Dakota’s head was lolling from side to side as she stirred. Her body hurt all over, but she could not remember why just then. She was mumbling, calling out for her mother when she was shocked awake. Her body instinctively jerked, bumping into the cold wall behind her as even colder water soaked into her fur.  She spluttered and turned her head out of the spray. “Hold on, the water will be warmer soon. Try to stand still.”

She started crying as her memories flooded back to her, ice-blue eyes, anger and fear, chains, fighting back then the dark. The oppressive darkness, her father’s blood-soaked face and the bodiless cries of lamentation ringing in her ears. She desperately wanted to cover her ears but couldn’t as the leather cuffs held her upright, arms stretched out straight above her head to the hook above her.
 
Cain played with the knobs of the shower until he was satisfied with the temperature, all the while keeping an eye on the wild boar girl. He half expected her to start screaming or kicking him the moment she woke but was happy to see that her fears had left her drained. He was a bit tired himself, having a hell of a time stripping her of the tight spandex shorts and top, moving her unconscious body to the shower and getting her up on the hook, not to mention having to clean the puddle of piss she left behind before finally stripping down himself to join her in the shower.
 
After joining her in the spray, Cain then lathered up his fur with some body soap and conditioner, quickly taking care of his own needs as he let the girl warm up. She shied away from him still weak from her fear induced panic attack, moving away from him as far as the chain would allow her to go. “Please… let me go… please. No!” she wailed, as he put his hands on her and started to scrub the soap over her trembling body. 

“Shhh, it’s okay love. Just going to clean you up.” She whimpered and flinched at his every touch. His hands were firm yet gentle, almost methodical, as he massaged her stiff muscles and scrubbed her fur, finding it still bristly yet somehow pleasing to his touch. Starting with her arms, he scrubbed her down to her shoulders, her whimpering turning into a gasp of pain as his hands passed over her small breast, his fingers lightly pinching her nipples, watching them stiffen, before massaging more soap across her flat chest and stomach. “You’re really in great shape,” he growled with pleasure as he felt how firm her abs were. Then making her turn to face the wall, he washed her back, stopping just above her tail before gripping it and stroking it gently to not work against the grain of her fur and even giving the tail tuft a gentle scrub.  This had an odd effect on Dakota, causing her to shudder—not from fear, but unwanted pleasure—as she bit her lip in shock, grateful that Cain couldn't see her face in that moment.

He then used the spray nozzle to wash off all the soap, before starting on her bottom half. He lathered up his hands again and started at her feet, moving up her legs. Dakota once again was shaking with apprehension as he approached her thighs and clamped her legs shut.   “Spread your legs,” Cain said in a commanding voice, but she shook her head no. She then yelped as Cain gave her a rough, stinging slap to her outer right thigh, “Spread them, or I will spread them for you, and I won’t be gentle about it.”  Dakota hesitated for a moment but as Cain gripped one leg, digging his claws in, she gave in and opened her legs a little. It was enough, Cain worked his hand up between her thighs and scrubbed the piss out of her fur. His hand rubbing right into Dakota’s vaginal opening caused her to snap her legs shut before forcing herself to spread them again when he growled at her.  And though she was scared of what would come next, before she knew it, he was rinsing her off. The warm spray felt soothing against her lips, but the moment did not last as he turned her around and washed her ass. She was just as embarrassed and scared as when he cleaned her front, but she was not prepared when, without warning, he forced two soap covered fingers up her tail hole. She let out a sharp squeal, her ass clenched up trying to force the invading digits out.  She tried to move away from the pain, standing up on the tips of her feet, shifting her ass back and forth, but nothing worked as Cain cleaned her out. By the time he was finished, she was bawling like a baby from humiliation and shame.  Standing back up, Cain finished by shampooing her hair and face, careful not to get soap in her eyes and rinsed her down one last time before turning off the water. 

