Chapter 22

Alex

The back of my head hurts.

I open my eyes, wondering what happened. Did Logan attack me?

But all I see is dirty cement before me. I try to touch the back of my head, but my hands won't move. As awareness flickers within me, I begin to feel the burning sensation on my wrists.

Each movement hurts my head even more, but I force myself to look to the right and I realize that my hands are pinned against the wall in black manacles.

I can feel the iron. But unlike the manacles that the dark witches had used on me, these are different. They are pressing into my skin and I have no doubt that even if I try to shift into my wolf form and try to slip out of them, it won't work. However, I am not above trying. Closing my eyes, I summon my wolf.

My eyes fly open in shock.

Where is my wolf? Why can't I feel him? And why can't I feel Sophia?

"Oh, you're awake."

The voice that reaches my ears is so familiar that my head jerks up. I am in a cell, a small dingy place which smells of feces and damp water. There are iron bars in front of me, electricity cracking between them. And outside of the cell, a familiar face is smiling at me.

"It's about time you woke up, Alex," Karina says softly. "You certainly took your time. There was a time when I would lock you up, and you would cry for hours. It's been a while since I saw you cry like that. But no worries. You'll be here for a long time now. I'm sure I can break you."

"Karina," I breathe in anger. "What the hell is this?"

"What does it look like?" Karina mocks me. "You're my prisoner."

My jaw tenses. "And why am I here?"

She blinks, slowly. "Well, how do I put it? You and your mate humiliated me at my banquet. Did you think I was just going to let that go?"

"My mate is the Queen of the South Alliance and she is the granddaughter of the leader of the Central Alliance. Are you willing to incur their wrath?"

Karina beams at me. "The Central Alliance will not interfere in anything I do. They didn't go after Robert Black when he tortured their leader's daughter, killed her mate, and stole her child. Think I'm good."

I study her for a long stretch of time before finally asking, "Where is Sophia?"

Karina chuckles. "I couldn't kidnap the Silver Wolf. No, she's going to come to me on her own two feet." She looks at me for a few minutes before murmuring, "You know, I always wanted to kill you, but I'm glad I didn't. Now you are going to be my trump card against your mate. All the prophecies that I received, they all alluded to one thing: I need to control the Silver Wolf. But I can't force her. She has to be willing to help me. I wonder how willing she will be if she knows that her precious mate will pay the price for her disobedience?"

That means Sophia is not here. I recall the events that led up to this situation. We were at the campsite. The fog was rolling in. Sophia's scream. The attack.

"I have to say," Karina muses. "I am a little disappointed. I was sure she would come running after you. But instead, she went running home. I guess you weren't as important to her as you thought. Women can be so selfish."

Her eyes are mocking me, and I smile at her. "You should never underestimate my mate."

"Oh." Karina's smile broadens. "I wouldn't dare. In fact, I never underestimated you either. All your armies and your soldiers and your spies. Did you think I didn't know about them?"

A stab of cold pierces my chest. "What are you talking about?"

"I know everything you have been planning. I know about your soldiers and how many there are. I also know that you are keeping an eye on me. It's quite impressive, really. I left you with nothing and yet you managed to build yourself up. I have to admire that tenacity. And your drive. But it's all useless in the end, Alex. I still win. I always win."

"You haven't won yet." I narrow my eyes at her.

Karina's lips curve. "Tell me, did you wonder why I hated you so much? Surely the thought must've crossed your mind."

"I was a threat to you and your throne. You've always been greedy for power."

She laughs now, a delicate sound. "You children. You think you know everything. I already had power when I walked into your pack well before I slaughtered your parents like cattle."

I glare at her. "If you didn't want power, why the hell did you do all of this?"

"Your father."

I stare at her for a moment, confused. "What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

Karina folds her hands behind her back, looking amused. "Did you think your mother was the only woman in your father's life? No. Before she came along, I was his betrothed. Your father came to my pack once. My mother married the Alpha of the Cross River Wolf Pack when I was an infant. I was fifteen when he first laid his hands on me. He never stopped. A few years later, your father, who had just become the Alpha, was visiting, and he witnessed what my stepfather was doing to me. He promised to save me. He asked for an engagement."

I didn't know any of this, but now when I think back to the days before Karina's visit, my father and mother had been having a lot of hushed discussions. There had been a lot of tension that I had not paid much attention to at that time. I had been a child, after all.

"Two years." Karina bares her teeth at me. "He raised my hopes for two years. Everybody turned a blind eye to my suffering. My mother liked being the Alpha Female. She enjoyed the importance and power. I was a small sacrifice, a small price to pay for her happiness. She knew. She saw. And she turned her head."

