Chapter Thirty - One

SASHA

A constant whispering hum inside my head makes me feel restless, and I start feeling claustrophobic and stuck inside this room. We’re both trapped here, Wolf and me, until she allows us to leave.

Lisbon.

Looking over my shoulder as I face the wall, my eyes lower to Wolf; he’s still fast asleep in bed. He’s so beautiful, and a shiver runs down my spine as I bite down against my bottom lip, my mind wandering back to when he was inside me. Running the pad of my thumb over my bottom lip, a small smile creeps up at the corners of my mouth, the way he tasted on my tongue... I can’t help it as more heat pools between my legs, and I have to force myself from thinking of how many times he sent me skyrocketing into the most mind-blowing orgasms over and over again.

I should be fast asleep on that bed with him.

I can’t lose him, not ever... Wolf is my reason for breathing.

But I can’t sleep.

I wouldn’t be alive right now if it weren’t for him.

Turning my head forward, I look down at a sharp stone in my hand, gripping it tightly; I close my eyes for a moment.

The whispers in my head get louder and louder; even if I wanted to sleep, I wouldn’t be able to.

I don’t know what it is; it’s a voice, like someone speaking to me from far away, calling to me, calling me home.

The louder it gets, the more determined I become; I need to listen to the voice inside my head, the whispering words breathing into me like oxygen feeding my lungs.

I stand frozen in time for what feels like forever, closing my eyes while listening to the voice inside my head; he’s speaking in the language of the witches. I was never taught how to understand it, and I shouldn’t be able to understand it now. Still, miraculously, I can remember every word.

My eyes suddenly fly open, the voice in my head commanding me, and as I stretch my hand out towards the wall, the stone I’m clutching onto begins carving symbols into the rough wall.

The language of the witches.

WOLF

I shoot out of bed with a sudden knock at the door; my first response is panic when I realize Sasha isn’t in my arms.

Where the fuck is she?

Fearing the worst, that somehow, while I was asleep, the witch and Caius came and took her away, my eyes scan the room frantically when they finally land on her standing in front of a wall, staring aimlessly as if she’s in some trance.

Sasha?

Frowning, I blink, my jaw going slack. I’m taking in the whole wall in front of her, covered in strange markings that weren’t there when we went to sleep.

What the fuck?

But another knock at the door has my eyes flying over to it, a full-blown scowl forming when I leap up and towards it.

Who the hell would be knocking at the door?

I didn’t realize that was still a privilege we had.

My feet move towards the door, but my eyes are fixed on Sasha; she’s got her back to me, completely unphased, as she continues carving strange symbols against the wall with a rock.

I clench my jaw when I reach the door and stare at it warily; there’s an enchantment on it; I’m not stupid enough to touch it.

I’m about to growl at whoever is on the other side to fuck off when Damien’s voice murmurs from the other side,

“Wolf, you there, man?” Blinking, I smirk in response,

“Where the fuck else would I be, Damien?” There’s a moment of silence on the other side when he mumbles,

“Good point,” I’m not in the mood for mind games, so when my wolf surges to the surface, I instantly growl,

“What the fuck do you want?”

“Okay, I’m going to open the door, so just don’t fucking attack me, okay?” Narrowing my eyes, I’m instantly suspicious when I mutter,

“How can you open the door if it has been enchanted?”

“Because the enchantment doesn’t affect me; it only affects you and Sasha from escaping; something about it being stronger than a metal cage, well, that’s what Lisbon said.”

Snickering, I grin as I shake my head impatiently,

“Yeah, okay, fine, open the door.”

“You’re not going to attack me, right?”

“No, Damien, I’m not going to attack you; besides, wouldn’t that defeat the object of having an enchantment on the door if I could step out the door and attack you?”

“Well, I was going to come inside, actually.” Clenching my jaw, the door opens slowly; the moment it does, I grab it. Stupid fucking mistake. I wince as the searing surge of high-voltage electricity courses through my body, sending an agonizing jolt of intense pain through me, instantly overwhelming my senses and leaving me in a state of shock and disorientation when I growl in annoyance.

