Tori
The worst thing about being trapped was the boredom. It was the same when Alpha was teaching me a lesson, too. Eventually, I reverted to human form. There wasn't an easy way to drink a water bottle while in the wolf form. I was too angry to worry about the fact that I was naked, Alpha had broken most of that human modesty out of me, though I still got shy around her at times.
I stared at the water bottle there on the chair, furious. It was the sole focus of my hate, and it had been for what felt like days. A tiredness settled in my bones while I waited, I had burned a lot of energy howling for who knew how long just on the chance that she could hear me. I had promised her death a dozen different ways.
I couldn’t quite stand up fully in the cage, and my brute couldn’t bend the bars. Kicking at the door hadn’t done me any good. In the end, I could only try to knock the fucking spray bottle of the chair with an empty water bottle.
I missed.
Now I was just bored.
And Alpha’s voice was haunting me. Berating me for my mistakes, reminding me that I was weak, that I was small, that I wasn’t cut out for hunting or fighting. I was only good for talking to humans and fetching things. I was sick of it, but as I sat alone in that basement, doubt was digging tiny claws into my brain. I felt so angry at myself, at my weakness, at my foolishness.
Need some help, Runt?
I had already played this conversation in my head a dozen times, but here I was again. I knew that was how she’d open, mocking me, lording my weakness over me. I’d stay quiet, I wouldn’t respond. This was far worse than just about every situation that Alpha had gotten me out of. Worse than the bear, worse than the coyotes the time I had snuck off to go hunting on my own after she had warned me. It was worse than the time I had accidentally led a group of humans with guns to our den.
Nothing would come close to that first rescue, however. The one that changed my life forever.
When I heard the sound of the door opening, when I saw that triangle of light appear in the stairwell, I felt relief. Anything was better than being alone, than going through painful memories and imagined arguments.
The smell came first, fresh meat, cooked but not overdone.
I was leaning against the far corner of the cage, facing the door and watching as she came down the stairs. Her steps were heavier. There was another smell too, metals and chemicals, unpleasant and acrid in my nose.
She carried the plate holding the steaming steak to the cage. I doubted somehow that this was a peace offering, an apology. I doubted that she’d just let me go.
I kept my voice cold, dispassionate, but still angry as I asked her what was on my mind. "So if you're not a witch, how did you burn me?"
She didn’t answer at first, just laid the plate down on the floor, just outside of what I could reach through the bars.
“Victoria.” Her voice set my teeth on edge. I hated that name, and I hated it even more on her lips. “How much do you really know about werewolves?”
My jaw ached from how hard my teeth were clenched in frustration and irritation, both at her question and when she picked up the spray bottle again. Thankfully, she set it down on the floor next to her folding chair.
Looking away, I nearly spat my answer. “Well. I’ve been living as one for four years, so I’d say I know more about what it’s like than you do, grandpa’s book or no.” I didn’t miss the way she subtly nudged the plate with her toe. I wasn't going to let the steak distract me. I forced my eyes back to hers, glaring. "I can smell all the metal in your bag. You're not putting that fucking collar back on me."
"I have a lot of metal on me at all times." She shrugged casually, pointing to her necklace and holding up her hand to show a ring with a crescent moon pattern on it. "I'm a silversmith. I make silver jewelry for a living. And the reason I asked is because you don't really seem to know a lot. In the last four years you really didn't learn your kind is weak to silver?"
Despite the heat in my cheeks, I maintained eye contact. This wasn't Alpha, she wasn't going to beat me for challenging her. If she tried, I'd win - she had only gotten me in this cage because I underestimated her. I had been ready for a bullet, not a coward's dart and poison.
But I hadn't known that about silver. I knew the myth about silver bullets, but I didn't realize that meant that any silver would burn my skin. Alpha had never said anything about silver, only that we didn’t heal as quickly from burns when I was playing with the campfire after discovering my accelerated healing.
"I guess I was lucky." Now I knew what that smell was. Silver. She had more of it and other stuff in that bag. "Lesson learned, silver's bad. Attacking humans is bad. Thanks for the tips. You can let me go now."
She only smiled, keeping eye contact with me. “Funny. I’ve already clocked you, Victoria.” I managed to suppress a twitch, I was already wearing a sneer. “You’re a Trueborn, and I’m ninety percent sure you’re human-born.” She crossed her arms as she continued, sitting back in the chair. “It’s been four years and you haven’t learned something as basic as your weakness to silver? I’m going to be brutally honest here, I refuse to believe that you haven’t left bodies behind.”
