Chapter 17 #2
“Leave her alone!” I roar, pulling so hard that I feel a muscle in my shoulder tear. “Don’t you dare!”
But he’s already gone.
Silence.
And then, faintly, from somewhere down the corridor…
A scream.
High, shrill, agonized. Feminine.
Anne.
My wolf goes absolutely berserk. I struggle against the chains, roaring, my entire body straining to break free. Blood streams down my arms where the metal cuts deeper, but it doesn’t stop me. I don’t even feel it.
All I hear is her screaming. The sound goes on and on, cutting off and then starting again. Over and over. It’s breaking me. Killing me.
Hours pass. The screams continue, each one driving me further into madness.
My wolf is clawing at the inside of my skull, desperate to get to her, to protect her, to stop them.
But I’m trapped. Helpless. Unable even to speak the words that might make it stop.
I don’t know how much time has passed. At some point, I remember cold water being thrown in my face to awaken me; I must have passed out. The screaming stops at times, and when it does, I am able to breathe. But no matter how hard I try, I can’t get out of these restraints. I can’t help my mate.
I did this to her.
She’s in these dungeons because of me. Because I was selfish and couldn’t keep my distance from her. The horror tortures me. The guilt is eating me alive. And my wolf is beginning to show signs of madness.
The poison is getting worse now. Without food or water or painkillers, my body is shutting down faster. I drift in and out of consciousness, Anne’s screams following me even into my nightmares.
The cell door opens. I flinch as the light pierces my eyes.
It’s Darius. After closing the door behind him, he leans against the wall and lights a cigarette. He smirks at me as he lets out a puff of smoke.
“I’m not allowed to smoke around my mate, so I have to make do where I can.” He takes another drag and considers me. “You look like hell.”
I spit at him. “Some alpha you are. Torturing a woman! If you had any balls, you’d be dealing with me. Leave Anne out of this.”
Darius raises a brow. “Why? She’s equally complicit. And getting her to talk should be easier. She’s not very cooperative just yet, but we’ll get her to open her mouth. I always get what I want.” He smiles again, his eyes cold. “I’m very creative when there are no rules to follow.”
I snap. “She’s innocent! How dare you touch her! I’ll kill you!”
Darius looks almost amused. “Kill me? You can barely stand up.”
Rage floods through me like wildfire. My wolf surges forward with a strength born of pure desperation and fury. I pull harder, putting everything I have into it. All the pain, all the fear, and all the love I have for Anne are being channeled into raw strength.
The chains groan under the force.
The metal screams.
The anchors in the wall crack.
With a final roar, I tear the chains free from the concrete.
Darius’s eyes widen slightly, but he’s already moving toward the cell door. I lunge at him, swinging the heavy chains like weapons. They connect with his shoulder—once, twice—before he catches my arm and uses my momentum against me.
I hit the wall hard enough to crack my ribs, but I don’t stop. Can’t stop.
Guards rush in. They pile on top of me, wrestling me to the ground. I fight like an animal, landing blows wherever I can, but there are too many of them.
Someone gets a chain around my throat. Others pin my arms. Within seconds, I’m neutralized.
Darius straightens his jacket, brushing off his shoulder where I hit him. “Double the restraints,” he orders the guards. “I don’t want that happening again.”
The guards secure new chains around me and bolt them into the concrete anchors on the other side of the cell. Once they leave, Darius pulls a chair over to me.
“Now,” he says as he sits down, “let’s try this again. Who sent you?”
I open my mouth to answer, to tell him everything, but the pain behind my eyes flares immediately. I push through it, trying to force the words out. “The—”
Agony explodes in my skull. I scream, my vision going white.
Darius’s eyes narrow. “Interesting.” Turning toward the door, he calls out, “Guards! Interrogate the other prisoner. Full measures.”
“No!” I thrash against the new restraints. “Don’t—”
The screams start again before he even turns back around. He leans forward in his chair, studying me like I’m a particularly fascinating specimen.
“I’ve been looking into Anne’s past,” he says casually, and the shift in topic makes my breath hitch. “If she was willing to help you harm her friend, then she must have a history of being a traitor.”
“That’s not—”
“Her childhood neighbors have had plenty to say about her,” Darius continues, his voice almost pleasant. “Always causing problems for the pack. Making trouble. It’s not a far stretch for her to side with a spy, is it?”
“It’s not true!” The words burst out of me. “She was never a troublemaker! Whoever told you that is lying! She was well-liked in our neighborhood—”
I freeze, realizing what I just said.
Our neighborhood.
Darius’s expression shifts. “I thought you had amnesia.”
Fuck. I clamp my mouth shut, but the damage is done.
“If you’re faking it,” Darius says, his voice deadly quiet, “then Anne must know. I’ll get the answers out of her one way or another.”
The screams echo down the corridor, and I can’t take it anymore. Can’t let her suffer for my lies. I force myself to speak, pushing through the pain from the conditioning. Blood trickles from my nose as something tears inside my head.
“Anne had nothing to do with this!”
Darius leans forward, sensing victory.
“The Covenant”—I gasp from the pain—“took me during the war…ten years ago.”
The words come out strangled, each syllable agony. I steel myself and push harder, blood now dripping from both nostrils.
“You call me a traitor? My pack sold me off!” The words come faster now, fueled by rage and pain. “I suffered for ten years! I have every right to seek revenge!”
“What are you talking about?” Darius’s voice sharpens. “Who sold you?”
“Your father!” I spit the words at him. “The previous alpha. The Covenant contacted him. Made him an offer.” Blood is in my eyes now.
I fight the pain. “Said they’d pay him to forget about me, to stop searching.
Called it compensation for his lost pack member.
” My head is pounding like it might split open.
“He took the money. Sold me to them. So, don’t talk to me about betraying my pack when my pack sold me first! ”
Darius stares at me. “Have you lost your mind? Why would my father sell you? That makes no sense. Why would this organization, this Covenant, even want you?”
I laugh, the sound hollow and bitter. “They showed me the records. The payment transfers. The agreement. Your father’s signature.”
Darius looks unconvinced. “Why, though? Why would he feel the need to sell a teenager? What was your worth to the Covenant?”
I don’t have any answers. “How am I supposed to know?” My voice is harsh as I cough up blood. “This pack betrayed me. I should have just taken Anne and left. Even if it meant I would—”
I cut myself off, the pain too intense for me to breathe.
Darius is silent for a long time. Then, he says quietly, “I went through everything my father did when I took over. I don’t recall any mention of you.
But I’ll check again.” He walks to the cell door before turning to look back at me.
“I am a fair alpha. I would never agree to sell a packmate even if the whole pack had to go into battle to retrieve them.”
He opens the door to leave, and I yell, “Stop torturing Anne! You got what you wanted!”
He looks at me over his shoulder. “If what you’re saying is true, we’ll talk again.”
The door closes behind him. I slump against the wall, exhausted, blood still dripping from my nose and eyes. The pain in my head is excruciating, and I can feel the conditioning trying to reassert itself, punishing me for speaking.
But it doesn’t matter.
Nothing matters other than Anne’s safety. Not even my own life.