“I believed you wouldn’t harm me. Were you aware of that? When I didn’t growl at you every time you entered my cell, did that amuse you? I didn’t want to frighten you. You were kind with your smiles and tender with your needles. When you killed that technician, at first I believed you did it to prevent me from suffering.” His features tensed and his voice grew deeper, each word carefully pronounced. “Yet you left me there to be tortured by the guards for your crime. They whipped me and took turns inflicting pain. Some of them were his friends. They weren’t allowed to kill me but they caused great harm.”

Tears slid down the sides of her face. “I am sorry. I—” She knew nothing she said would erase his hate of her but she had to try. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t know they’d do that. I thought only Jacob had it out for you after you’d broken his nose. I knew they valued you too much to kill you. I never thought they were doing breeding experiments either. I thought you’d be safe long enough for me to smuggle the evidence out and help could reach you. I wouldn’t have told them you’d killed him if I’d known you’d pay for what I did.”

His fangs flashed when his lips parted. “Thanks. Is that what you’re expecting to hear? You prevented him from raping and killing me. Should I be grateful for the hours they just tormented me?”

“No.” Maybe. Confusion silenced her. “You’re alive and he didn’t rape you. Doesn’t that count for something? I didn’t stand idly by while it happened. I risked my life by going inside that cell to try to save you. I had to make them think you’d killed him in self-defense and I never meant any harm to come to you. I had to do it, Fury. Please try to understand. That evidence I smuggled out ended up being the key factor that swayed a judge to issue the search warrants that located your people. If I’d told those security guards I’d killed Jacob they never would have allowed me to leave. I’d have died and you’d still be locked inside a cell along with all your people. Doesn’t that matter at all?”

He took a deep breath. When he spoke, he’d obviously calmed a bit since he didn’t snarl anymore. “Sorry doesn’t change what happened to me, does it? It doesn’t take it back what you did to me or how betrayed I feel. I trusted you, yet I paid for your actions. I am not going to kill you but I plan to make certain you understand humiliation and helplessness.”

Fury agonized over how stupid he’d been to trust Ellie. The guards had even teased him before that incident about not snarling at her when she’d come into his cell.

He’d borne their harsh words and accusations that he wanted to mount the human female, their cruel taunts that she’d never want an animal to f**k her, but she’d been his weakness. The sense of betrayal had run deep after that day. He’d spent months hating her, reliving the torture he’d suffered and blaming her for it. She’d left him on the floor, sent guards in to kick him then chain him back to the wall where the abuse had continued.

Humans were deceitful, cruel creatures. He had already misjudged Ellie once. The painful memory of her actions tore at his heart. He would never allow her to fool him again by lulling him into a false sense of trust.

Every human he’d cared about had betrayed him. Memories surfaced from his late childhood. He’d almost thought of Doctor Vela as a mother. She’d given him cookies, a rare treat he’d looked forward to. He would have done anything for her. She’d promised he could earn his freedom if he became a skilled fighter. They had even videotaped him to show off how their drugs worked on his body.

It had been a lie to manipulate him into compliance. When they’d come to take him away to another facility, she’d laughed at him over how incredibly naïve and stupid he’d been.

Hell had begun after that when they’d taught him to endure physical pain. That torture continued into adulthood. The beatings he’d endured as they’d tried to create drugs that would heal humans faster, the sickness and pain he’d suffered on the failed ones that nearly killed him—all those memories surfaced now.

There had been the female guard who promised to help him escape. He had been young, ruled by lust, and still experienced shame at how badly he’d wanted to mount the woman. Her name left a bitter taste in his mouth. Mary had unlocked his chains and he’d followed her out of his cell, down a long corridor, and straight into the trap they’d set up to test his fighting skills against a dozen heavily armed fighters.

They had hit him with clubs and shot him with Taser guns, and Mary had cheered on the guards from the sideline while he’d struggled to survive. Afterward she’d crouched by his bloodied body, shaking her head. Her words had killed something vital inside him.

“You didn’t really think I’d want you touching me, did you? You’re nothing but an animal, 416.” She’d smiled at the men around them and risen to her feet. “Too bad we’re not allowed to kill him. Take him back to his cell. Did you catch all that on camera, Mike? That should impress Doctor Trent with how much he endured before he went down. One of the doctors has a new batch of drugs they want to test on him to see if they can speed up the healing process. You did good, guys.”

He’d lost consciousness then, but if he hadn’t, he would have tried to kill her. He wanted revenge on everyone who had ever hurt him, lied to him, and betrayed him.

Ellie stared up at him with her big, fearful beautiful eyes. If she wasn’t face-to-face with him would she laugh at how stupid he’d been to trust her? Had he been a source of amusement to snicker about when he’d allowed her close without snarling at her or fighting his chains? Had she joked with the staff that 416 seemed not to hate her?