Cain then grabbed a towel and dried them both off and even produced a blow dryer, brushing them both as the blow dryer warmed up their bodies, though it took much longer for Cain to finish because of his thicker fur.  It was while Cain was doing this that Dakota got up the nerve to speak. “What are you going to do to me,” she said with a slight stutter, though she had a very good idea, and just prayed that she could make it through the night and that he would let her go after he had his fun, but his next words confirmed her worst fears. “Lots of things,” he said honestly. “I promise you will learn to love it here — and me — you will feel me in your heart, your mind… and your body.”  His words hit her like a physical blow. Her eyes became pools as she started to cry again. She knew now that he was going to rape her, keep her here forever and she would never see her friends or her mother ever again. So overly distraught from his words, Dakota barely registered Cain lifting her up, carrying her to the bed and laying her down. Only then did it hit her. He was about to act on those words, looming over her, when she found her voice. “No,” she screamed, loud enough to raise the rafters, praying to God someone would hear. 

She fought back with everything she had, arms flailing as she struck him with desperate blows. But it was too late — he was ready. Cain caught her, pinning one wrist to the bed before flipping her onto her stomach. She screamed again, this time in pain, as he yanked her arms behind her back. Before she could recover, he sat on her legs, binding her wrists tightly together. A collar followed, slipped around her neck as she struggled. Cain adjusted the strap connecting the collar to her cuffs, tightening it just enough to control her movements. Then, with a satisfied slap to Dakota’s ass, he sat back to admire his work. 

Grinning viciously, he slapped her ass again, raining blow after blow making the young boar yelp in pain with each strike as she tried twisting around but unable to stop him from abusing her bottom. Her feet kicked the bed in frustration as she continued to struggle until it was finally too much for her and she went limp sobbing into the blankets. Only then did Cain stop, his hands resting on her ass cheeks. He could feel the heat radiating from them, could even see some redness beneath her fur. He started to massage them, spreading them apart and admiring the subtle pink flesh of her tail hole and slit. 

“There's a good girl.  Just relax and let me make love to you. I don't want to hurt you, but I will if you don’t obey and love me in return. You do want to love me, right?”  As he said this, he licked his fingers and slid them down to her pussy and ran his fingers over her vaginal lips, stroking them and causing her to give out a choking gasp before sobbing a defiant “no.”  He didn’t stop. “Are you going to be a good girl for me? Let me breed you. Let me fill you with my love?  Then tell me you love me. Tell me you want to stay with me and never let me feel lonely?” Tell me you love me, Dakota. Tell me”—he repeated this multiple times as his fingers slid up and down her vaginal lips and occasionally teasing her hood covered clit before finally dipping them into her vaginal opening causing her sobbing to pick up as she begged him to stop. Pleading with him to let her go though she knew it was useless. All the while, as much as she hated it—as much as she resisted it—she felt vulnerable and weak-willed; her body betraying her despite it all, as unwanted arousal crept in.

Her vagina convulsed, her vaginal mussels squeezing his digits, trying to force them out, all the while becoming wetter and wetter until he was able to push his fingers up to the second knuckle. Satisfied, Cain decided it was time for Dakota to choose. Raising off of her legs, he grabbed her by the hips and pulled her up to her knees dragging her backward on the bed until her butt was in the air at just the right height for what came next.  In that moment, she felt his hard cock press against her thigh, and her panic surged anew. Her voice broke as she cried out, 'No. No. No. No.' Each word sharper, more desperate than the last. Cain growled at Dakota’s protesting as she tried to twist her body away again, but he wasn’t having it. Without warning, he slapped her hard—right across her exposed vulva—with a loud, meaty smack causing her to yelp out in pain.

