Sam's eye's felt like sandpaper as she slowly opened them. Sam blinked several times to regain her focus as the dark room looked blurry. Her legs felt heavy as she tried to move, only to find that they were restricted by something wrapped around her ankles. She jolted upright to look at them only to find iron clamps clasped her wrists to a chain. Looking down at her attire, she noticed she was not wearing a shirt but had a large bandage wrapped around her wounded shoulder and breasts, leaving her stomach open to the cold, damp air.
" Hello!" She yelled out, feeling her voice box rub against itself like grit. She coughed a little to try and stop the itching pain. Sam looked over to the large metal door as the footsteps stopped outside. The door opened reluctantly before two enormous, stocky men entered the room. Sam watched as their dark shadow-like figures walked over to the foot of her bed and stood still watching her.
" Are you guys gonna talk? Or you going to be standing there perving me up all night?" Sam huffed, getting irritated by their unmoving stare.
" It's hard to believe that is her." The one and only John spoke to his companion, who seemingly nodded in agreement. It was hard to see who they were as the room was dark, and Sam's vision was not fully back yet.
" So, you gonna tell me who your almighty friend is, John?" Sam asked, bending her knee slightly as she sat up, tugging against her restraints. Growls ripped through the air at how she addressed the Beta of the pack, but Sam just laughed.
"What happened to you, Sam?" John asked with curiosity in his voice. He was curious how the lonely little wallflower was now this badass, rude woman.
" I grew up. Life is not a kind and gentle one with easy living when you're a rogue." Sam spat at him with a growl in his direction.
" We can see that from your scars." John chuckled at her new attitude, which he felt suited her much better.
" Too damn right! Lucky bastards got the drop on me. But they won't be able to do it again." Sam shrugged her shoulders only to hiss in pain from her wounded shoulder. The truth was, they were getting 'the drop' on her more and more as time passed.
" You have been out for two days; you should have healed by now?" John asked, confused as to why her wounded had not healed a day after she got it. She did not answer him as she turned her head to look at the wall.
" Yeah." That was all Sam whispered as the room fell into silence. Through the ear-biting silence, the door opened again; one of the two men left the room, leaving the other man still in the room.
" You've changed, Sam." The unknown figure spoke softly, walking forward to her. Sam's back stiffened, and all her muscles tensed at his voice.
" My wolf wants to speak with yours." The voice gently spoke as he stopped and knelt at her level. The moon's light shone over his features from the small square window at the top of the room.
" Gabriel," Sam growled as her nostrils flared in anger as he smirked. "No, he can't speak to her."
" Okay, let me rephrase that. My wolf will speak with yours." Gabriel smirked at her as Sam shook her head and turned it away from him.
" He can't." She spoke again as her voice seemingly cracked slightly.
" Are you denying your Alpha?" He asked with a snarl, trying to intimidate her into submission.
" Ex-alpha, don't forget and no." She said, looking down to the ground. "I can't deny what I don't have."
" What do you mean 'don't have?'" Gabriel asked with a confused look plastered onto his face as he silently breathed in, smelling that mouth-water smell of strawberries and chocolate he had missed so much. But over that, there was a hint of salty tears, showing Sam was trying hard to keep them back.
" That day, you rejected me." Sam began as she stopped momentarily. A sharp pain rushed through both of their hearts from the memory of that day. "I not only lost my mate. But since then, Keira, my wolf, has not talked to me. I tried to contact her, but it is like she's dead." Sam whispered, and Gabriel looked down with a nasty scowl over his face. He caused this. He was the reason the once gentle daisy is now a deadly rose.
" Because of you, I only have myself in this godforsaken world," Sam muttered as a single tear escaped its prison and fell down her cheek gently. It made sense to Gabriel why she did not recognise him by his scent or that she could not see him in this dim dark light. Or as to why she was taking so long to heal.
" Your wolf..." He whispered as he watched Sam trying to hold it together and bottle it up inside. This was his doing; he caused this lonely pain and suffering. If he had not been a dick and rejected her, she would be happy and smiling with him by her side, possibly even children. But here she was, broken and wounded beyond repair.
