“I didn’t expect this,” she whispered.
Killian pushed her forward and out of sight. “Too much talking,” he said. “You’ll get us killed.”
Lucas followed them to the entrance of the small base. “Welcome to our old home.”
And that’s when she realized where they actually were. The barracks was the main camp for the alpha slave traders who worked under Cassian.
Walking inside the arena, Wren saw the number of alphas near her and felt the sudden urge to cower and run. “No,” she whispered. “W-we can’t stay here!”
Vash threw her forward with a hard smack. If she simply complied, the rest of the alphas wouldn’t ask to see her branding. Even if they did, Vash could probably come up with a lie that stuck. After all, he was the savage’s brother.
Wren’s careless acting out didn’t help their cause. “Would you like to go back in the closet?” he asked. She shook her head. “Head down, before somebody sees you.”
Using his fingers as a fishhook, Lucas brought her up and caressed the back of her head. For a few long seconds, her plump, red lips dangled over his as his fingers threaded through her fine hair.
“Testing your luck, Precious?” he asked.
When he kissed her, he choked his tongue into her candied mouth. The sweat perspiring from his forehead ran against her, and she inhaled him with deep, southern comfort. The sweetness of her flower was too great for any alpha, but Vash watched as Lucas restrained his hunger to punish. They needed to find a room first.
She lurched her lips forward for another kiss, but Lucas nudged his chin back before delivering another hammering blow. Wren felt the skin tighten around the freshly swollen lump, and though she felt the urge to cry, she knew she shouldn’t.
“Thank you for reminding me,” she said, bowing her head against the static light of the inside. “Next time, I’ll break the flesh,” Lucas warned.
As they walked through the grounds, Wren couldn’t help but notice how large the place was. The area itself must have been twice the size of the pipes. Small shops lined the back areas. The sleeping quarters were in the center of the building.
I can’t let them take me again. Not here.
The smell of meat and unfamiliar odors wafted into the air around them. Stomach rumbling, Wren remembered that she hadn’t eaten in almost two days.
“Food,” she muttered hungrily.
“Not much food here, but you can be fed if you ask,” Killian said through his wicked smile.
As they rounded the corner, Wren jumped at the sight of a young alpha, mouth open and covered in soaking seed. His eyes swayed into the back of his skull as his ass opened wide with pumping knots. Four shafts ripped into the meaty hole as a crowd waited to take turns unloading into his mouth.
Wren did not ask why. She didn’t have to ask anymore. As horrid as Dagon was, the buildings and large crowds gave it an air of safety. This place, however, was different. It reminded her of the pipes, but worse.
As they walked farther into the massive amphitheater of sex and pain, Wren kept her head down until they reached a small door. Vash slipped a few coins into a nearby slot, and the door opened automatically with a swirling and beeping tone.
Inside the small room was a single stained mattress, a can of an unknown liquid, as well as a piece of leftover meat. Vash tied Wren’s leash to a post and collapsed onto the soiled bedding.
“I don’t miss the beds,” Killian said.
Wren was the first to sit on the mattress, her puppy-dog eyes rising to their level. “Please don’t leave me here alone.”
Vash felt his abdomen and rocked forward as he felt the agony writhe beneath his gut. His navel was bleeding again. The growing wound stared at him, and he thought of his brother.
“This place… I can’t believe we are back here,” he said.
Lucas watched Vash with careful uneasiness. “I told you—we have walked into a trap.”
But Vash shook his head, his dark hair shifting. “He’s not here.”
Lucas placed his hand against his shoulder blade and squeezed. “He could be. You don’t have a fuckin’ clue.”
That was a risk they all had come to learn to accept. Like it or not, they were at war. Gazing at the alphas, Wren saw them as combatants fighting for freedom. Even if they’d outwardly denied it, she had to believe that.
“And we’re outnumbered. Cassian’s men are everywhere,” Lucas added.