Karina is no longer smiling now. Her eyes are dark, glittering with fury. "Your father was different. He threatened my stepfather. He was the King of the North Alliance, and he noticed me. He demanded my hand in marriage, and he told me he would rescue me. For two years, my stepfather was too scared to touch me. And then your mother came into the picture, they were fated mates. She was the love of his life. And where did that leave me?"

Karina spits out, "Suddenly, I no longer mattered. Nothing mattered to your father anymore but your mother. All his promises, all his vows—he forgot them all. He left me in that hellhole and thought a measly apology would be enough. I loved him and he didn't care for me."

"My mother was his fated mate. Did you expect him to walk away from that?" I demand.

Even as I say the words, I feel a stab of guilt for the girl she must have been.

"Yes! He should've chosen me!" Karina hisses. "I needed him more. I loved him more. There wasn't anything I wouldn't have done for him! But he didn't choose me. Instead, he offered his own brother as a consolation prize. ‘You just need to be able to leave your pack, don't you?' That's what he said to me. ‘Just marry James'."

I had seen Karina angry before, but never like this. Her chest is heaving, her eyes wild with rage and pain.

"You should've taken that offer." I don't understand her problem. "No man in his right mind would leave his fated mate. But he still gave you a way out."

The woman stares at me before letting out a cynical laugh. "You're just like him. That's why I hated you. But that's not all. I hated you because you were their child. They loved you beyond anything. So, I made sure you suffered. I turned your father down. It was either him or no one. He told me he wouldn't leave your mother. I knew he was just like my stepfather. In that moment, I knew. So, I decided to change my own fate."

Her lips curve in a smile so evil that my blood turns cold. "I seduced my stepfather. I told him that if he wanted me, he would have to kill my mother. And he did. I watched. He wanted me to come to him willingly, and I did. He was getting old."

Karina lets out an amused laugh. "And the older he got, the more control I seized of his pack. By the end of it, I was running everything and he was a puppet. That is when I killed him. And as the new Alpha, your father was bound to invite me for a feast. He thought I had forgiven him. I never did. I promised him before I cut his throat that I would make the thing he loved the most in this world suffer. And that was you. I would've sold you to Julia, but my pack was resistant to the idea."

She runs her fingers through her hair, sighing. "And then you started becoming a threat to me. A mild threat, but a threat. I knew getting rid of you was important. But not by killing you. There were other ways of getting rid of you. But I'm glad that didn't work out. Because now, what I'm going to do is going to crush your spirit. You will never see Sophia again. At least, not in person. Or maybe I'll bring her to you. We'll see."

She tosses a leash and collar in front of me. "Look at that. If she wants to save you, she will come to me on her own two feet and put the collar around her neck. And she will hand me the chain. And after that moment, she will always remain my faithful dog. Not Sophia, but a dog. This collar is enchanted, you see. She will become mindless over the years, just like a trained animal. The woman you love will be nothing more than my pet. I can breed her, I can have my men do anything to her, and she will obey because, in the back of her mind, she will be protecting you. That is all she will know."

Laughter spills out of her mouth as my blood turns to ice. "I will humiliate her in every way possible. And you know how far I can make someone fall, don't you, Alex? Do you remember what I did to the women of your pack? The girls? My men ruined them, broke them. That is what will happen to your mate. You will be putin a small box, deep inside the ground. A place where only I can visit you. Maybe if I'm in a good mood, I'll bring my men along with me and force you to watch as they humiliate your very willing mate. This is how my revenge will be completed. I'll break your mind. And your father will toss and turn in his grave as you go mad."

I stare at her. I'm horrified by every word coming out of her mouth. She reaches out and grabs the collar, putting it in the small leather pouch in her hand. "In a few days, you will be transported to the underground cell I've built for you. You don't like dark spaces, do you? You never did as a child. But this will be smaller. And it will make you very uncomfortable. Welcome to the rest of your life, Alex."

Laughing, she walks away.

I pull at the manacles, hissing as they tighten around my wrists, piercing my skin. I have to shift. But I can't find my wolf. Whatever she's done to these chains, they're blocking my animal self.

Then I'll break my wrist. But the manacles have become so tight that it is impossible.

The more I pull, the tighter they become, and at some point, I'm worried that they will constrict my blood flow.

The guards facing my cell watch in silence, not a word leaving their mouths. They don't bring any food or water, not that I'm surprised. Karina would prefer to starve me. The last time I was in a cell, I was fed once a week, and even that was a sparse meal. It was simply given to make sure I didn't die. I'm used to starving.

