I stretch, raising my arms above my head, rolling my neck back and forth. I look down at my human form rubbing across the batman tattoo on my stomach. I take note of the fact that I’m naked, relishing in it for a moment. If I could walk around naked all the time, it would be a lot simpler when shifting. I’ve lost count of the t-shirts, pairs of jeans, and underwear I’ve shredded, especially before I learned to control my panther. I pick up my discarded clothing, making sure to grab my boots and kutte, and amble into the house, dropping everything but my kutte by the front door. I stride buck ass naked down the hallway to my bedroom, laying my leather across the foot of the bed and go into the bathroom to take a shower. I start the water and let the bathroom fill with steam before I step into the stall under the hot spray. I close my eyes and let the water run over me. My mind is clear of constant chatter at the moment and her voice comes in loud and clear.
She’s anxious and talking to herself, pacing the length of the area holding her captive. I can feel her fear when two men enter her cell, the same two men who have been taunting her over and over, trying their damnedest to get her to shift, they think she’s an animal. I hear the man called Genocide contemplating her phase forcibly. If he does that, he’ll more than likely kill her all together.
I shut the water off, stepping out the stall. I don’t bother to towel off. I walk buck ass naked into my bedroom and straight into the closet for clean clothes. It’s time for me to find the woman who keeps talking to me, who calls to me and awakens the heart that’s been asleep for nearly a decade. After my mom died, I closed myself off to any potential relationship, choosing women who wouldn’t get attached just because we fucked. I have no desire, or at least I had no desire, to claim any woman as mine, certainly not enough to get her on the back of my bike or show her all parts of me that I hide.
Now, I’m drawn to a woman I’ve never met, all because she found me in my dreams. At first, I tried to ignore her, but the voice only got louder and the pull to her stronger.
I zip up my jeans, pulling a black t-shirt over my head, my kutte next, and sit on the edge of the bed to put on my socks. Once I’m dressed, I go to the living room for my boots.
It’s time for me to get to this woman and make her mine.
52
Maximus “Max
I’m pretty sure I’ve worn a hole in the floor from all the pacing I’ve done, but I can’t control all this nervous energy. I feel like screaming, crying, and crawling out of my skin. I want out of here, but more so than that, I want to kill the men who’ve been holding me here, taunting me, and insisting I’m a giant cat. It doesn’t matter how many times I tell them I’m just a mere human; it does nothing to ward them off from continuously humiliating me.
Out of frustration, I yank on the cuffs, the cold metal digging into my wrist and pinching my skin. The chains thud against the floor wiggling the bolt drilled into the concrete. I begin to wonder if I’m the first person they’ve kept hidden down here or if they make this a regular thing. I sit down on the cot and back into the corner, getting as small as I possibly can. I wish I could disappear into the wall. I bring my knees up to my chest, laying my head on my knees. Sadness rips through me like the dull blade of a knife. I have never felt so alone in my life, not even living by myself in the mountains. Holding my knees is the only thing keeping me from breaking apart. Genocide has isolated me from everything I know and love, and talking to Salvation is the only time I don’t feel alone. All I can hope is that he will save me, so I close my eyes and connect with him again.
“I don’t know where I am being held, but I think it’s in the mountains somewhere because it’s cold in the room I’m being held in. These men are relentless in their teasing. There are three of them. Please, Salvation, you have to get me out of here. I don’t understand how or why I’m linked to you, but please…”
I hear the lock on the metal door click, the noise breaking the connection. They’re back from wherever it is they’ve been. Probably comparing dick size or something, as I don’t think much intelligence lives in their heads. Genocide comes in followed by Jim, but the short man whose name I never got, isn’t with them. My heart rate spikes and beads of sweat form on the back of my neck. Goosebumps race across my skin, sending a chill up my spine and coiling my stomach.
“If she won’t phase, we’ll just have to make her,” Jim says, crouching in front of me. He holds his hand out toward Genocide. “Key,” he orders, wiggling his slimy fingers.
Genocide hands over a silver key and Jim releases me from the cuffs. I feel like a one-hundred-pound weight has been lifted off my arms. I rub at my skin,