LEINDRA'S P.O.V.
I was woken up by ice-cold water being doused all over me. I let out a gasp and spluttered to get the water out of my lungs. I tried to rise but I realized that I was strapped to what resembled a hospital bed. I looked around but the room did not resemble a hospital at all. There were huge machines with wires all around, some of which were attached to my body. I wanted to pull them out but there was nothing that I could do due to my hands being restrained.
The memories came flooding back and I remembered how I left Jared lying almost lifeless on the ground. Guilt threatened to swallow me whole. We had all misjudged him based on one action and he had suffered for it. I couldn't help but feel partly responsible even though I knew the sole blame resided with the person who pulled the trigger.
"Ah, you're awake." Brandon's voice filled my ears and I turned trying to find out where it was coming from. He suddenly stepped out from the darkness with the other four members of the hunter council. "I'm sorry it had to be this way, Leindra."
"Fuck you," I spat and he looked taken aback. âYou killed my parents and you lied to me the entire time. What do you want from me, Brandon? You already took everything from me. If you want to kill me then you may as well just go ahead now."
"You've always been suicidal," he murmured as he made his way over to me. "What I don't understand is why you never acted on those tendencies."
"Excuse me?"
"You wanted to know why I followed you in the city, don't you?" he asked and although I didn't respond, he knew I was right. I was thinking about it. "You were supposed to die in that crash but you didn't and all I needed was to take one look at you to know that anything could push you off the edge. So I bid my time and I made you fall in love with me. I hoped that if I broke your heart then you would kill yourself, that way your blood would be on your own hands."
"You're a monster."
He shrugged. "We could have been allies but you just had to double-cross us."
"All this talk is getting annoying, let us go ahead with the tests." the younger woman spoke making me turn to her. She had something over her nose and I knew without a doubt that I broke it.
"How is your nose?" I asked and she made an animalistic sound. She rushed over as if to attack me but Brandon held her back.
"Enough, both of you," he instructed. "We need her alive and healthy for the tests." "What tests are you talking about?"
"The very ones your parents refused to subject themselves to," Brandon explained. "We need to find out what is so special about your bloodline that could hold a seal to control the wolves. If we find that out then we can control all the wolves in the world. It is a good thing you haven't broken the curse on the Lunarius wolves. When we are done with you, we can use you to control them."
I was grateful that they hadn't found that part out yet and I was determined to keep it
a secret for as long as possible. I knew I made the right decision when I told Darius
that I wanted us to get married in secret. At least this way, even if I die, his curse is forever broken.
"Do your worst," I taunted and Brandon smirked.
"Those are famous last words."
I don't know how long I spent in that room but it felt like days. I was electrocuted and I had drugs pumped into me. I could not feel any part of my body. The worst part was that after every experiment, Brandon or that annoying female whose name I still didn't know would come over to me and taunt me. It was infuriating and I wanted nothing more than to claw their faces off with my bare hands but I could barely move.
When they announced that they were done for the day, I could have cried in relief. I expected them to untie me and take me somewhere else but I was left in the bed and the lights were turned off. The room was left in pitch blackness and I felt my stomach grumble. In the dark, every sound was heightened and for the first time in a long time, I felt genuine fear fill me. Darius had no idea where I was and I didn't know how he planned to find me. I doubted he would find me.
I tried to sleep but everything was so intense and I couldn't so that was how I stayed the entire night just staring up at the dark ceiling. I couldn't shrug off the feeling that I was being watched. I tried to think about good memories like Darius and I in bed together or the fun times I had around the house. I needed something to keep me sane because I knew that they wanted to break me and I was not going to give them that satisfaction.
Morning rolled around quickly and Brandon was the one who came to see me first. To my shock, he took off the bindings on my wrists and pulled me into a sitting position. He wasn't worried about me attacking him because he knew how weak I was. He knew that even if I tried, I wouldn't win and so did I because I didn't try to fight. I allowed him to pull me to my feet and I fell to the ground in a heap because I wasn't strong enough to stand.
