Love's Revenge

Chapter forty eight

My voice is hoarse and rotten by the time I have finally given up on hope of Zane coming back for me. My heart burns with anger. And fear. 

How could he leave me here? Panic overwhelms me once again as I bang on the rusty bars as loud as I can.

"Somebody, please!" My cries are now faint and desperate. Tears are streaming down my face as I feel compelled to rest. I slide my body down the bars, falling to my knees in anguish. 

I feel sick at the thought of Zane dying. Will I even know if it happens? What will Jax do to me when he finds out what I did not do. 

I close my eyes, letting another single tear drag down my puffy cheeks. 

The only thoughts running through my head are vicious images of Zane getting brutally slaughtered by his brother. I hear a crack of thunder outside, causing me to jump. 

There has to be a way out of here. 

I drag myself back to my feet and squint into the dark area. The walls appear to be the same as when I was first here. They are an ugly rotten cement color. The familiar odor of mildew enters my nostrils as I survey the area. Near the door that Zane left, I see a key hook on the wall. 

It is made of an old dark wood and hangs six sets of different metal keys. 

My lips part slightly as I make eye contact with my freedom. 

Just out of reach. 

I spin in a small anxious circle, looking around my cage for anything I can use to create some sort of stick to reach the far wall. 

The keys are located a good ten feet away from me. There is no way my arm can even reach half of that. I let out a deep sigh, pulling the thin mattress up to search underneath. 

Bingo.

I wrap my fingers around the same small metal spoon that I had once used to eat.

I mentally cringe at the memory that seems like a million years ago. This is how it all started. Zane was my prisoner, then I was his. I entered him in the Brawl and even bet against him. 

Then he escaped, taking me hostage. 

How could I have fallen for somebody so... dangerous. 

I shake my head, brushing off the bad things that he had done. Because there were also things that he had done for me.

I will keep apologizing for what I did to you until my last dying breath. He once told me.

I stare at the cold metal spoon for a few minutes, contemplating if it actually will be useful in helping me escape this wretched cell. 

Pick the lock, my wolf urges. 

I narrow my eyes at the shiny metal. 

"Okay... let's see what you got, little spoon." I breathe out, heaving myself back up to head for the lock. 

I stick both arms out of the bars and angle them awkwardly back to brush against the lock inside the door. 

I stick the back end of the utensil into the hole and wiggle it around. It catches on something inside. I feel a glimmer of hope wash over me. 

I stick my tongue out of my mouth to better help me concentrate. 

I wiggle the spoon a little more until I hear a satisfying click. I freeze, an evil grin spreading across my face. 

I pull my arms back into the cage and wrap them around the bars. 

I give the door a hearty push and hear a loud clang. 

The door does not budge as I roughly slam my body into it. "Oh come on!" I yell out, pushing and pulling the bars back and forth in frustration. 

I scream for another five minutes until I find myself out of breath once more. 

Next I try to fit my small figure through the gaps in the bars. It is no use because the bars are too closely placed together. I shift into my wolf form and attempt the same action again. My body is still too big to fit through the small gaps. The cage does not budge. 

I grab the ratty blue sheets off of the thin mattress and wad them up into a makeshift rope. I wad the spoon into the top of the rope hoping that it will give the blanket some force. 

I chunk the front end of my sheet out of the bars like a lasso. It reaches a good five feet before falling to the floor in an unraveled heap. 

I groan, pulling the sheet back into the cell. I attempt this a few more times before I decide that the sheet is simply not long enough to make the jump. 

In order to reach the wall, I would have to let go of the sheet completely. 

I narrow my eyes on my target, reaching my arm behind me, ready to throw. I let out a slow breath and say a silent prayer. 

The sheet glides through the air and out of my fingertips. It moves in slow motion as the spoon knocks the oak board onto the floor. The keys hit the floor with different clatters. 

I lay on the ground and poke my shoulders out of the cage, reaching for the tail end of the sheet. I snatch it up, pulling it back slowly. 

There is one set of keys that landed on top of the fabric and I am willing to bed a million dollars that the golden pair of keys with the tag that has the number 7 on it is my number.

I keep my hands steady as I pull the sheet back, closely watching as the fabric begins to move faster than the keys. 

I pull the sheet as hard as I can, hoping that it will yank the pair of keys into my reach. Unfortunately this is the one time that I can do a magic trick. The sheet yanks back, but the keys remain in the same spot.

I yell a few profanities out as I shove my torso through the bars. I reach so hard I feel like I am stretching my arms past their breaking point. 

My fingertips graze the keychain holding the keys together. 

Then I hear slow footsteps approaching. Two black boots pause in front of the set of keys.

A pair of long slender fingers reach down to pick up the set of keys. My head slowly turns up as far as it can and I begin to gape.