Quiver

1

My eyes stared at the white ceiling as Cole had been taken from his cell awhile ago and I assumed it was to talk to Claire. It was really the only time they took Cole out of his cell in hopes he joined their side and would become a Jaecar, but every time my brother would come back bloodied, bruised and broken. Still, every time I'd send him a grateful smile and use my eyes to tell him he didn't need to keep taking my side, that it was okay if he gave in. He was so young and yet, his loyalty never wavered from me. He'd die before he'd join them, I knew that, but I wouldn't think any less of him if he chose their side. I remembered the beatings...

"Wakey, wakey, mutt," a voice called into my cell. It was clear and I heard a malicious tone in his voice easily. It told me the Plexiglas door had been slid open and they were here for me.

This wasn't the first beating I'd had, no that had been the second we'd gotten here before I was tossed into a cell and that...that was probably the worst. They had given me broken bones, given me the serum that left me unable to shift and didn't allow me to heal as fast and by the time Claire told them to stop I was barely living. I clenched my jaw tight and remained still beneath my "blanket". Really it was a ripped up sheet, just like the one I lied on for a bed.

"Oi!" Another shouted into my cell, banging on the Plexiglas. "He said get your áss up, bítch!"

I still didn't move and soon I heard their footsteps enter my cell and it was like every time before. I hoped they'd just leave me alone, but they never did. Instead I was dragged from my bed, screaming and kicking as they threw me into the corridor filled with Plexiglas cells. One gripped my hair and dragged me down the hall while the other followed, smirking evilly. I yelped and even begged, but they still took me to The Room. It was a basic room, not like the cell's plastic confines, but instead one of concrete. It had blood stains from previous victims and I tried at one attempt to make them stop, but it merely got me a chain whipped in my face.

Once they finished, they left me in a bloody puddle and I had still been coughing up more. The whole time I'd struggled with the shift, the fire that shocked through my veins making the experience all the more worse.

Every day it had been that way, I'd be beaten into the ground, but the urge to not shift eventually got better and soon I could take getting hit around and so they had moved onto little Cole. That had broke my heart, knowing I couldn't do anything, but watch and I often almost shifted if not for being burned from the inside by the hideous serum.

Everything here had a purpose though or it was a test being run. They would beat Cole so I would get píssed and hurt myself by struggling not to shift and exhaust myself. Once I was exhausted I couldn't fight the ássholes who came to grab me and tie me to a lab table where the tests began. Many I was awake for, given nothing to numb the pain and whatever they injected me with or forced me to swallow my body often rejected, forcing me to endure the pain until my body could be rid of it's substance which took anywhere from an hour to days on end.

I shivered, hoping they weren't going to run anymore tests again. It had been awhile and I wasn't sure why it had been or what they were planning, but whatever it was, it couldn't possibly be good. The only good thing there was however, is I never once saw Jace after I was captured. It was as if he didn't want to see me. I assumed he was afraid of what they had done to me and was too pathetic to see the damage done, the ásshole.

I stood from my bed on the floor and wandered around the small box anxiously. Cole was hardly ever gone this long, he usually said no, was beat up and brought back immediately. Something was going on, even with my animal side dulled I could feel the alarm bells ringing in my head.

I was about to start pounding on the glass when suddenly I seen two guards dragging a limp Cole. Relief and rage surged through me, but I had managed to control the urge to shift at this point and the fire simmered, but it didn't boil or burn through me. It was a mild warning of how I'd hurt and be exhausted. My lips curled into a sneer, but my eyes eyed Cole worriedly. He was just..limp, his body covered in a marginal of bruises and blood leaked down his forehead.

"What did you do to him?!" I screamed, throwing myself against the glass as my eyes watered. "WHAT DID YOU DO?!"

One guard released Cole and the other easily maneuvered him into his cell. The guard before me grinned wickedly and then pressed the one way intercom.

"He rejected us for the final time and Claire had enough. He wanted to be loyal to you so bad, well, now he's like you too," the guard spat, lip curling in disgust. With that he left me standing there shocked and I could only stare into Cole's cell. I knew he was going to change, he was angry at them and stressed and the boiling anger and being stressed helps progress the change into a Lupus. Unfortunately for poor Cole I knew he not only would endure the shift, he'd endure the serum. They hadn't even begun the torture, I realized, those bástards. Now I was going to have to watch and listen for the next few hours to the sounds of Cole's torment as he couldn't ignore the change, but the serum would try to fight him.

My rage for the Jaecars was intense, I'd slaughter them all and bathe in their blood. I would survive if only to taste their blood and watch the life bleed from them. I growled, gnashing my teeth and paced, waiting and ever watchful over Cole who was beginning to stir and his wounds were beginning to heal, ever so slowly.

"Cole," I whispered. "What have I gotten you into..."