In The Pack

Chapter 10

The next morning I was woken rudely, when a bucket of freezing cold water, with ice chips, was thrown over me.  I jolted upright, gasping in shock and glaring at Derek. 

          “Good morning, Layla,” he told me cheerfully.   Jeremy was already awake in the cell behind him and was staring at me worriedly. 

          “I think it’s time to convince your father to give me that necklace, don’t you?” he questioned me happily.  “I’ve been pretty patient, giving him all night to make a decision and he’s refused to give it to me still.”  As he spoke, four men shuffled down the stairs to stand behind him.  One stepped forward to unlock my cell door and I took a step away from it. 

          Gesturing to the manacles I just noticed on the far wall of my cell, he ordered, “restrain her.”  They filed into the cell, reaching for my arms.

          With a snarl, I transformed and leaped at the one closest to me, my jaws clamping down hard on his arm, breaking skin and bone.  He screamed, stumbling back and I released him, turning to fight the other three as they charged at me, also in wolf form. 

          I knew I could hold them off for a short period, but they were large and I never did well in uneven fights in training.  Either way, I was going to give them some pain before they chained me to the wall.  I pulled all the training Dylan had given me to the forefront of my brain while Jeremy yelled in the background.

          Snarling, snapping, twisting and leaping, I put up a good fight for five minutes.  We were all bleeding, but they were bleeding a lot more than I was.  Derek was stony faced outside the cell, his arms crossed, just watching.  Confident I would lose.

          Eventually, they managed to pin me to the ground and make me shift back.  They chained me to the wall, while Jeremy yelled and cursed Derek, his pack and everyone affiliated with them.

          I didn’t know what Derek had in mind for me, but I knew it couldn’t be good when he motioned for a guy to get him something.  When he came back with a leather whip, I felt the blood drain from my face.

          He didn’t say anything, just ordered the other guys out of my cell and stepped inside himself.  He didn’t have anything witty to say, just started with his torture.  The first swing of the whip was shocking.  I knew it would hurt but I didn’t expect it to be as bad as it was.  I screamed as I felt the whip tear through the skin of my back from my shoulder to my hip. 

          Layla! Ian yelled in my mind.  He felt what was going on and anger flooded our bond.  Hang on Layla, it’s going to be okay, I promise.  We are almost there, just hang on.

          He continued to murmur comforting things through the bond while Jeremy shouted at Derek to stop and I screamed with every lash of the whip.  Derek didn’t stop until he had finished twenty lashes.  He remained silent, leaving quietly when he was finished.  Two of the men came in and unchained me, before leaving just as quietly.

          I curled into a ball and sobbed, the pain from my back almost unbearable.  Jeremy was pressed right up against the bars of his cell, trying to comfort me.  Ian was doing the same through the bond, but none of it made the pain go away and I wasn’t able to understand the meaning of their words.

          Finally, I stopped crying but stayed curled up in a ball.  Any movement sent flames of pain rippling through my back. 

          “God, Layla, I’m so sorry.  Maybe I should just give him the necklace,” Jeremy said, his voice ragged as he stared at me.