The Chase

KAI

Pain. It was the only thing I could comprehend, that and hatred. It polluted me with every minute that passed in the dungeons with Silas. He made sure I was restrained before using every old trick in the book to get me to crack, but I wouldn’t.

He should remember that from last time. I was splayed out against the brick wall, my arms chained, my chest bare and bleeding as he whipped it. I planted my feet, roaring as I bucked against the restraints. My teeth gnashed; my wolf, enraged, tried to shift, but he kept me pinned so I couldn’t.

Silas laughed, his tall, pale frame making me murderous—more murderous than I already was. But I laughed wickedly, spitting blood at him, flashing my red eyes at him as he twirled the whip in his hands.

“Nikolai, you’re going to give in. You might as well do it now.”

“C’mon, Silas, you know it’s the chase you love. So keep chasing, and I’ll keep running.”

He laughed at that, a cynical laugh that was not humorous at all.

He whipped me again, and I absorbed the pain, grinning at him. “Again, Daddy.” I winked at him.

“Disgusting!” he snarled before whipping the leather across my cheek. It opened instantly, the sting piercing my flesh as it leaked warm liquid.

“Just like old times,” I taunted breathily, the edges of my vision breaking. I hadn’t eaten in a long time since we had arrived. My healing had been nullified by the weakened state he kept me in.

The wolfsbane he drowned me in daily kept me constantly at his mercy, but I’d take it because I knew the longer he was in my cell with me, the less he was in my Little Luna’s.

“Oh no, Nikolai. That is where you are wrong because this time is different, and that difference is going to break you.”

“Hate to break it to you, Si, but you’re not stronger than last time. Maybe it’s that old age getting to you.” I smirked through the haze in my head. He just shook his head, smirking back, leaning close enough to make me want to gag, his stench polluting me as heavily as the wolfsbane.

“But I did not have your mate last time, and I have a feeling you won’t be so smug when I use her to make you break.” He grinned, and the red-hot anger froze in my veins. My glare turned icy on him, my entire body shaking as I tugged at my restraints.

“You won’t touch her,” I warned, but that made him laugh.

“Yes, I will. And I will hurt her in every way my imagination can come up with until you concede to me. Give me the wolves, surrender, and it all ends. I’ll take her hand in marriage, the realm will be mine, and we can pretend this never happened.” He grinned, but I snarled.

“You hurt her, and when I get my chance to end your fucking life, I will do it in the most painful way possible.”

“When you’re as old as I am, Nikolai, pain does not register as easily as you’d think.”

“So that wolf bite isn’t giving you trouble?” I targeted this because he had been weaker when using that side for whipping.

He shrugged. “A minor inconvenience. It’ll heal.”

“Maybe, but so will I, and you better hope I am not uncuffed when that happens,” I threatened, but he just went to the cell door and knocked on it. It opened, and a vamp came in, dragging Lorelai in unconscious, in her underwear.

The vampire strung her up next to me, and that anger returned tenfold. I roared so loud it shook the concrete cell, almost breaking free from the chains, trying to get at the vamp who dared to touch her. He just grinned and clamped her cuffs to the wall like I was.

He was not as strong as Silas, though, and naive to what a mate would do to protect the other. I was more than happy to show him that, though. I kicked my leg out, swiping at his feet, and the second he went down, I leaned forward with my canines out and caught him before he fell with my teeth in his neck.

I clamped down, ripping through every tendon and windpipe of his throat before launching him to the other side of the cell, all before Silas could get to me and shove my head into the concrete. My head rocked painfully, and I reeled as his hand went around my throat, his long fingers closing my airways, his teeth baring next to my jaw, but I met his eyes with a glare of my own.

“Kill my vampires, and I will pierce every part of her skin with my teeth. Then I’ll watch the poison slowly kill her,” Silas warned, and I snapped my teeth at him. He moved back before my teeth could catch him, and I smirked, spitting his vamp’s blood from my mouth, the warm liquid dripping down my chin.

“No, you won’t. Because you want her and her power, and to get her, you have to go through me. Which we both know is going to be harder than last time because, as you pointed out, I have something to lose now.”

“Oh, I know, Nikolai, and I am going to exploit that fact every minute of every day until one of you caves.”

“We won’t,” I bit out, but he just shrugged as if he knew better.

“Maybe you won’t. Maybe watching your mate be tortured for your decision won’t be enough, but can you say the same for her? Will she be able to watch that happen to you without giving in?” He smirked.

He left me with those thoughts, leaving the room, and I hated that I didn’t know the answer to his question.

“Little Luna, you’ve got to wake up. Mate,” I said to her, shaking my chains, trying to get her to wake up. She stirred, and I moved my leg against hers. She jolted awake, then winced as her head hit the wall and the shackles clanged.

She tugged on them, then freaked out, trying to get free, her heart racing.

“Little Luna,” I said, and her head snapped to me, her eyes filling.

