The Mating Heat(16)

 
    Dark and Deadly: Eight Bad Boys of Paranormal Romance by Jennifer Ashley, Alyssa Day, Felicity Heaton, Erin Kellison, Laurie London, Erin Quinn, Bonnie Vanak and Caris Roane
    
 


 
CHAPTER 6
The cold, dank basement haunted her nightmares. Alastair had installed cells with strong steel bars down here to cage the Lupines offending him. Since there were many Lupines who offended him, he’d built many cells.
Ryder had been imprisoned in such a place.
Kara cut through the enormous dining hall to reach the basement. Sturdy log pylons, river rock archways and yellow lanterns hanging from the soaring rafters made the room appear homey instead of impersonal. Double French doors led onto a flagstone patio with a fire pit big enough to roast a cow. A few plants struggled to bloom in the garden beyond the patio. Her mother’s garden, she remembered. It had been a peaceful place, where she liked to dream while lying among the wildflowers.
Sometimes she had hidden there when her father’s temper fractured.
After finding a flashlight in the storage closet off the dining hall, she opened the door leading to the 120-year-old basement.
Kara snapped on the light switch and descended. The old wooden steps that creaked had been replaced and sturdy metal handrails installed. At the bottom of the stairs was a narrow hallway. To the right, the hallway was dark, leading to a closed oak door.
The basement’s left side had been completely modernized.
Gleaming paneling covered the old brick and masonry foundation. Beige tile replaced the concrete flooring. The room opened to a large recreational center with two pool tables, a ping pong table, and a gleaming oak bar sitting against one wall. Glass shelves held an assortment of liquor bottles. Neon signs advertising beer adorned the walls, along with several dart boards and a large television. In the corner was a children’s play area with a toy box and a colorful, soft mat. It had been designed as if the adults could enjoy a drink or two while watching their young.
The thought cheered her. How many times had she wished for such a place to spend time with her father? But he’d always been sequestered in his rooms and later, in his office in the basement, ignoring his youngest daughter.
The room opened onto a long hallway. She found a laundry room with appliances and bright lighting, a weight room with treadmills and stationary bikes and even a classroom.
The hallway was closed off at the end with a foreboding steel door. The new cells. Only three were complete. Stark and sparsely furnished with bunk beds, they featured private bathrooms. Renovating this former place of horror must have cost Ryder plenty.
She was fiercely glad he’d chosen to vanquish the memory of her father’s cruelties.
Kara turned and headed to the basement’s grim east wing. The door barricading this section was locked. She removed a brick in the wall, found the key and unlocked the door.
Taking a deep breath, she flicked on the flashlight and shone it down the hallway.
The correctional center, Alastair named it.
The torture chamber, she’d called it.
This section of the basement had not been touched. The air here was damp and cold, and smelled of sour fear. Sweat dampened her palms.
Only she and Aiden knew this section of basement hid two tunnels, abandoned mining shafts. The main tunnel led to the Shadow Forest —the hidden entrance she’d planned to use before the trolls had attacked.
An oval of light swayed as the flashlight trembled in her hands. Memories beat at her with fists of rage.
I can’t do this.
I must do this.
Kara flicked the light switch. Bare bulbs strung atop the ceiling only pushed back the gloom instead of brightening it.
Each step felt like heavy chains weighted her feet. The flashlight continued to shake in her hands as she advanced, past the iron bar cells with the manacles hanging from the ceiling.#p#分页标题#e#
Midway down, she paused and looked at a thick wood door. Kara took a deep breath and pushed it open.
Ryder had been imprisoned in this cell many times. She shone the light over the weeping masonry walls, saw the maroon stains on the floor, and the X marks on the wall in rust. He’d marked off the days with his own blood.
She’d snuck him food and once gave him the blanket off her own bed. Alastair had discovered it, of course, but for some odd reason had not punished her. He’d only removed the blanket.
Punishment came later when she’d kissed Ryder.
Kara left the door open. Next to this solitary cell was a large, well-lit chamber used long ago for canning preserves. Her father had turned it into his office to be closer to where his mate lay sleeping in the grave.
Her entire body shook as she looked within the room, remembering her own screams as Alastair had burned her…