Chapter 43 ~Captured~
(Fiona's POV)
I woke up to a sharp pain that tore through my head.
‘Argh!’ I groaned.
There was every likelihood that I had a concussion.
My brain was in a haze. I was lost for a while before I slowly began regaining consciousness.
I could see dried crusts of blood on my hand and on the ground where I had previously lain.
Oh… That was the cause of the migraine. I must have injured my head when I fell on the stone.
I looked around; the view was very familiar. This was the dungeon at Ashridge.
Slowly, I remembered what led me here.
I was captured by Beckett!
The door to the dungeon snapped open, distracting me from my thoughts. The place was dark, but I could make out the figure that was Isis, Beckett's mate.
“You're finally awake.” She had a scowl on her face.
Following behind her was Cassia, who looked more than pleased at my situation. She laughed loudly, and said to me, “I mean, I'm actually a nice person. I warned you, but you didn't listen.”
“We've made good on our promise to capture you.”
My voice trembled with exhaustion, but that didn't stop me from yelling. “What the fuck do you need me for?”
Isis sat on a stool. “Uh, she's a fighter.”
Cassia cackled in mockery.
But I didn't allow myself to be silenced. “What are you going to do with me?”
At this moment, Beckett walked in.
My breath hitched. It had seemed almost like a century since I saw him last.
“Oh, that's easy,” he responded. “I’ll kill you.”
I froze at his statement. My memory began flooding with every unpleasant memory I've had with Beckett.
But would he kill me? Could he?
“I mean… eventually,” He continued. “But first, you'll be humiliated for as long as I deem fit.”
But why did they bother with me? I'd left Ashridge a long time ago. I wasn't even in contact with anyone except Cassia. “Why are you doing this, Beckett? What did I ever do to you?”
He arched his brow. “Oh, you want to pretend you don't know the reason?”
I genuinely didn't. Actually, I was curious. “I don't.”
“Maybe this would knock some sense into your head.” Isis brought out a plank of wood and raised it.
The last thing I felt was the wood crash down on my head, and blood began oozing from that spot.
The crimson liquid splayed over my eyes and face, temporarily blinding me.
I winced at the intense pain.
Maybe it was the bleeding, but I was growing weak fast.
Finally, I blacked out.
–---
“Wake up, bitch!”
A sound whizzed past my ears, and my cheeks stung from the slap.
But it was the bucket of water poured on me that woke me up.
By this time, the headache had tripled, threatening to split my cranium.
Isis and Cassia laughed maniacally.
“Oh. She's back.” Isis spat out.
“Don't disappear in the middle of a conversation, Fiona. That's incredibly rude.” Cassia said.
“Come to think of it,” Cassia glared at me. “Why did your mate leave you all alone in the dead of the night?”
I shivered, clutching my chest that was freezing from the ice-cold water that was poured on me.
She smirked. “Wait… No! It couldn't be possible. You and ‘Xanny baby’ had a fight.”
The memories of Dakota and Xander kissing flashed in my mind. The cause of the fight.
I closed my eyes, willing myself not to cry.
But I did cry. It slipped from my eyes without my permission.
“And why is she crying?” Cassia scrunched her nose.
“Oh no, baby. Don't cry.” Isis clutched my shoulders for a while. Then she shoved me to the floor. “Your humiliation has only just started.”
I landed on the floor, cushioning my fall with my arms.
Pain tore through my forearm bone at the impact of the hard concrete floor.
I closed my eyes, trying to send an urgent mindlink. ‘Xander!’
It wasn't working for some reason.
‘Theon!’ I tried again.
Nothing.
“Don't bother trying to mindlink anyone. It won't work,” Cassia smirked.
“There's a spell cast here that prevents anyone from mindlinking.” Isis said.
“And before you think Xander is coming to save you. Don't. He won't even have the slightest idea that you're here. We masked our scents with a spell.”
“You're evil!” I managed to mutter. “All of you.”
“Let me show you evil, bitch.” Isis spoke through her teeth.
She walked up to me and held my hair in her hands, dragging me by the hair across the room.
She didn't stop dragging me across the floor until we were outside. Finally, when we reached the pack square, she let go of me.
By now, my bones were aching from all the pebbles that stuck to my skin, tearing through.
I clenched my teeth to prevent myself from crying out in pain.
I had been maltreated, maybe all my life, but this… this was a new record.
I cried silent sobs inside, praying that somehow... someone, somewhere, would come to rescue me.
Isis walked up to the bell and rang it.
The bell was always rung to signal either war, an emergency situation, or maybe just a pack gathering for urgent news.
Before long, a crowd of Ashridge pack members gathered round, anticipating.
I was hungry, my throat was parched.
I was covered in dust, weak and exhausted.
But mostly, I was overcome by humiliation—that I would be captured, dragged from Ashridge dungeons to the packsquare with dirt and dust and blood clinging to my clothes and skin.
Beckett walked out in a slow, menacing stride.
“This is Fiona,” He pointed an accusing finger at me. “who most of you recognize as my rejected mate.”
“She's a threat to the pack!” A loud voice rose from the crowd, and there were hums of approval.
Threat?
How was I a threat?
The other pack members looked on in wonder, and somehow, I sought for sympathy in their faces, but I found none.
I was met with cold faces, aloof, indifferent… maybe even mocking.
I bent my face, hiding behind the shield that was my hair.
Yet I felt their eyes tearing me down.
I felt guilty. For what crime? I didn't know.
Beckett held me by my neck in a tight grip that was almost animalistic. That had me choking on air.
“She will be held hostage here for as long as I deem fit,” He spoke through his teeth addressing the crowd. “afterwards, she would be killed on this same spot, in the midst of you all - by the sharp end of my sword!”