Feral Bonds

Chapter 22

The days blurred together as Natania rode in and out of consciousness, until her life felt like a stop motion film in production. Her captors threw food between the metal bars twice a day, and occasionally shot her with a tranquilizer. Less often now, they knew she had started to give up.

Natania had tried to refuse to eat the dog food, let herself starve, but they hadn't allowed it. She'd woken up, paralyzed again, to a tube shoved down her throat, forcing food directly into her stomach.

So she ate it, even as it made her gag, because tube feeding was not something she ever wanted to experience again. She began to wonder why they kept her at all. It seemed like she would be stuck there forever, imprisoned in the bowels of the earth, experiencing the same dreadful monotony over and over. She had thought Vincent's house was boring. This was agonizing.

Occasionally, a new victim was dragged by her cell, often human, always women, but they never interacted with her.

So when the bars jerked open with a jarring screech, she thought it was a hallucination brought on by desperate boredom. Huffing, she curled more tightly around herself and shut her eyes. It was easier to pass the time by sleeping.

Something hard and solid slammed into her side, jerking her back to reality. A growl pushed its way through her throat, sounding rusty from disuse. She heard a soft gasp and a scrabbling noise as the thing, the person, that had crashed into her backed away quickly.

"Sorry," they sputtered, pausing to stare for a second. A honey gold wolf the size of a small bear wasn't something you saw everyday, at least, not if you were human. Natania's nose twitched at the sudden fear scent, but it faded quickly enough. The human knew what she was.

Natania closed her eyes again, somewhat wearily, and sighed deeply.

Footsteps faded down the hall, and the newcomer went over to the bars, rattling them slightly. "What have you gotten yourself into today, Gretchen?" the human muttered to herself as she searched the cell for... something. Did she expect a glowing exit sign?

Natania felt their gaze settle on her and opened her eyes. The human, Gretchen, met her gaze and tilted her head, green eyes blazing with intensity. "Are you going to get up?"

Natania bared her teeth in a weak snarl, she didn't have the energy to put any heat into it, and the human laughed in response. "Don't you want to escape? Surely you don't intend to stay here forever." Gretchen wrapped her hands around Natania's midsection, squeezing against her sides as she tried to heave her to her feet. "Come on, we're getting out of here."

Natania let out a real snarl and snapped at the hands, grazing her flesh without actually breaking the skin. "Come on," Gretchen repeated, unfazed by her weak attack. "You can't just lay down and die. Aren't you wolf guys supposed to be tough? What's your name? Oh wait, I guess you can't talk as a wolf. Either way, hi, I'm Gretchen." The human tugged at her again. "Up you go."

Natania growled and Gretchen leaned down to meet her gaze. The growl died in her chest as Natania held her stare, blinking rapidly as an odd feeling settled into her head. Like meeting an old friend again for the first time in years. The connection seemed to burn life back into her and Natania slowly got to her feet.

She shook out her matted and bloodstained pelt, grimacing at the way it pulled against her skin, then sat back on her haunches and willed herself to shift. The tightness slunk away as her human form slid around her, less than an instant from one form to the next. "Na-ack," she coughed, cleared her throat, it felt like sandpaper, and tried again, "Natania, Nat."

Gretchen gave her a soft smile and nodded a greeting. "Any ideas?" she asked, straight to the point, like she hadn't just watched a two hundred plus pound wolf turn into a five foot six girl.