Chapter 21: CHAPTER TWENTY ONE

Sarah sat down on the bare floor of the dungeon she had found herself in without any explanation from anyone. One moment she had been with Adam's mother, the next minute, a maid had come for her, then another minute later, she was being rounded up by some of the werewolf men that seemed to be stronger than she was by a whole lot. Before she could comprehend what was going on, she had been bundled with some ropes and dumped into the dungeon, and left there to herself. Not a single soul had stayed behind to guard her, so she couldn't ask what her offense was.

She tugged at the end of the rope tying her upper body together to see if she could dislodge the rope but she didn't have any luck with it. It had been tied to firmly secured in place for her to untie. When she saw that she had failed to set herself free, she crawled to the bar of the dungeon and tried to see if she could get anyone. She pressed her cheek to the little iron bar barricading her from leaving and she let out a little whimper before she took her cheek away sharply. The smell of the burning flesh was enough to tell her that her cheek had suffered some damage she couldn't see.

No wonder no one has paid her attention or tried to stay with her in fear that she would run off. They already knew that no matter what she did, she would never be able to run off without any help from anyone because of the type of material that had been used to construct the gate. Someone among the werewolves must have known that vampires are allergic to anything silvers and thus, they had had her thrown into the dungeon with a silver doorway. Or it could have been that they had no idea and had just had her thrown in by coincidence alone. Or because they probably thought that she wouldn't be able to escape given how tight they had tied her like she was a lamb gathered just for slaughter.

Whichever was the case among the three, she knew that she was not going to just stay put until they came back for her. What could she do, though, to free herself with a tied body and a silver barricade hindering her? She twisted her body as if that would free her up in a miraculous way but nothing happened. She tried to hold the gate with her hands to see if she could open it but the silver it was made of burnt her palm and she had to let go. Slowly, she crawled back to the inner circle of the room and waited patiently for the person who would make the mistake of coming to check on her or anything. She could then mind-control the person into opening the gate and freeing her without realizing it.

She bent her head in resignation when she realized that she wouldn't be able to mind control anyone since she had not fed from a human ever since she woke up. She had tried it with those who had to bundle her but she hadn't been able to control them. Suddenly she felt afraid. Afraid that she could die in detention just because she had trusted the wrong person. What was it with her and her easily trusting the wrong set of people?

She was in this mess because of her father who she had trusted enough to drink the supposed wine he had handed to her, only to realize that it was vervain. After she had wandered around when she left Adam, Sarah had gone back to the vampire headquarters to seek revenge from her father but in place of the headquarters, she had met a mall erected in its place. While that incident with her father should have taught her a lesson, she had trusted Adam's mother because she had smiled at her, only for her to find herself in the dungeon awaiting a fate she didn't know would befall her.

Sarah heard the door of the prison she was in open and she lifted her head just in time to see the men that had captured her before walking in. Without a single word to her, they lose the rope holding her in place and held her on either side, and took her out the door. Even though Sarah was afraid for her life, she didn't let it show out her face. When they got to the main room Sarah had passed through earlier with Adam's mother, the men stopped trying to drag her and bowed instead.

Sarah looked up in time to see Adam walking in with Ian hot on his trail. The moment she saw him, all her fear disappeared and she ran to him. Without any warning about what she was about to do, Sarah hugged him tight as if she was afraid he would disappear and leave her if she let go of him. She noticed how secure she felt in his arms and she held on even tighter. Although she didn't know that he would come, she was grateful for seeing him at that moment in her life.

Adam had left the hall feeling very angry over the mess that Sarah had made. But when he got to the living room and saw how roughly his men had handled her, he had felt like ripping their heads off their neck with his claws. When Sarah had rushed over to him the moment she saw him, all the anger he had felt towards her dissipated. When she hugged him even tighter, his body had hit full arousal for her. His wolf had also screamed about claiming her and Adam had to close his eyes to regain himself.

He shrugged his shoulders with Sarah still in his arms. When she still didn't dislodge herself from him, Adam pulled her away from him a little roughly. Even though he heard her winced a little, he refused to show his concern for her as he looked into her eyes. Even though he was no longer angry with her, he knew that he still had to reprimand her if he didn't want such a thing to happen again.

"What were you thinking about when you showed up here?" Adam asked her, still looking into the pair of beady eyes that belonged to her.

"I just wanted to reveal myself to your family. I didn't know they were so inconsiderate," Sarah said with a shrug.

"Did you ever stop thinking about the course surrounding your decision? What if something had happened to you?" Adam asked her.

"Nothing would have happened," she responded with indignation.

She didn't need all the prep talk she knew was gradually coming from the man who had claimed that they were mates. All she truly wanted from him was a hug and maybe a little care from him also, but Sarah could already feel like she was only going to be lying to herself if she felt like she would be getting any of those from the man she was staring at.

"Is there something wrong with following my heart? Because that was what I did," Sarah said.

"Well, where did that lead you?" Adam asked in a mocking tone.

"I only allowed that to happen because it was the first time I'm visiting your family. If anyone tries to stop me from having you next time, I promise I will kill the person, regardless of who they are," Sarah promised.

