The Silver Cage Read online

  ‘You didn’t say her name earlier,’ Leon said, darkly.

  Alfie looked at Leon’s strong-jawed face. ‘Huh? Who else is there?’

  ‘Vix bitch. Iris. You said she was still alive.’

  24

  AFTER VIKRAM HAD gone, Iris lay back down. She was sure she had felt something before. But she couldn’t be sure if she had dreamt or imagined it.

  She tried to fixate on Alfie and felt her mind wander a little. She thought again of magical times they’d spent together. That space they’d shared between her killing the Beast and the Silver Crown coming for them. They’d holed up in Alfie’s pack house, buried in his attic bedroom. They had fucked each other raw, unable to stop. Alfie’s body had been like an addiction.

  As she thought about him, her nipples hardened. She tangled herself in the sheets. She pushed her uniform out of the way and pushed her hands into her underwear.

  She squirmed on her narrow bed as she remembered how it felt to be chained down by Alfie, using the magical silver chains he used for sex. There was something sexy about watching him fix her wrists into the magically self-adjusting cuffs and know that he had done this to himself time after time. That he had let other women chain him down. That he hadn’t had a choice. That for years the only way Alfie could have sex was like this. That magnificent body of his. His body that had a wolf inside.

  Alfie climbed on top of her as she was stretched out taut on the bed. Naked and exposed, her pussy stretched open for him. She couldn’t bring her legs together. She couldn’t roll over. Nowhere to hide. Her nipples were already hard.

  Alfie leant down and tormented her with kisses that were more tease than anything. The tip of his tongue. A twist of his lips. Then nothing. Riffing on her frustration as he pulled away over and over.

  In Cobalt, Iris stretched her legs wide apart recreating the memory. She rubbed her hands over her body, moving where Alfie’s hands had moved. Her mind twisted. Nostalgia and ecstasy and regret. Longing. Longing. She wanted Alfie so much. So very much. And she knew he knew it too when she heard him say, Iris?

  25

  ‘IRIS?’

  Alfie was squirming against Leon’s body. They were still tied nose to nose. When he spoke, Leon started. ‘Sire?’

  Alfie, is that you? Are you really there?

  ‘What?’ Alfie looked around the cage as far as he was able. ‘I, uh, I heard Iris.’

  ‘That was me, sire. I was telling you. You said Iris. Before. You said her name.’

  ‘No. No. I heard her voice. I really did. Like she was right here.’

  ‘Alfie, man, are you OK?’ Leon frowned. ‘This is the most lucid you’ve been for weeks.’

  Alfie looked at Leon. He did feel different, like a veil had been lifted. And then he felt her again. Iris. All over and around him. Iris. He was inside her. Alfie groaned and rubbed himself against Leon.

  Leon squirmed. ‘Please, man. Don’t fucking do this to me.’

  But Alfie barely heard. He knew he was lying on the floor of his cage, rubbing himself against Leon, but the fantasy of Iris was so clear. Bracing with his shoulder, he rolled himself over, forcing Leon underneath him. Pinning him on the ground with his bigger body.

  ‘Ow,’ Leon yelped. ‘Damnit, man, my wrists are tied.’

  In his mind Alfie was on top of Iris. Fucking her as she was chained down to his bed in the pack house. He leant down to kiss her, teasing with his mouth. Underneath him, Leon opened up his mouth, needy and ready.

  Alfie, said Iris.

  ‘Sire,’ said Leon.

  Alfie moaned. He bent his head again and kissed Iris. Long this time. No more teasing. He loved kissing. He loved to use his mouth. He thrust into her with his tongue and his cock. She was squirming beneath him. Helpless and taut. He looked at the stretch in her muscled arms. He knew the way these chains worked. They’d held him enough times. They pulled that little bit too tight. They were very secure, but, the way they held, that slow burn under the arms that would grow and grow and become unbearable. He thought of keeping Iris chained to his bed for hours. Going away and coming back to fuck her again. Using his muzzle to keep her quiet.

  Possessing Iris like that seemed such a twisted idea. Not Iris. Iris was so free. He thought of her like a bird in a cage. His to take and use over and over. He was coming inside Iris. Quick and hot. God, and the Divine wouldn’t be pleased about this. Somewhere inside him Alfie felt the memory of what she was doing to him, saving his semen up for something. She wouldn’t want this. This stickiness that was pooling now between his groin and Leon’s.

