No Control
\[Serenity’s POV\]
My grandmother stares at me, shock coloring her features, but deep in her eyes that are the same color as mine, the same color as my mom's, I can see a bit of pride over the choice that I am making.
“Is that your final decision?” She asks, eyeing me. “Do you plan on letting the time of the wolves disappear forever if it means saving your mother?”
“I am,” I tell her. “I won’t let my mother die, and I won’t let this cycle continue.”
“Then I won’t stop you from doing what you want, sweetheart.” She smiles, moving forward and touching my cheek.
However, where I expect a warm, comforting touch, I find nothing but cold tendrils erupting and slowly beginning to flow into me.
“This,” I gasp, my eyes widening. “What are you…”
“I’m making sure that you don’t decide to go against your decision, sweetie.” She responds, her eyes now dark, endless tunnels slowly sucking me in. “You’ll need a strong determination to watch your world crash and burn. I’m only giving that to you.”
“But…” I hiss, realizing too late what is happening. “You…”
“Good luck,” she tells me as the world around me begins to fade. “And I do hope you succeed.”
At her words, I find myself crashing into darkness that tosses me about like I’m a doll, and when I finally hit something cold and solid, my eyes fly open.
Gasping, I look around, taking in the cold, sterile room around me. But when I attempt to move, I find that my body isn’t cooperating.
What? I think, the words refusing to escape me. What is happening?
Fear begins to slowly flow through me as I realize more and more that my body isn’t doing what I want. It’s like it isn’t mine at all.
“You’re awake.”
The voice drifts toward me, and when I turn my gaze, I find Ellie watching me in amusement.
“Sorry,” she says, coming forward. “I didn’t mean to startle you.”
“Wh…” I try, but nothing comes.
“What was that?” She asks, cupping a hand around her ear. “What did you say?”
As she speaks, her eyes sparkle with mischief, and I can almost feel her satisfaction radiating from her skin.
“Don’t look at me like that.” She sighs, coming and taking a seat beside me. “You’re the one who agreed to go along with this.”
Eyes widening, I realize too late what is going on.
That dream.
My grandmother.
All of it was made up by this bitch. It was a way to trick me into going along with her plot, and since I did, I could only assume that I gave her permission to use me as she pleased.
‘She won’t get away with this.’ Mahogany growls, trying to regain control of our body. ‘She won’t.’
I don’t respond as I stare past Ellie, taking in the machine behind her. It whirls silently as red liquid rotates inside it, and I don’t even have to ask what that liquid is.
It’s my blood. They were filtering my blood to make weapons to use against the wolves.
“It’s better that you cooperate.” Ellie continues. “Otherwise, we would have to go through the issue of forcing you.”
Could you call what was happening cooperating? Even if my body was willing to do what it was that they wanted, it didn’t mean that I was.
“Now, why don’t you be a good girl and sit up?”
At her words, my body moves, doing exactly as instructed. It’s a terrifying feeling to be so out of control, and I can’t help but wonder if this was how all those wolves felt.
“You should try eating.” Ellie continues, nodding toward a tray of food that sits on my bedside table. “Gotta keep up your strength while we collect your blood. We don’t want to compromise our weapons, you see.”
But I do want to compromise them, I think, as my body betrays me and does as instructed, taking the tray and sitting it in front of me. And then, to my disgust, it starts to eat, not giving a shit that the food was stale and tasteless.
One by one, my hand forces the food into my mouth that then chews, and when I swallow, I want to gag, but I can’t.
“Once you finish, the doctor will come in to change your lines.”
My lines? What the hell was she referring to?
Bracing myself, I look down and find drainage lines filled with blood attached to me. If I were a human, then I certainly would already be dead from so much blood loss, but as a wolf, this was absolutely nothing.
How much have they already taken? I wonder, trying to regain control and rip the damned lines out of me.
As this question appears, I turn my gaze to the machine once again and then look down to find jugs filled with red liquid.
Fuck. They could make thousands of weapons out of all of that, but even I knew it wasn’t enough to wipe out all the wolves, which was why they continued to drain me.
“Finished already?” Ellie asks, drawing my attention back to her. “Then I will go and get the doctor now.”
Smiling, she gets up from her seat and begins to head toward the room's exit but stops as two men burst in with looks of shock on their faces.
“What is it?” She demands. “Why the hell are you here instead of protecting the place?”
“Th-the enemy,” one gasps. “They’ve infiltrated the area.”
The enemy. He had to be talking about Maverick and the others. There was no one else who would have a reason to be coming after them.
Maverick. I whisper, silently wanting to see him but knowing that I couldn’t. You shouldn’t be here.
Even if I was happy that they were trying to rescue me, I knew that Ellie and her men weren’t to be reckoned with. They proved as much earlier on.
Please. I beg to the darkness. Go back and forget about me.
As I send out my silent plea, Ellie’s gaze comes to rest on me, and I can see a glint of excitement in her eyes.
“You hear that?” She asks, moving toward me. “It looks like your buddies are here. Why don’t you go and greet them?”
What? I hiss inwardly as she begins to remove the lines attached to me. What was she planning?
“Come along.” She announces once finished, and I stand. “Let’s get going. They came all this way to see you. We can’t leave them waiting.”