by Charlie Tran
One with a silver handle extending from the door. Shaped into a heart. Just like at Declan's house.
I looked left and right, making sure that no one was paying me any direct attention, and casually strolled up next to it. Trying to seem as cool as possible, I leaned against the side of the door, folding my arms over my chest and staring out into the crowd. Waiting for a good moment to sneak in.
It was only a minute or so before two more mask-clad people bolted out, both wearing tight leather pants, laughing in an almost crazed way with the door wide open. As it went to shut, I pushed my body through, slinking into the room beyond. There were a multitude of black lights on the ceiling of the hallway to guide me as I slid along the wall, my attention focused on the sounds that were coming from down the corridor and around the corner.
The hall went on for quite a while until finally, it opened up into a new, much larger room. While it didn't rival the sheer massive size of the dance floor I’d passed through, it was still a decent size, with bodies tightly packed together jumping up and down to a different type of music. The pace was less bass-y, more electronic, and pumped at an overwhelmingly fast pace.
Everyone was masked and wearing leather. Some had harnesses adorning their torsos, and some had collars with hanging chains on them that jingled as they danced, the leather handles at the ends smacking against their bare chests.
I attempted to push through the crowd to get a better look at those within, but it was much harder than I thought it would be. With how tightly people were packed together, I couldn't just force my way through without getting bumped into rather violently or knocked to the side. It was as if no one was able to actually focus on what was going on around them aside from the partner they were dancing with and the music. Those with the top halves of their faces exposed had rather watery and bloodshot eyes, as though they'd been drinking all night long-or had something else in their systems to keep their partying going.
But there was something that stuck out to me, something almost as unique as the bright white hair of my Silver. Instead, it was locks of a dyed cerulean blue bouncing up and down behind the stretched leather mask that hid the upper portion of the man's face, his upper body bare aside from pink faux leather suspenders barely hanging onto his slick torso. I wasn't sure why he stuck out to me, but something about him was familiar.
I slid along the wall in an attempt to approach him slowly and not too awkwardly. Just getting past the crowd and the few people making out against the wall was hard enough, but he was surrounded by three people. Once close enough, I began to start dancing. I felt a bit awkward with the way I was moving my body, as I wasn't actually paying attention to the music as much as trying to look nonchalant. But I was still moving and getting even closer.
I was on the outer perimeter of his human shield as they continued to jump up and down when the music grew even louder. Thankfully, they were rather short, and it was easy for me to reach over them. I tapped the blue haired wonder on the shoulder, trying to get his attention. He spun his body around and kept on jumping up, giving me a look up and down before pushing past the men around him. He leaned close to my face, standing on his toes to get as close as possible while his arms wrapped around my neck and shoulders.
"Hey! I haven't seen you here before!" he shouted into my ear, pushing his body against me to grind his pelvis into mine. I forced a smile, nodding, placing my hands onto his hips and leaning my head down to talk into his ear.
"It's my first time!"
"Really? No wonder you're sober!" He laughed maniacally, his head tilting back. Without his grip on me, I was sure he would have fallen backward onto his butt, but I clung onto him as best I could while he let his body fall almost limp.
"Why? What are you on?!"
He leaned back, grinning wildly as he sniffed, releasing my neck and pressing his hands onto the sides of my face, bringing my head closer toward him. I pulled back thinking he was going to try to kiss me, but he persisted, bringing his lips close to my ear.
"Do you like Thor?" he asked, and as he did, I could get a deeper smell of his hair. It was greasy, and his body was covered in sweat that didn't smell all too pleasant either. It was as if he'd been dancing for days and hadn't showered through his binge, but something familiar on his hands was what piqued my interest. So I kept talking.
"Thor? White lightning?" I asked. This was a drug I knew about-a powdered mix of MDMA and other substances that you could snort up your nose for a party. Sad to admit I might have taken it back in the day in my late teens, but I hadn't touched the stuff since.
