Claimed by Honor (Bestian Creek Pack Book 1) Page 2
“Do you think they’ll fuck them or kill them?” The guard with a deep voice asked.
“I don’t know but either way I guess we’ll get a show.” They both gave a sickening laugh, went through the doors, and left. Silence filled the air.
CHAPTER TWO
The threats from the vile humans made Honor inwardly chuckle. He knew, one way or another in the next few hours he’d be free, or he’d be dead, there would be no show. He had refused to perform his duties as a captive of Advanced Genetics and there would be no way he would start now. This time was different, this time he had a plan to end the bullshit. The leaders of the shifter factions gathered together and formed a plan to bring the capturing and enslavement to an end and rescue the ones still inside. Someone inside AG had become a spy for his leader and together they were going to bring the corporation crumbling down.
Honor waited for the guards to put Fire in the other cage and exit the double doors. He made a soft chirp-like whistle through his teeth. Fire returned the signal, he was okay. They got separated a couple days ago when they were processed in and had been herded to separate cells. Tiny spaces just wide enough for a small bed and a toilet. This cell was a much bigger space. He looked around, saw a toilet, and a bed that was currently occupied. The moment he was put in the cage he could smell the fear coming from inside but was waiting for the right moment to acknowledge the small woman. He needed to collect his thoughts first. He gave another bird like whistle and Fire sent back a chirp. He and his friend had grown up together, hunted together and had their own way of communication they had formed and perfected since childhood, which made them the perfect males to execute this part of the task. Get someone inside.
“I know you aren’t sleeping, human.” He hoped the small thing would just get this over with and try and do what she had been paid to do, seduce him.
This wasn’t his first go around since he had gotten captured, twice yesterday they had attempted to mate him to a human female, but he refused and took the beating instead. He refused to hurt a woman who didn’t want to be touched and he wouldn’t have sex with a paid prostitute either. The women had been paid big bucks to get impregnated by males like him and were well kept if mating was successful. The only way to make more shifters was by breeding shifters. The human’s they hired were never informed of what they were actually carrying, they were just told what they needed and paid for the experience. It didn’t take that much coaxing for some.
The captured shifter females, on the other hand, were not treated with the same courtesy. When they are captured, they are raped by guards or other paid men and then forced against their will to keep the pregnancy and deliver to term. After that, they were either thrown outside the gate, thighs still wet with blood, left to find home on foot or just killed on the spot. The ones that made it back home to their family never spoke of it again and would never take a mate after. The loss of their baby and the trauma they endured left them in a state of constant mourning. Sometimes, late at night you could hear them howling in the distance, calling to them.
This mission had to work. It was estimated that at least twenty-three babies had been born inside this facility, which sparked the urgency in the plan’s success.
“Just get up,” he said softly but with more urgency. “I don’t have time for this.” The woman peaked an eye open and he could smell the fear rising in her. “Easy human, I won’t hurt you. But I’m sorry to say you aren’t getting paid today.” He chuckled.
She opened both eyes and her head came up over her arm to get a better look of him. He knew the shock he felt was plastered on his face. His eyes darted to Fire who stood confused. He knew this one, had watched her in the woods the day he and Fire got captured. She’d been stark naked doing weird poses at her camp. When he caught sight of her, he’d zeroed in, stalking her like prey. His animal turned in his stomach. Why was she here? She wasn’t supposed to be here. She was safe in the woods doing her weird, naked stretching.
Once she saw that he was completely naked, she scrambled back to the corner of the cage as quickly as she could. Fuck, he’d scared her. His animal wanted to tear him up, but she didn’t know him, didn’t know he’d been there watching her be one with the forest.
He did that too, well not the weird stretching, but he knew what she was doing out there, getting away from everything. “Well I’ve never gotten that reaction out of anyone before.” She looked shocked and scared. “How much did they pay you for this? Call me curious.” Maybe she’d been up there preparing herself for this out there in the woods. Preparing her mind and body for successful pregnancy if that was even a thing. He needed to keep a guard up, his animal may like her, but his mind knew the disgusting things people could do for money.
She said nothing, just a ball of pure confusion and fear. He watched her and decided to step back to the other side of the cage, she looked a little crazy and didn’t want her to freak out and lunge at him with a hidden knife without time to react. He whistled again, a long whistle came back with a flutter at the end, he laughed. “Yep, it is.” Fire recognized her now, too. He’d been the one to pull Honor from his trance and back into the mission when they were out there.
“I-i-it is, w-what?” The tiny human stuttered out.
“Well look at that, she speaks.” Her scared voice tore him up inside. “Nothing, just a little inside joke.” Inside joke? He could’ve come up with something better than that, but she didn’t need to know he’d been watching her. That would be his little secret for now.
Anna couldn’t mentally grasp what the hell was going on. There was a man, a naked man, in here with her. He was huge, well over six feet tall and he had some serious muscle mass. She knew because she couldn’t help but rake her eyes over his entire beefy body. His tattooed wrists had metal cuffs on them with about a foot of chain between them, he kept his hands over his dick to keep his modesty, and of course that’s where her eyes decided to stall.
