Redeeming Rue AP4 by R. E. Butler Page B

tree roots, which made him wonder if they had brought him back to the forest where his mom had been hiding.  The panther clans were staying in the field on the other side of the woods from the big house where the ceremony was being held.  If he could get the gag free, he could yell for help.  Shifters had great hearing, and someone might come to help.  He hoped.
    He was dropped to the ground and shoved onto his side.  Chains rattled around him, and he felt them being looped around the ties that bound his legs.  A lock clicked.  Then he felt something cold and metal slide underneath the arm of his shirt and he stiffened.  Methodically, his clothes were cut off his body.  Dread filled him.  Nothing good was going to happen at this point; he knew that for certain.
    Where was his mom?  Was she okay?  Had they hurt her?  He wanted to know the answers to his questions more than he wanted to know what was coming for him next from these psychos.
    Cold chain wrapped around his stomach, looping several times, and then the blindfold was pulled away.
    He stared up at a group of panthers, including the ones who had taken him.  Dom’s eyes roamed around the area quickly.  He was in the woods as he’d suspected, except now he was stripped naked and chained to tree.  Some of the people carried torches; the lights illuminated the area enough so he could see them.
    The one who seemed to be the boss stood a few feet away from Dom.  He was overweight, with the belly of a man who spent too much time sitting around doing nothing.
    The male spoke, “The female, whose name we do not speak, broke our laws by spawning a devil’s child, full of sin and a disgrace to our clan.  He carries the mark of evil with his white hair.  She is the reason our clan has not prospered all these years.  The birth of the evil spawn has stunted us, driven us to the edge of poverty and destruction.”  He spat out the words, and Dom stared at him in surprise.  The guy was a nutcase.  Having a kid who wasn’t anywhere near them caused poverty for a whole clan of able-bodied people?  What the hell?
    The clan spoke as one.  “The traitor must die.”
    The leader nodded solemnly.  “So she must, and she will at dawn. But we need to purge the evil from our midst through blood and flesh.”
    Oh shit.  That didn’t sound good.
    The leader looked down at Dom, and his eyes flashed with pure evil.  Dom grunted out a few choice curse words to the male, but the gag garbled them.
    “Shift, demon, and show us your true, disgraceful form.”
    Dom growled.  He would not shift because they said so, and they couldn’t make him.
    The male stepped forward and smashed his fist into Dom’s face, making his head rock back and smack into the tree he was chained to.  “SHIFT!”
    A hand clamped over Dom’s nose, and he stared up in surprise at the leader.  Coupled with the gag, he couldn’t breathe.  Struggling, Dom tried to shake free of the hand covering him, but the male grabbed the back of his head and held him firm.
    Dom’s vision began to fade, and he felt his body start to go limp.  As darkness descended, the hand was taken away, and he breathed in deeply through his nose, struggling to fill his lungs as fast as possible.  Dom was aware that the bonds around his wrists and ankles were loosened.  Not enough for him to get away, but enough for him to shift.  Which he so wasn’t doing.  Fuck them.  Fuck all of them.
    Another chain was brought forward, and it was locked around Dom’s neck and then locked to the chain around his waist.  Dom worked at the gag in his mouth, but it was tied too tightly for him to push it free of his mouth.
    “Shift, demon!” the leader yelled.
    With as much clarity as he could, Dom cursed, “Fuck you.”  It came out sounding muffled, but the leader clearly heard the words.
    “Bring me the dekray,” the leader said, straightening.  The cold look in his eyes chilled Dom to the very center of his