“Stop, Trace,” he heard a weak voice say from the cell next to his.  “You have to stop.  Conserve your strength.  You aren’t going to get out of those chains.  You have tried so many times.” Snarling, his eyes going cat and his fangs punching through his gums, Trace hissed, “I have to, Gypsy.  I have to get home to her.” Her eyes full of sympathy, Gypsy whispered, “And you will, my friend.  But you have to calm down.  You can’t let them see you like this.  They can’t know your secrets.” Realizing he was out of control, Trace bowed his head and grabbing onto the chains on the wall, he squeezed them tightly.  Taking deep breaths to slow his pounding heart, he forced his claws and fangs to recede.  Gypsy was right.  He needed to gain control over himself and conserve his strength.  Hell, he could hardly stand up after the last beat down he was given.  Blood flowed freely down his arms and legs.  Titus was a master at torture.  He knew exactly how much a person could handle before he couldn’t go on anymore.  And somehow he seemed to know that Trace could handle way more.  Trace didn’t know if they knew he was a shifter, and he wasn’t going to ask.  But the signs pointed in that direction.  Sighing, he decided he better dig deep for his balls and find a way out.  All he needed was one screw up from the people who held him, and he would be free.  He was getting the hell out and taking Gypsy and Sari with him.  When he was finally able to look at Gypsy through his own eyes and not the eyes of his cat, he raised his head and peered at her.  She was leaning up against the wall in the corner closest to him.  Her legs were straight out in front of her and she was cradling her broken arm.  The whole left side of her face was swollen and bruised, and there was fresh blood streaming down her temple and neck.  “Dammit, Gypsy,” he growled.  “I told you not to say anything the next time they took me.  If you would stop drawing attention to yourself they would leave you alone.” Over the past few months, Trace and Gypsy had become close friends.  He had shared things with her that he hadn’t even shared with RARE, people he considered his family.  She had been moved to the cell near his when their captors brought in more prisoners.  They needed the hooks on the wall in her old cell to chain up another man.  Since Gypsy was just a woman and they did not see her as a threat, they put her next to Trace in a cell that didn’t have hooks to attach chains to.  She was fed every three days or so, and was now extremely underweight and malnourished.  Trace was lucky if he received food once a week.  Once, Gypsy had tried to share her food with him.  She’d reached through the bars of her cell, but he was chained too far away.  When trying to get the food to him, she accidentally dropped it on the ground.  Trace was unable to hide it, and when Titus found out he ordered his men to beat both of them.  After that, Trace refused the food she offered him.  No one had come for Gypsy in the five months he had been there.  Titus threatened her that first day, but he never did touch her, unless it was to beat her.  Trace knew his father kept Gypsy alive so her sister, Sari, would cooperate.  He brought Sari to The Dungeon to see her sister once a week.  Each time, he allowed Sari in the cell with Gypsy for five minutes.  If she didn’t leave when the five minutes were up, he would drag her out by her long blonde hair.  The first time Sari was allowed to visit Gypsy, she made the mistake of protesting her sister’s treatment.  Perez made her watch as his men punished Gypsy for Sari’s disobedience.  He told Sari that he kept Gypsy around as a gift to her, but if Sari made the mistake of saying another word in Gypsy’s defense, he would have Gypsy killed.  Sari had paled and quickly ducked her head in deference to him and promised to behave.  If he were free, Trace would have slit Perez’s throat right then and there.
What do You think about Trace's Temptation (RARE Series, #3)?
