The first thing that Allen was aware of was the pain that radiated from the base of his skull and down his neck and spine.
His eyes flickered open and as soon as he had gathered his awareness enough to realize that not only was he naked, but that the scents in the darkness were not familiar, he sat bolt upright, wincing and grunting loudly as he did so.
"Easy there tiger," an amused, yet unfamiliar female voice sounded a little too loudly for his liking.
He squinted towards the source of the noise as his hand flew to his head reflexively and he stared at the face that peered out at him from between the bars as he struggled to focus.
"What the fuck..where am I?" He grunted as he held his hand in front of his face and inspected it for signs of bleeding before he returned it to its previous position on the back of his head.
"Where the fuck do you think we are?" Greyson's disgruntled voice came from the side of him and he turned, cautiously this time, to regard him with a confused stare.
"I don't fucking know…I don't remember much other than diving headfirst into that portal…" Allen trailed off as he frowned and attempted to sift through his memories but came up with nothing more.
"Wonderful," Greyson snapped in irritation as the sound of his pacing in this obviously confined space reached Allen's ears.
"Hush now, don't be so harsh on him. Portal sickness is very common and extreme reactions can…" the unfamiliar female voice came again before it was cut off by a very angry sounding Greyson.
"It wasn't the fucking portal that did this to him, it was his fucking ignorant wolf throwing itself at a bastard door that he fucking whore clearly had cursed to keep us from our mate. And what the fuck did this knobhead do?" Greyson scoffed loudly, "HE threw himself at the fucking thing! Headfirst no less!"
"I don't know what you're talking about, but can you keep it down, I feel like I've been on a bender with the Bellevue top shelf collection,"Allen grimaced, before leaning backwards quickly as Greysons furious face suddenly appeared in front of him.
"Keep it down? KEEP IT DOWN?!" He laughed coldly, his voice rising exponentially at the same rate as his incredulity, "Perhaps I'll keep it down like your fucking wolf did when he slept through the entire fucking battle with Narcissa and her bloody imps."
"Oooo ouch…" the female's voice came again as Allen's mouth settled into a grim line.
"Look, I'm gathering that whatever went down, clearly didn't go to plan considering we're sitting in some sort of cage and seem to have acquired some new neighbors." Allen answered softly as he glanced up at the woman again, who waved at him in response.
"Ximena…I've been here a while," she grimaced, "I would offer to shake your hand but…well...you know."
Ximena lifted her hands and displayed the manacles clamped tightly around her wrists, rattling the chains attached to them for effect.
"Narcissa didn't really take into consideration social etiquette when she threw me in these," she snorted.
"Bit overkill isn't it? You're already in a cage, why would she chain you as well?" Allen frowned as Greyson rolled his eyes.
"We aren't here to make friends and exchange life stories, Allen," Greyson snapped with a wary glance towards the woman.
"You'd be surprised at how far having a friend down here will get you," Ximena snapped at Greyson, her eyes flashing with an otherworldly green light for a brief second before it fizzled to nothing and she turned back to Allen, "If you must know it keeps my magick contained. I can't so much as light a fart on fire with these bad boys attached."
"Ah, so a rival for Narcissa then?" Allen mused.
"I try to be a thorn in her side when I can," she answered happily, "keeps the days from dragging down here anyway."
As she looked between the two of them she could see the mistrust simmering in their eyes and she could have kicked herself.
"Don't even put me in the same basket as that psycho, okay? She and I are nothing alike. There were far too few left of my kind when I was taken, all the greatest had already passed on and our kind had split into houses that segregated themselves away from the world for fear of retribution." She explained hurriedly, "Quite honestly, I feared that the amount of time she had held me down here would have seen to the end of the lines that held magick in their blood, but evidently I was mistaken."
She glanced over to the corner of the cell where the girl with the mass of black curls sat in the same position that she had when Narcissa had brought the two males in, and sighed heavily.
"Although this one has certainly been through a terrible ordeal…I don't truly know if she'll fully recover." Ximena grimaced as Allen and Greyson peered into the cell, barely able to make out the small figure that was hunched down on itself.
Neither one of them could see the girl's face and they dismissed her as a possible threat almost instantly.
"So, what misfortune brought Narcissa's ire down on your heads," Ximena grinned as she looked expectantly at them both before frowning, "I'd offer you a nice steaming hot cup of tea but that's only really an option when the dragonkin is around."
Greyson almost choked on his own saliva as he spluttered in her direction.
"Excuse me, what? Dragonkin? Have you lost your mind?" he spat incredulously as Ximena eyed him speculatively.
"You first muscles, Why are you here?"
Greyson glanced across at Allen in disbelief, his earlier anger had fizzled out in the face of this woman's relentless chatter.
"I'm not trading information. I don't need to hear anything further from you to know that you have quite clearly lost your mind." Greyson scoffed dismissively.
"Your loss pup! I'm just trying to be friendly. We're going to be here for a long time, I can assure you, and it doesn't hurt to get to know the people you're going to be spending the next few years of your life with. Well…if you make it that long of course." Ximena shrugged in answer before turning her back on them and making her way over to the huddled figure.
The silence extended for a few seconds until finally, Allen's voice broke the stalemate.
"We were here for our mate." Allen answered in resignation and ignored the hiss of fury from Greysons direction as Ximena seemed to perk up and stood, turning to regard them with renewed interest.
"Your mate? Why is your mate here?"
"She was ambushed and Narcissa kidnapped her. We followed through the portal and...well...ended up here."
Ximena's brow creased into a frown as she listened and she tapped her chin thoughtfully.
"Narcissa collected your mate herself?" she asked curiously as Allen nodded in response.
"Interesting. She must be a high value target then. Does your mate have a name?"
Allen shifted uncomfortably as he looked across at Greyson. It was one thing telling this woman why they were there, but it was quite another revealing what to him felt a little too personal.
But to his surprise, Greyson sighed and sank to the floor, nodding his head curtly as if giving his permission for him to continue.
Allen's gaze drifted back to the woman who stood with her head cocked to the side, waiting patiently for him to continue.
"Our mate…her name is Lexi." Allen said finally as he exhaled heavily.
Ximena seemed to freeze at the mention of her name and the color drained from her face as she slowly sank to the ground, never breaking eye contact with Allen.
Her unexpected reaction sparked Greyson's interest and he moved across the floor of the cell, seating himself closer to Allen as they exchanged questioning looks and refocused their gaze on the woman before them.
"Do you know her?" Greyson asked, his tone carrying a dangerous edge to it that put even Allen on edge.
Ximena snorted softly as a single tear escaped her eye and rolled slowly down her cheek.
"If her father is Brarthroroz, then yes…I know her." she exhaled a shaky breath as she wiped the tear from her face angrily.
"How? If you've been here for years then how do you know her?" Greyson demanded and Ximena chuckled humorlessly as she pulled her knees to her chest and wrapped her arms around them tightly.
"How could I not know her? Brarthroroz is my mate…Lexi...she's my daughter."