“And you just expect me to take your word for it? You know that you’ve been caught, there isn’t anything that you wouldn’t say to get away.”
“Please, I have a family,” she pleaded, desperate to escape if not for herself then for her brother and sister. If something happens to me then they’ll have no one.
“That, wolf, is exactly what I want to talk to you about. The thing is that our particular unit hasn’t had much luck in capturing any of your kind in recent years. We know that you’re out there; our organisation hasn’t killed enough of you to have eradicated you from existence. So we would like your help in finding your people. Once you tell us where they are, we’ll give you a quick death.”
She stared at the man in front of her, astonishment stamped clearly on her features. “Let me get this straight. You want me to tell you where the clans are?”
“So that’s how you’re organised, clans? Exactly how many are there and where can we find them?”
“I hadn’t finished with my question,” she interrupted. “You want me to lead you to the clans when I just told you that I have family in them?”
“Yes.”
A moment of silence passed before Erica's loud laughter filled the room. Despite the burning of her skin as she moved, she couldn’t stop herself and continued to chuckle hysterically, gasping for breath. Her eyes watered as the tears eventually subsided. “You’re kidding me. I’m not going to lead you lunatics right to my family. They’ve done nothing to you. They’re children, completely innocent of the outrageous crimes you think we’ve committed. Even if you kill me, as long as they’re within the safety of the clans they’ll be taken care of. I’m not going to tell you anything, so you might as well kill me now.” Though she was aware that asking for death wasn’t the wisest decision it was still preferable to giving them men before her what they asked for.
The leader’s eyes narrowed at her statement. Extending a hand, he called one of his followers over. A blade was pressed into his open palm and his cruel smile retuned. “You may not want to do what I ask, but make no mistake you will do what I want. I’m not going to kill you right away, I want something and you’re going to give it to me. Everyone has a breaking point and that includes werewolves like yourself.” The knife was pressed against her skin and she could feel her flesh burning from the light contact. “I just have to find out what it is.” His smile widened before he pushed the blade deeper against her skin before slicing through muscle. Erica screamed, her voice filling the room, wishing more than ever that she had stayed with Sebastian.
Chapter Thirteen
Pain made time blur, seconds becoming minutes and minutes days. Her world had narrowed down to the room she was kept in, the silver shackled chair she was trapped against and the silver blade. Agony was her constant companion and her life before this room and these people seemed like a distant dream. Even in sleep she was unable to escape the pain inflicted on her body. Her tormentors found it amusing to see how much pain they could cause her sleeping form before she was forced to wake. Their cruel laughter flooded her ears when she woke and followed her when she tried to escape through dreams. She wasn’t sure how long she had been kept here but each second that she remained trapped seemed like an eternity. She could hear the door to her room open, the distinct shuffling of feet telling her that her tormentor was now with her. Her body tensed, the instant she realised who it was, anticipating the inevitable moment when more pain would be heaped on her battered body. His hands were surprisingly gentle as they touched her, checking the state of her injuries.
He wants me alive not dead. I suppose he just doesn’t want me to bleed to death. God I wish I could simply bleed to death. However morbid her new death wish was, it was the truth. Her body couldn’t die from the pain inflicted at the hands of the hunters. The wounds they caused had healed instantly when they had first started damaging her body. As time dragged on however, her body had become slower to heal, exhausted from overuse. Her captors refused to feed her, hoping to starve her into submission and her famished body simply couldn’t gather the strength to heal anything that wasn’t life threatening.
Her eyes widened at the glint of the dreaded silver knife her captors used as their main instrument of torture. The beatings, the burning and the almost drowning she could handle, the silver blade however inspired stark terror within her. Her tormentor didn’t disappoint her expectations. As soon as he was certain that she wasn’t going to die if she wasn’t given more time to heal, the knife was stabbed viciously into her shoulder. The skin around the wound immediately began to burn. She could practically feel the blood within her body began to thicken, moving sluggishly through her system. Weakness overwhelmed her and she slumped forward in the chair.
“How are you today?” Her captor’s voice was unnervingly cheery for someone who had just stabbed another living being and seemed to be taking great pleasure in their suffering.
He doesn’t see me as a person so maybe that explains why he’s so unmoved by my suffering. I’m less than an animal to this bastard. She groaned aloud in response to his pointless question.
Her reaction apparently unsatisfactory, he cupped her chin, forcing her head up until their eyes met. Her vision was partially obscured by her long hair. Once shiny and sleek it was now sweaty, dirty and matted with her own blood. Her tormentor moved her hair from her face, tucking the strands behind her ear in what under any other circumstance would have been a comforting gesture. Erica however, knew what was coming. He backhanded her hard across the cheek and her ears began to ring from the impact.
“Are you feeling any more talkative today?” The knife embedded into her shoulder was twisted maliciously and she screamed as more pain tore through her. “I swear I will end all your suffering if you just tell me where your clans are. It is all up to you. As soon as you give me the word the pain will end.”