“That was your last warning. If you persist on being stubborn, you will be punished! However, I'll give you a chance for forgiveness. Tell me you love me. Beg me to breed you and I will be kind and gentle and—"Never” she spat cutting him off, “you’re a monster.”  “Punishment it is then.” Without another word he lined up his tip to her entrance causing her breathing to catch. She tried to pull her body away but couldn't as his hands had a firm grip on her hips. Again, she fell to pleading for him not to do it, begging him uselessly as he pushed his tip in causing her to cry out as her vaginal muscles squeezed tight trying to bar him from entering. Cain let out a huff enjoying the heat of her flesh, pausing for only a moment to adjust his stance. But to Dakota it felt like eternity. She tried to twist around, to see, but then she let out a scream as Cain thrust his cock in. He only managed to get half his length in, yet her flesh screamed in pain. Her virginity now torn to bloody rags. She was not nearly wet enough for this and when he pulled back to thrust again the spines on his cock felt like they were tearing her flesh. Cain could see her virginal blood on his shaft and grinned before thrusting back in again. This time, her own blood giving her the lubrication he needed to push all the way down to the base of his cock. Only his knot was still outside of her, pressing hard against her entrance.  Dakota screamed in pain. She felt like she was torn in two. Her tail thrashed, smacking Cain’s chest like a riding crop, but he didn’t care—it even felt good to him. He kept her pinned, savoring her squirming, the pleasurable sting of her tail, and the quivering heat of her quim.
Then, her punishment began.

Without warning, Cain shoved his full length back inside of her. His knot smashing against her vaginal opening once more with a loud ‘plat’ of their bodies colliding. But this time he did not stay still and took his pleasure as he started ramming in and out of her violently.  This went on for several minutes. Dakota’s inexperienced body screamed in pain from the brutal violation. Then just as Dakota’s tail started to droop from exhaustion, Cain slowed down, pulling out. Not all the way, but enough to cause Dakota’s eyes to go wide with shock and her mouth to hang open as she gasped in air. He pulled out until just the tip was in and he could feel it more than see it. His spines slowly raking inside her were waking up her body. Against her will it was finally responding to being bred. He could feel her getting slicker as each thrust came just a little easier though she was undoubtably still very tight. His next thrust was deliberately paced. Not slow, nor rough but something in between to maximize pleasure, and Dakota moaned. 

“There we are. Just like that. Punishment over my love. Now only pleasure.” Dakota did not respond to his taunts. Something had flipped inside her. She bit her lip trying to hold it all back. But her body was betraying her. Her vaginal tunnel was becoming slick with her juices, mixing with Cains precum. She became very wet. So wet that, as Cain pulled out, droplets of her dew would fling off his spines to sprinkle over the sheets, filling the room with the musky smell of her growing arousal. 

Dakota still cried, begging him to stop, but her strength had left her. The betrayal of her body broke her as her moans came more frequently, and a new tightness gripped at Cains cock. Not one of resistance but of pleasure. Her mussels now working to milk his shaft. Pulling him in deeper with every thrust. Dakota was still crying 'no' as her body screamed 'yes.' The unwanted pleasure rising toward something she couldn't stop—something more terrifying than Cain’s assault and perhaps even more terrifying than the dark itself.

Suddenly she felt her body was on the very edge of the precipice as Cains thrust, once again, became more insistent. They were both close to cumming. Cain’s cock throbbed inside her, and as his tip kissed her cervix Dakota’s orgasm washed over her. Her body went limp as she shook from unwanted pleasure. Pleasure so powerful she almost blacked out. Her juices gushed out around Cain’s shaft and soaked his knot giving him the extra leverage he needed to push his knot inside. And as Dakota’s vaginal opening spread around his knot, snapping shut behind it and tying them together, she screamed in primal pleasure as the extra inch of his hybrid flesh pushed inside her cervix to deliver his boiling hot seed directly to her womb. The pleasure was so overwhelming as she felt Cain’s seed flooding her insides, she barely notices him leaning over her, removing her restraints and praising her with affectionate kisses before, exhausted, she completely stopped fighting and allowed herself to pass into troubled dreams.

