Arwen and I were in too much of a daze to even call to the others about what we had just found. We moved to the edge of the portal, gazing down into it.
My head spun. Where did this lead to? And the hunters, they had passed through it? And they also said they had dropped something through it from the other side. What other side? What had they dropped?
I whirled around to take in the small clearing better and that was when I spotted it. Only six feet away, partially obscured by trees, stood a cast-iron cage large enough to hold three men. At first I thought that it was empty, but then I saw the form of a man, slumped against the bars, cast in shadow.
Arwen’s breath hitched as I clutched her shoulder and spun her around. I dared shine my flashlight to get a better view of him as we neared. He had thick, wavy black hair, strands of which hung over his face. I couldn’t see his face much at all. His head lolled over his chest. But his body was tall, broad and muscled… too muscled for a human. He wore a tattered shirt, which I guessed had once been white, but was now so covered in bloodstains it was hard to tell, and ripped black pants.
Crouching down by the cage, I ventured closer and shone my light directly toward his face.
“Hello?” I breathed.
His head lifted slowly and I found myself staring into a pair of savage gray eyes framed by heavy brows… The face of a young man. I would guess no older than twenty. His jaw was chiseled, his mouth set in a thin, hard line as he grimaced.
“Who are you?” I whispered. Now that life had returned to his face, I realized just how fine a man he was. His features were noble, regal almost. He certainly didn’t look like he belonged in a cage.
He furrowed his brows and I wondered whether he might not understand me. Then he crawled closer to me, wincing as he moved. He was obviously in a lot of pain. His voice was deep and guttural as he rasped, “Please. Get me out.”
I exchanged a panicked glance with Arwen, who was looking quite lost as to what to do.
“Are you… a werewolf?” she stammered.
He nodded.
I’d known he wasn’t human, I just hadn’t been able to quite put my finger on it. But now I could see he had the characteristics of a wolf. That would certainly explain his physique and there was a wolflike quality to his ears and teeth, a subtle sharpness. But it was night time. If he was a werewolf, he should be in his beastly form now. Unlike dragons, werewolves had no control over when they shifted.
“Why haven’t you shifted?” I breathed. “It’s the dead of night. And why are you here?” What are they doing with you? Why did they trap you in here? Where did you come from? A dozen questions crowded my brain at once.
“No time,” he whispered, shaking his head. Urgency pulsed in his gray irises as he locked his gaze on me.
My heart hammered against my chest. Those hunters could come back any moment now, probably with a vehicle to transport this cage to headquarters. Without thinking further, I whispered to Arwen, “Free him!”
She looked at me in alarm. “What?”
“You heard me.” I didn’t know this man at all, but this… this just wasn’t right. The way they had him locked up in this cage, battered, cut and bruised—this wasn’t a humane way to treat anyone, be they animal, human, or supernatural. And every instinct told me that if he reached headquarters, he would never come out again.
“Okay,” Arwen said, her voice shaking.
She performed a spell to weaken five bars. Before she’d even finished the job, the wolf, even in his weakened state, gripped them and pried them open, finishing the rest of the job himself. He staggered out, his knees unsteady, before locking eyes with me again. His wintry gaze was so intense, I almost felt threatened by it. But then he bowed his head slightly and the next thing I knew he had turned on his heels and leapt through the portal.
About ten seconds later, Arwen gasped. She was pointing to the base of the cage, where a red light was blinking. A red light that definitely had not been there a minute ago. I swore beneath my breath. Of course they would’ve installed an alarm.
Derek
“I’m worried they aren’t back yet,” my sister said as she sat opposite me in the control room, her hands clasped together.
The first group of six had overshot their time allowance by four minutes. I was disappointed in Corrine. I had trusted that she would herd them back in time and not get carried away herself. Perhaps they had made a discovery, but still, that was not an excuse. They should have come back to inform us. I was about to uphold my word and go fetch them when, to my surprise, Ben and Lucas appeared in the middle of the room. Their foreheads were shiny with sweat, and the look of urgency in their eyes shook me.
“What’s going—” I began.
“An alarm has been triggered,” Lucas said, wiping his brow with a tissue.
“An alarm?” Sofia gasped.