Even if I die I can’t tell him where to find Dylan, Wyatt…. Sebastian. Her mate’s name came unbidden to her thoughts but she couldn’t find it in herself to deny him a place among them.
“Please just let me go.” She knew the request would be denied the moment the words left her lips, but the hope that she would somehow escape her current predicament had never died despite the abuse.
“I’m not going to let you go out into the world and wreak havoc.”
“I don’t know how many times I have to tell you this, we’re peaceful people. I’ve never killed a person in my life.” Though if through some miracle I manage to get out of this, you will be number one on my new hit list. Her tormentor’s scent was firmly lodged in her mind so that if she ever were to be freed, she would easily be able to track him and change that fact. Her hands would be stained red with blood should that day ever come and she knew she would enjoy his death.
“Why exactly would I believe you? There isn’t anything you wouldn’t say to get out of this situation. I know for a fact that you freaks are violent monsters. I had an uncle that was maimed by a werewolf. He would have been killed if my father hadn’t come across him and shot the wolf. Besides if you were so peaceful, then why exactly is your history littered with murder?”
Her eyes locked with his, anger coursing through her veins. “Stupid human myths! If one of my people tried to kill one of your people then the idiot deserved it. We don’t kill without a reason.”
“Myths? If that’s all they were then this wouldn’t hurt would it?” He turned the blade within her shoulder and she screamed in response. “I don’t think so. Besides even if the tales were myths, which as I just demonstrated clearly isn’t the truth, are you trying to tell me that a member of my family deserved what that monster did to him?” She immediately realized that she hadn’t done herself any favours with her last statement. “He was mutilated by your kind. He probably would have been better off dead,” he ranted. Her tormentor stepped away from her, his chest rising and falling quickly as he struggled to calm himself. “Are you going to tell me what I want to know? Tell me where I c
an find your clans.” He stepped forward, gripping the arm rests of her chair as he leaned into her and his hot breath feathered over her face.
“You know I’m not going to tell you. I’m not going to just let you slaughter my family. Why don’t you just kill me and get it over with,” she sighed, resigned to her fate. Better me than them, she reasoned, refusing to back away from her captor’s intense gaze.
“You will tell me, trust me. I’m going to make all this seem like a day at the park and when you’re bloody and battered to a pulp I want you to remember that you forced me to do this.”
*****
Three days had passed since Sebastian had arrived back at his mate’s cabin and there was still no sign of her. The first two days had passed without him worrying but as time continued still with no sign of her return he became increasingly concerned. Ryan had chosen to remain with him at the cabin until the person who lived in it returned, anxious to see who could produce such intense emotions in his usually calm brother. As night fell once more Sebastian began to pace across the small living room. Lying back against the sofa, Ryan watched him pace for the first ten minutes with mild amusement. However as time flew past and Sebastian continued to walk from one end of the room to the other and back again, trying to rid himself of the nervous energy that filled him, Ryan became increasingly agitated with his brother’s repetitive movement.
“Will you stop pacing?” he groaned as he sat up. Sebastian stopped though he looked distinctly confused as though he hadn’t realized exactly where he was. “You were going to wear a hole in that carpet. Just relax.”
“I can’t Ryan, she should be here by now.”
“I don’t understand what you’re so agitated about. So the woman decided to add another few days to her holiday. Dylan and Wyatt are good kids, but exhausting. It’s no wonder she decided to take advantage of your generosity and stay away from here a little longer. She’ll be back soon enough.”
“Erica isn’t like that Ryan,” Sebastian groaned, falling onto the sofa next to his brother. “She’s practically their mother, she wouldn’t just leave them behind like this. She should be here by now.”
“Well she’s not and there isn’t anything that all your worrying is going to achieve except for annoying me. I don’t even understand why you’re so worried about this Erica woman Sebastian. It just isn’t like you.”
“Ryan, what I’m about to tell you can’t leave this room. It has to stay just between us. Do you understand?”
Sebastian rarely sounded so serious and when he did it usually was over something very important so Ryan nodded enthusiastically. “Of course Sebastian. I’m really good at keeping your secrets. Mother and father still don’t know who burnt down the greenhouse when we were younger now do they?”
He chuckled despite his anxiety. “No, they don’t,” he admitted before sighing, “Erica is my mate Ryan.”
“Your mate? You lucky bastard, you found her already. Congratulations.” Ryan grinned, clapping his brother on the back before a thought occurred to him. “Is that where you were when you asked me to come here and look after these kids? You were claiming her? My brother and my cousin both claiming their mates under the same full moon, what are the odds?”
“That isn’t exactly what happened,” Sebastian murmured. “Erica refused my claim the first night I met her. That’s why I wasn’t at the estate, I was trying to convince her that she should accept me.”
“Why on earth would she refuse you? Are you sure you were interpreting the situation correctly? Was she just playing hard to get? It doesn’t make sense for a female wolf just to out and out reject her mate.”
