THE CAGE (The Chosen Series #3)

CH36. ♖b8 ♝b5

AVA

"Doe eyes, you need to wake up, baby. You need to stay strong; I'm coming for you. Wake up."

Everything is heavy. My eyes feel like I have lead weights covering them, and my head is spinning. I'll just rest for a bit.

"Ava."

"Not now, my wolf. Just a little longer." I arch my back, trying to get more comfortable.

"You better not be having sex dreams, bitch."

Sex dreams? No, I don't think so. Why does my mouth feel so dry? I hold my lips closed and move my tongue around the inside of my mouth, trying to produce saliva.

Why can't I get comfortable? Being this pregnant, sleeping has been difficult. Laying my side helps, but I can't move.

"Ava, can you hear me?" Erin's voice sounds like it's underwater, and my eyes are so heavy. I try to lift my hand to rub at them, but I can't even do that. I must be exhausted.

I feel my child moving. It's grown quieter over the past week. Siobhan seems to think it's nearly time, but it's still too early, even for a shifter birth. I try to rub my stomach; the action normally soothes the child, but even with effort, I seem stuck.

"Seriously, the next time you give me shit about not being a morning person, I'll remind you of this." Her voice sounds clearer, but I still can't lift my hand.

Why can't I move?

"Erin?" Her name comes out scratchy, and my throat stings.

"Who else would I be? Seriously Ava, enough of the sleeping beauty act.

You need to open your eyes so we can figure out our options."

Options, what? I try to sit up, but like everything else, I can't even do that. So, I focus on my eyes again. This time I can partially open one of them and immediately regret it. White floods through the tiny crack, and I hiss at the stabbing pain it causes in my temples.

"Why's it so bright?"

Erin curses, and I hear a clanging noise, "Did they knock your mind out as well as your body when they dosed you?"

Dosed me? Knock me... Memories of seeing a man holding Erin, then a sharp sting in my neck, to waking up in an unfamiliar hospital room. No, that's not quite right.

I see a room. Erin and I, tied down to cots and a man. A man standing over Erin. Hurting her.

I bite down on my tongue and force both my eyes to open. They sting as soon as the light hits them, and water begins to seep from the corners. All I can do to stop the burning is blink several thousand times, and eventually, they clear, revealing the extraordinarily white and almost futuristic room from before.

Turning my head, I can see Erin off to my side. She's still strapped to her hospital cot, but that isn't quite the correct term for the bed she is on. While it's similar in shape, the design is all white with sleek curves and edges, and the mattress we are lying on looks like white leather with horizontal ribbing. It even has a transparent dome-looking thing just over her head, displaying what looks like vital signs. Then there are the multiple monitors hooked up and showing varying graphs and charts.

"It's about time." Erin snaps, and I know her tone is coming from fear rather than anger. I saw the way she looked at the doctor. Kaspien or something, and she was terrified.

"How long was I out?" I remember yelling at him and trying to loosen my restraints, but that's all. I try to move my hands again; this time, there is more give than before. Twisting my body to the left, I see that some seams have torn. I pull on them again and smile when another section breaks away.