Shackled

Chapter Twenty One

Nothing happened, at least not at first. Dmitri made fast work of the chains, cutting, and snipping with vigour until there was not a link of metal left to glance off her skin. With smooth and determined steps he had made his way out the door, turning only as the sound of the clanging cage shutting behind him. Her eyes still hadn't left Eli's, allowing herself to drown in his irises, refusing to focus anywhere but him. Only, this wasn't how it was supposed to happen. She felt calm and at ease. Where was her wolf? Where was the scratching beneath her skin, or the uncontrollable need to shift?

Nothing was happening, shifting uneasily against the wall she glanced over at Nils, noting his furrowed brows and look of confusion.

"Isn't this the part where I'm supposed to go crazy?" She asked sarcastically, "You know, burst out of my skin and all that?" She felt nothing unusual, there was no stirring from within, no feeling of an itch that she just couldn't scratch. None of the tell-tale signs of a wolf trying to emerge. "I got to say Nils, this is feeling just a tad anticlimactic."

But even as the words left her mouth she could feel it, the shift in the air, the tension building in her spine. As if upon command, a sweat broke out across her skin, a bead of moisture building up along her hairline and trickling down her neck. Soon she was panting, her fists clenching and unclenching as jolts of pain shot down her arms and legs.

Eli was looking on, his own fists tight as her watched the pain on her face.

"Just breathe, Baby. You got this."

Baby. He had called her baby. Pain or not Eden felt like she might swoon. She really was living her teen-drama fantasy. Just, you know, with a dash of werewolf.

A stabbing feeling hit her straight in the stomach and Eden doubled over, bending as much as the shackles would let her. She had lost focus, but know it was back and back with a vengeance, the pain tacking over all her thoughts until her vision began to go hazy.

"Eden!"

She could tell he was worried, could hear his heart beating fast with every groan of pain ripped from her lips. The next thing she knew the shackles were clanging against the ground, the strength in her arms tearing through her bindings like a hot knife through warm butter. Her hot cheek was pressed against the rough cement ground. The coolness of the floor soothing against her face and exposed skin.

It had been mere minutes, but for Eden the time stretched longer, agony turning those minutes into hours. She could hear a low whine in her head, a pained noise from none other than the beast within. But something seemed off.

Shaking

Quivering

Tension in every muscle.

And then, as quickly as it all took place, the feeling left her body in a wave of relief. She was panting, catching her breath as her chest heaved up and down. A blanket of awed silence fell over the room.

She couldn't bring herself to look up, the muscles in her neck feeling like Jello. It was all she could do to hold open her eyes, all the energy had left her body and she felt like mush in its wake.

"Open it." Elijah's voice was gruff, the command echoing throughout the room.

There was the sound of someone shifting their weight, Nils looking skeptical as his hand came up to his mouth, a look of curiosity on his face.

"I don't know that that's such a good idea, Son. We still don't know how stable she is, or why the shift was unsuccessful." Nils. Ever the logistician.

"I don't care. That's my mate in there. She's obviously hurting. Now, OPEN. THE. DOOR. I will not ask again."