Masked

CHAPTER 35 | prisoner

Middlemarch Estate

Parker's hearing returned before her other senses. From somewhere nearby someone grunted and then shuffled. A moment later a high-pitched scream cut through the silence. While it wasn't anywhere near, it was close enough to hear the terror in the woman's voice, and she became more aware of her surroundings. Where am I?

Something was wrong. She couldn't move. She couldn't speak.

Parker attempted to fight through the haze that had settled in her brain like a thick fog on a winter's morning. A dull pain pulsed throughout her body, increasing in intensity until it was a raging torrent threatening to force her back under. She pushed away the acute throbbing pain that threatened to drown her, and focused on her arms. After what seemed an eternity, she felt movement in her fingers, followed by her hand, and eventually down through her limbs and to the remainder of her body.

The stone floor she lay on was cold, damp, and uneven. An agonizing groan boiled up from within her, echoing off the walls and through the chamber, but she forced her body into an upright position and pushed the dizziness aside. With more effort than it would normally take, she forced open her eyes, only to discover that her vision was limited. She touched a hand to her face and was shocked to discover the entire right side swollen, her eye socket tender, and her eyelid almost shut.

Her throat burned when she tried to speak, and she winced with the additional pain. "Jesus Christ, where am I?"

Blood? Why am I tasting blood?

She tentatively touched her lip to discover it, too, was swollen. The last of the mist cleared and her memory returned in full force.

Matheo.

Her struggle to escape.

His cruel and soulless eyes as he beat her unconscious.

She suppressed the panic building within her, before she completely broke down. Her self-preservation kicked in, and she brought her breathing under control.

I need to get out of here.

She looked around. Towering stone walls merged seamlessly with the floor. A small opening high up allowed a fraction of light to enter the room. Shadows danced and settled in areas the sun was unable to breach. She strained her eyes and her pulse raced—shackles hung from metal rings, which were, in turn, bolted to the walls.

"Where the hell am I?

"You got it right the first time. You're in hell."

Parker hauled in a breath and scrambled backward, away from the voice that had sprung from a darkened corner of the chamber.

The faceless voice rushed to placate her. "I am sorry, I did not mean to scare you."

She halted her retreat and considered her next move—this could be a trap. Her labored pants, and the quiet, even breathing of her companion, were the only things breaking the uneasy silence.

The other prisoner broke the impasse. "My name is Joséphine."

The woman's voice was soft, with a melodic quality to it. Her French accent was well defined. "And, may I ask, with whom I am sharing this five-star suite?"

There was something in the tone of her voice that encouraged Parker to relax. "Um, Parker. Parker Johnson." Her voice cracked under the strain.

She crept closer to the shadowed prisoner. The woman, also bruised and battered, was securely chained to the wall. Her hands and arms were outstretched, each arm held in place by a shackle. The woman's long blond hair was matted and dirty. Her blood-soaked clothes were torn, revealing scars in varying degrees of healing.

Parker's concern overrode her sense of danger. "Are you okay?" Anxiety sat heavily on her chest as she pulled at the woman's shackles, attempting to pry them away from the wall.

"Don't worry. It looks worse than it is. I wouldn't bother." Joséphine nodded toward the rusty cuffs "Unless you have the key?"

She sat back, resting on her knees, and contemplated her next step.

"So," Joséphine said. "Who did you get on the wrong side of?"

Parker shuddered—even thinking about him made her skin crawl. "Matheo. You?"

"Elise." She craned her head and sniffed the air. "You are Human."

Parker was still unsure of whether she could trust the chained woman. "And you're...not."

Joséphine's surprise turned to curiosity, and she narrowed her eyes. "They usually put the Humans in the other prison buildings. What makes you so special?"

She gave an uneasy shrug and evaded the question by asking one of her own. "Why are you locked up?"

She saw the conflict warring within the female Werewolf's eyes.

"I know more about your community than you might realize."

Silence hung over the room until Joséphine finally spoke. "Our alpha has been here too long. I came here to bring her back." She hesitated, before continuing. "It turns out that she was up to something quite... uhhh... unexpected. Something I didn't agree with."

"You mean you found out your precious alpha was committing genocide?" Parker's tone was laced with bitterness, the memory of the deaths she had witnessed still fresh in her mind.

Joséphine avoided looking at Parker and focused on the stone floor. "Be that as it may, I was ready to return home to inform the elders of what she had been up to. Not all of us believe in the purity of the We—" She stopped and tilted her head. "Go back to where they left you," she said. "Someone is coming."

She scrambled back to the spot where she had awoken, lay on the ground, feigning sleep, and attempted to control her erratic breathing.

The sound of a key pushing into an iron lock echoed throughout the chamber. Her stomach lurched as the door swung open. Feeling an unknown presence near her, she held her breath, too scared to open her eyes. Someone kicked at her ribs and her breath came out in a whoosh when blinding pain shot through her body.

She cried out as a hand grabbed a fistful of her hair and dragged her up. Bile rose up from the pit of her stomach into her mouth when she came face to face with Matheo. His malicious grin brought her to a new level of terror, and her entire body shook uncontrollably.

"Now, Bella, you weren't pretending, were you?"

She remained silent, the agony so intense it removed her ability to speak.

His warm, musty breath blasted across her swollen face, and his expression turned lecherous. "No matter. Once my alpha has finished with you, that's when my fun will begin."

She attempted to pry his fingers from her hair. "I'd die before I let you near me, you sack of shit."

With a roar, Matheo threw her against the nearest wall.

He snarled, and his body shook with anger. "The only thing keeping you alive is the information Alpha Lauzon wants from you. I will make you pay for making a fool out of me."

"Well, you'd better not kill her, then," Joséphine said. "The alpha would be most displeased—and we all know what happens when she's not happy."

Matheo spat at Joséphine and stormed out the door.

Parker huddled in a ball and rocked back and forth, not wanting to give Matheo the satisfaction of knowing the extent of her pain.

Chains clanked as Joséphine pulled against her restraints. "Are you okay?"

She took a deep breath. "Give me a moment." Her voice shook with the effort to speak.

Joséphine swore under her breath. "I think you had better tell me how you came to be involved in this mess."