”
Titus demanded.
Viola shook her
head. “They captured Daniel and Tansy too. Those damn sphinxes of yours had a
list and they came looking for the four of us. At least they didn’t want Iris.”
In the far
corner, Daniel sat hunched around Tansy as she huddled on his lap and sobbed
against his shoulder. He frowned and stroked her hair. “I feel so bloody
helpless. Those things plan to force Tansy and Viola to mate with their males.
Once they’ve bred a few cat babies, they’ll kill them. From what they said, it
won’t be a pleasant death either.”
Tansy sobbed
harder.
Titus growled
and yanked at his chains. His muscles bulged and his face turned bright red.
The stench of cold silver scorching his flesh filled the room, but he never
made a sound. The chains didn’t give an inch.
Viola shuffled
closer to him and laid her hand on his arm. “Stop. Please. Save your strength
until you get a chance to escape. It’s probably too late for the rest of us,
but the whole town knows how you decimated Zebadiah’s thugs. You have to get
out of here and tell King Caleb what’s going on.”
Titus’s primal
wolf clawed at his chest. It wanted out to protect its mate. Even his natural
wolf bared its teeth and paced inside him. Still trapped in human form, Titus
gave the chains a final tug. They burned red bands around his wrists, but he
never winced or complained. Instead, he turned his amber-eyed glare on Daniel.
“Why the hell haven’t you turned primal and busted the women out of here?”
Daniel extended
his leg and revealed the slim silver band clasped around his ankle. “I’m as
useless as you. Only Viola seems unaffected by the cuff. In fact she used its
rough edges to saw through her bonds and free her arms then she freed ours.
Your chains are beyond us though. Sadly, Zebadiah and his thugs beat Viola’s
wolf forms out of her before they even developed so can’t flash away and fetch
help.”
“That’s
impossible.” Titus growled, furious at that thought of anyone laying a hand on
her, let alone beating her, curdled his gut. Once he escaped this cell—and he
never doubted that he would—he’d hunt down her attackers and see that they died
slow, painful deaths. No one hurt his hedgewitch and lived.
I don't know what I exected my cover artise, Dar Albert to do with this. I had visions of a chained up Lykae seduced by the pack's omega. Thankfully, Dar knew better.
I still think her vision's pure genius.
To Seduce an Omega goes on sale on Tueday 19th January. If you want to know more, click here.
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