" Just leave." She cracked out to him as he sighed deeply and stood to his feet. Gabriel moved to place a hand on her cheek, but she pulled away like he was deadly fire with a hiss.
" Don't touch me! You have no fucking right after what you've done to me!" She snarled at him as he dropped his hand and stood up. She was right after what he had done to her; he was surprised she was even tolerating his presence right now.
" I will have someone bring you some food." He spoke as he opened the door.
" Don't bother." She spoke to him, looking away, unable to even look at the man that wrecked what remaining life she had left. The door closed and left Sam alone in the dark again. by this point in her life, she had learned to embrace the cold darkness as a companion. She closed her eyes. Several tears escaped as she drifted away into a dreamless state.
" Gabriel! Son! Is it true? You've found Samantha?" Gabriel's father asked as he walked into his son's office to see him sitting doing paperwork.
" Yes, John found her badly wounded on the borders during a patrol. We are holding her in the cells for safety." He spoke as he did not look up from his work. Zion -Gabriel's father- was best friends with Sam's father when he was still alive. So when Sam disappeared, Zion tried hard to find her.
" Why is she in a cell? She should be in the hospital getting help!" Zion began to argue. Gabriel just shook his head with a glum look on his face.
"She is there for her safety and our safety. She has been away from this pack for a while. We don't know who she could be associated with." Gabriel explained to his father, "Until I know for sure she is not a threat to the pack, she will be moved." Zion could see that Gabriel was only looking out for the pack. Zion then walked over to Gabriel's desk and sat in one of the chairs in front of it.
"Gab, there is a rumour flying around the pack house," Zion asked as Gabriel continued to write on the paper.
"Dad, you know rumours are always flying about this house. It's all they ever do." Gabriel muttered.
" Well, this one is saying that Sam was your mate and the reason she disappeared was that you rejected her," Zion explained, catching Gabriel off guard. How did that get out so fast?
"Please tell us that is not true, that this rumour has just been made up to make you look bad." His father said as Gabriel placed his pen down and ran his hands through his long brown hair covering his ears. His grey eyes moved to look at his father, whose face grew angry.
" It's true; I did reject her back then." He told him. Now his father was seething with rage toward his son. His nostrils flared with anger as he clenched his fists to control the urge to punch his son.
" Do you even know what happens when a mate is rejected?" Zion asked his son, who shook his head gently from side to side. "Well, let me refresh your memory. Once a mate is rejected, it takes two years of agonising pain before the wolf finally dies, then the human part will only last a week and this pain you cannot even imagine! All the while, the mate that rejected their other half is left unaffected!" His father's voice grew louder every second until he was yelling at him with anger. "The amount of pain Sam has gone through, even to get this far, is unreal. It's unlike anything you have felt before. Once she dies, you will feel empty and helpless for the rest of your miserable life." Gabriel looked like the world had just collapsed from under his feet.
" How do you know this?" Gabriel asked him carefully as his father stood up and turned his back to him.
" My sister, your aunt. Her mate rejected her. I had to watch as she endured unimaginable pain, and I could do nothing about it. It broke my heart, but she said having family there made it much more bearable for her." He spoke at the memory.
" But Sam was and is alone with no one. She has no family and now no mate or wolf." Gabriel spoke, looking down.
" Which makes it even more painful. I'm surprised Sam has not taken her own life by now." He spoke to his son. This realisation hurt him deeply in a way he never knew was possible. Zion looked to his son, who felt broken inside at what he had caused. And all because she was not popular at school and he thought it would hurt his reputation to have a mate like her.
" I don't think I have ever been this disappointed in you before, Gabriel. I thought I taught you better. Your mother and I will be leaving. We are going to meet with friends." Zion told his son quietly in a disappointed tone of voice. "I don't know when we'll be back, or even if we will." Zion opened the door to Gabriel's office but stopped and turned to look back at him.
"I thought we had raised you better than this." His father said before he turned and left Gabriel's office. Gabriel sunk his face into his hands with a deep, heavy sigh. Tears pricked at his eyes.
" What have I done?" He whispered, thoroughly regretting his decision to reject his mate.