Eve

Ugh, my head was throbbing as I woke up. I groaned as I sat up and found myself in an unfamiliar place that was cold and smelled like straw and a musty basement.

"Hey, are you okay?" asked an unfamiliar female voice to my left.

"Well, I'm alive, if that counts for anything," I replied, wincing as I sat up, the straw under me poked in very unpleasant places. Then, I groaned when I realized I had a blindfold around my eyes and arms tied behind my back with shackles around each ankle.

"It's better than being dead," the voice of a young boy added.

"Where the heck are we?" I asked.

"They blindfolded us and made it pitch black so that we can't tell anyone we are bonded with where we are," Woman #1 added.

"What is your name, dear?" asked woman #2.

"My name is Evelyn Denton. I am from the Nantahala tribe in North Carolina."

The young boy gasped and then asked, "Are you the wolf Guardian from the video?"

"Tanner! You shouldn't ask something like that," said woman #1.

I wrapped my arms around my knees, then said, "Yeah, I'm the girl from the video."

"How did you end up back in the hands of Father Lucas?" asked woman #2.

"What do you mean? I was taken by Elder Payatt… Not Father Lucas…"

Woman #1 gasped and asked, "Mato, brought you here?"

I remember learning that Elder Payatt's first name was Mato… How well does this woman know Elder Payatt to call him by his first name?

"Yes, I know for a fact that it was Payatt who took me," I said, "He took my sister thinking she was me. When he learned he took the wrong girl, he used her as bait to lure me in and knocked me, my mate, and a few others with a tranquilizer gun." The woman started crying, so I asked, "Who are you to, Elder Payatt?"

Woman #1 sniffled, "My name is Dawn Payatt, Mato's wife, and the boy next to me is our grandson Tanner. Father Lucas took us to manipulate Mato into doing horrible things. Father Lucas promised Mato that he would spare our lives if he listened to him."

I heard Tanner sniffle, then say, "Father Lucas killed my mom and dad."

Oh, Great Spirits… What has that monster done with Clay and the others? Is Father Lucas using me to make them do unimaginable things?

"So if you are Elder Payatt's wife, then who is the other woman I heard talking?" I asked.

"My name is Kelly Tocho; I am Laquetta Tocho's daughter. Father Lucas killed everyone in our tribe but me; he is holding me captive to manipulate my mother into killing everyone," she explains, "My mother has never been a big fan of wolves, so it wasn't hard for her to decide."

"Why does she hate wolves?" I asked.

"Because wolves have been on the top of the totem pole for a very long time, and she believes that the big cats should be on top," Kelly says.

"Do you know if we are in cells or if we are in a large room?" I asked as I rose to my feet. I heard the rattling of chains connected to the shackles around my ankles.

"We are in a large open room where we have been chained to the walls like animals," Dawn explained.

"This had to have been planned," I stated, "We are probably in the school or somewhere close to it if Kelly is here."

"You're right," Kelly says, "I don't know why I didn't think of that, not that it really helps any."

"Are we the only ones in here?" I asked.

"They bring others in from time to time, but they have all been killed already," Dawn explains, "I remember her saying that her name was Harmony; she had been brought in with a boy named Lincoln."

"I know Harmony and Lincoln; they are both from my pack," I explained, "It proves even more that this was all planned from the beginning and that we are under the school somewhere because Harmony was found dead a few weeks ago. Where we all believed we would be safe, but we were actually walking into our doom."

"I think they were mates," said Dawn, "After the girl was killed, the boy wouldn't stop crying."

"I don't know if they were mates, but I do know that Lincoln was her friend's brother. It's possible they just knew each other really well," I said as I walked as far as I could but met nothing but open air.

I was still butt-ass naked and shivering from the cold, and I had no clue where they expected us to use the bathroom.

"I hate to ask this, but where do they expect us to use the bathroom?" I asked.

"They don't care where; that is what the straw is for," Explains Kelly, "they come in every few days to clean it and feed us when they remember to do so." 

I have no clue how much time has passed as we waited. I had been curled up on the floor asleep when I was jolted awake by a familiar stinging sensation I would recognize anywhere.

"Wakey, wakey little she-wolf," The familiar voice of Father Lucas had me stumbling to my feet with a snarl, which bought me a jab from the damn cattleprod.

"Now that wasn't very nice," he taunts, "I think you and I need to pay a visit to the camera room. I think the world needs to see more of the girl who ruined their lives."

I was dragged out of the room and shoved into a different room before they removed the chains and blindfold. I hissed from the blinding light; when the glare dissipated, I found myself in what looked like a dungeon with cement walls and a camera in the corner.

I was startled when the tiny opening in the door was opened to reveal Father Lucus's ugly face. "That camera in the corner is live; anyone who watches can see the demon you are. Oh, and this cell was designed so that you can't shift or contact your pack mates, and you have no clue where you are, so good luck being saved this time."

I spit in his face, then flipped him the bird before I sat on the straw-covered floor with my arms wrapped around my knees. I really hope that Clay will find me soon.