Lily huffed out a lungful of air as she jumped to reach the ledge of the small, high window in the cell. Grabbing the sill, she wormed her fingers across the thin strip of wood, gaining enough purchase to pull herself up.
Feet scrabbling against the wall, Lily's shoulders almost levelled with her wrists, all she could see was a huge expanse of blue sky; It's horizon jagged with the tips of an evergreen forest.
'Just a few inches more,' she thought with hope, 'and I might be able to see some landmark, or a road, or even people.' For the third time, however, Lily's arms gave out before anything useful came into her line of vision. Sliding down the chilly tiles, she rubbed her hands on the soft jersey of her pants.
"Fuck!"
What had been a small knot of fear, just under her heart, was now a cold panic, seeping into every bone in her body.
"Why do I have to be so short?" Her voice quickly lost in the empty cell. "And so weak."
She thought of all the times she had skipped going to the gym with Jen, to watch a movie or read a book. It made her want to cry. Lily cursed at the barred glass. "You're just there, just high enough to taunt me. What's the bloody point in having a window if no one can reach it?"
She had no idea how long she'd been locked in the room, long enough to notice the sunlight on the tiles creep it's way across one wall to the next. It had shrunk into a small rectangle and was now taking on the tell-tale orange glow of dusk. Lily eyed the bare bulb hanging from the centre of the ceiling. Yellowed with age and covered in dust, it clearly hadn't been used in years. She shivered at the thought of being trapped in the dark.
Storming across to the door, she pulled on the cold vertical bar with enough force to jar her wrist, hoping that, this time, it might do something different. She knew pushing it wouldn't help but Lily pushed all the same. Between her various attempts with the door and window, her palms and fingers had begun to ache, but again she ran them across the hinges and seals trying to find some way to get out.
Crouching down, she rammed her thumb into one of the screws securing the handle to the door. Twisting first with the flesh of her digit then the nail, Lily could swear she felt it begin to give... until her nail broke.
"Fuck!"
She screamed in pain and frustration before thrusting her thumb in her mouth and crumpling to the floor, leaving a bloody smear of defeat behind her. She wasn't getting out unless someone opened it for her, Lily realised with despair.
The severity of her situation dawned on her and Lily's mind became a swamp of dark thoughts. The tiles she sat on froze to her core and the air suddenly became too thick to breathe.
'I'm all alone, and it's getting dark, and I'm probably going to be killed by those sick bastards.' Her heart raced as her bottom lip trembled. Her vision clouded as tears made her blue eyes sparkle, spilling onto flushed, high cheekbones.
"I'm just going to die here," She mumbled around her thumb, thinking of how Jailhouse and Rick would surely get their fun before they kill her.
"And no one will know," Her voice cracked and rasping sobs echoed off the dirty tiles.
"I won't have a funeral," She thought of all the friends she'd never say goodbye to.
"I'll just be left to rot," She thought of the family she'd never get to have.
"In those bloody woods." Tasting the tears on her lips, Lily let out a shaky breath. Then laughed mirthlessly. If her mother could see her now, Lily thought, a grown woman crying on the floor, sucking her thumb, complaining to an empty room. Her mother had raised her single handedly and lived her life by the motto 'A woman is capable of anything she needs to do'. Just the thought of the tenacious woman gave Lily some comfort.
'I'm stronger than this.' She decided, pulling her thumb from her mouth and trying to steady her breath.
"I'm stronger than this."
There was a very good chance today would be her last and even if she was stuck in a dark, inescapable cell, crying away her last hours like a scared child would help her as much as bending over for Jailhouse and Rick. They would love to have her like this too; Weak and vulnerable.
Sniffing back the last of her fear, Lily stood and stretched as tall as her height would allow. She had always found it relaxing to stretch out her worries, it was second only to a massage, but somehow she couldn't see herself asking her captors to rub her back.
'So,' she thought, bending at the waist to loosen her tight neck and shoulders, the ends of her mahogany hair pooling on the floor, 'what do I know about my kidnappers?' She knew they wanted something called the Wulver crest. The blonde woman was their 'alpha', whatever the hell that was. And they had intended to kidnap Jen.
"Where the hell are you, Jen?"
Lily rose, staying still as the blood rushed from her head. She was getting worried about her friend, 'but then again,' she thought, laughing at the irony, 'at least you've not been locked in a dingy room by some nut-jobs'.
