Lana stared at her sister as though she were in disbelief. Then, she jumped up and embraced her.
“Lana, you are going to crush my ribs,” Lucy protested, laughing weakly.
Everyone scrounged around the cave and found Dizag’s hidden stash of food and other items. There was enough so that everyone, prisoners and rescuers had something to eat.
They decided to rest the night in the cave. It was much safer than trying to venture out in the darkness, especially considering that some of the prisoners were barely strong enough to walk.
It was a good thing that shifters healed very quickly, or they could be stuck in the cave for weeks waiting for some of them to recover.
The majority of the hostages were women, although there were a couple of men. A few of the women were dragon shifters, but most were shifters from all different clans.
They had each been forced to wear the silver bracelets that prevented them from shifting, making it easier for their captors to control them.
Lucy told Lana, Nick, Sara, and Clarence her story.
“At first, Brian was amazing. He had a very nice house and drove a sports car. I was working as a waitress at a high end restaurant. As you know, I was sharing an apartment with a couple of friends. I wasn’t interested in settling down, so when Brian first came in, I didn’t pay any attention to him,” Lucy paused to take a drink of water, and looked at her family.
Smiling wryly, she continued her story. “When he is cleaned up, he is very handsome. He flattered me and paid a lot of attention to me. Finally, I said that I would go out with him. When things started getting serious, I brought him home to meet you guys.”
She laughed without any mirth and said, “I should have listened to you guys when you said that something wasn’t right and that you didn’t trust him. I thought it was just because you wanted me to marry a lion shifter and come back to the pride land. I never had a clue that Brian was a shifter, let alone a dragon shifter. He acted just like the rest of the humans I interacted with.”
“As you know,” Lucy said, nodding toward Lana, “everything was great for a long time. He continued to treat me great, and I felt like the luckiest woman in the world. The only issue was those long business trips I told you that he was taking.”
Lucy shook her head. “I feel so stupid. He must have known who I was the entire time. He must have had a plan to do this to me and try to get back the Northlands from Alix, using the different shifters he attacked. Most of those he took and kept alive are members of prominent families. The ones he killed were not. He killed them because he enjoyed it.”
She paused and tears glistened in her eyes. “I feel so stupid for falling for his game. I should have known that everything was too perfect. I was blind.”
“He is a master of his game,” Clarence said, holding Lucy close to him. He knows exactly what to do to get everyone under control.”
Lucy nodded and smiled weakly at her father. “One night he came in. He was no longer the loving Brian I had known, but some raging monster. He was filthy, bloody, and he reeked of garbage. He tore apart the inside of the house. Then, he hurt me pretty badly in a lot of ways. Afterward, he smiled at me and said, ‘I’ve been waiting a long time to do that. It’s time you finally learn your place, woman.’”
Lucy took another long drink of water and said, “He hit me so hard in the head that I blacked out. The next thing I knew, I was inside a cage with nine other female shifters. Some of them were in pretty bad shape. I tried to keep count of the ones who died, but after a while I gave up. I could only focus on staying alive.”
Sara wrapped her arms around Lucy. She laid her head on her mother’s chest and sobbed. Finally, she lifted her head. “That is the last tear I shed for Brian or Dizag, for myself, and for everyone. I’ve been given a second chance to live my life for myself and those lost.”
“That’s my girl,” Clarence said.
Lucy looked at Lana and said, “Baby Sister. You’re my hero. I knew that you would find me, though. Dizag must have thought so too, because he talked about you a lot and all the ways he was going to torture you. I knew he wouldn’t win.”
Lana grinned and said, “Who would I pick on and fight with if something bad happened to you?”
They changed the subject and talked about the interesting things that Lucy had enjoyed. Her favorite was watching The Phantom of the Opera on Broadway.
Soon, though, sheer exhaustion overtook her, and she fell asleep, with her head resting on her mother’s lap.
Nick arranged for guards to be posted on the outside of the cave and at different stages along the long tunnel that led to a large open area where everyone was rested.
There were no more dragons coming. Either the group of fighters had destroyed Dizag’s entire army or the other dragon shifters had received the message that Dizag and others were dead or taken prisoner.
Either way, it meant that there was a peaceful night.
Since the guards had rotated shifts and took turns sleeping, everyone was well rested when the sun came up.
The food and a good night’s rest had helped all of the prisoners. Even the weakest among them, the once who had been near death, were able to stand on their own and walk. If needed, they could catch a ride on a bear, wolf, or lion in their human form.
They grabbed the dragon shifters from the cages. They were hog-tied and bound to the backs of the largest bears
