Chapter 206: Leon
The darkness had become familiar. I liked it better when it was dark. Darkness meant that we were alone, except for the guards at the end of the hallway. The chains on my wrist burned like hell, and the cold dampness was something I was sure I would never get used to. This place sucked the life out of me. This pack had a heavy feeling as a whole, I didn’t know how anyone ever thrived here. Maybe they didn’t.
The door opened down the hall, and I felt myself stiffen. But no one moved toward my cell or Caleb’s. But I still held my breath.
“They’re bringing her in now. She’ll be brought down in a couple of hours.” The new guard relayed the message in a hushed tone to the ones who were stationed by the door.
“I can’t believe he managed to grab her. Even Alpha Adrian couldn’t manage that.” One of them hissed.
My stomach sunk. Who did they grab? Whoever it was, they clearly had wanted her badly. I felt for the girl. Whoever she was, it wasn’t going to be good when she was brought here.
Their whispers continued, and I strained to hear them, but they were being quieter now. I couldn’t hear anything but the occasional word or two. I looked across to Caleb’s cell, but he looked like he was sleeping. He had had a rough night last night. They had tortured him again for information, but he hadn’t said a word. I knew he had to be exhausted, and I made sure to check every couple of hours that he was still breathing. I could feel my wolf, but I couldn’t communicate with him, and I figured that Caleb was in the same. His wolf was probably working double time through all the drugs to heal him, and it probably still wouldn’t be enough. There was nothing I could do to protect him.
Selfishly though, I was glad it was him here, and not Heather. I had been in and out of conscious when they had found me. I knew that he was the reason that Heather didn’t march across that border. That she was home with our girls. My heart longed for her, but no piece of me wanted her to risk herself for me. I knew better than to believe that would actually stop her, but I hoped that Rhys was keeping her in check. That wouldn’t be easy, but I was sure he would manage. He wouldn’t let her go off the deepend. At least not completely.
There was another part of me that struggled with being here with Caleb. He had known that Heather was my mate. He had read the signs long before Heather and I got our wolves. Yet, he had still slept with her. It was years ago. It was years ago, and she hadn’t told me... She hadn’t trusted me not to leave her. Didn’t she know that she was the love of my life? Didn’t she know that even though it hurt like hell, I would never do that? That everything I had ever done is for her? Clearly, not. But I wished I had fixed thing with her completely before this all had happened. I wished that I had been a better mate. Maybe she saw this as freeing... Maybe she didn’t even care that I had been taken... That thought hurt more than all the torture sessions I had been through since I had gotten here.
The doors opened again. Time was a strange thing in this place. It felt like no time had passed since they last guard had come in to whisper his secret message. But yet, it dragged on too.
A food tray was place in the cell, but I hadn’t even touched my breakfast. The pain made it so I wasn’t really hungry. I also really didn’t trust them not to put poison in our food. I mean, I knew it probably wasn’t posion poisoned. If anything, it was just something to weaken and disconnect me from my wolf, but I tried to stay away from it the best I could unless I was starving.
“Eat up. You’re going to need your strength,” The guard sneered looking from my untouched breakfast or lunch tray to my dinner tray.
I clenched my jaw, but didn’t say anything. I never answered. I took a page out of Grace’s book and chose not to talk to these people, except for the occasional, ‘Fuck you’, which usually did add more punishment. Sometimes it was worth it. Sometimes, it wasn’t.
“You really should eat something,” Caleb whispered when the guard walked away.
“I’m not hungry.” I told him tiredly. Rhys better hurry the fuck up and figure out a way to get us out of here because I was growing weaker by the day. I wasn’t sure how much longer my body or Caleb’s could take this. And Caleb was definitely worse off than I was.
“You still need to eat. Keep your strength up.” He answered as he put what looked like a piece of dried burnt toast in his mouth.
“What strength?” I laughed humorously.
Caleb gave me a sad smile, but didn’t push it. He was obviously still in pain. Even eating looked like it was painful for him.
A scream filled the air, and I felt my heart begin flutter with anxiety for the stranger. I guessed it was the girl that they had been talking about earlier. But I couldn’t quite figure out why they were targeting this girl. She had to be something special if they were going through the effort of torturing her. I mean, in our pack we only used torture as a means of getting information. But here, it seemed that information was less important. Torture was for fun. Sadistic fucking pricks.
The door to the end of the hallway opened, and in walked two guards, and between them was a girl dressed in oversized t-shirt that was ripped nearly to shreds and a pair of biker shorts. . Her blonde hair was matted and bloody, and her face was so swollen, it was hard to recognize. She was struggling to stay conscious, but her blue eyes met mine for a fraction of a moment, and I realized I knew her... The girl they were talking about was Grace.