My consciousness burrowsdeep into myself, shying away from the relentless torture of mybody. I will not break. I will not givein. I will not debase myself for the likes of you.The words repeat in my brain until the beatingmercifully stops. The hand holding my hair wrenches free, and Ifall face down onto the ground.
“Get up, Mynah.” Falcongrabs my shoulders, purposefully digging her fingers into mywounds, grinding her sweaty palms into the open flesh. The saltfrom her sweat scalds my skin.
“You have a job to do.”Condor jerks the door ajar wide enough for me to be thrown out likea trash bag. All tenderness and sorrow has disappeared from himnow.
“What do you want of me?”My jaw barely moves for the swelling around the joint, my wordsslurred with my pain.
“Go to your lover’s packand tell him that we are formally claiming Panther. When he comesto collect the boy, he had better be ready for war.” Condor’sfingers twitch at his side, and for a moment, I fear he plans tocontinue Falcon’s attack. Instead, he grabs the handle of the doorand swings it shut. In all my years here, I have never seen thedoor actually closed. Yet with the hardwood blocking me from thesight of the onlookers in the House, I am free to lay on the groundand regroup.
Antero,I whimper through my mental link.Stay in my room until I return. Sleep as long asyour body can handle it. Keep your mouth closed at allcosts. I feel the shiver of a response, anacknowledgement that he will obey.
Tears blur my eyes as I try to calm mynerves. My limbs quiver from the shock of everything I haveendured. My hair even feels sore from Falcon’s tight grip. I feelmy body hyperventilating, as the pain of my injuries slowlyregisters in my mind. When I am finally able to stand withoutswaying in agony, I wander down the road on my journey to findWolf.
Chapter 6
My feet are lazily slogging throughthe mud as I wander into the forest. The sunlight plays tricks onmy unfocused mind. Images of people dancing through the flowers andleaves, laughing as they frolic, haunt me like ghosts that liveinside the greens. I twirl along with them until a root catches meunawares. I land with my back in the mud, its cooling liquid a balmto my injuries. Feet crunch on the fallen branches nearby, but I donot care anymore. In this one moment, I am free. I am not a part ofany House; I am a child of sunlight and wind.
“Lupe! What have they doneto you?” Wolf cries, scooping me into his arms.
My head leans back over his biceps,and I watch the world fly by, my feet dangling limply as Wolf runsthrough the forest. He proves his strength as he hurtles betweentrees, carrying my added weight as though I am nothing more than abag of leaves. I can feel my body jerking sporadically, the shockof my injuries finally seeping into my bones. Wolf bays as heapproaches a giant cavern in the woods, a place that I do notrecognize nor could I find ever again on my own.
An elderly man meets Wolf at thecave’s entrance, a reddish-brown mask obscuring his features. Mymind hallucinates wildly as I stare at the stranger. Instead ofseeing the man, a hairy beast with eyes that stream bloodapproaches me. When his mouth opens, I see a fiery creature in histhroat, croaking with laughter as it prepares to attackme.
I cling tighter to Wolf’s embrace, awhine escaping my lips. “Please, don’t let him hurt me! Wolf!”Clawing a path around Wolf’s neck, I attempt to put him between meand the hallucination. The stranger’s mask appears to glow as if itis fashioned from red hot coals. His fingers reach for me,appearing as grimy, razor-sharp claws, and I scream with myterror.
“Get her inside, Wolf,”the stranger commands, his voice sounding like thunder. “Who woulddo this to her?”
“Condor, I’d wager,” Wolfanswers with a snarl over his shoulder as he enters the darkness ofthe cavern. It is lit by the sunlight spewing through the mouth ofthe cave. I feel him shifting back and forth, searching for a placeto lay me down. “Fox?” he questions where to place me when no emptybed can be found.
“Carefully set her on theground, face down,” Fox instructs, hovering over my shoulder. Inthe dimness of the cave, only his dark eyes gleam. For me, it is avast improvement from the living nightmare I had first imagined himto be.
“Will you help her, Fox?”Wolf questions, his fingers tighten around me protectively. Thegesture is agonizing for me, and I writhe against histouch.
“Of course! Do you evenhave to ask?” Fox shouts, his voice echoing off the closest rockwalls.
“She is not officially apart of the pack, so I had to make sure your motivesare—”
“You know me better thanthat, Wolf. I help the injured, no matter what house they arefrom.” With careful, skilled fingers, Fox untangles my skin from mytattered rag of a shirt. I whimper at the unusual, agonizingsensations. He swears violently at the sight of my shredded back.“My gods! It’s not the first time, either! There are old scarshere, Wolf.”
Wolf’s knuckles crack as he pacesbehind me. “I have tried for years to get her to join us here. Shenever spoke of whippings; she never even appeared injured whenwe’ve met in the past.”
“Then she is a goodactress, Wolf. I’d guess she’s always had an open wound somewhereon her body ever since she joined that stinking place.”
“I’m going to kill them!”Wolf seethes with fury, his body quivering with the emotion, somuch so that I can feel the disturbance of air breezing over myback. It cools the wounds like ice knives spreading the gashes openwider, freezing and burning at the same time.
“Wolf,” I wheeze, mybreaths laboring as I lay on my broken ribs. I speak just to gethim to stop moving, to cease the torture he’s unknowinglyperforming on me. “War coming. Condor waits.”
“Rest now, Lupe,” Wolfwhispers low in my ear, his lips brushing my temple. “You will stayhere until you are well.” I reach up to clasp his hand, fallingasleep clinging to his arm.
***
Sometime
