Alpha's Prey by Jasmin Quinn

Author:Jasmin Quinn
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781999037161
Publisher: Jasmin Quinn

Chapter Sixteen

Honi uncurled, using her hand against the wall to help her to her feet. She stood for a few seconds, but dizziness swamped her, and she fell backwards against the rock, scraping her already tortured back. So cold, her fingers were stiff, but maybe this deep in the cavern it was above freezing. Her body felt like it was being pierced by needles as the air clawed at her skin. Nothing was numb, everything fucking hurt, so she wasn’t in the frostbite zone yet. She tried to shift to her wolf, but she couldn’t centre herself enough to be that fluid. Her wolf was hiding, tucked up inside, not wanting to come out to help.

It was the injuries. Too dark at the back of the cavern to see her thigh, but she knew it had been sliced open. Her ribs were on fire, her head ached, her hair was matted with blood and one of her wrists was severely sprained. And she had a raging thirst.

Then she remembered the shifter in the cage. Was that real or had she hallucinated it? A female in a cage in a cavern behind the falls. It seemed impossible. She sat for a minute gathering her strength, then anchored herself against the wall and climbed sluggishly to her feet.

Her head spun again, dizzy and why not? Loss of blood, overexertion, knocked on the head and dehydrated. But at least she was still standing.

Fuck, how was she going to get out?

She took a careful step, then another and another, finally letting go of the wall after her head stopped reeling. The opening seemed like a pinpoint, but daylight beckoned her forward. It was too cold to stay near the entrance, but she had to know about the woman. Check on her in the light, make sure she was there and if she was, that she was truly dead.

As Honi approached, the square box materialized in the gloom and a sadness swept her. She hadn’t dreamt it. There was a cage near the entrance and inside it there was a woman, frozen. At least frozen, maybe worse. But what could be worse than being locked in a cage knowing you were going to freeze to death. She swallowed at the cruelty of it.

Tears welled in her eyes and she swiped at them. Not good to start crying and have her tears freeze. As she reached the cage, she dropped to her knees and peered at the woman through the wood slats. She couldn’t make out much, because the female was wrapped in the quilt, the stiff grey fingers gripping the blanket like it was a lifeline. A failed one.

Her throat convulsed as she got caught up in the female’s thinness, her gaunt features. Someone put her here. Someone locked her in this cage and left her to die. Alone, shifting to wolf form, but then also starving so which fate was worse? Freezing or starving?

Maybe she was dead before she was put here. Maybe she died of natural causes and this was meant to be a burial.

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