"Mmhm. Want a taste?" he cooed with glee. But that smell. I released his hips and slowed my dancing, grabbing onto his hands to bring them closer to my mouth. I sniffed at them harder as my eyes opened wide in shock.
The trace was almost gone, almost unrecognizable, but it was there.
It was Silver's scent.
I gritted my teeth and placed a hesitant kiss on the top of his hand to not seem too weird for just smelling a stranger's fingers. I shook my head.
"I don't wanna get caught here. I heard it was raided a while ago!"
"This is the pre-party to the main party! If you stick with me, I can take you to the main event. You're gonna need a mask though!" He smiled wildly.
I nodded, allowing him to press himself against me as we started to dance together, hoping that in the end, wherever this main event was going to go, it would lead me to Silver. And then I'd rip him a new hole to breathe from as I'd done to Detective Evan.
11
Silver
It was dinner time, and to my surprise, my stomach was rumbling. I usually felt way too sick to actually eat anything, but Glenn forcing me to finish my plate and some of his seemed to instill some sense of hunger instead of constant nausea. Or maybe I'd just become acclimated to the stinking filth of the cages and the constant smell of heavy smoke in the building.
I was lying around nearly alone, with only a few other wolves who cleaned in the daytime within their cages far to the side.
The door opened to the back room, but instead of a patrolling security guard, it was Glenn. I sat up, pawing at my cage, my claws clacking against the bars of my enclosure. I saw him smile at me as he made his way over. "Hey, Silver. You hungry?"
Of course! I continued to paw at my door, waiting for him to open it up and let me out so that I could stretch my legs.
"Hold on, hold on." He sighed, kneeling down in front of my kennel to undo the padlock. As soon as the lock hit the ground, I helped myself out of my cage, pushed it open with my head and trotted out. And outside, I could be human again. I shifted back into my humanoid shape. It felt much better to stretch in that form after staying a wolf for so long.
"Thanks. I was feeling so cramped in there," I said. I raised my arms above my head. Glenn's eyes glanced down to my stomach, and he reached out to me and pulled down the sweatshirt I was wearing. He’d given it to me to hide my slightly protruding belly from the view of others whose curiosity might be dangerous.
"Well, if it weren't for the pup in there, I'd leave you in. I don't even know why I'm risking getting into trouble for this." He shook his head, but the smile couldn't be hidden from his face. I knew he was starting to like me more, even after the phone fiasco.
"Hey, what about us?" another wolf in the back said, looking human rather than wolf now.
The second wolf to the side began to yip, barking to get Glenn's attention.
"If you shut up, I'll bring you some food too." Glenn frowned, clearly agitated.
"No, we want food now. Hey! Hey! Let us out!" the captive continued shouting, banging onto the walls of his cage.
"Hush. Please!" I begged them, bringing a finger to my lips indicating for them to be quiet.
"Ignore them. Here." Glenn reached into his pocket and pulled out a slightly crumbling biscuit with sausage inside wrapped in a paper towel. I gratefully accepted it, chomping onto the food so fast I began to cough, almost choking.
"Shit, Silver. I've never seen you so ravenous." Glenn patted my back as I coughed before I scarfed down the remainders that were in my hands.
"Sowwy," I said through a mouthful of biscuit, swallowing the last bits of it in seconds. "But now my mouth is dry as hell."
"I can get the hose over here, I think. But we gotta be quick."
"We're thirsty! Hey! Give us some!" the man continued to shout while the wolf watched him. He then started to howl very loudly, the sound echoing across the walls of the hutch.
"I said shut the fuck up!" Glenn growled at them, angrily stomping over toward them. "If you don't, I'm not gonna give you shit!"
"Glenn, leave 'em," I said, looking around nervously. "Let's just go grab a couple of water bottles and bring them back."
I paced over toward the door, reaching to pull it open only to have it opened for me.
"What the fuck is going on back here? You need to shut up before we put a muzzle on-" A man entered the kennels, the door swinging open and slamming me in my nose.
