caged

chapter 5

Tala’s pov

After they watched me for what seemed like hours, they got up and left talking about giving me time and going to get me some food and something to drink. I’m not sure why though I will not leave this cage unless commanded or inside the pit ring.

Within a matter of minutes the girl named Sarah came back down the steps carrying a plate and bowl. She sat them down near the edge of my cage door as though coaxing me with food. Like that's even going to work. I am dead set on not coming out, I do not want Alpha Slade to punish me. I laid back down in the cage when Sarah was walking back up the steps.

I stared at the door hoping Alpha Slade wouldn't come through that door and see the food and water in front of me. I contemplated just hurrying and eating it so there wasn't any evidence making it seem as though they only brought an empty plate to tease me with. As I was in deep thought the door opened back up and I shot up in my cage in defense mode. A low growl emitted from my chest to warn whoever was opening that door that I was still here. Alpha Axel walked down the steps and headed over to me, my body shaking uncontrollable as I watched him getting closer. He stopped a few feet ahead of me as if waiting for something when all of a sudden Stevens comes through the door dragging one of Alpha Slade’s w***e who happens to be jessica. She is also supposed to be his actual mate but she sleeps around just as much as Alpha Slade did. He also never accepted her as his Luna.

“Why won't she eat?” Alpha Axel asked her.

Jessica walked over, grabbed the plate and threw it on the floor inside the cage. I looked up at her and she then proceeded to yell ‘Eat it dog’ at me. involuntarily I crept over to the food and started to eat it off the floor.

“She will only eat it if you serve it the way Alpha Slade does.” she stated while looking my way with disgust written on her face. After I was done lapping up the food off the floor I looked up to see Alpha Axel and Stevens looking down at me with what seemed like pity. It angered me that they would look at me in that way so I growled at them. To their surprise it made them turn their gaze elsewhere. I'm assuming that they still don't know that I am also an Alpha. They had decided to leave me, which I was relieved for. They still left the cage open though I am not sure why. This is the longest I was permitted to have the cage door opened.

Axel’s pov

I can't believe what I saw. We left the food for the girl but she only ate it after it was thrown at her like she was a street dog. This made my blood boil especially when the girl Jessica explained why she only eats it that way. It's quite pitiful, I left the cage open and we left. As soon as we got out of the basement I slammed Jessica into the wall.

“What is her name and why were you treating her like this?”

“I don’t know!” was the first answer she gave me until I slammed her again against the wall and my fist flew through the wall next to her head.

“Her name is Tala, but Alpha Slade calls her dog. She is the last survivor of her pack, Slade brought her here as a pet she hasn't shifted into her human form since she was nine, that was nine years ago she is eighteen now. I don’t know anything else I swear. I don’t even know why he brought her here but killed all the other children. He always talked about his prized dog, it was sickening how she always had his attention”

“Then why is she in wolf form?”

“He forced her to shift. That's all I know I only found out about some of this from the omegas in the pack house. I wasn’t brought in until way after she was already here and in the basement.”

I threw her on the floor and walked off, my mind reeling as to why she was the only one kept alive. I headed straight to Slade’s now old office, I needed to figure out why she was the only one Slade had an interest in. I am hoping that the i***t left behind a journal or something to help me figure out why he did this to the poor girl even though she was only nine. I walked in the door and headed straight for his desk. Shuffling through papers, I spent an hour in that room just to come up empty handed in the end.

In an annoyed mood I headed back to the basement to see if I can’t coax her to at least leave the cage even if it is only for a few seconds at a time to me that is progress. I walked over to where she was laying in her cage growling softly at me. I sat down on the ground a few feet away from her.

“Why won't you come out?” I asked in the softest tone I could.

She just growled at me until I said her name. “Tala.” She c****d her head to the side when I said it.

She shifted a little bit until she just sat down and stared at me. I think this is going pretty good as she is now not growling at me. Thinking about it made me laugh a little which I probably shouldn’t have because she shot up as if not understanding what a laugh was and growled. Making my body react on its own and moving further away from her. Which also piqued my interest in her because she is the only female that has ever made me subconsciously move away or look away from them. I just smiled at her and put my hand out.

“I will not harm you. I promise it is okay to leave that cage.”

She whimpered and tried to scoot further away from me. I decided to remove my hand and just sit there to wait for her to come out on her own. I had linked Sarah to bring me some bedding down and that I was planning to stay in here until she learns to trust me. After five minutes she came walking down the steps with what I needed. Tala was staring at her on full alert.

Tala watched as we made the bedding. I even made a small one near her cage and told her she could lay on it which resulted in her c*****g her head to the side. I grabbed the blanket and pulled it over me as Sarah was walking out the basement door. I layed down on the bedding, Tala was still standing in the cage not moving keeping a close eye on me. I layed there watching her as well when suddenly I got the idea of pretending to be sleeping to see what she would do. After about what seemed like three hours I peeped an eye open when I heard a sniffing noise. There she was creeping slowly out of her cage sniffing the ground, I laid there as still as I could secretly watching her as she started to sniff the ground around me.

Tala’s pov.

I watched as Axel put his hand out to me and tried coaxing me to come out of my cage. I just stared at him like always, I watched as his eyes glazed over meaning he was talking to someone in his pack through the link. Personally I haven’t done that so I’m not sure how it works, but a few minutes later after his eyes went back to normal Sarah came down the steps with a bunch of blankets and they made a bed. What is the guy thinking? Is he planning on sleeping down here? Once the bed was made they made a smaller one next to my cage.

“You can sleep on this if you want to.” Axel said.

All I did was stare at them both, Sarah went back up stairs and Axel laid on the bedding and covered up. I just stood here and watched him as he watched me, that is until he fell asleep.

I don't know what came over me but I slowly started to creep out of the cage for the first time in a while. I grew curious about Axel, I crept closer to him sniffing the ground around him. I think I lost my damn mind coming out of my cage but for some reason after spending some time with Axel I seem to have started trusting him, I don’t know why but he doesn’t give off an evil Aura like Alpha Slade did. I don’t know if it's because this person isn’t an Alpha like Slade or what but there is something peaceful about him as if I would be safe. Which is something that only being in my cage did for me.

I went over to the blanket that they laid out for me and sniffed, it smelled like Axel which was strangely relaxing me a bit. I then curled up and laid on the blanket. I felt that I was actually in heaven, I was never allowed to lay on anything like this before it was so much softer than the metal flooring of the cage. I had gotten so comfortable that I fell into a really deep sleep.

I must have slept so soundly, I woke up in a startle because I didn’t hear anyone coming in the basement. I jumped up and ran into my cage when I noticed that Sarah, and Steven were sitting near me watching me with a shocked look on their faces. Axel just looked at me with a kind and warm smile.

“Oh no we scared her.” Sarah said with a pout.