"Where are you taking me?" I asked but he stayed silent. "The least I deserve is answers after everything you've done to me."
If you're loving the book, nel5s.com is where the adventure continues. Join us for the complete experience all for free. The next chapter is eagerly waiting for you! Brandon chuckled. "Do you know what will get you killed? The thought that you deserve anything here."
He pulled me into a wheelchair and strapped my hands again before pushing me out of the room. The hallway was long and I realized we were in some sort of underground building because the windows were very high. I tried to see if there was anything that would give me an inkling of where we were but there was nothing and the feeling of hope that had climbed up in my chest deflated like a balloon.
Brandon led me into a room where the other four members were seated. I realized that this must be their actual headquarters and I began to wonder if we were still in Lunarius or if they had taken me out of town. I had no way to know the day or time and I knew if I asked they wouldn't answer so I just stared at them blankly while Brandon left my side and took his place beside them.
"I understand you didn't have the perfect welcome." It was the older woman who spoke and I lifted my brows in her direction. "We realize that we didn't give you a chance to make a choice."
She gestured to someone behind her and a young girl who looked no older than seventeen walked up to me. She placed a bowl of porridge on my lap and I stared at it blankly. I was hungry but my hands were bound and I couldn't reach out for it. "What are you playing at?" I asked finally. "Last time I checked, I didn't have telekinesis. I need my hands to eat."
"You don't really think we are going to give it to you for free, do you?" she asked with a small laugh. "I just need answers to one question and you can leave. If you tell us what we want to know then you will be free and all of this will end."
"What makes you think that I am going to help you?'
"You have a family, don't you? It would be a shame for us to find them."Fear gripped my chest but I knew that was what she wanted. Instead of showing how scared I was, I squared my shoulder and looked her dead in the eye. "If you could get to them then you would have by now. Darius has them watched over day and night."
Her jaw clenched. "He had people watching over you and yet we were able to take you."
"You were able to take me because I left the house. That was my mistake, they won't make the same."
If you're loving the book, nel5s.com is where the adventure continues. Join us for the complete experience all for free. The next chapter is eagerly waiting for you! "How can we kill Darius?" she ignored my taunt and I laughed.
"Go to hell."
The woman smiled and she nodded behind her once more. I heard the door open and this time, the same girl returned and took the plate of porridge from my lap. My body protested but I knew that I would rather starve to death than give her that answer. "Maybe a few more days will change your mind."
I was wheeled out of that room and back into what I had come to realize was my personal prison. The torture began almost immediately and I blacked out after a while. I was woken up harshly with cold water and it continued like that for hours. The hours turned into days. At first, I was using the time I was left alone to depict day and night but I soon realized that the room held no windows and the torture spanned for hours. There was no way to determine if it had been minutes or weeks.
It was like I was trapped in a perpetual cycle of pain and there was no way out. I hadn't eaten a bite since I was brought. I knew they fed me through an IV but not enough to keep me full, just enough that I didn't have to die. At the end of each session, they would ask me the same question and I spat in their faces each time. I hoped and I prayed that Darius would find me soon because I wasn't sure how much of the torture I could take.
One day, they walked into the room and I braced myself for the torture to begin but instead, they were all smiles.
"Do you know how long it has been since you have been here?' the younger girl asked and I stayed quiet. "It has been five days. It has been amusing to see Darius lose his mind over you. I am sure you have missed him too."
"What do you want?" My voice was hoarse because I hadn't used it in a while.
"We figured you might be lonely so we brought you some company." She was smiling from ear to ear. "Do you know the best part about being us? We have allies everywhere. We may not have any in Darius' pack but we have one in your town."
She snapped her fingers and I saw Brandon walking in but it wasn't him who caught
my eye, it was the person he was dragging it.
The female laughed when she saw my expression. "I do love family reunions."