Limper moved forward and grabbed my arm. He pulled me up. He walked circles around me and I remained still. A powerful shove between my shoulder blades set me flying forward. I fell to the ground my hands already bloodied from the first collapse I didn’t prop with my hands, but my arms. I fell hard and heard my right arm crack. Blinding pain shot through me.
Griffin howled and screamed.
“I fucking hate when they look human,” Blue eyes said to Limper. “Change you dumb bitch!”
He punctuated his works with a kick to my tummy. I grunted and curled into a ball. I didn’t help. Nothing helped protect me from the never ending blows. But I curled tighter. I knew how to become small, and I knew the smaller I got the less he had to hit.
The man kept screaming at me to shift. If I knew what he meant, I would have done it. I would have done anything to make him stop, to make the screams and howls coming from Griffin stop.
But neither stopped for hours. Or so it seemed.
Everything was distant when the beatings stopped. I barely noticed, though some part of me was glad. In my head, though, I could still hear Griff’s screams. Limper took my unbroken arm in his grasp and shoved me back into the cage before banging the door shut. I flinched at the sound. His footfalls echoed in the room, then the door to our small dark world slammed shut.
Something brushed against my hand. I pulled away, then I turned my eyes up to Griffin. He offered me all that he could. A small, broken smile, and a hand through the bars. I welcomed both.
He held my hand. It wasn’t big like my daddy’s, or callused and rough. It was much smaller and soft. I blinked at Griff’s black eyes staring down at me from his cage. He hung his head, his face taking on a helpless kind of regret. There was fondness there, too, though I didn’t know why. His swollen eye was completely shut. More cuts and bruises covered his face. I twisted my frame so that I was pressed against the wall closest to Griffin never letting go of his hand.
“You did good. Really good,” he said softly.
I didn’t get praise. I felt the warmth of a blush redden my cheeks. My moment of happiness sent pain radiating from me.
“You have one black eye and one blue,” he said, still studying me.
I pulled my hand free to touch my face. The swelling was bad. He chuckled lightly.
“No, not bruises. Your eye color.”
I shook my head.
“No, I have brown eyes.”
“No,” he said reaching through the cages and gently brushed his free hand along my cheek. His touch comforted me in a way I couldn’t understand. But it sent a warmth through me. I didn’t argue with him. We became quiet, together listening to the distant cries. I understood then that Griffin and I weren’t the only ones.
“I’m scared, Griffin.”
“Call me Griff.”
I nodded and clung to his hand, and for the next week never willingly let go. The men returned often, ripping us apart. The pain in my arm was constant, the beatings…after having no one for so long, none of that was worse than losing my hold on Griff. I clearly remember the first time we were separated. It felt as if something inside me was being ripped apart. Every time, I’d wail and struggle to reach him again. Griff would try to calm me through the bars of his prison, but nothing worked. I saw him cry when they beat me.
Another day, another beating. They had just left us and I lay in the bottom of my cage, clutching his hand once more.
“Lettie…”
I looked away from the door to Griffin’s black eyes.
“I love you. You are my pack now. They won’t ever hurt you again.”
I shook my head, and my bottom lip trembled. It sounded like a goodbye. I was about to tell him I loved him too, when the door crashed open. I flinched but never loosened my grip.
My eyes vacantly took in his face. A new tormentor. He glanced at us, then leaned back out into the hall to shout.
“I found Griffin!”
Then he was back looking at Griff.
“Shit, I bet the other guy looks ten times worse,” he said with a wink.
He had the same black eyes that Griff had, but he was blonde in stark contrast to Griff’s tangled