"I've killed humans." There was no denying it, she wouldn't believe me anyway. "But only because they attacked me first." I gave her an animal grin. "You wouldn't be the first human who thought little ol' me needed a lesson on how dangerous the world is to a girl on her own." The next part was a lie though. "Good thing humans don't taste particularly pleasant, I guess."
Beef was still better, deer was better than that, but I’d take human meat over chicken any day of the week.
“I’ve heard we taste like pork, can’t say I’m particularly interested in learning that for myself though. But I appreciate your honesty. We’ve established that you know little to nothing about being a werewolf and you’ve already killed people. Kind of makes my point about you being dangerous, so- ”
"I didn't kill anyone who didn't deserve it." I growled, crossing my arms over my chest.
“So I think you’ll be staying here for now.”
“I’m only dangerous to people who challenge me. Which most humans don't do. I gave you several chances to just break eye contact. That's it, that's all you had to do and I'd walk away. But no! You had to keep fucking with me. Fuck me for paying for the beer instead of taking it, right? I could have waited for the shop to close and broke in, taken what I wanted, and left before anyone knew anything. My mistake was trying to follow your stupid fucking human laws."
“So if someone pushes you aside, they risk getting their throat torn out for challenging you? Are you going to attack anyone that point out that you’re a runt?”
"Don't you fucking call me a runt!" I was across the cage instantly, grabbing the bars and snarling at her. I hated that word and she knew it. "Fuck you! You think I'm a runt? Step in here and say it!" I caught myself at the smug look on her face. "I didn't attack you in town when you called me that. I told you not to do it. I warned you - and a smart human would blink and I'd be happy and move on."
"You know shockingly little about being a human as well. You think a person who's making fun of you will stop when they realize it's bothering you?" She never flinched at my shouting, at my threats, she just kept eye contact. The entire time.
"A human backs off when their stupid fucking primate instincts sense a real predator."
She ignored me. "You've been around other werewolves. I don't believe you'd be sensitive to being called that while traveling alone. I don't know when you last met a group of them though. I'm not aware of any established packs going through this area at this time of year."
I ignored the way she was fishing for information about my pack. I wasn’t going to give her time to prepare against them. "There's no way your bones weren't shaking when I grabbed you by the throat. You challenged me because you were testing me. Well fuck you. Any human who ignores that survival instinct deserves to die, too."
"Hun, when you grabbed me by my throat I just reached up and burned your cheek. Speaking of which." Reaching down, pulled a tube of ointment from her bag, tossing it to me. "I'm not sure if that'll help those burns, but it's worth a try. I gotta say though, Victoria, you’re doing a terrible job of making your case here."
I gave a short roar of frustration, forcing my body into the brute form and snarling, reaching through the bars with my longer arms and almost grabbing her foot. I felt my fingertips brush against her shoe. Another half an inch and I could have gotten a grip and pulled her to me.
Finally, she broke eye contact, getting up and walking away. My laughter was a harsh, gritty sound in the form.
“Come call me a runt where I can reach you, bitch.”
She pulled open the tall cabinet by the workbench. And the bitch pulled out a fucking spear, the tip gleaming. I could smell it. The same smell that was coming from her duffel bag, the scent of the jewelry she wore.
I had no reason to expect she’d suddenly become an action hero, stopping the stabbing motion of her spear inches from my face. I yelped, dignity abandoned, and again smacked my skull on the top of the cage as I jumped back. I lost my grip on the brute and slipped back to my natural form, landing flat on my ass.
Afraid.
“I’m in charge here.” There was no anger in her voice. She stated it like a fact, like she was giving the time of day. Would she stab me to prove a point? Would it heal? Were these marks permanent? If she stabbed me in the head with it, would I die instantly?
I didn't know the answers and she did.
...and I lifted my hands in submission, looking down at her feet. "Okay... don't stab me... you're in charge."
I was afraid and I hated it. I was humiliated and helpless... just like always. Alpha wouldn't save me if she were in the room right now, she'd tell me I deserved it for letting her cage me.
Because I was the runt.
“Good girl, Victoria.”
Those were the worst words I could have heard right now. A volcano’s heat flared in my cheeks, I didn’t know if I was more horrified or embarrassed. The smell of silver death hovered in front of my face and I scrambled backwards.
“Don’t… don’t call me that. I’m not a dog.” It was the same thing I had been screaming earlier. There was no force behind it now, she had won.