"Ouch!" I whined, rubbing at the bridge as it began to pound painfully.
"Hey… What the fuck are you doing out of your cage?!" he shouted, stomping over to me and grabbing me by the wrist. He raised my hand high into the air, dangling me above him. It was then I saw his familiar face.
"Carl, I was just..." Glenn said, spinning around on his heels. "I was just doing a search on him. Some things have gone missing, and one of these bastards had to have stolen them."
"He's lying! He was feeding him! We saw!" the other wolf shouted, still banging on the cage.
Carl's mouth morphed into a cruel smile as he side-eyed Glenn and me.
"Is that right?” he said, his lip curling into a sneer. “Leon's gonna love to hear about this."
* * *
"Look here," Carl growled, as he took me to one of the back rooms Leon seemed to frequent, most of his time spent putting shit up his nose. He was still dragging me by the arm with Glenn chasing after us. He pulled me forward hard, almost as though he was trying to yank my arm out of its socket. The force with which he tossed me sent me skidding to the ground. Instead of trying to prevent my face from smacking into the cold, hard ground, I wrapped my arms around my stomach in an attempt to shield it from hitting the floor too hard.
"What is it?" Leon frowned, leaning forward from his seat and rubbing at his red nose. Glenn followed in after me, falling down to his knees at my side and grabbing onto me to roll me over onto my back. I hissed in pain, his touch adding to the soreness of the bruises that were already forming across my body.
"Found him outside of his cage. Glenn let him out." Carl smiled cruelly, like this was gonna gain him some sort of status or bonus from his boss. The bastard.
Leon didn't react initially, instead continuing to puff on his end of the hookah. Only after he seemed satisfied did he set it down to one side on a glass table.
"Glenn, is that right?" he asked calmly, letting his head fall back against the pillows that were propped up around him.
Glenn didn't respond to his superior. He only shot Carl a deathly glare.
"He's lying." I winced.
"Is he?"
"I caught you, punk! The other wolves saw it too!" Carl shouted, taking a step closer to us. Glenn flashed his fangs at him in warning.
"Carl's right. But for the wrong reasons," Glenn said. I blinked, confused about what my friend was going to say.
"Enlighten me, because this is ruining my 'me time'." Leon took in a slow, steady inhale.
"I was letting Silver out, he's right. But it was because he didn't wanna clean anymore. He wants to start working up front with me."
"Really?" Leon laughed, leaning forward now, his interest piqued.
"Y-yes?" I said, looking to Glenn for some sign of what it was he was trying to do. I absolutely didn't want to work up front, but I wasn’t gonna blow his cover. If he was punished, I might not see him at all, and then what would I do for food, or for a kind word for that matter?
"Sick of sleeping in the pig pens, huh? Too used to laying on a bed?" Leon suddenly stood up and walked slowly toward us, the creaking of his leather shoes the only sound I could focus on the closer he got to us. Glenn was still glaring Carl down when Leon came up behind him. He reached down and snatched the gun from the back of Glenn's pants, causing my friend to suddenly turned around in surprise, ready to defend himself.
"Leon?" he questioned, backing down immediately at the proximity of his boss.
"Now. One of you here has ruined my mood. I wanted some time alone before I had to go out and run the front." Leon began to admire the weapon in his hand, turning it over and over and taking a step away from us before aiming it toward us. I couldn’t pull my gaze from the open end of the barrel, the steel cold and menacing in the hands of a madman.
"Who's gonna take the fall for this?" He frowned, pointing the weapon first toward Carl. He immediately cowered backward, waving his hands in front of him, the macho man persona falling away instantly.
"Sir! I swear, I didn't mean to..." he whined.
"Was it you? Or you?" The gun was then pointed toward me.
"Or you?" He aimed it toward Glenn. But unlike Carl, he didn't blink. He sat there steadfast, his hands clenched into fists at his sides as he glared down the barrel of the pistol.
