Page 12 of Vicious Luna
The Luna’s gaze flickers down to the tray on the floor, her expression twisting in disgust. Judging by the way she gobbled down the crackers last night, I’m guessing her distaste has little to do with the food itself and more to do with accepting anything I offer her.
“Or don’t,” I add with a shrug. “You can just wither away down here for all I care. Not the fastest death, but still efficient.”
I turn to leave, intending to let her chew on that threat while I observe her from the video feed, but the sound of her bare feet padding against the concrete makes me pause to glance back.
Our eyes meet as she approaches the bars of her cage, wrapping her thin fingers around them and peering out at me. “Why are you doing this?” she demands, a ragged edge of desperation in her voice. Her whiskey-brown eyes are wide and pleading, but if she thinks she can appeal to my sense of morality, her efforts are sorely misplaced.
My throat tightens uncomfortably, my headache intensifying. “Because you’re a monster,” I rasp, my hard expression unyielding.
She narrows her eyes on me with a scowl, dropping any pretense of wide-eyed innocence.
There’s my beastie.
“Where’s Tommy?” she spits, the skin of her knuckles whitening as she grips the bars harder.
“Worry less about him and more about yourself,” I mutter in a bored tone. “Unless you’ve got some information to give up, your days are numbered, Luna.”
The two of us stand there for a long moment, locked in a staring contest that neither is willing to back down from. Not even when the door at the top of the stairs beeps with the disengaging of the lock, swinging open with an audible creak.
“Cam, you down there?” my dad’s voice calls out.
“Coming!” I yell back, my eyes still firmly glued to my captive. I don’t even blink as I drop my voice low, delivering one last parting jab. “I’ll be back later, be a good little beastie while I’m gone.”
She snaps her teeth at me in response, a victorious smirk curling my lips as I turn to head upstairs.
Yeah, this one’s going to be tough to break. But damnit if I won’t have fun making this bitch come to heel.
8
It’s cute that my captor thought he’d discourage me from trying to escape by pointing out how secure this cell is. In actuality, all he did was narrow down my list of ideas, because I’m not about to sit in here all day doing nothing. Dying of boredom would be terribly anticlimactic.
The steel bars are a non-starter, as are the concrete walls. Even if I was at full strength with my wolf, I’m not the incredible Hulk; I can’t just knock that shit down with sheer force. Still, I take the time to test every single bar, gripping, pulling, and examining them for signs of weakness. When I don’t find any, I move onto the walls, running my hands over the smooth concrete and feeling for any cracks.
I try my best not to let my determination wane, even as I fail to identify any potential means of escape from the cell. That’s probably exactly what he wants; to break my spirit so I’ll stop trying. It’d be a hell of a lot easier to just give up and resign myself to my fate, but I’ve never backed down from a challenge in my life. That’s exactly how I have to view this; as a challenge to overcome. I need to stay focused because every time I allow my mind to wander, the walls feel like they’re closing in and it’s hardto breathe.
I’ve hated confined spaces for as long as I can remember. I still vividly recall the first time I felt truly trapped, back when I was a kid playing in the forest with my brother. Madd and I found a cave to explore, and during the course of our expedition, the roof partially collapsed between us, trapping me behind a wall of rubble. He got me out relatively quickly, but that terrifying feeling of helplessness that I had while trapped has stuck with me. It’s my greatest fear.
And now I’m living it.
I try to shake off the impending feeling of doom, refocusing on my objective. Keeping busy and shifting my concentration is the only way I can keep the fear from clawing at my throat, threatening to pull me under.Mind over matter, right?
I pace over to the window at the rear of my cell, pressing up on my tiptoes and examining it closely. This window is the only thing keeping me sane right now since it provides a view of the outside. If I focus on that window- on what freedom looks like beyond the dirty pane of glass- then I feel less trapped.
The window could actually be a viable escape option. The glass is thick, as is the heavy metal frame securing it, but I’m betting I could wriggle through the gap if I can figure out how to get it open. Or break the glass somehow.
Heaving a sigh, I turn around to survey the interior of the cell once more. Both the toilet and cot are bolted down to the floor. The thin mattress isn’t secured to the cot, but the metal plate beneath it is welded to the frame. There isn’t anything loose that I could pry off to use as a weapon to break the window.
Shit.
Think, Avery, think!
My stomach curls in on itself, grumbling with hunger pains. I took down the crackers and water as soon as I was leftalone, but they’re hardly enough to sustain me. Subconsciously rubbing at my belly, I lift my gaze to look around the cell again, searching for anything usable to aid my escape. Anything I might’ve missed.
That’s when I finally notice the small camera mounted in the top left corner of the cell, breaking out in full-body chills at the realization that these sick fucks have been watching me. I really should’ve noticed it before, but from its position, it blends in with the shadows. Staring directly into the lens, I lift a fist and extend my middle finger, scowling as I mouth, ‘fuck you’.
As confirmation that I’m being watched, I hear the door at the top of the stairs open a few minutes later, the harsh overhead lighting assaulting my retinas when they’re flicked on. Heavy footsteps descend, and I glance warily in that direction, my eyes adjusting just in time to see my captor come into view at the bottom of the stairs.
Cam. That’s the name he answered to earlier when someone called down to him, and I can’t decide if it suits him or not. I expected him to have some classic hot guy name, likeZadeorRyder.Camseems far too tame- it’s the kind of name that would suit a handsome prince, not a diabolical villain.