Chapter 10. The cell.

**Stella's POV**

I wake up to the smell of mold and fear.

My head throbs and my mouth tastes like copper probably from whatever they drugged me with earlier.

"awe," I try to move and immediately regret it. Pain shoots through my shoulders, my neck, and every muscle in my body.

Where am I?

I force my eyes open to see where I am, but the room is dimly lit only by a single flickering bulb hanging from a water-stained ceiling with concrete walls surrounding me. There are no windows in sight. There is only a heavy metal door with a small slot at the bottom.

That's when I realize I'm in a cell.

Oh no... panic claws up my throat...

'Stella.' Piper's voice is weak, barely a whisper in my mind. 'Are you okay?'

'I don't know,' I tell her honestly. 'Where are we?'

'Somewhere bad. I can feel it. But there are other wolves here. Lots of them. And all scared.'

I push myself up slowly, biting back a whimper as my body protests. That's when I notice what I'm wearing.

Or rather, what I'm not wearing.

Someone stripped me while I was unconscious. My stained worn out shirt and jeans are gone. In their place is cheap red lingerie—a bra that's too small, digging into my ribs, and matching panties that barely cover anything.

Who the hell did this to me? My stomach turns in more panic because I immediately think someone took advantage of me.

'Don't panic, I don't think anyone forced themselves on us,' Piper says, though I can hear the fear in her voice too.

I look down at my arms and notice fresh bruises bloom across my skin.

How long was I unconscious?

I try to stand, but my legs are shaking so badly I have to lean against the wall for support. The rejection wound in my chest still throbs with each heartbeat, a constant reminder that my bond with Cole is broken.

That I'm alone.

That I have nothing.

No, I think fiercely. No. I'm not nothing.

Cole said I was nothing. My parents said I was worthless. Everyone in my life has told me I'm weak, pathetic, and useless.

But I survived six years with Cole. I survived a rejection that should have killed me. I survived being banished and disowned in the same day.

I'm still here.

And I'm not going to let some rogues break me.

I force myself to take a deep breath, then another. My wolf is too weak to shift, but I can still think and plan my way out of this mess.

Suddenly, I hear soft crying from somewhere nearby telling me I'm not alone.

I move toward the sound, my bare feet silent on the cold concrete. There's a small barred window in my cell door. I press my face against it, trying to see into the hallway.

The crying is louder now. And I can hear female voices, all terrified.

"Please, someone help us—"

"I want to go home. I'm not packless—"

"Shush, they're going to kill us if you keep making noise—"

My chest tightens. There are other captives.

I grip the bars of the window and call out softly, "Hello? Can anyone hear me?"

The crying stops. Then, after a moment, a shaky voice responds. "Who—who's there?"

"My name is Stella," I say quietly. "I was just brought here. Are you... are you all prisoners too?"

"Yes." The voice breaks. "They took us. Drugged us. We don't know where we are—"

"How many of you are there?"

A pause. Then, "I don't know. Maybe twenty? They keep us in different cells."

Twenty girls.

Moon Goddess.

"What do they want from us?" I ask, even though I'm afraid I already know the answer.

"They're going to sell us." This voice is different—older, harder. "We're merchandise. They'll auction us off to whoever pays the most."

The words hit me like a physical blow.

We are going to be sold like objects.

"No," I whisper. "No, they can't—"

"They can," the older voice interrupts bitterly. "They do it all the time. Rogue trafficking dens like this exist all over neutral territory. No pack protection. No laws. Just—" Her voice cracks. "Just monsters buying and selling helpless wolves like us."

I press my forehead against the bars, trying to breathe through the panic clawing at my throat.

'We have to get out of here,' Piper says urgently. 'Stella, we have to—'

'I know. I know.'

But how?

I'm weak from the rejection. I can't shift. I have no weapons, no clothes, no way to fight.

And there are twenty other girls depending on—

No.

I stop that thought before it can finish.

I can't save everyone. I learned that lesson the hard way with Cole and my children.

But maybe I can do something.

"Listen to me," I call out, my voice stronger now. "All of you. I know you're scared. I'm scared too. But we can't just sit here and wait for them to sell us."

"What else can we do?" someone sobs. "We can't fight them. They're too strong—"

"Maybe we can't fight them physically," I interrupt. "But we can resist. We can refuse to cooperate. If we all work together—"

"Are you insane?" the older voice hisses. "They'll punish us. Or worse."

"They're going to do worse anyway!" My voice rises despite my attempts to stay quiet. "They're going to sell us to people who will hurt us, use us, probably kill us. What do we have to lose?"

Silence responds to me and then, softly, a younger voice speaks. "She's right. If we're going to die anyway... maybe we should fight."

"We could try to escape when they move us," another girl suggests. "If we all rush them at once—"

"They'll kill us," the older voice says flatly. "I've seen what happens to girls who try to run. They don't make it."

"Then what?" I demand. "We just give up? Accept this?"

"Yes!" The older voice is shaking now. "Because some of us want to survive. Even if it means—" She can't finish.

I close my eyes, my heart breaking for all of us.

"I understand," I say quietly. "I do. And I'm not saying we should do something stupid that'll get us killed. But we can't just... surrender. Not completely. We have to keep fighting in whatever way we can. Even if it's just—" I search for the right words. "Even if it's just refusing to believe we deserve this."

More silence responds to me and then someone starts crying again and someone else is throwing up. I can hear the wet, choking sounds through the walls.

And somewhere, a girl screams that she's going to kill herself. That it's the only way out.

My chest aches.

These girls have already given up. Already accepted that they're going to be sold and used and destroyed.

And maybe they're right.

Maybe fighting is pointless.

Maybe I should just—

No!

The thought comes fierce and sudden, burning away the despair.

'We have spent six years letting Cole tell us we was nothing. Six years making ourself smaller, quieter, less demanding. Six years accepting abuse because we thought we deserved it....We are done.!' Piper encourages me even though she is weak. I agree with her.

I'm done listening to people tell me what I can and can't do. I'm done accepting that I'm powerless.

Even if fighting gets me killed, at least I'll die knowing I tried.

"Listen to me," I call out again, louder this time. "All of you. I know you're scared. I know you think there's no way out. But there's always a choice. We can choose to fight. We can choose to resist. We can choose to—"

The cell door slams open.

I stumble backward as a rogue's scent fills the doorway before his huge figure comes in sight. He is big, scarred, with dead eyes and a cruel smile.

"Well, well," he says, his voice oily and amused. "Sounds like someone's trying to start a rebellion."