Caged

Chapter 5

**| A Report |**

The Blackbourne Pack gathered at the pack house, waiting for Sean and Silas to get there after getting the female shifter settled down. Everyone stood around, on edge, needing to see Silas again. They went too long without his presence around them. Feeling him again felt like a miracle. A few of them nearly gave up hope until Victor finally found a good lead on where he went. Rumors really did hold a grain of salt to them.

Despite his presence back in everyone's head, they didn't have enough time to reunite with him when Sean had them all head back because Sang was on her way to the cabin. They needed more time with their brother to reinforce their bonds.

The door opened and everyone's shoulders lowered in relief as Silas stepped through with a frowning Sean behind him. Neither of them looked happy as they found a place in the living room to settle down in. Sean stretched out on one of the couches while Silas went over to the corner and sat on the floor.

Owen frowned at Silas as he eyed everything with a wariness he didn't have four months ago.

"All right, since we are here, let's begin," Owen spoke up and everyone settled down, sending worried glances towards Silas. North sat on the floor, his back against the wall, only a few feet away from Silas, still giving him the space he needed while getting as close to him as possible. The last four months were hard on North the most.

"Silas, can you please explain what happened?" Owen asked.

He didn't say anything for the longest time, not even blinking. He just stared off into his memories.

"Si?" North said and Silas responded with a blink, his dark eyes focusing on the here and now. They were darker than normal and Owen knew the wolf was close by. He would need to shift and get in a good hunt with the pack. It would strengthen his wolf and the bond between him and the pack. They'd do it after the meeting finished up.

Silas licked his lips and tried to focus. Everything was still too fresh for him. Just hours ago, he was in a cage. And now he was free.

His head kept thinking it was a dream, wishful thinking, and when he woke up, he would be in that cage again with Sang next to him.

"When I went on recon for that mission to find that wild shifter, they nabbed me. I don't really remember much. I was shot, most likely tranquilized, and then I woke up in a cage underground. The first couple of days, they kept me completely out of it and then they moved me into another space with more shifters and the same situation. Silver cages." Silas winced. "They gave us the bare minimum, just enough food to keep us alive. Each day, they came in with an injection of some kind of silver concoction."

"Did you meet Sang then?" Sean asked.

Silas shook his head. "No. Not until after the first fight. They drag you into this massive arena and let you loose to fight other shifters. If you won, you lived, if you lost, well, depending on how badly you lost, they'd kill you or punish you severely." Silas winced.

"I lost my first fight. I refused to do it. They kept me alive for some reason." Silas quieted down and looked down at his hands. Guilt ate at him from the inside and the pack wanted to move closer to him, to comfort him, but they knew he wasn't ready for that. He needed to get used to being safe again, to being surrounded by people who didn't mean him harm.

He cleared his throat and looked up at Owen.

"I won my second fight. They only punished the other shifter for losing. Then they moved me to a different room. Sang was held in that room."

The anguish in his eyes nearly destroyed the pack. Some of them let out a growl, especially Luke. Luke had explained to the others what he found in the room, but his explanation didn't come close to what he saw.