“That’s what I thought as well. I found out that Erica has some issues when it comes to trusting the males of our species. Her father practically committed suicide after the death of her mother and she didn’t want to have a mate in case he did the exact same thing.”
“And what did you tell her?”
“I gave her my word that I wouldn’t do such a thing should anything happen to her.”
“An oath between mates shouldn’t be broken Sebastian,” Ryan commented, his voice serious.
“I’m aware of that. I don’t intend to break it. My wolf on the other hand has other ideas, but we’ll work that out between us.”
“So what happened between you on the full moon?”
“She left me a note.” Reaching into the pocket of his jeans he pulled out a carefully folded piece of paper and handed it to his brother to read. “She just needed more time. We’d only known each other a few days and that really wasn’t enough to overcome a lifetime’s worth of fears. I understood that, my wolf on the other hand did not.”
I still don’t understand it, the wolf grumbled.
“Erica knew that I’d come for her so she ran away and I tried my best to give her a head start. My wolf ran for her throughout the nights and I ran in the opposite direction all day. She managed to escape me, but she should be back by now. Erica wouldn’t just leave Wyatt and Dylan behind. They’re part of the reason that she refused my claim in the first place.”
“Then what are you doing just sitting here?” Ryan yelled. “Your mate is out there. If she should have been back by now and she’s not then something isn’t right. You have to find her Sebastian.”
“I know.”
“Look, you can’t hide the fact that you’re mated for long. Here’s what we’re going to do. I’m taking Dylan and Wyatt to the estate, mother and father should still be there and they’ll look after them.”
“Ryan, Erica doesn’t want people to know that we’re mates, especially her brother and sister.”
“You aren’t helping your case by not telling anyone. Besides, she might really be in danger and if that’s the case then we have to do everything that we possibly can, even if that means not listening to what she wanted while she was safe. Or are you trying to tell me that her safety isn’t that important?”
“You know that isn’t true.”
“Well then, as I was saying, mother and father can look after the children. You, in the meantime, are going to track your mate. I’ll follow you as soon as I can, if something really is wrong then you might need some support. I’m faster than you anyway so I should be able to catch up,” Ryan stated. “What are still doing here?” he snapped when Sebastian failed to immediately move into action to implement the plan. “Get going.”
“Thanks Ryan.” Sebastian smiled before running to the door, intent on finding his mate.
Chapter Fourteen
I’m close. The thought flitted through Sebastian's mind as her scent became stronger. He ran faster, determined to reach her. He could hear his brother running beside him and the sound of both his paws pounding against the earth and his harsh breathing reassuring him that he wasn’t alone in his search for his mate. Ryan had been unusually quiet since he had joined him from the estate. Though aware that something must have happened in the brief period of time that he had been there, thoughts of Erica pushed out all concern for events not concerned with his mate.
The pair of wolves had been running almost all night, Sebastian leading as he tracked his mate’s scent with Ryan following. Her scent had been very weak when they had first started their journey; so weak that Sebastian had become increasingly concerned for her safety. He doubted that his brother would have been able to track her, the only reason he was able was to do so was because he was intimately acquainted with it. The weakness in her scent worried him; it meant that she hadn’t even attempted the journey home. Erica wouldn’t do that, something isn’t right. He pushed himself faster, certain that Ryan would be able to keep up with his wild pace.
As they continued their journey through the woods, the trees surrounding them became increasingly sparse until they came across a clearing. They slowed, increasingly cautious now that they were outside of the protection of the trees and exposed to anyone who might see them. Scenting the wind Sebastian found that the area was permeated with Erica's scent; they
were in the right place. The clearing led on to a hill and the wolves began to climb. A large building resided at the top of the hill, looking more like a warehouse than a home. The windows were boarded, though they knew that there were people within the building, the scent of humans was thick in the air.
The two wolves looked at each other, silently communicating in the way only those who have lived together for a long time can achieve, before returning to their human forms. The change was quick and painless, achieved almost instantaneously now that neither Ryan nor Sebastian were fighting against their wolves’ instincts. Now human, the pair walked calmly to the large metal door of the building.
Grabbing his brother’s arm before he could knock, Ryan hissed, “There’s something odd going on here. Be on your guard.”
It was the most his brother had said to him since they had joined up, his attention now focused on the matter at hand rather than what had happened back at the estate. “I know that Ryan. There’s no reason why Erica should be here. There’s no reason why this building should be here either.”
“They could be hunters,” Ryan suggested.
The thought made his blood run cold as his heart pounded furiously against his chest. The idea that the enemies of their people, who were hell bent on their extinction, had caught his mate had crossed his mind while they had been tracking her, but it was made real by his brother’s comment. “I know that, but the people who live here might just be harmless humans who like to be left alone. There’s nothing wrong with some solitude.”
“I hope that you’re right Sebastian. I really don’t want anything to have happened to your mate, especially as you’ve only known her for a short period of time. But if they are hunters…”
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