The next day, or perhaps it was still the same day, Dakota couldn’t tell, but she awoke with a start. She was still lying face down, nude upon the bed where Cain left her. Her legs spread, and the evidence of her violation was still leaking out of her.  Her hole body was sore, and pain lanced through her as she curled into a ball and started to cry. After some time, she made herself sit up and take stock. She was alone. However, there was a little table now in the room with a chair and upon it was food. Her stomach growled but she didn’t move.  Then she jumped as a voice echoed in the room. “Good morning love. I have some work to do in the office. Feel free to start breakfast without me. And I have left you clean towels next to the bathroom in case you want a shower. After we can talk about our future together.” Then there was silence. Cain watched her from the monitors in his office as he sipped his coffee glancing now and again at a financial report on his computer and occasionally flipping through a website looking for something. 

His work was tedious, and he knew his new lover was a distraction. He could not afford to make mistakes. However, he still needed to make sure Dakota would not try and hurt herself. Thankfully there was no deadline, or he would have to have left her tied up all day. This was better and from experience he could tell her will to live was stronger than she may even have realized herself as he watched her wince, after an hour, getting up and plodding her way into the shower. He switched the camera to the shower and smiled as he watched her methodically start to scrub her body clean before turning back to the report, satisfied that she was not going to self-harm. 

Dakota stayed in the shower for a very long time; tears washed away by the spray as she scrubbed her body over and over again. She found that her crotch fur was all matted up with dry cum and other fluids and she scrubbed at it the best she could, still aching and sore. Twice she broke down and slumped in the shower crying, but eventually she turned off the water and dried herself. Luckily boar fur was really short and somewhat course though she idly wished she would have had her conditioners to help soften it. Then she berated herself for the thought of something so normal in her situation. She then wrapped the towel around her and came out of the shower room and stared at the food. There were two paper bowls like the kind you use for picnics. One empty with a small box of cereal next to it and the other filled with oatmeal that had gone cold by now and a solo cup of milk and a soft plastic spoon. Finally, deciding starving herself would not solve anything, she ignored the oatmeal and poured half the milk and the cereal into the other bowl and ate in silence. Cain smiled to see her eating, finally able to fully concentrate on his work. He focused on hiding money and filtering it through offshore investors—slowly but steadily laundering it back into the country. The process was shady, yet technically legal, exploiting loopholes that allowed his employers to claim the funds as legitimate gains through their public-facing business.

The hours dragged for Dakota. It was even more maddening to her than the rape. She could not stand to be left with her thoughts as her mind made her relive the night before. So, she did the only thing she could do and knew would center her troubled mind. She exercised while plotting her escape.  But the more she moved around the room, checking every corner while hiding her true intent she realized this room was as escape proof as a prison. The bed was mounted to the floor. There were no windows. The ceiling was too high to reach, not that there was any escape that way. The walls and floors were solid concrete and the ominous eye hooks along the walls and near the bed were solidly mounted and unmoving. Then remembering an old movie, she watched with her mother of another prison break she got an idea.  She went back to the table, but it was no good. It was light weight and solid made with no metal that she could see. The same went for the chair. They were no good. Then her eyes fell on the spoon. She picked it up and pushed on the end of the spoon and it easily bent.  It was no good but the handle—the handle was stiff and rigid. Maybe she could use it as a weapon. It was stupid and desperate, but it was all she had as she slumped to her knees and started filing the end of the spoon to a point against the concrete floor.

But she forgot or didn’t know about the cameras and Cain shook his head with a laugh. “My little tuskling is so strong. I give her that, but I will have to discipline her again soon for being so naughty,” he thought as he saved his work and went to make lunch.  After making two sandwiches, he added them to a tray along with two cups of juice. Then thinking about it he grabbed a stash of pills and crushed two, putting the powder into Dakota’s cup and giving it a stir.  He also put some other pills into a paper cup and walked to the hidden saferoom tray in hand. Turning on the monitor at the door to her room he told her he was coming in, then watched what she did.  Dakota froze for a moment then readied herself to charge at Cain the moment he opened the door. She held her makeshift spoon shiv in her right hand and wiped her eyes with her left as the thought of what she was about to do scared her to tears. But she never got the chance to find out if her nerves would hold out as the room went dark for a brief moment then came back on.  She was so startled she barely registered that she dropped her weapon. “Dakota honey, unless you want to spend the rest of the day in complete darkness, pick up that spoon. Place it on the table then back away and sit on the bed.” 

