The Silver Cage Read online

  The only light in the room was from a mismatched collection of candles and the fire. The room had little in it except a rocking chair, a low table and another hard-backed chair drawn up close to the fire. The floor, ceiling and walls were bare rough stone. At the back of the room was the heavily bolted wooden door that led to the prison where Alfie and Leon were being kept. Sabrina was brushing her hands together and she marched through the room to sit smartly on the empty chair. She lifted one leg to take off her shoe. ‘Oh, stop looking like that. I’m not going to put you back in your cage.’

  The Divine settled back into the rocking chair. ‘Well, good.’ Her expression was bristling. The Divine wasn’t scared of much, but Sabrina terrified her.

  ‘Oh, stop.’ Sabrina smiled casually and the Divine shuddered. ‘Look, it’s you and me now, Divinia. We’re not rivals anymore. If we even ever were. No more Silver Crown. The warrior wolf came for them like it was written that she would. It’s a new era. Wolf and witch. We can do what we like. And I hope you have a plan to screw over as many humans as possible.’

  Divinia felt her heart lift. Sabrina back and on her side. That was too, too perfect. She grinned a dirty grin. ‘Well, you know. I kind of do. But why don’t I tell you about that later. ’Cause I have some really fun non-humans to screw over right through that door there.’

  Leon was looking at Alfie. He did that a lot. He didn’t know how long he’d been locked down here or what was going to happen to him. But looking at his sire helped. It made him feel safe.

  Alfie was lying naked on his side. His cuffed wrists pulled up and twisted a little behind his back where the chain was twined around the bars of his cage.

  In a rare lucid moment Alfie had wondered aloud about this set up. Why he was still in the cage and Leon outside it in the cellar room. Leon knew why. Firstly and most simply, the cage was magical, working like the collar to hold Alfie’s form. The reason they weren’t both in the cage any more was obvious – Alfie would thrall Leon into making him orgasm. Leon could see how tormented Alfie was by the constant frustration and teasing. The Divine clearly wanted to drive Alfie mad by not letting him climax. There was no way she’d let him and Leon go back to their earlier ways of comfort through rutting. But it was safe to keep Leon outside the cage because, while Alfie was locked up, no matter how many times Alfie told him to run, there was no way Leon was going anywhere.

  He didn’t hear the door opening, but when a musical lilt of a voice said, ‘Well, ain’t love grand!’ Leon knew he would have recognised her anywhere.

  ‘Sabrina,’ he said, rolling over.

  She was standing in the doorway. She looked just the same as she had the last time he had seen her. Bare delicate feet, long brown legs, a stretchy tight white dress that seemed to make her look more naked. She smiled. Leon’s broken heart went heavy and tight in his chest.

  The magic Sabrina had used once to temporarily break his thrall to Alfie and make him loyal to her was still there, somewhere inside him, pushing its way to the fore again now he was in a room with her. Looking at her seemed to activate it.

  ‘How are you, Leon?’ Sabrina said, crossing the room. She threw a single wary glance at the sleeping Alfie. Leon didn’t get up; he let her approach him and drop into a crouch. She covered his body with hers and kissed him.

  All Leon could think about was how Sabrina was so beautiful.

  She ran her fingers through his long blond hair, melting away the tangles that had matted their way into it while he had been locked up. Every morning, while the Divine bathed and tormented Alfie, she gave Leon a bowl of water to wash with, but it was barely adequate. However, Sabrina, as she touched him, seemed to cleanse him. The grime and sweat of weeks of captivity seemed to melt away.

  Leon let his gaze wander to Alfie. Sabrina’s hands had come to rest on the fastening of his jeans. She reached down and turned his chin, making him face her again. ‘There’s something different about you, Leon,’ she whispered. ‘You used to be blind to anyone but me when we were together. Let me remind you.’

  Sabrina bent back over his crotch and popped open his fly, his erection sprang out, but Leon didn’t know whether he was hard from Sabrina’s petting or in that way he often got from idly gazing at Alfie, naked and frustrated in the cage.

  Sabrina leant closer still and took Leon’s cock into her mouth. Down and down into her throat.

  ‘Oh, God,’ Leon moaned, almost shocked at the raw ridiculous pleasure of it.