  But he stopped thinking about that, the moment he realised he could still hear Iris in his head.

  Alfie?

  ‘Iris, God. Is this real? You’re alive?’

  Blake. Blake rescued me. The chip in my arm.

  ‘Oh, thank God. I’m so sorry, Iris. How are you doing this?’

  Witches, Iris said.

  Alfie felt strangely scared. If witches were involved anything was possible. There was a moment’s pause and then Alfie said, ‘Look, Iris, I don’t know what you’re doing, but I know this is part of a plan to find me. Don’t try to find me. I don’t know how you’ve broken into my head right now, but the Divine has me thralled. And messing with werewolf thrall is bad news. And I don’t want you coming near me while she has control of me. Please, Iris, I don’t want you to see me with her. I’m a werewolf, Iris. I look human but I’m not. Hairy on the inside, Iris? You ever heard that phrase. If you come for me, Iris, I will hurt you. She will make me hurt you. Don’t come here.’

  Don’t think I don’t know what you are, Alfie. I know. You don’t scare me. And I know if she makes you hurt me, well, I know it’s her and not you doing it. Tell me where you are. Or I’ll find another way to find you.

  ‘You won’t find this place. It’s the Silver Crown’s base in London. Highly cloaked and warded. Built for the Crown by witches in return for a fix of the Divine’s power. Listening to Divine talk about it, you’d think witches would never have had any power if it hadn’t been for her.’

  Really?

  ‘So she says, she’s been juicing them up for years. Then they got all super godlike and turned the tables. Locked her up in a cage – the cage I’m in now – and formed the Silver Crown to keep her incarcerated. But that was years ago. I don’t think the witches need her any more.’

  Wow. Well, I guess the witches forgot to mention that. Maybe they know where that place is.

  ‘No, they don’t. She told me all about it. When Sabrina got in with the Silver Crown, she reformulated all the cloaking so only she could find this place.’

  Well, that’s OK, we can still trace your chip. It’s cloaked but the witches are going to amplify its signal.

  ‘Iris, no. I told you not to come for me.’

  Don’t be silly, Alfie.

  ‘I won’t let you, Iris. I’ll have Leon rip it out of me.’ Leon looked up. Alfie wasn’t sure if he’d been having his conversation with Iris out loud or not.

  Inside his head he could hear Iris shouting, No! Alfie, no.

  Alfie tried not to listen – he felt strangely clear headed and awake. Iris was fading away fast. The chip! He needed a plan. ‘So, cub, how’re those ropes on your wrists?’

  Leon smiled. Alfie had been trying to get out of his own chains – without success – every lucid moment he had. Even with the strength of the Divine’s thrall, the wolf’s need to escape was still strong. He knew Leon would have been working on those knots ever since the Divine tied them.

  He wasn’t really surprised when Leon brought one hand, then the other out from behind his back.

  ‘There’s a micro chip buried in my bicep, pup. You can see where the cut was made, even though I thought I’d mostly healed it. I need you to dig it out of me. It’s deep in the muscle.’

  Leon went a little pale. ‘I – sire, no. I don’t know if I can.’

  ‘Don’t worry. I’m not giving you a choice about this, cub,’ Alfie sai
d.

  26

  ‘NO! ALFIE, NO.’

  ‘Iris? Are you OK?’

  Iris opened her eyes to see Vikram standing beside the end of the bed again.

  ‘Um, it’s gone two a.m., Iris. I said I’d come back.’

  Iris swallowed. She pulled her hand out of her underwear, grateful that most of her half-dressed body was hidden by the tangle of bedclothes. She scrambled into an upright position, keeping herself covered, trying to formulate what had just happened. It felt a lot like waking from a dream.

  In fact, she thought, can I really be sure that it wasn’t a dream?

  ‘Vik,’ she said, her voice sounding odd outside her head, ‘I need a phone. I think I know how to find Alfie. But we have to move fast.’

  Leon was kneeling over Alfie. He had got most of the ropes off, but Alfie’s manacles defied every trick both of them knew.

  ‘Forget them. They’re probably spelled,’ Alfie had said. ‘Now get the chip out.’

