Wolf Bound

Vincent - Accusations

"Looks like our prisoner's awake." Mariah's comment brought my attention to the shuffling upstairs. First, there was the gentle rock of the chain. It grew louder as she, I could only assume, rattled it against the floors. Keeping that up was useless and frankly, irritating as fuck. As if having her here wasn't a pain in my ass already.

"Yeah, looks like it." I rotated the crook in my neck and clenched my teeth.

"She's pretty active for someone who's about to undergo a painful change." Mariah took the first step up, sliding her hands into her pockets. I followed behind her.

"It'll hit her when it happens."

"Do you think she'll survive?" Mariah threw me a glance over her shoulder.

"Don't know. She's lucky to be alive as we speak," I replied.

"Your father has no idea she's here, does he?" Mariah sighed. I shrugged.

As we neared the sealed gray metal door, Mariah stopped. "I guess that's a no. So, how long has she been out?"

"About twelve hours now. Claudia last checked on her a few hours ago. She was still knocked out cold. The bite nearly severed her entire shoulder. As soon as she's undergone the full process, there's no telling what'll happen to her. It's rare for a human to survive the turn. I'm surprised she didn't die on the spot. She's not as weak as she looks, that's for sure."

I undid the lock on the door. More shuffling echoed from the other end as I pushed the door in. My eyes locked with sparkling brown eyes that caused my throat to constrict. This was a major difference to when we found her.

There, she was the target of my anger. A random woman who was found beside my brother's cold, dead body. And I wondered if she was the reason this nightmare began. But here, she was a little thing. Scared and timid, hiding in the corner, as if she couldn't hurt a fly. A small part of me felt for her, and I buried that part deep into the chambers of my chest. She should be scared.

I couldn't afford to feel sorry for her.

At first glance, the chances of her being capable of murder was slim to none. But I knew first-hand how deceiving looks could be—how deceiving humans could be. I wouldn't trust someone first and regret it later again.

"Seriously, Vincent. What the hell are we going to do about this? Your father won't be happy if those people are given a reason to enter our territory again." Mariah sighed again. That was the push I needed to snap out of my bizarre internal conflict.

"Don't worry about him. I'll tell him when he returns and handle it from there. Besides, we've got bigger issues to worry about. Just do what I brought you here for, Mariah. Please." I cleared my throat and looked away from the woman—Genesis Anderson, I found out her name was—in the corner. Mariah resisted the urge to snarl at me—much deserved—and slid forward.

"D-don't take another step! Right there is fine." Genesis cowered back further into the corner, stuttering. Mariah cocked an eyebrow at her. I paid close attention to the bandage wrapped over Genesis' shoulder. Her body trembled. Clearly, she was in pain. But she tried her best to hide it in the false bravado she was putting up.

"Oh, I guess you don't want my help then. . . Are you sure? I'm the only one here right now who's capable of numbing some of your pain. I'm sure you must feel it by now. I can only imagine how much it's hurting," Mariah said, flashing Genesis a gentle smile.

Genesis remained quiet, observing. I remained to the side, watching over their interaction. It didn't look like I needed to intervene yet.

"I'm fine," Genesis tried to convince us.