Twisted Stars (Hardest Mistakes #3) by Dannielle Wicks Page B

out. Together.”
    His eyes glisten with the promise of tears, and he turns his face away. My heart clenches in my chest. I just want to hold him.
    I didn’t want to be alone anymore…
    Suddenly, Jayden rolls onto his side, convulsing and shuddering. I pull my hand back from the bars and move away from him. Something pops loudly as if it’s breaking. I turn away, nauseous.
    His breathing slows. I glance over to find a wolf with shiny black fur and with white tips on his ears lying in the corner, unconscious. I move back to the edge of my cage and stretch my hand through to touch him.
    He lifts his head, making me jump. I snatch my hand back and watch him curiously. His tattered shirt falls off his back as he stands.
    He lifts his nose, scenting the air. I shift, and he spins around quickly to look at me, ears flattened against his skull. He snarls, lips peeling back to reveal a line of deadly, sharp fangs. The scar on his face stands out oddly between his fur.
    “Jayden?” I whisper, still trying to wrap my brain around the fact that Jayden is a shape-shifter.
    The wolf snorts and pads across the cage toward me, his teeth still bared in warning and nostrils flared as he sucks down my scent.
    As if he suddenly realises who I am, he cocks his head to the side and whines, moving closer and sticking his nose through the metal bars of the cage. I stretch my hand out cautiously toward him. He licks my fingers then bolts to the other side of his cage playfully, making me laugh.
    I lay down on the ground beside the cage wall facing Jayden, my left hand halfway through the bars. Jayden whines softly and then slowly lies down, resting his nose in the palm of my hand as I drift off to sleep.
    I wake to the horrible sounds of bones cracking and soft whining noises. I keep my eyes closed until it goes quiet. I don’t want to see the pain and suffering he has to endure. I open my eyes, my gaze immediately landing on Jayden. He groans as he rolls toward me, his eyes flashing gold before darkening to their original black. His mouth opens and closes as if he’s speaking. I can barely hear my name as it leaves his lips. I reach through the bars to him. “Oh, Jayden, what have they done to you…?”
    Day becomes night quickly. At least I can tell the time of day here. Jayden breathes softly in his sleep. I sit in the dark—in the quiet—and stare at the brick wall across from us.
    We’re never getting out. It’s impossible. The doors are electronically locked. You need a passkey to open them, and from what I can tell, there are guards posted twenty-four seven. Impossible.
    A shadow flickers at the edge of my vision. I turn my head, but I can’t see anything. Frowning, I turn back to the wall.
    Suddenly, something blue glows in the corner of my eye. I turn my head again.
    Nothing.
    I’m going crazy.
    Being locked up in this small cage is making me loopy.
    Shaking my head, I lie down against the bars separating Jayden and me and close my eyes. Surely if I keep them closed long enough, I’ll fall asleep.
     
    ***
     
    Jayden stands as the door at the end of the hallway slams, and three soldiers walk up the hall toward us. One really big soldier stops at my cage door and smiles. He has a large, nasty bruise stretching across his nose and cheekbones.
    “Hey, it’s the pretty girl from the forest,” he says in a nasally voice. The other soldier comes back to stand beside him. I smile at them both. I remember hitting the idiot over the head with a tree branch.
    The big brute looks back the way they came then pulls a key card off his belt and unlocks my cage. The other soldier stands watch as he pulls me out by the front of my shirt.
    “Leave her alone,” Jayden growls from his cage, sounding more animal than human.
    The smaller soldier nudges his friend’s arm. “Hurry up, James. We’re supposed to be on duty.”
    James nods to his comrade then without warning slams his fist into my ribcage. I fly backwards from the force of the