  Sabrina laughed and those vibrations flowed into his cock and seemed to spiral out through his whole body. The pleasure was intense. Too much. Every hair on his body stood on end. His nipples were pinched taut. Sabrina let her mouth work his cock a few more times then pulled free. She worked it a few times with a tight fist. Then she whispered, ‘Stand up, werewolf. See me.’

  Leon obeyed her. He got shakily to his feet, his body still buzzing, overcome with almost debilitating arousal.

  ‘Touch it,’ Sabrina whispered. ‘Touch yourself.’

  Leon took his cock in his hand and brought himself to the rising edge of his orgasm, fast and sudden. He stroked again. Nothing. The sensation suddenly gone.

  He looked at Sabrina. She smiled.

  ‘Witch,’ said Leon, frantically working his cock and suddenly feeling nothing. ‘What did you do?’

  ‘Very little, actually. You’ve been wondering, haven’t you? How it feels for him, for your sire. Your heart is breaking for his suffering.’

  ‘No,’ said Leon sharply.

  ‘He has your pleasure, Leon.’

  ‘What?’ Leon turned his head and looked at Alfie. His eyes were closed or almost closed. He looked peaceful and pleasured.

  ‘Touch it,’ Sabrina whispered.

  Leon stroked his cock. He felt nothing, but in the cage Alfie moaned and bucked, thrusting his groin into the empty air.

  ‘Just as you wished. I know you’ve been taunting him, making him watch you. And I also know that, deep down, your only wish was that you could give that pleasure to him.’

  ‘No.’ Leon shook his head. ‘That’s rubbish.’

  Sabrina smiled. ‘This spell doesn’t work like that, Leon. I made magic to give you the sexual experience you most desired. And it would seem, what you most desire is for your sire to have your pleasure.’

  ‘No, no.’ Leon shook his head hard.

  ‘So you don’t want him to feel you come?’ Sabrina said, getting to her feet.

  ‘I – I . . .’ Leon was shaking his head.

  Sabrina moved closer. Leon was backed up against the stone wall. Sabrina’s long cool fingers closed around his cock. ‘Well?’ she whispered. ‘The Divine won’t know. It won’t affect her potion. He won’t actually come. Just feel it when you do.’ Her fist was tight, moving on Leon’s cock.

  Leon bucked and gasped, squirming, his back against the wall – but he felt no pleasure from what she was doing. He looked at Alfie. He knew that look on his sire’s face – the pleasure was clearly all his.

  ‘If you wanted to enjoy it yourself, you would,’ Sabrina whispered, and her voice was harsh and bitter.

  Leon moaned and felt himself ejaculate. He looked at Alfie, writhing as Leon came.

  After a second, Sabrina brought her semen-smeared fingers up to Leon’s lips and shoved them into his mouth. As he cleaned her up, she muttered, ‘Wow, werewolf, who’s your daddy?’

  20

  IRIS LAY ON her bed. Cate was gone and it was dark outside. She couldn’t see the clock without putting the light on. She guessed it was maybe one thirty now. Iris lay down and closed her eyes. She couldn’t wait to see if the connection worked.

  She lay still, wondering what was going to happen. She felt exactly the same. ‘Alfie,’ she said out loud in the dark.

  Nothing.

  She waited. Her mind started to drift. She thought about Alfie, about that time between killing the Beast and the Silver Crown coming for them. That bliss. Just Alfie – naked and hard. Always there for he
r. Wanting no one but her.

  And then she felt something. Knew deep inside that Lilith was right, that she and Alfie were bound together by something paranormal. That she was with him even now, even though he was thralled to the Divine. Even though he had betrayed her, left her to die. She felt everything that had ever been between them. A history. A love story. A soul. She listened to her heartbeat and realised it wasn’t the only heartbeat she could hear in the room.

  21

  WITH THE MOON coming and Sabrina’s magical assistance, it didn’t take long for Leon to get hard again. Sabrina pushed him to the floor and climbed on top of him, facing away from him. Leon had his hands on her tits, stroking and working them. As Leon bucked up into Sabrina, he noticed that they were both watching Alfie, still sleeping.

  He seemed to be restless, rolling and moving. His chains clanging against the bars every time he tried to twist too far.

  Sabrina put her hands over Leon’s on her tits, urging him to twist and work them harder, tightening his fingers on her nipples, fighting her way to another climax.