A storm of emotions flashed across the poor girl’s face—defiance, panic, desperation—before crumbling into raw, helpless fear at the thought of being left in the dark for hours.  Now, trembling, she felt exposed under the cold artificial light, she did exactly as Cain commanded, quickly picking up the shiv and setting it on the table before backing away, and sat stiffly on the bed, eyes wide, breath shallow, as if the dark might return at any second. 

Satisfied, Cain entered the room, tray in hand. He set it down on the table then picked up the would-be weapon and smirked.  “Were you planning on killing me my love? I’m afraid this little toy wouldn’t do you much good.” 

To prove his point, he drove the shiv into his own chest. The spoon’s tip bent harmlessly against his thick fur covered chest. He held it up to show her the curled, useless end, then tossed it onto the tray with a clatter.

 “No more of your games. You are going to sit right there, eat lunch, and we’re going to have a talk.” Cain lifted the little table, tray and all and carefully moved it over to the bed then dragged the chair over for himself. “Now eat.”  Seeing no other choice, she picked up the PB&J sandwich with trembling hands and took a small bite, struggling to steady her breathing. Then she noticed the pills and her sandwich slipped from her fingers. She pointed to them, eyes wide. “I—I am not taking them. You can’t make me. I wo—” 	His ice blue eyes flashed coldly. She flinched, silenced as if he’d struck her.

 Cain sipped his juice before speaking, “You will. In fact, you’ll take it willingly once you know what they are.” He pointed to the largest of the three pills. “This one is a multivitamin. I’m pretty sure you already take these with your workouts.” Then to the smaller one. “This is a day-after pill. I believe you’re old enough to know what that’s for.”  And finally, the third. “Birth control. You’ll take it every day—until you’re ready to bear our child.”

Dakota stopped hearing him after that second pill. The words “day after” hitting her like a physical punch in the stomach. She’d been so focused on escape, she’d forgotten—forgotten that she was fertile.  Her eyes went wide at the thought that she could be and probably already was pregnant. A cold panic overtook her.  She grabbed for the pills, tossing them down her throat, chasing it with her juice. She swallowed too fast and choked but managed to keep it down as tears burned her eyes. She drank her juice so fast she failed to even notice anything wrong with the drink. 

“That’s a good girl,” Cain said with a smile.

Cain allowed Dakota to finish her sandwich in silence while he ate his. His eyes followed her as she drank the last of her juice to help wash the sticky sandwich down then used the corner of the towel to wipe her mouth and tusk. “You’re going to be my lover. You’re going to return my love, cure my loneliness because we are soulmates. I know you don’t see it now. But deep down you know it’s true.” Dakota just stared at him blankly at first like he was a mad man. Then deep down she felt a fire growing inside her, her body started to heat up as Cain when on explaining how he was going to make love to her every day. How this was her life now and that her only escape from this room would be to return his love. Her face flushed, her nipples stiffened, and between her legs she was slowly growing wet as her mind became foggy. Unconsciously one hand moved to her crotch, touching herself through the towel that still covered her, causing her to gasp. 

“Y-you lied to me.” she managed to stammer, her voice shaky. “What were those pills you gave me?” Her thighs pressed together, shifting restlessly, as if trying to ease an itch she couldn’t quite reach. “The pills you took were exactly what I said they were,” Cain replied smoothly. “However, the ones I put in your juice… Well, that’s a different matter.” He grinned as he used his foot to slide the table away, so nothing was between them—but made no move to approach her. Only watched her. 

Dakota froze as her towel slipped, exposing her stiffened nipples. Both hands pressed between her legs, as if trying to hold something back—or stop herself from losing control. She squirmed, her breath growing ragged.

