Chapter 7 - Silas #2
“I am just giving her a choice. Something you never gave her when you forced her into marrying and getting bonded to you.”
The accusation hit the spot. “This is different,” Silas gritted out.
“I don’t think so. You’re clearly making another decision on her behalf. You have decided that she’s too weak and fragile to answer a few questions.”
“I’m not weak.” They all turned to look at Elle.
“I’m not fragile,” she continued. “I survived being kidnapped. I managed to come out alive. What questions do you have for me?”
“Elle, you don’t have to prove anything,” August said.
“I’m not. I’m just trying to put a stop to this. To stop more women from being trafficked. They are worth more than being used and disposed of.” Elle lifted her chin. “I’ll answer your questions and tell you what I remember. “
“Elle.”
“I said I’ll do it.”
Javi looked triumphant. August and Rael looked worried.
And Silas felt that he had failed her one more time.
“Fine,” he said. “But we do this on Elle’s terms. When she wants to stop, we abort. No pushing, no pressure. Understood?”
Javi nodded. “Understood.”
Silas pulled out a chair for Elle. She walked forward and took a seat at the table, her hands clenched so hard that her knuckles turned white.
Rael pulled out a notebook. “We will begin from where they kept you. Can you describe the facility?”
Elle drew in a shaky breath. “It was a warehouse. Old, abandoned. The walls were concrete, and there were….” Her voice cracked. “There were cages. Metal cages full of about ten women each.”
“How many cages?” Rael asked gently.
“Four. Maybe five. I couldn’t see them all from where I was.”
Silas watched Elle’s face as she spoke, noting the way her eyes got distant.
“The handlers,” Javi prompted. “Can you describe them?”
“There were three. All men. Two were wolves, I think. The third was…” Elle’s breath hitched. “The third was the one who grabbed me from the street. He reeked of cigarettes and sweat. There’s a scar in the shape of a crescent on his left cheek.”
Rael wrote it down quickly. “Hair color? Eye color?”
“Brown hair. I don’t remember his eyes. I tried not to look at them.”
The questions continued. Rael asked about the way to the auction, and how long it took to drive, and whether Elle had noticed anything worthy of interest. Javi had some questions about the other women, if any of them said anything about being held somewhere else initially.
Elle’s voice got thinner as she answered, and her hands shook harder.
Silas wanted to stop this. He wanted to take her out of those ugly memories she retreated into.
But she’d agreed to this. She’d chosen to help. And to take away that choice would help in solidifying his position at the top of her shit list.
So Silas sat there, feeling helpless and guilty, while his mate relived her trauma for the sake of his pack’s investigation.
He watched her hands shaking on the table as he remembered what Margaret told him.
Whatever followed, however he told her, whenever he told her, she would not be treated like his father would have treated an Omega.
She was not a pawn. She was Elle, and she would know the truth when she was strong enough for it.
Finally, after thirty minutes, Elle stood abruptly. “I need to go.”
“Elle—” August started.
But she was already in motion, virtually fleeing out of the room. Silas heard her footsteps going up the stairs, then the unmistakable sound of a door being slammed.
He clenched his jaw, facing Javi. “Happy now?”
“We got valuable information,” he murmured. “Description of the facility, the description of the route, the scar. It’s more than we had before.”
“At what cost?” Silas demanded. “Look at what you did to her.”
“What I did? It is you who has brought her here. It was you who forced her to get bonded to you. Don’t play a hero now.”
Silas’s control snapped. He lunged over the table and grabbed Javi by the shirt. His brother did nothing but look at him with his cold blue eyes.
“Stop it,” Rael said sharply. “Both of you.”
Silas set Javi free and got up from his seat, his chest heaving.
“Go after her,” August said. “She needs you, even if she doesn’t want to acknowledge it.”
Silas stared at the stairs. His wolf was already tugging him that way, insisting that he should go to his mate to console her and protect her from the memories that were obviously ripping her to pieces.
But would she want him there? Only one way to find out.
Silas walked out of the dining-room and went up the staircase. He found Elle in the guest room, lying on the bed, her knees against her chest. She was crying so hard that her whole body was shaking.
“Oh, Elle.” He felt like he was being stabbed in his heart.
She didn’t respond or act like he was there.
Silas stepped into the room and sat on the edge of her bed. “I’m sorry. I should have stopped Javi.”
“Why didn’t you?” She sniffed.
“Because you chose to help. And I did not want to deprive you of that decision. Not again.”
Elle lifted her head. Her face was flushed. Her eyes were red and puffy. “Being here is killing me.”
“All of my memories about this place are unpleasant—the practice grounds where they mocked me, the school where they didn’t fully accept me, the way your father banished me without a second thought.
” She wiped her nose with the edge of her sleeve.
“And now you want me to relive being kidnapped, too? To remember the cages and the handlers and the horror of being there on that stage?”
“No. God, no. I never wanted that.”
“Then what do you want from me, Silas?” Elle’s voice rose.
“Because I can’t figure it out for the life of me.
You tell me that you wish to save me, but you brought me to the very place where I’m not welcomed.
You are concerned about my decisions, but you have taken away the greatest decision of all when you imposed this relationship on me. ”
Silas swallowed harshly. She was right about all of it.
“I do not know what I want,” he admitted. “Except to keep you safe. To know you’re protected. My wolf will not allow me to do anything different.”
Your wolf,” Elle said bitterly. “Always your wolf. Not your conscious choice.”
“Elle.”
“You blamed your wolf for the bond. Now you’re blaming your wolf for keeping me here. When do you take responsibility for your own actions?”
Silas stood, pacing the room. “You want me to accept responsibility? Fine. I bought you at that auction. I brought you here and forced you to be bonded to me.” He turned to face her.
“I did those things. Me. Not my wolf. And I would do them again instead of letting you be sold to someone who would have harmed you.”
“So you hurt me instead.”
“Yes.” The admission tore out of him. “I hurt you. I know that. But at least you are alive to hate me for it.”
“I can’t do this. I cannot pretend that I am okay and everything is okay, because I am not. I am falling apart, Silas.” She rubbed her chest. “Right here.”
Silas’s chest tightened. “What do you need?”
“I need to leave.”
“I cannot allow you to leave the pack land. But I can take you elsewhere. Somewhere far away from here.”
Elle sat up and stared at him suspiciously. “Where?”
“On the eastern border, there is a cabin. It’s quiet, isolated. No pack members nearby.” Silas moved closer. “We could go there and stay a couple of days. Give you space to breathe.”
“Why would you do that?”
“Because I care about you and I want to help.”
Elle stared at his face for a couple of seconds, as if she wanted to make sure this wasn’t a prank.
Finally, she nodded. “Okay. Take me to the cabin.”
“Alright,” Silas nodded. “I’ll get some things together. We can leave within an hour.”
Silas stepped out of the room bearing with him the brunt of her hatred and his guilt equally. But in between that, he felt something different—the bond that was holding them together.
He wanted her close. He needed her safe. He did not want her to think about those ugly memories. But Silas knew he couldn’t wipe them away. He could only try to replace them with better memories.