‘Not doing that again’.

Damien’s eyes connect with mine the moment I look up at him; it’s then that my brows furrow with confusion. He’s holding a big black duffel bag in his hands; narrowing my eyes, I stare at it before looking back up at him.

“What’s in the bag, Damien?”

I suppose he looks nervous; I would also feel uneasy around me right now. I’m still acutely aware that Sasha is standing just off to my left, drawing god knows what against the wall closest to the bathroom.

“Um...” He begins to shuffle around nervously as he looks down at the bag; before lifting his eyes to look back up at me, he quickly looks over his shoulder nervously before turning his attention back at me, “So, can I come in?”

Cocking a brow, I slowly step aside and eye him warily without saying a word; the moment he steps inside, he’s totally unaffected by the enchantment, just like he said; he closes the door, making me even more suspicious.

Why is Damien able to walk in here? Lisbon isn’t careless enough to have him waltz in here, right?

When his eyes fall on Sasha, he stops and frowns; my eyes fall on her again, and she’s still silently carving symbols onto the wall.

“Is she okay?”

I leave him standing there as I come up beside her, looking up at all the symbols on the wall; I sigh. I’m trying to understand what they are, but I’ve never seen something like this before, and Sasha’s so lost in what she’s busy doing that she doesn’t even stop to look at me.

“I don’t know; I just woke up to her doing this,”

Turning my head to look at her face, it’s almost as if she’s asleep, except her eyes are wide open; a rush of concern washes over me. I want to stop her and pull her away from what she’s doing, but something tells me not to. Her eyes are completely glazed over, almost a light grey layer clouding them.

What is she doing?

This all looks pretty witchy, and considering I don’t know anything about this stuff, I’m merely observing her now.

Damien comes and stands on the opposite side of Sasha, peering up at the carvings as his eyes widen in surprise.

A sudden low growl reverberates as I eye him warily, but strange enough, I don’t feel threatened by his presence right next to her; I want him to understand that if he touches her, I’ll kick his ass, though.

He instantly has his hands flying up on either side of him in defense of my growl,

“Hey, I won’t touch her, man; I’ve got my hands full with one, mate. Besides, we’re leaving first thing in the morning.”

My brows furrow as I take a step back and away from Sasha, and he does the same,

“What do you mean we?”

Running his hand through his disheveled, messy hair, he shrugs,

“Mason and I both leave first thing in the morning.” Narrowing my eyes questioningly, I can’t help but feel that pang of rage at the mention of Mason’s name.

“She’s going with you; how?”

“Yeah, Lisbon wants to kill her, almost did; after what happened, Lisbon went back to the west wing, and we were still there. I was waking up when I heard the commotion. Lisbon had Mason in a fucking death grip, using her magic to suffocate the life out of her.”

Smirking, I roll my eyes,

“For once, that witch and I agree on something; we both want Mason dead.” A low growl reverberates through Damien, which has me cocking a brow and folding my arms over my broad chest. “She fucking tried to kill Sasha. Don’t expect me to feel any remorse for her because I won’t.”

Lowering his eyes, he swallows hard, clearly trying to reign his wolf back in. There is no point in his wolf having a showdown of dominance with mine; it would be stupid and unwise, and he knows it.

“I know what she did was wrong; she knows it too. But Sasha is alive...”

“She could have died,” I sneer, my eyes narrowing on him in response,

“But she didn’t, Wolf. I know you can’t trust Mason right now...”

“I won’t trust Mason ever again.” I corrected him. His jaw clenches when he nods, but then crouches down before the duffel back; zipping it open, he silently opens it up.

My eyes lower when I see food and clothing inside. Looking up at me, Damien smiles, but it doesn’t reach his eyes; he somehow looks sad, and I can’t place this newfound change in him.

“Like I said, if I don’t feed you, who will, right?” I can’t help smirking suspiciously, it turning up at the corners of my mouth as I watch him with profound curiosity,

“You brought me food and clothes?”

