Broken

ISAAC

Four days.

It’s been four days.

Four days since I took a complete breath. Four days since my heart cracked down the middle. Four days since I took up permanent residence in hell.

I don’t eat or sleep. I pace, like a ghost wandering the pack lands.

My world stopped when we found her blood in that courtyard. I’ve been in wolf form since. I don’t have the strength to shift, to speak, to do anything but ache.

I’m drowning, wave after wave of sharp, burning grief and regret. I shouldn’t have left her. Fuck.

It’s like a dull throb that I can’t pinpoint: it’s everywhere, consuming everything. I’m weak and lifeless.

I considered flying to Romania and basically searching every corner of the country, leaving no stone unturned until I found her.

Every moment is a waking nightmare. I don’t sleep, but each moment is worse than a night terror.

I hear her, I see her, I feel her in everything. Her touch crawls across my skin, haunting me, torturing me with the sweet memories of her fingertips, of her lips.

“Alpha?” I flit my eyes over to Rhodes as he approaches. I don’t bother lifting my head or otherwise acknowledging his presence. I continue to lie lifelessly on the hard ground.

He cautiously sits and things are quiet for a moment. I know he’s afraid to speak to me, I can feel it. After what happened the first night, everyone has been avoiding me.

I couldn’t control my wolf. If I could feel anything other than pain, I would feel guilty. After we found her blood I crumbled—everything went black and I shifted.

My wolf instantly went mad, lost in rage, attacking anyone that approached like a feral animal. When Alpha Warner tried to calm me, I lashed out and shattered his arm.

“Valera needs to speak to you but she’s afraid you’ll kill her on sight,” Rhodes finally speaks.

That’s probably a correct assumption.

I don’t move, I don’t have the energy.

“We’ll find her, Alpha, she’s alive, we know he can’t kill her.”

Somewhere, deep in the recesses of my mind I know he’s trying to comfort me, but that rational part of me is shattered and bleeding.

Instead of finding comfort, I see red. Everything feels like it’s underwater. My vision and hearing are distorted. A guttural howl fills the air, like a warning.

Back the fuck up.

I know she’s still alive, but the thought is almost as torturous as her being dead. She’s alive and he’s hurting her and I can’t protect her.

Isaac isn’t in control—I am reduced to a beast, an untamed animal backed into a corner.

As I leap for his throat, I feel a sudden cool burn, like icy fire. It spreads through my veins before I wobble on my feet and fall into darkness.

***

I try to pull my eyelids open but they feel like lead. I groan and bring my hand up to my face, only to find my arm chained down.

A deep, menacing chuckle leaves my lips. They think a few chains will stop me? I start to pull against the restraints.

“Stop,” Rhazell’s sharp voice fills the room. I force my heavy eyes open, squinting into the light. Hunter, Madelyn, Rhodes, Rhazell, and Valera are seated around the infirmary room.

“We need to speak, and you need to listen,” she starts. “I sedated you. It’s been two days.”

I thrash against the restraints, growling.

“I know where they are,” Valera shouts, and I instantly stop.

“Where?” My voice startles everyone, even me. The deep, scratching growl sounds tortured and sinister.

“Mt. Washington, in New Hampshire,” she informs me cautiously.

I groan. That is a treacherous landscape. Aside from the freezing cold, it has some of the fastest wind speeds in the world.

I use my teeth to rip the IVs from my arms. “Unlock these, let’s go.”

“Wait, we need to be smart about this. I might have a way in, but…I need more time,” she says as she shrinks back.

More time?

More fucking time?

I flex my arms, and the chains break against my skin.

“Isaac, Isaac, Isaac, wait, you need to hear everything,” Hunter begs, stepping in front of Valera.

The bones in my spine snap and crack, rolling under my skin. I’ll run to New Hampshire right now if I need to.

“I knew this would happen,” Rhazell says, and I snap my eyes to hers, the sheets shredding to confetti in my hands as I try to calm down.

“I took her blood to create a way to save her. I made capsules that will allow you to kill a vampire that has fed from her.

“You will have to take them at the right time, however, because they won’t last long.” Her voice is the same cold, distant tone, but her eyes are soft, kind even.

I still want to rip her throat out for not telling me that Annie would be taken.

“I think I can get us up the mountain undetected. Though I haven’t been to this castle in almost ninety years, I remember that it is precarious, but we can make it,” Valera tells me in a soft voice.

“We’ll also need a plan for bringing Annie down safely, in case she’s in the same condition as last time,” Hunter says gently, trying not to anger me.

“You mean if she’s nearly dead?” I snarl.

“My brother has a few mountain rescue vehicles. In whatever the weather, we can drive down the mountain once they’ve been taken out,” Valera tells him.

“What information do you need? Why are we waiting?” The strain in my voice is evident.

“There are secret passageways, ways through the mountain. They are much faster and less dangerous, but I don’t remember them. They are a maze of tunnels.

“I have someone I trust on the inside; he’s helping me.”

I rub my hands roughly over my face. I’m cracking—I feel myself losing control again.

“Let’s let him shower and we’ll talk again after?” Madelyn stands and encourages everyone to leave.

Hunter unlocks the shackles on my ankles. “Sorry about these, we weren’t sure if we would be able to get you calm enough to talk without them.”

I nod but don’t speak or look at him.

The room sways as I make my way to the bathroom. I turn the heat up high and step under the painful spray. The water feels like tiny needles pelting my body.

I lean forward, my forehead pressed against the tile, and sob. I weep until my knees give out. When I slip down to the floor, I place my head in my hands until the water grows cold.

Sitting under the frigid water while my lungs heave for air, I resolve that from this moment forward, I will be in control.

She needs me and I won’t let her down again.