Chapter 6
My mind was disorganized and was easily clinging to both everything and nothing at once as I jumped up from my position on the hard floor, feeling as though my body were moving at a hundred kilometers per hour. The pain in my fractured arm, which was only starting to mend, grew when I brought it to my chest, and I whimpered as I did so.
I glanced at the cell they had put me in, my memory of what had transpired unclouded by sleep. My mouth was dry from the intense cold of the environment I was in, and the blow I had received had given me a headache that was hammering against my temples, but that wasn't all.
Something in this environment was obstructing my animal senses, which was interfering with my connection to my wolf. It felt as though something heavy had become buried in my lungs, choking me.
As my eyes scanned the pitch-black space, I became aware of a faint shimmer that ran down the walls' borders. The silver threads were fastened to the ceiling in such a way as to annoy the hostages who were housed in these cells, but not in such a way as to endanger the guards by coming into contact with them.
I had read about this particular form of torture in a book on royal wolves. By gradually reducing their strength, they were able to subdue their convicts.
I was experiencing flashbacks of my childhood claustrophobia as I stared at the bland walls. I could still hear the rawness of my screams from all those years ago, and the fear of being locked up crept back down my throat.
In a location like this, where there were neither windows nor mercy, no one would be able to hear my suffering.
I was in a panic as I imagined the suffering concealed between the cement's fissures. How would my brother perceive me today? He had sacrificed his life to set me free, only for me to be taken prisoner once more. The only thing that was different this time was that my magic wasn't there to keep me alive.
My body was heavy from the silver that had contaminated my system, yet I forced myself to move toward the door despite how difficult it was.
"Hello?" I shouted out to the void as the word scraped against the back of my throat, but no one would hear me because of how weak and pitiful my voice sounded.
I closed my eyes and prayed for assistance as I experienced a wave of nausea.
I couldn't have this happen to me again.
I couldn't allow this to occur to me once more.
However, the trauma and the anxiety paralyzed me, and I crawled to the nearest corner and curled up. My body was being flooded with the emotions I had been battling all morning. I pulled my broken arm over my knees and pushed against the split bone, fighting to breathe against it. The only thing that was going to keep me from giving in to the tragedies of my past was this awful pain.
It could have given me optimism if my power had manifested at this point, but what occurred this morning simply seemed like a fluke at this point.
Had I dreamed it, or was it just my imagination?
My sobs resounded throughout the space as my cheeks became smeared with tears. Every time I was able to force myself to take a deep breath, my heart would stumble and stutter like a car engine trying to start. By the time I finally heard something, my arm should have recovered, but the mental aching was worse than the discomfort of repeatedly snapping it in and out of position.
I needed something to keep me grounded in reality because I couldn't let my feelings of helplessness overtake me when I didn't know what was coming up for me next.
Even if my mother had managed to locate me, the fact that she didn't know where I was or how to get here meant that I should be vigilant. It was impossible for anything this Alpha intended to do to me to be worse than what she had already done.
Hours passed before I heard movement, and I sensed his presence long before he entered my cell through the metal door.
My body began to feel the weight of his strong might, and I was unable to control how I would react. From the bottom of my feet to the top of my head, it bristled vigorously and struck me in the chest like a boulder.
Even though I was already feeling stressed, this merely made matters worse.
Like a hurricane, he burst into space. As soon as I saw him, my heart began to beat violently against my chest. The strength of the torch he brought with him almost sizzled my senses into overdrive as the shadows disappeared from my field of vision. I had to think about who was in front of me for a moment before I realized what he meant to me.
The power that radiated off of him in waves overcame me. Despite the lingering wolfness in my physique, it was simple to detect the rank he held.
The alpha male that was swarming my cell also happened to be my partner.
His menacing presence loomed at the door to my cage, his piercing gaze igniting every nerve in my body. As I saw the contour of his form, my heart rose and then fell all the way to the bottom of my stomach.
Rich and metallic, his fragrance purposefully encircled me. He hardly made a sound, yet I felt as though I could hear every aspect of him, from the rapid pulse of his heart to the way his blood surged through his veins.
As I raised my head to look at him, his face twisted, and I understood he had brought the candle specifically for me. The room's silver had made it difficult for me to see in the dark, so I could barely make out his face as the flame flickered and died. But I was aware that he could see me, that he could see the whole of me, and that I didn't look like anything he had anticipated.
I had given in to this room's isolation, and I was now a trembling, crying mess.
"I need to get out of here." Please get me out of here, I said in a trembling voice. He dropped the candle to the ground and walked over to me without pausing when he heard my pleading.
His long stride made me wince, and he stopped to look at me.
I had completely stopped breathing because I was so mesmerized by the beauty of his look, and when oxygen finally poured back into my lungs, I started to hyperventilate. He appeared to be forced to move more quickly as I began to press my palm to my constricted throat as his eyes flashed gold at the way I was breaking down.
He kneeled down to my level, and as he pulled the hair out of my face, I felt humiliated. As he lifted me up off the ground, the sparks felt on my skin like electric shocks, and I found it difficult to stay focused. If I hadn't been coming undone, the pressure of my entire body against his and the wonderful licking of our bond against my skin would have felt like ecstasy.