“Eyes up here, woman.” The man snorted at her.
She could feel her face flush from embarrassment and she quickly averted her eyes. There wasn’t anything else to look at but the toilet.
“I-I’m sorry.” She finally got out. “Please can you tell me where we are? I’m seriously freaked out because you’re a stranger, and massive, and way tall, and naked, there I said it. You are naked and I don’t know where to put my eyes because to be honest, you take up this entire cell and all I want is to get out of this place.” She spit the words out as quickly as she could before she lost her nerve again. “Please, I just want to go home. I don’t mean any trouble and I don’t know what the hell you’re talking about. Paid? Paid for what? I was quite literally thrown into this cage, and before that I was hit over the head with a nice left hook.” The words were out, but so were the tears.
“Wow, you are a good actress aren’t you. You put some effort into that.” He said that so smugly that she felt heat rise inside her, but her exhaustion and fear overrode anything else and she just sobbed.
“I don’t know what the fuck you are talking about! The last thing I remember is making myself food at my campsite up in the mountains then a dart went into my arm and everything went dark. I woke up and was immediately dragged down here and left in this cage. I’m hungry, freezing, and I just want to go home.” Damn it, why the hell wouldn’t he believe her? “What psycho would want to be down here alone for hours with a stranger. A naked stranger. In handcuffs?” She slumped down into the bed and let her sadness have her.
Minutes passed, and she slowly started to calm down, but she began to drift off again, it was getting harder to stay awake and coherent with everything she had gone through in the last twenty-four hours and not having anything in her stomach. She felt a warm finger slide her hair out of her face and tuck it behind her ear, but she kept her eyes closed. What was he doing? Was he actually trying to comfort her? Something in her wanted to let him, she needed the physical contact, the support, but he was a stranger, a stranger that had
very recently considered her to be a prostitute. Well fuck, who cares, you’ve been called worse right? And I mean, he is gorgeous and completely out of your league, if he wants to comfort you let him. She picked her hand up and gently grabbed his that was sweeping her hair away. He paused and gripped her fingers in his rough warm hand.
“I’m sorry,” he said softly in her ear. “I just thought you were another paid surrogate.”
“Surrogate?” What the hell was he talking about?
“This place we’re in takes my people and forces them to mate with humans like you.” He said so softly that if he hadn’t been right next to her face, she wouldn’t be able to make out his words.
“What do you mean, humans like me?” That really confused her, was he crazy? Is that why he was chained up? “You look pretty human to me, I mean, you’re the biggest man I have ever seen but still, you look human.” She hoped he would start explaining things better, she was pretty open minded when it came to out of the box thinking but even this sounded insane.
He stopped his contact and took his hand from hers. “I’m a shifter and so is my friend over there,” he nodded his head toward the other cage. “His name is Fire.” He pushed his powerful legs and lifted his body to his full height and took a few steps back.
Anna heard a whistle that sounded just like Hello. She turned and saw the other man, he seemed just as big and he was just as naked. His muscles so cut she could see every single valley and rounded peak in his legs and arms. His tan skin looked warm next to his fire red hair. She could see where he got his name. She looked back to the man in her cage.
“My name is Honor, by the way, I never introduced myself.”
She paused. Anna didn’t hear names like that often. “I’m Anna.”
“It’s nice to meet you, Anna.” He lowered his chin to his chest as if he were bowing and then looked back to her.
“Nice to meet you too.” She said nervously. “And you too, Fire.” Not wanting to freak out or offend them by jumping to any conclusions before her mind was able to process what was going on. She figured that keeping with some concrete basics would help move this situation along. “Sooo, why are y’all naked?” Well, there went not offending them.
“They strip us down so they can keep us handcuffed while we’re in our cells with females, so we can still,” he pulled his cuffed hands up, exposing his penis, to form air quotes, “perform.” He put his hands back down to cover himself.
“Oh, that makes sense.” She said, starting to get comfortable with the situation she’d been dealt. “They wouldn’t want to have to come back in and uncuff you so you could get naked. I would be afraid, that’s for sure. Hell, I am afraid.”
He looked at her with a puzzled look, almost like a curious puppy. A huge, buff, very attractive puppy. Honor had jet black hair, and eyes so light and green they reminded her of fresh grass.
“How long have you been here?” She asked, attempting to move the conversation to something other than him being naked.
“This time? Well, we got captured three days ago about a mile outside the gate.” He chuckled.
“Why is that funny?” She really didn’t understand the humor in all this.
“Well,” he lowered his voice to a soft whisper as he stepped closer to her, like he had when he touched her hair, and began to talk in a low whisper again. “we were captured on purpose, so we could get inside. We’re going to bring this place down and stop the sick things they are doing to my people behind the backs of the government and the public.” He sat back on his legs, using his calves as a seat while he crouched in front of her.
She knew her eyes showed her astonishment since he was looking right inside them and smiled. His cuffed hands that were resting on his legs to cover himself came up and with one finger, he pointed to a corner near the double doors. She could see the tiny red light coming from that area. She had seen it already, and knew they were being watched. She nodded her head knowingly, then he pointed the same finger to his ear.