Closing her eyes, Lily focused on what she could actually do. She could either tell the blonde tart everything she knew about Jen, possibly endangering both their lives, or... what? She could try to lie. Lily discounted that option immediately, she was a terrible liar and anyway, she thought, what good would it do?
Staring at the tray of uneaten food, she conceded there was nothing she could do for herself other than rest up and be ready for whatever tomorrow might throw at her. If it came at all.
*****
"Papa said we have to be strong."
"I don't care, I'm not movin'."
"But Papa-"
"We can't hear Papa any more, they took us too far away."
The little black wolf was just as unsettled as her brother was that she couldn't 'talk' to her father any more. This was the first time they had ever been so far away that they couldn't hear their own family, let alone the rest of the pack. She'd hadn't realised how reassuring it was to just think the words and have her parents or any of the grown-ups in her extended family hear her. Trying to ignore the fear threatening to overwhelm her, she decided they needed to do something.
"Tyler, Papa said we need to remember everything, the smells, the colours, anything that sticks out, and we can't do that hiding under our paws."
Beth thought back to last night when they were taken. They were asleep in the common room of the Alpha's house, Papa had been in a meeting with him and it ran late. When she woke up, they were in the back of a van, bouncing in the dark as it sped them away from their home.
The first thing she had done was call for her father but when he replied she could barely make him out. She remembered her shock at feeling, for the first time, fear coming from her father through their bond.
Tyler had woken then, distraught that they had been taken so far. Her father had tried to comfort him as much as he could. Then, when he realised they were about to leave the pack range, he told them;
"OK my little dominoes, I know you're frightened but you need to be strong for me and your Mama. Soon, you're not going to be able to hear us or the pack. You need to keep your ears and noses open, anything you see, remember it. You two take care of each other and the first chance you get, you fur up and run north. Run until you can't breathe. We're coming...you...love...so much..."
Then they were alone.
Beth saw her brother shake violently . His small white frame curled in on itself and the pungent stain on the papers below, painted a picture of fear and defeat. She nudged repeatedly at his side, trying to get him to move. Beth couldn't bear for Rick to see him again like this. The last time he'd come in, he'd laughed harshly at her brother, calling him a girl and unfit to be a Beta's son. That had resulted in the stain. Beth knew they just had to hold it together until their parents or the Alpha came for them, then they could cry all they want. But right now, she decided, we need our wits about us. Guilt seeped through her as an idea started to form.
Butting against her brother more insistently, she jumped around him. Moving away then skipping back, playful barks filled the office. With growing hope that her plan was working, she saw her brother's ears rising a little in response to her energetic game.
"Oh man, just you wait 'till we get back. I'm tellin' everyone you pee'd on the floor like a scared little coyote."
Tyler's unusual blue eyes bored into hers with malice. "You wouldn't dare," he growled.
Darting back after nipping his paws, Beth saw Tyler's hackles rise. When Rick had insulted him, the little pup had no choice but to sit and take it, but his sister's teasing? 'Well,' Beth thought, 'I can't see him letting me get away with that!'
Before she knew what had hit her, Beth was on the floor, squirming away from her brother's strong attacks. High-pitched growling, snapping jaws and occasional yelps punctuated the blur of black and white fur rolling across the carpet. Beth was struggling to keep up with her brother's charges. Although they were the same age and height, the white wolf had started to form more muscle, giving him a stocky appearance and an advantage in a fight. The black wolf held little bulk, her lithe frame and skinny legs more suited to running through the forest.
Crashing loudly into a filing cabinet under the large window, both pups froze as the brown unit fell to the floor. With a deafening crash, it hit the grubby tiled carpet. Two of it's three drawers pushed open on the first bounce and on the second, they spewed their contents into the room. Old invoices, letters and reports all in various shades of yellow and all with the same meat cleaver letterhead, flew through the air before covering what seemed like every surface from the window to the door.
Beth and Tyler's identical blue eyes met as, in unison, they thought to each other, "That was your fault." The pups barked out their amusement and continued their scuffle, all thoughts of reconnaissance gone.
****
"You know the place?" Vicky spat out, "...11pm then." Growling loudly and nearly throwing her phone in anger, she ended the call.
Grateful that she had wanted some privacy, Vicky had left the packing floor through the door opposite the office. The empty delivery bay gave her a good view of the approaching road and was enough of a distance from the red brick building so that Dan and Rick couldn't overhear her.
