Chapter Thirty — Nine
James POV
The first thing I felt even before I became conscious was the uneven floor beneath me and the mud. The side of my face was pressed up against it and my every breath blew the dirt around my face.
A sigh escaped from me.
My eyes slowly fluttered open. At first, my eyes could only register the surrounding blackness. Everything was covered by the darkness.
For once, I did not remember where I was?
My room?
No. Not my room.
Field then?
No.
Then my eyes took in my surroundings. All of a sudden, shock registered when I took in the surrounding. Right.
I was in the hidden passageway.
But what was I doing here?
My whole body jerked when I abruptly sat up.
“What the…” my sentence left unfinished as I felt a sudden and blinding ache entering the back of my head.
My head was buzzing. Suddenly, I felt like someone was splitting my head in two.
“Damn it to hell!” I cursed under my breath. This pain was too intense. Way too intense for even someone like me. Why the hell was I feeling this pain? Why could not my alpha wolf tolerate it like the other pain I had handled before?
The pain was so much. Way too much. Thus, I decided to touch my head to feel where it was coming from. I tried to reach out but felt something stopping me from doing so. Something was restricting my advances towards it. I tried again. And again. Nothing. It was then when I realized that my hands were tied behind my back.
“What?” I whispered to myself in a low voice. No way, this was happening to me.
I tried to jerk my hand away. I tried to move and loose the knot. Not only that, but I twisted my hands trying my best to pry the rope open and free my hands, but it did not let me. Likewise, I swallowed hard before I registered another pain. It was coming from my tied wrist.
It was burning badly. The electricity I felt around my wrist made my head numb. It was so painful that I knew it would leave scars.
That was when I realized that those were shackles. And not just any shackles also. By the bruises, I felt on my wrist and the way my skin burned, I realized those were actually silver shackles.
Created by the pure silver.
Especially designed for someone like me. For an alpha wolf who's unable to control with normal cuffs. Understanding downed at me and my eyes shot open.
It was then when everything came back to me. Everything. Me coming here in this passageway. Not finding Michael around. Making a decision to walk inside alone. Then walking inside. Finding nothing but silence. Finally, deciding to dive into the hideout alone to save our pack. And then something sharp hitting me, right across the head. Me feeling the intense pain and blacking out.
It was a trap.
Enemy had played on our weakness. Knowing that we would come here to save our pack. Someone had placed the bait of our pack to lure us here. Someone had wanted us to come here in this place and die.
Then why was I not dead?
More important, what was I going to do now?
My hands were tied behind my back and I could not even focus because of the dizziness which was doubled with the fact that I could not see clearly in front of my eyes.
The fogginess just did not seem to fade away. No matter how many times I tried to shake my head, it was still there.
A fire surged through me. It was enough of a reminder that I was wasting my time. Instead of looking for something to myself out of here, I was spending my time pondering the useless things. I had to get a grip on myself. I forced myself to shake off the dizziness and gain all the control that I had on my body back again.
“I had to do something.” I murmured to myself slowly. Gathering as much as strength in me, I shook the shackles. Twisting and turning, all in all trying to break it or at least managing to free one of my hands. I did everything in my power, but those shackles did not give away.
“Shit!” I hissed under my breath.
All of a sudden, I heard something somewhere. In the distance, a stick cracked. Someone was here. But who? Michael? I tried hard to focus on that 'someone' but just could not figure out who that person was. I wished that my wolf could get a scent of this strange person. Though if it was Michael then it was rather good news. But if it was not him then I was doomed. With my hands still bound behind me, I tried my best to stand up, but my knees wobbled, and I fell right back on the ground.
Damn it.
At this point, I had no other option. I had to connect to Michael. Therefore, I closed my eyes and concentrated hard on Michael's mind. I was trying to mind link Michael. Knowing that he was entering the dangerous territory. A territory where anything could happen. I needed to warn him to stay away from here and get help as soon as possible. With every beat of my heart I realized that my mind link was not working. No matter how many times I tried. It was completely blank.
What was stopping me from connecting with him through our mind link? Why could I not reach him? Why? Was it because of this place? Or maybe, it had something to do with hunters. Were they withering with our mind link, so we could not reach each other and connect with them?
Maybe.
Or maybe not.
Whatever it was, it did not matter though. The outcome was all the same. Me not being able to connect with him. Now even my last hope was gone. There was nothing for me to do. Nothing, I could do to help him.
Right now, I could not do anything but to wait for him. My mouth was open, but my body was too weak to even whisper anything. Still, I knew it was now or never. Thus, I gathered all my courage, inhaled deeply, before I opened my mouth to call after him.
“Mich...” I opened my mouth to call out his name which came out in whisper, but the name left unsaid. The sound from my mouth was muffled when someone came from behind me and covered my mouth.
Someone's warm breath hit my ear and a second later I heard their voice.
“Shhh...” Their voice said to me. I tried to shake whoever's hand was covering my mouth but it was so tight that it made me bite my own lip. I tried, but I just couldn't shake it off. The dizziness in my head did not help me at all.
For a second, I sat there not moving, not recognizing the voice. Then suddenly, a bright light entered the tunnel and everything brightened, and I realised that someone had entered the passageway.
“James...?” Michael's voice echoed in the tunnel. I started to thrash and wriggle from the hold of my captor's, but it was too strong and too powerful for me. Still, I used my all strength and managed to free my mouth from the captor enough to say Michael's name.
“Michael...”
*Clung.*
A voice of metal hitting something hard, filled the silence of the passageway. Right after the voice, I felt Michael's body dropping on the floor with a thud. My body seized because I knew that Michael was knocked out cold.
Not only that but I also knew that the metal was nothing but a silver rod. Which means that they had used the same thing on me. And with the thud voice, as his body dropped on the floor, I understood that my last hope for saving myself and everyone else had vanished into the air. It meant that everyone was going to die. Today will be the last day for our pack. For us. For everyone. Suddenly my eyes started drooping, and I passed out realizing that our end was near.
We had lost. Today was our end. Everyone's end.