"Gotta delve out the punishments, you know?" Leon's frown turned, the corners of his mouth rising into the ghoulish equivalent of a smile.
He suddenly turned the gun back to Carl and pulled the trigger.
But nothing happened.
I could smell it, the stink of urine from Carl's direction as he had backed up into the wall, his knees shaking.
"Ha… haha... hahahahahaha!" Leon tossed his head back, covering his mouth with his hand as he cackled gleefully. "Idiots. Do you really think I'd give this mutt a loaded gun?"
Glenn and I shared a look of relief and confusion. Leon had completely lost his fucking mind. He was not just the cold, menacing man we'd fought outside of Club Mega. It's like the drugs he was taking had erased any shred of sanity he might have had left.
And to me, that was even more dangerous.
"Go ahead. Take him back and get him ready for a shift tonight. And Carl, go clean yourself up and stop bothering me with this petty bullshit." Leon shook his head, still chuckling to himself as he tossed the gun off to the side.
"Fuck," I whispered to Glenn, allowing him to help me up to my feet.
"Come on. Let's go," he said, tossing Carl a glare. The man was still shaking and was now sitting on the floor. He’d shown his cowardice when confronted by Leon, and I wasn’t sure I blamed him. In his frame of mind, there was no telling what Leon might do.
12
Silver
I sat in front of the large mirror, tilting my head to the left and right to avoid the massive fingerprints and stains of who knew what on the glass in order to see myself. There were dark under circles under my eyes, and my jaws were puffy from being so sick so frequently. Glenn was to my right going straight to what it was he was doing. He wasn’t brushing his hair per se but rather finger combing it up before tying it off into a high ponytail. My hair wasn't long enough to do so, but I plucked at it briefly to change the way it looked before giving up. I watched as Glenn continued to ready himself for his shift out front. I did not want to do this, but I also didn't want to get into any more trouble with Leon. And Glenn had risked his own station to help me out.
I sighed, leaning back into my seat while staring down at my hands. They were bruised and nicked in various places, while Glenn's, though slightly calloused from cleaning, were far more beautiful than my own.
Instead of continuing to feel down about myself, I went back to watching Glenn. Now that his hair was pinned up, he bent closer to the mirror, admiring his face. He dabbed a finger into an open palette of various creamy skin toned colors before dabbing some across the more reddened and blotchier parts of his face, skillfully concealing them.
"What?" he said, going back to delicately making himself up.
"I'm sorry, Glenn."
"For what?"
"For getting you into this mess."
He shrugged. "I got myself into this mess. If I could just care a little less, maybe things would be easier for the both of us." He huffed, taking a tube of lip balm and moving it across his mouth, his touch gentle. He smacked his lips when he finished, setting the tube back down onto the table in front of us. "I guess I'm a sucker for children and omegas carrying."
I bit my lip at his say so, running my fingers against the slight protrusion of my stomach. "I don't want to sleep with anyone. Not like this."
"And you're not going to. You're going to be my wingman, not the other way around." Glenn flared his nose as he snorted playfully, earning a smile from me.
"Okay. I'm all right with that. But… Why do you care so much whether I'm pregnant or not? It doesn't change anything for you."
I could see the carefree and somewhat joyful look on his face fade at my comment, his smile dropping as he scooted his chair out from the table in front of him.
"I have a child myself."
"R-really? Where is he?" I asked, my brows raised in surprise at the information he was divulging.
"He stays in my room. That's why I have to do this, Silver. Because I can't let him sleep in those… cages out there." The words were bitter on his tongue.
I nodded. "I'd do the same in your circumstance. Who's the father?"
Glenn rose to his feet and walked over to the back of the tiny room where a rack of clothing was hanging. He began to grab a few things, admiring the garments and placing some back to pull out a different one instead.
"We gotta get changed." He nodded to himself, seeming satisfied with the clothing he had chosen and completely dodging my question. I wasn't going to push any further if he didn't want to confide in me. Glenn approached, handing me the stack of clothes he had chosen for me.