  But Leon was watching Alfie’s face, wondering what he was thinking. And then Alfie said something, barely really spoke, but his lips moved and Leon went cold. He knew exactly what word had just formed on Alfie’s lips. A word Leon hated and dreaded. A word that made him feel sick inside.

  ‘Iris.’

  It was as if Leon’s jealousy of Iris was the biggest thing he’d ever felt. More than his loyalty to Alfie or to Sabrina. He hurt inside. Then, in that moment of grief, he just wanted to get away from this place. Rip himself away.

  Behind him on the floor was a metal tray that Divinia had brought him his evening meal on hours ago. He slipped his right hand off Sabrina’s body and groped on the floor. His fingers found the rim of it in seconds and he lifted it up, moving as fast as he could, and smashed Sabrina around the head.

  Sabrina fell on to the floor. Out cold. Leon scrambled out from underneath her and started to drag his jeans back on, looking frantically towards the door. There was no sign Divinia had been alerted by the noise of his attack.

  Alfie was still rolling around, muttering a little more loudly now, ‘Iris. Iris.’

  The only window in the cellar was high and small. ‘Wolves escape,’ Leon whispered to himself as he got it in his sights and leapt.

  22

  IRIS?

  It was Alfie. He was saying her name over and over but she didn’t know why or if he knew she could hear him.

  She said, ‘Alfie,’ very softly.

  And again, he said, Iris?

  ‘Alfie.’

  ‘Iris!’ That was loud. Loud and close.

  Iris rolled on to her side. ‘Alfie,’ she said again.

  ‘Iris? It’s Vik.’

  Iris opened her eyes. Vikram was standing over her. ‘Hey,’ she said, sleepy and confused.

  ‘Sorry,’ said Vikram. ‘I didn’t want to wake you, but I wondered if you had got any new leads from the witches you saw.’

  Alfie cried out. ‘Iris! No! Don’t go!’ He sat bolt upright, suddenly awake. Leon stared at him, frozen and frightened, perched on the tiny window ledge of the high window.

  Alfie said, ‘She’s still alive.’

  The door to the cellar crashed open and Divinia stood there. Her eyes moved from Alfie, to the unconscious Sabrina, to Leon perched up high. Her calm quiet gaze settled on Alfie. ‘Tell your cub to come down from there,’ she said evenly.

  Alfie looked at Leon. He looked scared and confused. But he couldn’t disobey the Divine when she spoke like that. ‘Come down,’ he said.

  23

  IRIS SAT UP, slightly shaken. Something had happened to Alfie, but she wasn’t sure what. She looked at Vikram, trying to settle her thoughts. ‘Sorry, look, Vik, I’m a little busy. But, yes, the witches fixed me up and I think they might be able to decloak the chip in Alfie’s arm. But I need time to try something first.’ Iris sighed. ‘Except we don’t have time. We need to find him before the full moon rises. We need to stop the Divine.’

  ‘Why?’ said Vikram. ‘What’s she going to do.’

  ‘I don’t know, but if witches think it’s bad enough to intervene . . .’

  ‘OK,’ Vikram said, nodding calmly. ‘We’ll sort it. When can the witches get the chip activated?’

  Iris frowned. Vikram looked strangely beautiful. Her room was dark; the big window showed a blue-black London sky. The only real light that didn’t come from the cityscape was leaking through the quarter-open door. A little of it fell on Vikram’s jawline, lighting the nap of hairs there, making his skin look like velvet. Something about the simplicity of what he had said, the purely expressed desire that whatever the problem was it would be sorted out, made her think of Blake. Blake in the early days of their relationship. Blake way back when.

  ‘Can you come back later?’ Iris said. ‘I just need to do something before the witches can fix up the chip.’

  ‘Sure,’ said Vikram, standing up, ‘I’ll come back in an hour. The night is still young.’

  But it really wasn’t. It was getting late. Too late.

  Alfie was still dazed and sleep-headed. Sabrina was walking around holding her head and looking viciously angry. She was staring at Leon. She couldn’t believe it. Nor could Alfie when he figured out what must have happened. Leon had hit a witch – a witch! – over the head and knocked her unconscious.

  Did Leon know she was a witch? Maybe he still thought she was a werewolf.