Hearing her say those words made Adam's heart jump in joy. His wolf tried to get out and Adam's eyes changed colors again to fire blue and his claws grew out. Try as Adam may, he couldn't stop the transitioning between him and his wolf. Somewhere in his subconscious, he saw Sarah draw back from him a little. When he lifted his hands, he knew why she had done that. His wolf had taken dominion and Adam didn't have the power to stop it. When he felt his clothes ripping and his shoulder bones stretched, he forced his eyes closed so he would stop seeing the cause of his agony.

No! His wolf screamed in his head.

Yes! Adam screamed back. Now, stay back.

His wolf whimpered before it disappeared into the back of his mind.

"You were going to eat me?" Sarah asked after Adam had calmed down.

Adam opened the eyes he had kept shut the moment he heard those words. He was surprised to hear her say such a thing when he had always been the one trying to stop her from feeding on human blood. Did she think he was going to hurt her? Adam took a second to ascertain her look. When he saw that she didn't look frightened of him despite the words she had spoken, he relaxed visibly. He thought that he could still use the words she had spoken to his advantage.

"Just don't make any trouble again," Adam responded, pointing a warning finger at her.

Rather than turn away from him at the implication of what had just transpired, Sarah moved closer to Adam and held one of his hands that had just transformed from a wolf's arm back to a human hand. She caressed the hand with her thumb for about thirty seconds before she looked at him.

"Let's run away to the mountains. Just you and me," she told him in a voice so full of emotions.

Adam took her hands away from him gently and stared at her. That was when he saw the burnt look on her face and he winced at the injustice that she had suffered just because she had revealed herself to his pack. Before he could stop himself, he held the cheek and turned it toward him very well to see how badly she was hurt. When he saw that the burnt mark stretched across her cheek, he felt anger rise in his at whoever had burnt her face but he knew that he couldn't ask about that in her presence. He dropped his hand from her cheek and sighed softly.

"Can you get back home on your own?'' Adam asked her.

"Yes."

"Good. I want you to return home while I sort out the rest of the mess you made," he instructed her.

"Alright," Sarah said and turned away from Adam's presence to leave.

"When I said home, I meant home, Sarah. Don't go anywhere else," Adam cautioned her.

He watched as Sarah shrugged and went out the door. The moment she was gone, Adam turned to look at the men still standing at a distance and inquired of them who had done that to her. When he saw them looking at themselves in confusion, he glared at them and watched as they cowered under his menacing stare.

"I'm only going to ask you once. Which one of you did that to her face?'' Adam asked the five men standing in front of him.

"Alpha, when we took her to the dungeon, she had no mark on her. So I don't know how she spotted the mark." The pack elder among the men answered.

Adam willed his claws to grow. When the nails were fully elongated to their full length, he clawed the first man in front of him on the cheek. The man yelped in surprise from the pain he felt and promptly held the cheek. When Adam turned to face the rest of the men, they were very afraid and they each took a few steps back from him.

"Alpha!" Ian screamed at Adam who didn't act as if he heard his beta one single bit.

"I'm not going to ask again after this time. If I don't get an answer, the next person dies." He told them all. "How did she get that mark on her cheek?" he asked and looked at the elder.

"I truly don't know, Alpha," the elder said with fear.

Adam lifted his hand and tried to bring it down on the next man but his hand refused to come down. Adam turned around with fury and saw Ian holding his hand.

"Let go of my hand, Ian," he told his beta.

"Calm down, Adam. Don't do something you're going to regret later," Ian told him. He turned to the men who were still looking very scared of the man their Alpha had become. "You all can go," he commanded them.

The men scrambled away from the two men as fast as they possibly could. When they were out of reach, Ian let go of Adam.

"Vampires react to silver and the dungeon doors are made with silver," Ian explained to the Alpha.

Adam relaxed when he heard the worse his beta had spoken. His urge to kill the people who he thought had hurt his mate was also reduced. He turned to Ian and smiled. "Thanks."

"Anytime, old buddy," his beta responded to him. "Are you sleeping over or are you going to your mate?"

Adam thought hard on it and he realized that if he got to return to Sarah for the night, he could do something drastic to her, like claiming her without her consent, with the way he was feeling right then. It would be better for both of them if he passed the rest of the night here at the pack house, he thought. He shook his head at his best friend.

"I'm sleeping over," Adam informed his beta.

"Good. We can talk about women and all that for the rest of the night in your room," Ian told him.

Adam chuckled lightly as he saw the enthusiasm on his friend's face. Together, they went over to Adam's room to wile the night away.

***

Evan sat at the dining table, halfway through his meal, a letter in his right hand. He had stopped his meal when he got the letter he was now twirling about in his hand, feeling lost in his thoughts. He glanced through the letter again to be sure he was still right about what he had read. He smiled a little when he finished reading the letter again before he dropped it on the table.

So, the Colven pack leader now has a mate? A vampire mate for that matter? How much would lick shine on him than it already was? For many years he had been looking for ways to make the Colven pack leader pay for the crime he has committed against his family and finally, fate has just decided to favor him. He turned to a maid standing by the table, waiting to see if he would need anything, and he pointed to her.

"You, get me the oldest chief of the clan," he commanded her.

"Yes, Alpha," the maid responded with a bow and went out immediately.

Alpha Evan resumed his meal with his appetite fully back and a broad smile on his face.

"Just you wait, Adam. I'll make you pay for everything," Evan said into the air which he also pointed the spoon in his hand at.