Cain still watched her with satisfaction as his own arousal grew.  He knew exactly what two doses of the aphrodisiac would do—ramp up her arousal to unbearable levels. The added compounds he’d laced them with would begin working on her mind too, lowering her resistance, softening her defenses. Soon she would be begging him to take her. 

“Why don’t you remove the towel, spread your legs?” Cain’s voice rumbled through the room, deep and smooth, more coaxing than commanding. “Might help with that itch you’re trying so hard to ignore.” He rose to his feet, slow and deliberate, each piece of his clothing falling away with quiet purpose.

Dakota’s breath hitched. Her hands were already moving under the towel, slow, restless — betraying her in ways she refused to acknowledge. The heat in her body throbbed, dizzying and unwelcome, blurring the line between need and shame.

She closed her eyes, wanting to keep them shut, to vanish into the fog rolling through her skull — but the dark behind her eyelids pressed in too fast, too thick. So, she opened them, wide and glassy, fixing her gaze on the floor — as if not looking at Cain could make it all less real.

The towel slipped from her hips, forgotten as she spread her legs to give her hands more room to work. Her mind retreated inward, searching for some sliver of distance in the haze, focusing only on the burning beneath her skin — not the way his gaze lingered.

One hand rubbed her slit as the other started to tease her swollen clit. Her sex felt on fire. She rubbed and rubbed, but it wasn’t enough. Soon her fingers were digging deep into her vaginal opening, her juices leaking out coating her hands as she gasped for air while fiercely fingering her pussy, but it still wasn’t enough.  Her moans became howls of desperation. “No! I…  I.. want…need,” she cried out. “What do you need baby girl,” Cain asked as he stroked his cock to erection. 

Her voice trembled, barely more than a whisper, a fragile plea slipping free. “Please… just touch me… please.” The words felt foreign on her tongue, a betrayal she barely recognized, yet the desperate need clawing through the fog was undeniable.
“Say you love me, baby,” Cain coaxed, placing a hand on her shoulder and easing her down onto her back. His touch sent shivers racing through her. She wanted to submit, wanted to say the words—but a stubborn corner of her mind still fought. “I lo… no… just need… so hot! J-just… just put it in,” she moaned.

Cain admired her stubborn will; most broke within minutes—but most weren’t aware they’d been drugged. His own desire for her clawed for release, but he had time to wear her down. A slow smile touched his lips as he stood between her legs, leaning over her with one hand pressed to the bed, his eyes devouring her. His throbbing cock dripping precum onto the sheets. “Put it in? Tell me… what is it you want me to put in?”

Dakota’s breath hitched, her thighs trembling against him. “No… I—ahh… please… can’t… j-just… do it!” She shook her head weakly, but her body arched toward him.

Cain’s grin widened, his fingers trailing slowly up her thigh until they hovered just shy of where the need burned hottest. He could feel the heat radiating off of her pussy. His nostrils flared as he breathed in her musk. “Mmm… not until you say it,” he murmured, leaning in so his breath brushed her ear. “Tell me you love me, and I’ll give you everything you’re begging for.”  Dakota bit her lip, shaking her head, she refused to say the words.  Cain sighed but wasn’t concerned. He had planned for this. For now, he would break her body in if he couldn’t yet break her mind. 

Grabbing her hips, he half lifted her off the bed, his cock aiming for her entrance. She yelped as she felt his tip prodding her and quickly moved her hands out of the way as her mind still screamed that this wasn’t right. But all that was washed away in a sea of carnal pleasure, crying aloud as Cain plunged his spiny shaft all the way in, up to his large knot. 

Several hours later Cain left the room leaving Dakota lying face down on the bed. Both her holes still gaping and leaking copious amounts of cum. Her fur soaked where he shot load after load over her body.  “Sweet dreams my love. I’ll leave the lights on for you.”  But she didn’t hear him, already passed out from both physical and mental exhaustion.