Gwen stepped away, putting the awful spear back in the cabinet before she came back and pushed the plate with the steak closer to the cage.
“How about you have something to eat?”
It smelled good, chasing away that lingering scent of metal, and I could tell she’d just take it away if I hesitated. She had pushed the edge of the plate into the rectangular hole at the bottom of the cage, so I grabbed it and pulled it in. I hadn't had a cut of meat this good in a while - even if it was a fresh kill, Alpha took the best cuts for herself, then Spike and Fang fought over the rest... and I got whatever they didn't particularly want. My mouth was watering from the smell.
"I need a fork." My voice sounded weak. Complacent. Cowed. I hated it.
Raising an eyebrow, she asked, “Do you usually use a fork to eat what you hunt? I’m sure this will be easier to eat without a fork than what you normally eat.” She shrugged, “You can’t use any of my forks anyway. Silver.”
I winced. Of course she had real silverware. It was her job.
"I... " I still didn't like getting blood and meat juices on my hands. Alpha said it was weakness. I wasn't going to admit weakness to Gwen. "Despite whatever your book says, I thought I was human for seventeen years. I've been a wolf for four. I still like using silverware to eat." Everyone else knew I was a wolf on some subconscious level, judging by how I was ostracized, but I had thought I was human. I lifted the steak and took a bite, tearing it easily with my teeth.
It was good. Much, much better than what I usually got.
It meant I needed to fight harder when we got a kill - or hunt on my own and eat my own kill more often. I could generally only catch rabbits and squirrels. Kills that made me sad at first, but fear of being mocked kept me from sharing those tears. I buried them like I buried so much of myself.
"I'm not gonna say that's unfair. I guess most of the ones I've met have just gotten used to being without." She talked while I ate, tearing at the meat and enjoying every bit. "I think I've met four Trueborn aside from you. They all seemed to do the usual 'abandoning society to run in the wild' sort of thing. Nothing wrong with not wanting to get rid of everything you did as a human. You're not just a wolf."
"I didn't abandon society," I growled between bites. "Society abandoned me. And fuck it. I'm not just a wolf. I'm more. But none of it's human."
The juices were running down my chin and I didn't even have my shirt to wipe them on. I was an animal in a cage.
Not human at all.
"Unfortunately most humans seem to have a sixth sense about Trueborns. For better or worse, not all of us do. Like me. Arguably it's as much of a blessing as it is a curse."
"Yeah thanks." I shoved the last bite of the steak into my mouth - one thing I had learned was true was that I could overeat and store the food in a way that humans couldn't. That steak could sustain me for a couple of days if I needed it to. I wouldn't have to take food from her right away. "I'd rather just be left alone though. You know, roaming the wilds? Seeing the country? Living off the land? I don't like humans, any of you, honestly. So you can shove your sixth sense up your ass and leave me alone."
"My point was more that I lack a sixth sense." She shrugged. "The only reason I knew you were a werewolf, let alone a Trueborn, was because you were broadcasting it to the world. Had you done better hiding yourself, I never would have realized you were anything but a drifter. And that's the problem. Victoria. There are a lot of people who know about your kind. And they look out for the signals you put out. But they're more interested in having a trophy to put in their clubhouse than helping you."
"What the fuck are you talking about?" I frowned at her, wiping my mouth on the back of one arm. I leaned back, glowering at her. "You're telling me there are werewolf hunters out there? That sounds like a stupid and dangerous hobby. Oh and you're the good guy, right? Because you just want to keep me in a cage for my own good. My fucking hero."
"I knew you were a werewolf from your shoes. It was going to be cold enough for snow. A lot of werewolves wear loose footwear to help them get them back on quickly. Trueborn react more strongly to silver. They're also more likely to be traveling alone, even if it's temporarily. I've never seen a Turned traveling on their own. Turned also tend to be better at regulating their emotions."
I sat and listened to her talk. I hadn’t known that either. Spike and Fang didn’t seem to be any better at staying calm than I was, though - so for all I knew, she was wrong on this.
"Hun, I'm not trained to be a werewolf hunter." Embarrassment ran through me again as she admitted she wasn’t even an actual hunter, just a bitch with lots of silver. "But let me ask you a question. Let's replay our tiff back in town. I used an insult that bothers werewolves and you responded. You came up to me and threatened me. I managed to lift a hand and hold silver to your face. Do you think you'd be alive right now if I had decided to pull a silver knife on you instead of using that ring to make you back off?"