But what I am worried about, is Sophia. If my mate thinks for even a minute, that the only way to save me is to give herself up, she will do that. I cannot let that happen. I have to find a way out of here.

I try to search for the bond between us and when I can't feel it, I realize something is distorting it. I have felt something similar before, but I can't put my finger on it.

As the time passes, I notice something.

The manacles are easing.

It's almost as if when I don't move, they begin to loosen up.

Hope ignites with me. I have to be patient.

It's not an easy feat, but I try to calm down. I just have to stay still for a couple of hours. That should work. I'm certain of it.

I am able to ignore the way my skin burns. I can also ignore the uncomfortable way my body is being stretched. What I can't ignore is this throbbing sensation in my chest. It's my fear for Sophia. Why did she scream?

Was she hurt?

I remember Logan falling down, shock in his eyes. I remember his fingers twitching as he tried to get to me, as he tried to warn me about the people behind me. But it was too late. My body had begun seizing, even as I had gone down.

I know the woman I love. She would've tried to chase after me. I hope she doesn't. Karina is convinced that she has gone back to the pack. I hope that's the case. I hope the others dissuaded her from coming to find me.

As long as Sophia is safe and sound, I can bear anything. Any kind of torture is nothing so long as my mate is safe.

These thoughts swirl within me, and I test my wrist. The manacles have loosened considerably. However, I still can't slip my hand through them. What I can do is break my wrist. It's going to take some time to heal but there are not a lot of options for me right now.

Grinding my teeth, I yank my hand out, feeling the bone crunch as it does. The pain is immeasurable. However, I manage to twist my wrists out of the restraints. There are no guards outside my cell right now. I don't know when they left. They've probably gone to get lunch or dinner. I don't even know what time it is.

Falling to the ground, I brace myself as well as I can using my broken wrists. I collapse on my face when they refuse to take my weight. It takes a lot of effort to set my wrist and I wait for the bone to heal. Ever since Sophie and I became full mates, my healing has also become faster.

After a couple of minutes, I feel my bones begin to set and reform.

Breaking my ankles is harder and much more painful. I swallow the agony and the white heat that courses through me when the bone breaks.

Once I'm finally free, I drag myself over to the wall to take a rest, my breathing hard. I have to fix my foot so that the bone can heal. With shaking hands, I readjust my ankle, biting down on the groan that follows the movement.

Each second is incredibly agonizing.

I have to get to Sophia. This is nothingcompared to what she will go through if I don't escape.

It is this thought that lets me get to my feet. The air is punched out of me when I try to put my weight on my ankles. But, gripping the wall of the cell, I reach the bars. The next problem is how to get out of here.

I don't know how, but I can see electricity sparking on the bars. There doesn't seem to be any electrical box in sight, so this can only be magic. Another way to keep me in. Here's to hoping I'll just get a light shock . Taking a deep breath, I grab the bars, bracing myself for the impact.

For a minute, nothing happens.

Then I'm suddenly tossed against the wall, a massive shock of electricity making my whole body tingle. Fading in and out of consciousness, I feel sick to my stomach, curling in a ball.

I close my eyes, breathing through the pain. I can feel the painful tingling all over my body. It's coming in waves. When I open my eyes, I blink in shock.

What the hell?

Where am I?

I'm not in the cell any longer.

I'm somewhere else.

Confused and disorientated, I look around. The scars on my wrists and ankles from the manacles are not there. I am in a cage. A very small cage at that.

I'm curled up in a ball and I can't move.

I remember this place. Bile rises to my throat as does a childhood fear.

I spent a lot of years in this cage, as punishment for defying Karina.

Around me is just dirt. This is the one place I've feared the most. My breathing increases as despair fills me. This can't be real. Please don't let this be real.

"This can't be real," I breathe, feeling my mind break a little. "I was in the other cell."

The sound of laughter fills my head. It's not mine.

"You're right," Karina's voice echoes in my head. "It was fun though, wasn't it?"

She mocks me. "Breaking your wrists, breaking your ankles? The witches told me that whatever you experienced in your visions would be real. You will spend your life in this cage, underground, buried. Nobody's coming for you, Alex. Just like nobody came for you then. But I will show you what I do to your mate. All you have to do is close your eyes and you will see everything I put her through. All because you were born to the wrong parents. This is your hell. This is your purgatory."

Her laughter dies as her voice disappears from my head, leaving me facing the terror from my childhood.