  In the end Leon had needed to force most of his left fist into Alfie’s mouth, while he used his other hand to reopen the wound. He could feel Alfie tense and shaking with pain as he bit down on Leon’s fingers, leaving deep marks on Leon’s bony knuckles. But Leon was strong, and he had been told what to do by his sire. He forced two fingers down into the almost healed wound and drew out a tiny gore-covered microchip. As he pulled free, instinctively, he ducked his head and licked Alfie’s wound.

  Alfie sighed softly.

  ‘What can I do with it, though?’ Leon said. ‘They’ll still trace it if it’s here.’

  ‘It won’t be here.’

  Leon gestured wildly around at the cage and cellar that held them.

  Alfie smiled. ‘I have a plan,’ he said. ‘Now swallow that chip.’

  When Sabrina followed the Divine into the cellar, she was delighted to see Leon lying on the floor of the cage. He was lying on his stomach and his jeans were off. ‘So,’ she said as she approached the cage, ‘you got the ropes off, did you?’

  ‘Wolves escape,’ Divinia muttered, as she unlocked and hauled open the cage door.

  She marched in and over to Alfie, who was sitting propped against the bars. She dropped into a crouch and cupped her hand around his balls. ‘Twice,’ she said roughly. ‘You fucked him twice, didn’t you? You’ve come twice. What a waste. I knew we shouldn’t have left them in the cage together.’

  Sabrina saw Alfie meet the Divine’s eyes with his big werewolf-gold ones. He couldn’t lie to her. ‘No. I came when we were tied together. Then I fucked him. Then I sucked his cock.’

  Divinia reached around behind Alfie. ‘You really can’t get free of these cuffs, can you?’ she said.

  Alfie shook his head.

  ‘No, no. It must have been a shame for you to get to fuck but have to do it chained up like in the bad old days before you got yourself collared like a puppy dog. And you must have had to make him help you take him. How humiliating for the pup.’

  Sabrina smiled to herself. Exactly as she had been hoping.

  ‘But you got to come,’ Divinia went on. ‘Such a waste of your power.’ She turned to Sabrina. ‘I can’t believe you let me leave his cub in his cage. You know I’m trying to keep him chaste until I can start to collect his seed.’

  ‘Oh, it was worth it. You’ll still have enough for the potion if we’re careful now. And look at this uppity creature. Humiliated by his desire for his wolf-daddy. Perfect.’ Sabrina put her mouth very close to Leon’s ear. ‘You won’t try anything like that again, will you, pup?’

  Leon barely looked at her as he shook his head and rolled over on to his back. ‘Please, Sabrina, I want you to be my alpha. Not him. I want your control.’

  Sabrina smiled. She really did have a delicate place in her heart for Leon. Witches were renowned for their weakness for cocksure strutting men. Leon under her thrall – she couldn’t think of anything more delicious.

  She bent down and placed her hand on his forehead. ‘Of course,’ she muttered, ‘the spell will take more easily if you want it.

  Leon gritted his teeth. This was the place where Alfie’s plan would succeed or fail. He closed his eyes as Sabrina’s hand touched his head. He didn’t dare look at Alfie, but pictured him instead, thought about how much he loved his sire.

  He let the memory of Alfie half an hour ago wash over him: Alfie on his back with Leon astride him. Leon having to guide Alfie inside him and drive himself down again and again, impaling himself on Alfie’s cock, working for both of them, until Alfie had roared and come inside Leon.

  Then Alfie had buried his face in Leon’s groin and worked Leon’s hard cock with his mouth, only stopping to whisper parts for his escape plan – or, at least, his plan for Leon to escape. His kissed Leon afterwards, tasting of Leon’s come, and whispered into his mouth that this would help him stay strong and loyal.

  The last time Sabrina used magic to convince Leon to break his thrall and betray Alfie, she had convinced him first that Alfie was a turncoat, a traitor to werewolf kind. Now, as Sabrina laid her hand on Leon, bending her head to kiss him and scalding his mouth with the violent sweet-heat of her silver tooth, he knew he would die loyal to Alfie.

  Leon blinked up at Sabrina as she pulled away from him. ‘Queen,’ he said softly.