"So what you're telling me is that I shouldn't give a human goading me a chance to back down. You're telling me I was too nice." I sneered at her. That's exactly what Alpha would have said. I got hit, it was my fault for giving her a chance to hit me. "When I growled and you pushed me, I should have killed you and ran, is that it?"
She rolled her eyes at me in response.
"Humans are the apex predator on this planet for a reason. We aren't the strongest. We reason. Knowing when to back out of a situation is a basic skill. Knowing when to ask for help is a skill." She sighed, like she was the one frustrated in this situation. "And for fuck’s sake, the dumbest way you can fight is getting right up in the face of someone taunting you. You got the best of both worlds. You let your instincts and your emotions control you, and it led to you losing. Did you once consider that something was wrong when someone saw your brute form and wasn't afraid of it? That maybe you should have run?"
I gritted my teeth. If I always ran, I'd always be the runt.
But I wasn't going to tell her that.
I pushed the plate out of the cage with my foot and wrapped my arms around me again, turning away from her and saying nothing. She was right, I should have run, or I should have killed her the second she wasn't afraid of my brute form. She was right that I didn't fight smart - but neither did Fang and Spike and it worked fine for them, and they were mutts.
I sat, silently, brooding.
"Well. If you don't want to talk anymore. I'll leave you to sleep and we can talk more in the morning. You can wash up with these."
She grabbed a packet of wet wipes from her workbench and tossed them easily into the cage.
"You're really going to make me sleep in a fucking cage?" I tore open the wipes, cleaning my face and scraping what dirt I could from my body. Fang and Spike had taunted me and kept me from the shower at the cabin, saying that I was too human, that I needed to spend more time dirty... but it wasn't like I enjoyed it. "No water? What if I have to piss? Even human prisoners get a fucking toilet."
"The cage has a soft bottom for a reason. It's for sleeping in." She produced another water bottle from her backpack, setting it down next to the cage. "I don't have an answer to the bathroom situation I suppose. I figured that's a question for tomorrow? I have a feeling that if I try to let you use it right now you're either going to try to kill me to claw your way out."
I rolled my eyes at her. "I swear I won't try to kill you if you let me out to use the bathroom. Does that work for you? Let me take a shower and a piss. I've been on the road for weeks."
I held up the wet wipe, showing the grime I had wiped away from one arm.
She sat back down in the chair, putting her chin in one hand and leaned forward, thinking. "Here's my offer to you. Trip to the bathroom tonight? A nice hot shower. A few soaps to choose from. Get all that dirt off?” She rifled through her bag, setting the fucking collar and a pair of what looked like bracelets next to the water bottle. "And, of course, not taking the risk of pissing yourself. The price is putting those on yourself."
She wasn't stupid enough to believe me. The collar I had beaten once, when I got mad enough - the others were new though. And she seemed pretty convinced that I'd be helpless with them on.
"...what do the bracelets do?"
"I don't think it particularly matters." She leaned back again, watching me. "You want to wear some cute bracelets or do you want to hope you hold out until I come down tomorrow and then I'll ask you the same option?"
She had me there. Human noses barely worked, I had no interest in pissing in a corner of the cage and hoping she'd clean it - even if she did, I'd get the same choice then. Put on the collar and bracelets or wait until I was miserable enough to put on the collar and bracelets.
No, she needed me to put those on more than I needed a shower and a piss.
"I guess you'll ask me tomorrow then. I'm not a dog, I'm not wearing a collar."
"Ah, yes." The smile she gave me was taunting, condescending. "Humiliating yourself by pissing in your cage. How human." She packed the collar and cuffs back into the bag. Always keeping just out of where I could reach. Grabbing her bag, she walked to the stairs, resting a hand on the railing "It's around two A.M. right now. I'll probably come down at nine or ten. Hope you can hold it that long."
"Fuck you. I hope you choke in your sleep." I flipped her off as she went up the stairs with her pack on her back and the empty plate in her hand, leaving me alone in her goddamned basement, in a cage. And she took the light with her, leaving me in the dark. I could still see, though the colors were muted. She probably had a camera down here, some night vision shit, and she would probably watch me the second she was upstairs. For good measure I flipped the bird in any direction that a camera might be hiding before I growled and forced the change, struggling through the brute to dire and pushing from the dire to the wolf.
It was more comfortable to lay down in odd places in this form.
So I did. I paced for a moment before settling down and wrapping my tail around my body.
I closed my eyes, pretending to sleep... and I waited.