“They’re listening too?” she whispered. He nodded. “How are you going to get out? I want to help, because no way am I staying in here for who knows how long until someone kills me. Or worse, tries to actually use me as a surrogate.” He nodded in agreement and chuckled. She didn’t like it when he laughed like that.
CHAPTER THREE
Honor heard a soft, high pitched whistle coming from Fire’s direction, he didn’t move his body but swiftly darted his eyes over. Although there wasn’t much light in the cave, Honor’s breeding gave him the ability to see in darkness more efficiently than a human could, and he saw his friend’s eyes flash in the opposite direction than the double doors. Someone was coming from deeper inside the cave, but they weren’t close enough to make out the features. They got closer and the stranger’s scent hit Honor’s senses.
“Barrett, how are you my friend?” He was still in his crouched position in front of Anna looking into her eyes. “Have you disabled the mics yet?”
“They’re down. You may speak freely for about three more minutes until security realizes they’re off and enables them, but I need to stay in the shadows, or the cameras will pick up my presence. I couldn’t risk disabling them.” Barrett was the first half breed to be born in this facility and had lived and worked here ever since. There were four in the first “batch” of shifters taken and forced to breed. They were teenagers now and had been trained as fighters.
Anna looked confused. “Who is that?” She whispered softly like he had done before.
“My name is Barrett.” He answered without skipping a beat. “Honor, there have been two new infants born since the last time you were here, that makes the adolescent count twenty-five. Not including the males down here in the pit.”
“How did you hear me? I could barely hear that myself and I’m the one that said it.” Anna asked as she squinted her eyes like that would help her see the male in the darkness.
“He is like me, mostly.” Honor explained. “They’re called Demis. He can shift and he has many traits that pure bloods, like Fire and I, have except his mother or father was human. There are some Demis born that can’t shift but it’s few and far between. He’s a good fighter, loyal friend, and part of us.” From his crouching position, he stood up slowly. He didn’t want to scare Anna. Honor gracefully turned his body to walk to the other side of the cage, closer to Barrett and lowered his voice so she wouldn’t be able to hear the next part. “What are our odds now that we are actually in here? Small evacuee count is now twenty-seven with the two females in here with us.” He heard a sigh coming from the darkness.
“They may actually be good. Not only are there training exercises outside the walls tomorrow, but me and three other Demis are creating a fire in Section 7. It’s on the opposite side of the compound so you’ll have plenty of time to slip all the males down here out of the cages and get to the second floor. That’s where they’re keeping the new babies. There are four infants and five toddlers in the nursery, no mothers. The rest of the toddlers and children are in the school and childcare units. Same level. We oldest four have been training and are with you on this.”
Honor didn’t move. Not wanting it to look as though he was talking to someone that wasn’t on screen. He turned his body around and looked Anna in the eyes again and spoke. “Thank you, Barrett. Return to your post before they notice you’re gone.”
“Yes sir. When you hear the fire alarm, it's time.” He nodded his head and he could hear the young man’s boots as he left briskly.
“Only a few more hours in here and then we make our move.” Honor said it loud enough for everyone to hear. “Now, no more talk about it, the mics could come on at any time. We need to ready our minds and bodies.” Honor needed sleep after the last few days he had. He knew Fire would as well. He headed toward the bed where Anna still sat and gave her a smirk.
“Woah, no way.” Anna argued. This is mine. I got here first. Not to mention that I’m a woman so there are two reasons why I
am not moving.” She pointed her finger at him, as if to warn him not to get close, but the small human was no threat to him, and he knew that. He’d let her know how persuasive he could be. Especially, while completely naked.
“I’m not going to hurt you, Anna.” He said aloud in case the mics were on by now. Slowly, so he didn’t scare her more, he crouched down and sat on his haunches again. Easing forward he put his hands on the ground, and in one bound he was on top of her.
There was a short struggle, but he managed to get her flat on her back and her arms above her head so she couldn’t attack him in a thrash of fear. “Shh,” he said softly in her ear. “I told you I wasn’t going to hurt you so calm down. If I don’t lay with you tonight, they will come in here and take you away from me.” He didn’t mean for that to come out that way, his animal was playing with his mind. The thought of them coming in here and taking her from him made his blood boil and his skin tingle. He needed to cover it up, explain it away. “I need us to stay in the cage because it is easier to get out of when the time comes to escape. Do you want to stay with me?” He lifted his head up slightly so he could look into her eyes. She nodded, and he gave her another small smile. “Good, I like you. You seem to have some common sense.” She wasn’t dumb, she played her cards right and kept her mouth shut when she needed to. She was definitely going to get him in trouble.
She gave a slight shift of the head. “Thanks, I think.” Scooting over slightly to allow him some room to lay next to her, she added. “You’re not going to try anything tonight are you? I mean we did just meet and I’m still trying to cope with the fact that you said you were a shifter and my mind is attempting to understand what is going on.”