“Yeah, I mean, it’s for both of you.” He shrugs when looking over at Sasha and then back at me. “She must be starving, or maybe not; I don’t know. I just thought to bring you some blueberry muffins and turkey.” Looking up at me, he frowns, “She likes turkey, right?” My brows come together as I think it over, not whether or not Sasha likes turkey but why Damien is doing all this.

Looking back down at the bag of stuff, he shrugs, “I got some salad from the kitchen, fresh drinking water, and a change of clothes for both of you. Caius’s slave was ordered not to come near your room; when I asked her for your clean clothes, she pointed them out to me in the laundry.”

I suddenly can’t hold back my curiosity when I mutter,

“Damien, why are you doing all this? I mean, it’s not like you owe me a damn thing. I beat you up two years ago; you still hated my guts two days ago, so what changed?”

Letting go of the bag, he stands up straight to look me in the eyes when he shrugs,

“Technically, I still hate your guts, but two years ago, you beat me up because I provoked you; I was jealous of you, Wolf. I’m not ashamed to admit it now. Caius always favored you over me. I never understood why, but now I know. It was because I wasn’t his son, and he knew who you were and wanted to draw you in so he could take this very thing from you, this ancient bloodline you carry within your veins.” Scoffing, I shrug,

“Yeah, but that was no reason for me to beat you up, fuck, Damien. I could have killed you; I wasn’t myself then...”

“But I gave you a reason, though, didn’t I,” He mutters, cutting me off, “I tried to convince you to help me kill Caius because of what a total dick he was to me, fuck; I wish you had helped me end his miserable existence, even if it was for the wrong reasons back then,” I’m surprised to hear him say that. Still, I don’t butt in when he continues, “And when you refused to help me, I told you that your mother was probably a fucking whore who dumped you and went off looking for another lay when the irony was that my mom was all those things, not yours.”

Swallowing an uncomfortable feeling forming in my throat, that memory comes back tenfold; the moment Damien called my mother a whore, I reacted without thinking. I didn’t even know my mother, yet I defended her honor like she was the most important person to me.

Blowing out a heavy breath, I shake my head when I mutter,

“It doesn’t matter anymore; that was a long time ago. I think we’ve grown up a lot since then.” Nodding, Damien smirks before sighing.

“Look, man, I’ve got to go; it’s like 3 AM; I’m sure if I get caught in here by the wicked witch of the west, she’ll fucking have my balls.” Scoffing, I can’t help finding that funny, ‘wicked witch of the West’; that sounds just about right.

“But Wolf...” Damien suddenly calls out, my eyes fixing on him when he grits out, “Lisbon is fucking poison, man; it’s not when she’s showing her true colors that you should be wary; it’s when she pretends to be all caring and shit that you should be worried, truly worried. Don’t let your guard down around her, not ever.”

My brows furrow, eyes narrowing when I nod in response,

“I’ll remember that, and thank you for bringing this stuff; you didn’t have to...”

“I know,” He shrugs, “but... I wish there was more that I could do; I wouldn’t say I like this whole thing with Lisbon. And Caius is in too deep with her to back out now; I’m no match against her or Caius, so I’ve gotta get Mason out of here while I still can.”

Nodding my brows furrow when I blow out a sigh,

“Yeah, I know, it’s been a roller coaster since meeting my girl, but I wouldn’t change it for the world, and if this is how it all ends for me, then at least I’ll die while I’m with my mate.”

Damien’s brows furrow in response, and he wants to say something but holds back instead. Turning towards the door, he nods as he steps through the invisible enchantment like it’s not even there, the same enchantment that would roast my ass if I tried to touch it. Turning back one last time, his eyes are suddenly filled with sorrow and regret when he mutters,

“Take care of yourself, man. I’m sorry that I couldn’t...” But I cut him off when I grumbled,

“Don’t you fucking dare get all sentimental on me, Damien; you take Mason and get the hell out of here while you still can. And no matter what, don’t look back.”

Nodding, I see him swallow hard before closing the door; standing there, I suddenly have this strange feeling of sadness wash over me when I think of him leaving. Am I now the one becoming all sentimental and soft? I suddenly wonder.