  Divinia was crouched behind Leon roping his wrists together. Every time she wanted Leon to do something she sent it down the line by telling Alfie to tell him what to do.

  The Divine used sending it down so naturally. Alfie had always considered it a last resort. It bred ill-feeling in packs to keep using that pull over and over. Or, at least, Alfie felt it did. Clearly, the Divine felt differently. And who was Alfie to question her?

  It was clear to see how the Divine could use the lines and loops of power that threaded through all werewolves to bind them all to her will with sending it down.

  Alfie’s wrists were still cuffed behind his back. His cock and nipples were both hard. Hot and tight. He wasn’t sure why.

  When the Divine had Leon trussed, she used Alfie to make him stand up. ‘Well,’ she said, ‘I had thought that there was no need to confine you. I thought your loyalty would keep you close to your sire. Obviously that is not the case.’

  ‘Why should I stay here with him?’ Leon snarled low. ‘He doesn’t care about me.’

  ‘I thought you were proud of what a true wolf you were, Leon,’ said Sabrina, pushing away from the wall she was leaning on it and coming close. ‘That’s how it works. He doesn’t care about you – but you care about nothing but him. Even my magic hold over you just isn’t strong enough to fight the way you feel about him. It’s more than just thrall, isn’t it, Leon? Does he know?’

  And the way Sabrina was smiling, Alfie knew; knew she knew.

  ‘Fuck off,’ Leon said.

  ‘He’s in love with me,’ Alfie said slowly. ‘And yes, I know.’

  ‘Tell him to come into the cage, Alfie,’ said Divinia. ‘Tell him to come into the cage and lie with you.’

  Leon’s eyes went saucer-wide.

  Alfie told Leon what to do and he did it.

  As Leon’s body shifted in the straw next to Alfie’s, Alfie saw the fear in Leon’s eyes. The Divine came up close behind them and – after a few careful instructions and the detaching of Alfie’s wrist chains from the bars of the cage – got them face to face. ‘Well,’ she muttered as she started to tie Leon’s ankles to Alfie’s, ‘it would seem you are right, Sab. This one is already hard for his sire. And he’s disgusted by it.’ She reached up and chucked Leon under the chin. He tried hopelessly to turn away. ‘You’re disgusted by your own desire, aren’t you, cub?’

  Leon said nothing. He didn’t meet Alfie’s eye as the Divine bound them at the knees. She wound more rope around their chests.

 
; Leon was a little shorter than Alfie, only a little. Alfie tried to look into Leon’s eyes. He tried to show him something from his sire that would be soothing. But he knew he couldn’t soothe Leon now. Leon knew that Alfie had no power. Barely a mind of his own. Alfie was totally thralled to the Divine. Helpless.

  Behind the Divine, Sabrina was laughing. ‘Make sure their cocks are close together. Let that pup show his sire how he really feels. It’s the only way my magic wouldn’t have held him. Filthy cub in love with his wolf-daddy.’

  Leon snarled and struggled, but that just made his crotch rub against Alfie’s. Alfie could see it in his eyes – he was trying so desperately not to get any harder.

  Alfie looked past him at Divinia. He felt himself relax as he stared at her.

  ‘Move against him,’ the Divine said.

  Alfie pumped his hips. Leon’s cock was obvious, hard and heavy. Grinding against Alfie’s which was still stiff from waking. There was a single layer of denim between them, Leon’s jeans. Alfie was still – as always – naked.

  ‘So what now?’ the Divine said, looking at Sabrina.

  ‘Oh, let’s just leave them like that a while. Nice lesson for that pup to give him no choice but to let his sire know just how he feels.’

  The Divine said, ‘Sounds good to me. And we need to talk anyway. We have things to plan.’

  The two women left the cellar, without a backwards glance.

  Alfie’s bare chest was tight against Leon’s. His flesh was so warm. But Alfie’s heart hurt because the Divine had gone. It was so painful for him every time she walked out of the room.

  He was only barely aware of the fact that, every time he thought of the Divine’s name, he ground his erection against Leon’s.

  It wasn’t until she had gone, and he felt sure she wasn’t coming back, that he lay still. Leon’s face was right in front of his. He stared at Alfie some more. ‘Please,’ he whispered. ‘Please, sire.’

  But Alfie just smiled. ‘Divine,’ he said. Vague and vacant.