  But already Leon saw Divine looking suspiciously at them. Alfie had said she wouldn’t like it when she realised what Sabrina had done. Alfie’s power over Leon was the way the Divine controlled him. Without the pull of the line, the Divine had no sway over Leon. Sabrina had broken one of her sacred pack lines. Thrall was the heart of the Divine’s power; she wouldn’t stand for Sabrina’s warping it with witchcraft.

  Alfie had said, ‘Sabrina and the Divine barely tolerate each other anyway. They might act friendly, but Sabrina helped the Silver Crown keep the Divine locked in this cage. Sabrina’s messing with werewolf thrall. The Divine is a wolf. She’s going to be angry.’

  As the Divine straightened up, she said, ‘You shouldn’t come into my house and mess with the ways of the wolf.’

  ‘Your house! Witches built this place for you, Divinia. To protect you. If they hadn’t, your own children would have ripped you apart in the hope of inheriting your power years ago.’

  ‘That’s not true. You don’t understand how it works. Werewolf loyalty. Thrall. You wouldn’t play around with it if you did.’

  As the witch and the wolf argued, Leon sneaked a look at Alfie. He had his head tipped back against the bars of the cage behind him, staring at the Divine, his feelings for her back as strong as ever. The thought of leaving Alfie made Leon feel sick, but he couldn’t disobey a direct order. He had told Leon to run, get as far away as possible.

  What Alfie hadn’t said, perhaps hadn’t considered, but what Leon knew, was that Iris would find him. Iris was going to trace the chip, wasn’t she? That was the whole deal. And Leon was looking forward to a few exchanges with that bitch.

  27

  ‘VIK, I NEED a phone. Do you have a phone?’

  ‘Well, yes. I have an MCD.’

  Iris looked blankly at him.

  ‘A mobile communications device. Don’t you have those? Here.’

  What Vikram pulled out of his pocket and passed to Iris looked exactly like an Institute-issue coms set. As Iris dialled Cate’s number from memory, she thought how weird this was. Dr Tobias must have got their communication devices from Cobalt. This seemed like confirmation that Cobalt really were the power behind the Institute. Who had started calling these things ‘coms’? Coms sets? Was it Blake?

  The second time Iris met Blake, he had told her about Cobalt. They had slept together the first day they met – after Dr Tobias had introduced them. And then, afterwards, cocksure and so fucking sexy, Blake had suggested they go on a date. He offered to take her out for a drink while she could still taste his come in her mouth.

  The next evening, he met her in the Lamb and Flag. Iris was sitting at a wide oak table in the dark and crowded pub. Blake
wasn’t late, but she had been ridiculously early. A fact borne out by the shredded beer mats that arced out around her like she was about to bed down for the winter. She was meeting a real werewolf hunter for a drink. She was so nervous she practically jangled.

  When he finally appeared, bowling through the swing door of the pub, his collar-length dark hair and narrow face instantly recognisable, Iris jumped out of her seat and waved excitedly.

  Blake ducked his head and came towards her looking furtive. He was wearing a brown overcoat layered over a white lab coat and, underneath that, what seemed to be dark-red army fatigues.

  As he slid into the seat opposite her, he said, ‘OK, nice greeting, so now the whole pub is wondering who we are and what we’re doing.’

  ‘What? Are we being all covert? Isn’t that a bit, um, unnecessary?’ Iris hoped her snippy tone would make him take her seriously. His easy chastisement had been just a little too paternal for her liking. At 22, Iris had felt like an adult – after what she’d seen, what she’d been through – but she knew other people often had trouble treating her as one. Iris alternately blamed her overbearing, overprotective parents and the fact that, with her short dark hair and slight angular figure, she looked more like a teenage boy than a capable grown woman.

  Blake held up his left hand deferentially. ‘OK, fine. You’re right, I was just messing with you anyway. No one cares. Watch.’

  Iris stared open-mouthed as Blake stood up and threw off his overcoat, slung it over the back of his chair and shouted, ‘Don’t mind us, we’re werewolf hunters.’

  A few people looked around, but most clearly pretended not to have noticed. Iris slunk down in her seat.

  ‘See. No one cares. No one believes in paranormals any more. You can make as much of a song and dance as you like.’

  Iris swallowed her embarrassment. ‘Right,’ she said precisely. ‘Now do you want a drink?’

  When Iris came back with their drinks, before she even sat down properly, Blake said, ‘So, you learnt lycs were real the hard way, eh?’