"You've never tried to escape?" Ronnie demanded, mouth turned down at the corners, eyes roaming the room for possible exits.
Sean didn't really know how to answer the question without scaring the boy. Others had tried. The ones who'd been semi-successful were buried in the backyard. "The house... it's in a place where there are no neighbors. No one to hear anything or see anything. Father... Father chose this place on purpose. He doesn't allow any of us out of the house. Those of us he allows upstairs are always kept on chains."
"You still should have tried! There has to be a way to get out."
Sean shook his head. "If one of us escaped, the others would be punished for it. Besides, where would we go?"
"The police! Or my streak!"
"Would they believe us? How would we survive?" Sean asked.
"My Alpha would believe you! He'd care for you. I know he would!" Ronnie jammed his hands on his hips. "He's my uncle."
Sean didn't really know too much about packs or prides or streaks having grown up in the basement for most of his life. He'd learned a little about the hierarchy system and some of their rules from the older cubs taken over the years and knew Alphas were tough, could be mean when necessary, and they were usually strong. They protected their own when threatened. Sean wondered if Carl knew he'd taken an Alpha's nephew. The man would be looking for Ronnie. It gave Sean some hope. Maybe the others could get out finally, could be rescued. He glanced up at the bars on the small window. Maybe... before his father could put Ronnie in a cage... "Ronnie, what kind of shifter are you?"
"Can't you tell?" Ronnie asked, frowning.
"No," Sean replied.
Ronnie rolled his eyes, snorting as though Sean were stupid. "I'm a tiger," he said proudly.
A strange tightness spread across Sean’s chest and he rubbed at the skin over his heart, wondering at the odd reaction. "See those bars? Do you think in your tiger form you can fit through them?" Sean asked after a few moments, standing, his chains rattling.
None of the others were allowed freedom, in the loosest sense of the word, of course. They were all kept in various sized cages. Sean was the only one allowed to remain in chains, to provide and care for the others when they needed something or after one of his father's "treatments". He figured his father felt safe enough leaving him in chains since Sean really had nowhere else to go even if he did get loose. Plus Carl knew Sean would never leave without the others.
Ronnie studied the bars for a moment and then nodded. "I think so."
"If you can get out, you can get help for the others. Bring some of your streak to help them. Do you think you can remember your way back here?"
"Yes, I can do it," Ronnie said, nodding his head with purpose. He removed his clothing, closed his eyes, and shifted.
Sean smiled and reached down to scratch behind the small tiger cub's ears. The bright orange with black striped fur left his chest tight with some undefined emotion. The sight of those stripes left a niggling feeling at the back of his mind, like a memory dying to be set free, but not quite there, as though it couldn't get out of the chains in his mind, much like the chains around his wrists and ankles. He pulled up the window, propping it open, and then bent down to pick up Ronnie, lifting him to the bars. At first, he didn't think Ronnie would fit, but the boy managed to squirm through, a small yowl of triumph making Sean smile. Ronnie butted his head against the hand Sean stuck through the bars. "Please, hurry," Sean whispered.
Ronnie yowled quietly in answer and turned, loping into the trees. Sean watched for a moment before closing the window and sinking back to the floor, waiting for his father to return, knowing he wouldn't survive the night. Helping Ronnie escape was most likely the last thing he'd ever do, but it would be worth his life if it would set the others free from the horror known as Carl McNeely.
"You shouldn't have done that," Tomas told him the moment he'd closed the window.
Sean smiled sadly and lifted one shoulder in a small shrug.
"He'll kill you this time for sure!" Fredrick whispered frantically.
"Maybe," Sean replied, uncaring. "But at least you'll all be free, and I'll no longer have to live like this."
"Sean, no!" Tara gasped, pressing close to the bars. Most of them were clothed in the barest of items, things Sean had managed to sew together from scraps his father had thrown away. He'd been beaten on more than one occasion for daring to steal, even from the garbage, but they needed something to try and keep out the cold. "We need you!" she cried.
Sean reached out and gripped her hand, rubbing his cheek with it. "You'll be fine. Ronnie's alpha will take care of you. You won't need me anymore."
"We'll always need you," Tara sniffled. "You're family."
Fredrick and Tomas agreed. Vicky nodded fiercely to which Sean smiled, humbled and heart hurting. "What matters is getting you all out of here, back to your real families. I have no family to go home to. Carl... I have nothing outside of these walls."
"You can stay with us," Tara growled. "Besides, who knows what any of us have to go home to. After all, we have no idea how our families have changed or if they'll even want us anymore."
"They'll want you," Sean said quietly, reaching up to stroke her dirty cheek. "They've missed you. I'm sure of it."
Sean knew his father would be beyond furious the moment he discovered Ronnie's disappearance, but he remained hopeful it wouldn't be until Ronnie had gotten far enough way to not be recaptured. The gods must have been listening because it wasn't for at least another two hours before Carl dragged Sam back downstairs and shoved her, almost unconscious back into her cage. Sean winced at the sight of the blood on her face and inner thighs, wondering what they'd done to deserve the hell they'd all been living through for so long.
"Where's the runt?" Carl barked, dragging his gaze around the room, eyes narrowing as he realized the newest shifter was gone.
Steeling his nerves, Sean raised his head and calmly replied, "I let him go."
Carl swung around. "You did what?" he snarled, stomping toward Sean and backhanding him.
Sean's head hit the wall, hard, and his ears started to ring, covering whatever else his father began spewing as the fists began flying. The sound of his own bones breaking were loud in his head, but the most painful part wasn't his wrist snapping or his clavicle fracturing, it was the jagged edge of a rib bone, caused by another brutal kick from his father's boot, piercing his heart. Sean screamed in agony, blackness, blessed darkness, loomed before him as he fell swiftly toward unconsciousness. The last thing he heard before it swallowed him whole was a roar thunderous enough to rock the foundation of the place he'd called home his entire life.
2
Declan
Alpha Declan Page paced his living room floor, running a hand through his dark blond hair. "We need to find him," he growled.
"We are looking everywhere, Alpha," Victor, his beta, soothed from the doorway, knowing better than to get in his alpha's way.