Chapter 21: Chapter 21

DarkBeauty357

I woke up from my sleep due to a nightmare. I went to the bathroom and splashed water on my face. I filled a paper cup with cold water preparing myself to fall back asleep, then laid on the bed. Rain lightly thumped against the roof, and the occasional thunder made an echo in the night sky.

A loud noise was heard. I thought it was just the heavy rain pounding or perhaps thunder, but then the noise was heard again. Someone was banging on the door. I grew confused at who was at the door. Damon and Insuvai wouldn’t knock on the door like that.

“Alec. Alec! Wake up.” I shook Alec to wake him up.

“What?” He snapped.

“There’s someone at the door,” I said.

“Answer it,” He said.

“You answer it!”

“Why?” He asked.

“Because.”

The loud banging was heard again and it was clear they were not leaving anytime soon. Alec got up, and he opened the door. He was face to face with an older man. I watched as the man quickly moved from the doorway and a woman appeared. She shot Alec with a dart and he stumbled back losing his balance. He let out a dangerous growl, but before I could react a dart had already pierced my neck.

My world was spinning and I tried to stay awake. The tranquilizing darts worked to a great effect because I fell to the ground. I could feel myself almost giving into the darkness. I saw Alec stand to his feet fighting the tranquilizer better than I could.

“Shoot him twice. Get her one more time.” The old man said. The female shot Alec two more times and she shot me once more. Alec fell to the ground and he was the last thing I saw before I went into the darkness.

~~~

“Leah.” A voice called my name.

I massaged my stiff neck. “What?”

“Are you okay?” I recognized it was Alec’s voice.

“Yes. Where are we?”

I looked at my surroundings. I was in a cell, not a jail cell, but a dungeon cell. The bars where small so no one could fit through. The concrete walls had spiderwebs and mold on them. The floor was sharp and jagged, luckily I had shoes on. Everything was grey and dark. Alec was in a similar cell across from mine. There was a single lightbulb between us, but it wasn’t bright. A mouse scurried across my feet and I jumped up, making noise with the chains. I attempted to walk toward the call bars, but I was held back. Two chains were around my wrist, and shackles connected my ankles. I was their prisoner.

“What is this place?” I looked over to Alec and noticed that he was in the same predicament with the chains, but he had more attached to him.

“They talked to me when I woke up. We killed family members of their werewolf hunter family. They want revenge.” Alec said. His voice seemed deeper and darker somehow.

“Are you okay?” I asked. He stayed in the shadows of his cell, so I could not see him. He coughed loudly, “I’ll be okay.” He said.

His voice seemed detached, more than usual. “Did they hurt you?” I was careful with my question.

“I’m not talking about it.” He said.

I’m not sure if they had Damon and Insuvai, but if they didn’t that would be their one mistake. I was positive that they would come for us. I know Insuvai would never stop until she found me because you never leave family behind. Never. I just hoped Damon could catch our scent because I have no idea where we are.

“Hello?” A small raspy voice called out to us.

It came from the cell beside me. I couldn’t see the source of the voice but I could tell she was young.

“Sweety, what’s your name?” I asked.

“Ava Stanz.” The girl’s voice was delicate and soft. Most of all it sounded broken.

“What did you just say?” Alec was now interested in the conversation.

“Ava Stanz.” The girl repeated.

“Holy shit!” Alec cursed to himself.

“What?” I asked.

“That is Rem’s sister,” Alec answered.

The girl’s voice had hope in it. “You know my brother?” Her voice dripped with disbelief.

“Ava, it’s me, Alec.”

“Alec! Please get me out of here.” She pleaded.

“Don’t worry Ava. We’ll be fine.” He said. “How did you get here?” Alec asked.

“Dad gave me up a year ago. He left me here with these mean people.” Ava said.

“That bastard. I’ll kill him. Don’t worry you’ll be with Rem soon.” He promised. Alec had kindness in his voice, but he still seemed oddly detached.

“I’m not the only one here. Grace is the only reason why I’m alive.” Ava said.

A loud sound interrupted us. A repeating clashing sound was heard along with footsteps. I looked down the musty corridor. A big man was walking, letting his baseball bat hit the cell doors on the way here. He stopped at the cell beside me, where Ava and Grace were. He smirked and spit at them. He stopped at my cell and looked at me up and down while fiddling with his bat. He took some keys out of his pocket and thrust it in the lock at my cell.

“Pussy.” Alec taunted the man. The man pulled the key out, leaving my cell locked, and faced Alec.

“Watch your mouth dog!” He shouted. The man attempted to open my cell again. Alec let out a laugh, “Make me bitch.” He taunted again.

The man said, “I know what you are trying to do, but you can watch her suffer.”

He almost opened my cell. “Too bad you couldn’t save your family. Their blood tasted amazing.” Alec knew how to get under someone’s skin. The man’s face turned into rage and he quickly unlocked Alec’s cell. The sound of the man hitting Alec with the bat made me sick to my stomach. My wolf wanted to murder him because I felt the pain that Alec felt. I never wanted my mate to be hurt, but Alec took it all. He didn’t even make a sound, even when I heard one bone snap due to the bat.