This became their endless ritual—Cain bringing her meals only to rape her again. Sometimes he forced the aphrodisiac down her throat, twisting her body with unwanted lust that gnawed at her sanity until she begged for release. Other times, he’d curl around her like a lover, deceptively gentle, making her forget—if only for a moment—that she was trapped. But the worst days were the violent ones, when he snarled like a beast, chaining her wrists to the bedposts or walls, pounding into her until she was raw and broken, muscles trembling in agony, unable to move for hours after. Those days were rare—but each one shattered her a little more.

Yet, every day she still pleaded for freedom, for any word of her mother. In return, every day, he demanded her love in return. Bit by bit, she bent—but the one thing she refused to give was her heart. That defiance was about to be crushed.

One evening, Cain made Dakota take him in her muzzle. She had grown more compliant and no longer hesitated. Kneeling on the floor as Cain sat on the edge of the bed, she licked his cock from knot to tip just as she had been taught. Swallowing it all in one go, barely suppressing a gag.
He gave her head a rough pat. “Good girl,” he murmured. Then came the usual demand. “Tell me how much you love me.”

Dakota didn’t stop, shaking her head to refuse, bracing herself for the slap or the brutal punishment that always followed her defiance. But instead, Cain surprised her—he gently rubbed her ears and groaned low in his throat.

Her mind raced, confusion and fear tangled as she kept sucking, her head bobbing up and down his spiny shaft, letting him slip deeper into her throat. Her tongue traced his knot the way he liked, desperate to please him despite the torment. Finally, he came, his seed filling her throat so suddenly she choked, some of it gushing back out from her snout.

He held her there until every last drop of his seed was spent, then pulled out of her muzzle. She gasped, finally dragging in ragged lungfuls of air, coughing against the burn in her throat. Cain only chuckled at the mess streaking her muzzle and chin, handing her a towel as if it were an afterthought.

“I have a gift for you, Dakota. Stay here.”

She froze. Stay here meant don’t move a muscle—not even to shift her knees. But as he rose and walked to the door, something impossible happened.

He didn’t close it.

Her gaze darted to the open frame, and her breath caught. In all the time she’d been here, that door had never been left open. The sight beyond was nothing but a swallowing black void. The longer she stared, the more it seemed to breathe—stretching toward her, whispering that it could take her if she stepped inside.

She shuddered violently and wrenched her eyes away. It had to be a trap.

Cain returned almost as quickly as he’d left, a small, plain box in his hands. He resumed his seat on the bed and passed it to her. “Open it.”

Her stomach tightened as she eased the lid off, braced for something vile. But instead of horror, confusion greeted her. Nestled inside was a smooth white globe of plastic—featureless, save for a small panel concealing a button and a USB port.

She stared at it, uncertain whether to ask. Cain spared her the effort. He plucked the ball from the box, tossed the cardboard aside, and placed the object gently into her trembling hands.

“This,” he said with a soft smile that didn’t reach his eyes, “is your learning light.”

The words sent a ripple of unease down her spine. “M-my learning l-light? I… I don’t understand,” she stammered, fear already coiling in her gut.

“Let me show you.”

He took the ball from her hands, holding it loosely as he leaned close and whispered something she couldn’t catch. The globe flared with a bright, steady light—unnecessary in the already well-lit room, yet strangely captivating all the same. Cain placed it back into her palms. The plastic was warm, almost comforting. She looked up at him, brow furrowed. 
“What did you say?”

He didn’t answer right away, letting the silence stretch until it felt like a noose tightening. Then his lips curled into a slow, cold smile. “The light will only last a few minutes.” He paused, eyes glittering. “When it goes dark… you can’t turn it on again unless you say exactly what I want to hear.”

As if on cue, the light winked out. A chill slid down Dakota’s spine. She could see the trap now—feel it closing around her—but she clung to the desperate hope that it wasn’t what she thought. 

“W-what did you say?” she demanded, panic bleeding into her voice.

Cain rose to his feet without answering leaving her still kneeling on the floor. The door shut behind him with a sound of finality.

Then the lights went out.