“Stop! Please!” I couldn’t take the pain of hearing someone beat my mate. The man was distracted by me and in the split second, Alec grabbed the bat, pulling the man closer to him. They were in the shadows, and all I heard was a wolf growling, the sound of a human screaming, and the crushing of bones. The screams soon disappeared and it was replaced by heavy breathing.

“Alec?” Ava’s small voice called out but there was no reply.

“Are you okay?” My voice was shaking as I asked.

“Yes.” Was all he said.

“Are you?” He asked.

“Thanks to you I am,” I said.

There was a long silence between us all. I wanted to say so much more. I wanted to be in Alec’s arms comforting him even if he didn’t want me too. I couldn’t see him because he remained in the shadows, but I wanted to make sure he was safe.

More humans walked down the corridor with anger written on their faces. They stopped at Alec’s door cell that was open. Two men had long stun gun batons and my blood turned cold with fear. The stun gun batons were turned on and they marched in the cell. I heard the sound of buzzing and zapping, and I tried to keep myself composed. I heard the sound of chains moving and hushed talking, then men dragged Alec out of the cell. He was still alive because I heard his breathing. I knew it was going to take a lot to kill him, but I was worried about what they would do to him.

“He will kill you!” I yelled after the men.

“Whatever you say, sweetheart!” One of the men yelled back.

I rested my head against the wall. The shackles and chains were uncomfortable, and my ankles were starting to hurt.

“Are you Alec’s mate?” An older weak voice said.

“Yes. Are you okay Grace?” I asked.

“Yeah.” She finished with a raspy cough.

“How long have you been here Grace?” I asked.

“Five years. I have been here since I was seventeen.” She said.

“I’m sorry,” I whispered.

I felt this sharp pain on my face. Alec must be hurt, and I wanted to find him. I pulled against the restraints as hard as I could, but I could not get free. I stopped when I realized it was no use. I felt my head spin due to the stress.

It wasn’t long when I saw Alec again, and I felt much better when I saw him. My stomach twisted as I saw the state he was in. He was bound in chains, and as he was walking the shackles made an awful sound against the ground. He had a mask over his face like a dog mussel. I tried to get a better look at him, but his back was facing me the whole time. It was heartbreaking to see him like this. They pushed him in the cell and used the stun gun batons on him again. Then I heard them chain Alec back to the dungeon wall, and they walked out with the muzzle and stun gun batons in their hands. I heard them chuckle as they walked away, and I growled. They broke out into a fit of laughter. I ignored them after that.

“Alec? Are you okay?” I asked concerned. He didn’t say anything and I became worried.

“Alec.”

“I’m fine!” He shouted.

“I’m sorry,” I whispered. A few moments of silence went by. The only thing I could hear was Alec’s heavy breathing.

“No, I’m sorry. I’m just pissed.” He apologized.

“What happened?” I hoped I wouldn’t get yelled at.

“They tried to recreate them.” He said. His words didn’t make sense to me.

“Recreate what?” I asked. I heard the shackles moving and he finally came out the shadows willingly by himself. I moved as far as I could toward my cell door. I saw my mate’s face and I gasped. The two long jagged scars across both of his eyes were bleeding. Blood covered his face, and the wound looked deep and painful.

“Oh my god.” I covered my mouth. It was horrific to see the wound.

He chuckled, “I’ll give them credit for their effort, but it was not the right weapon. I could tell.” He moved back into the shadows of his cell. My wolf whined because he moved away.

“What caused you to be blind? What weapon?” Hopefully, my question wouldn’t be out of place.

He remained silent as if thinking about telling me. He finally spoke, “A mambele and a voulge.”

I never heard of those two weapons before, but I had a feeling I didn’t want to know. “They were weapons used in medieval or older times,” Alec said.

“So like torture?”

“Exactly.” He confirmed.

Maybe that was why he acted so cold. I realized that he shared personal information with me and I felt some happiness that he opened up to me.

The light started flickering and small rocks or dirt fell from the ceiling. I wondered how sturdy this dungeon actually was. The flickering light became dim and dimmer, then soon it disappeared. I hated being in the dark

“The best part, when they tried to torture me I ripped out one man’s heart while his daughter watched,” Alec told me.

“And that was the best part to you?” I questioned in disbelief. I could understand why he did it. If someone was torturing me I would fight back as well. I just did not understand why he enjoyed it. Even though we are shifters and they are humans I still felt bad for the daughter because they were family. Then I thought of them torturing my mate, and my sympathy disappeared. Anger filled me, and I wanted them all to be dead. They were bad people to us shifters. All we ever do is try to live in our packs and leave people alone. I didn’t want to kill the first group of werewolf hunters on the countryside of the road, but it was us or them. They surely wouldn’t give up until we were dead, but that wasn’t the case for them. They were dead and we are alive.

~🖤~