“Kai,” she whispered.

“Don’t look at me like that. I got through this once; I’ll do it again,” I promised, not sure if it was true, but I had just given her my word, so now it had to be.

“Will you? I’m so sorry. I shouldn’t have gone out there,” she said, tears falling, but I shook my head, piercing her with my eyes.

“No, mate. You do not show them that. No tears, no fear, do you understand? They are going to use everything against us in here, and I need you strong. Can you do that for me, Little Luna?” I soothed, and she swallowed back her tears, steeling her gaze on mine before nodding.

“I will.”

“Good, because they are going to hurt us, use us against each other, and I need your word that you are not going to give in to save me. You are my mate, and it is going to kill me to see them hurt you, but it’ll be worse for you—Silas will make sure of it. He wants you to give in, and you can’t let that happen. Do you get what I’m telling you? Can you do this?” I asked.

I needed to hear her say it, to see the fire in her eyes that drew her to me in the first place. I was a moth to a flame when it came to her, and I had to keep that flame burning. No matter what.

She nodded quickly and looked toward the door, then back at me.

“I can’t get to my magic or my shadows. They’re locked inside me.”

“And they’ll stay that way until those cuffs are off,” I grimaced, but she just looked scared.

“Kai, without my magic…the wolves…” She breathed, and my eyes went wide. I had been focused on her; I hadn’t considered what it would mean for the wolves back in the city.

Derik would have, but not me. I was obsessed, and this was one of the few times I’d ever felt guilty for that.

“There’s nothing we can do about it, Little Luna. We just have to survive, then we can figure out what to do when we get back.” I swallowed, hating that option as much as she did.

“I just got my family back,” she said, her face crumpling, and it made the anger so visceral, I almost roared, but that would invite that sadistic fuck back, so I had to get a hold of it. And so did Lorelai.

“And they will still be there when we get back, safe. But we have to get through this first.”

“I know,” she said before clenching her eyes shut and letting the mask fall over her features, hiding every emotion except rage. That was my mate.

“Good girl,” I breathed and smirked.

“So how do we play this? Weak and tired—make him think we’re giving in, or feisty and bitchy so he knows we’re not going down without a fight?” she asked, and I grinned.

“We’re werewolves, Little Luna. We’re not going down easy,” I winked, and she smirked.

“I was hoping you’d say that,” she said, then looked toward the door with a determined look. “What are his weaknesses? What gets on his nerves the most?”

I laughed. “You. Me. Any defiance. But mate, you have to be careful. He may look calm most of the time, but he can snap—don’t push it that far. And don’t listen to anything he says. Even if it sounds like the truth, don’t believe it. He’s saying it to get under your skin,” I warned.

She nodded a second before the door opened to Silas’s smug face.

“Here we go,” she muttered, and we both turned to him, ready for whatever he was willing to do to us.

We didn’t break. No matter how hard he pushed, what he did to us, we didn’t break.

It came close, and I didn’t remember what it felt like to not be in pain, but every second that my Little Luna didn’t give in was another second that I refused. We fed off each other’s determination, and we survived.

It was the hardest thing I’d ever done in my life.

But we survived. Together.

Silas tried everything, but his favorite game was using us against each other, trying to see how far he could push me before I begged him not to hurt her anymore. He pushed to see how far he could hurt me before she cried out for him to stop, to focus on her.

And we did. I swore I would gut him every damn day he made her endure the pain of seeing her mate in the state I was in, and every day he pushed her into the same state.

I wasn’t sure how long it had been; the days didn’t really matter anymore, but I knew we were getting weaker, and if we didn’t break soon, we were going to die.

“Lorelai,” I breathed. “Little Luna.”

She lifted her head lazily, letting it fall back against the wall with her eyes closed, her body sagging in the cuffs.

“I’m still here,” she huffed, blood dried over her mouth and face from the multiple contusions. That whip of Silas’s showed no mercy, and when it came to giving that smug prick a taste of his own medicine, I was going to make damn sure it showed him none.

“Don’t go to sleep,” I forced out of a hoarse throat.

“I can’t stay awake,” she muttered, her voice fading.

“If he sees you sleep, he’ll bring in the blades again,” I urged, and she gave me a weak nod.

“I know.” Her eyes fluttered open to see me. They were swollen from lack of sleep, but she held on, and the way she did made me so proud of her. She was a luna.

“Distract me,” she whispered.

I racked my brain for something that would keep her awake enough.

“You want me to tell you what I’m going to do to you when we get out of here?” I smirked, and her lips tugged to the side.

“Sex? That’s where your mind went?”

I shrugged, ignoring the pain in my shoulders from it.

We were allowed down for the bucket and for an hour each on the cot in the corner, but always shackled and always separate.

Other than that, we were chained to the wall, and my arms ached, my body throbbed, but I endured it just like my Little Luna did because we had no choice. The only other option they gave us was kneeling to their rule, and that wasn’t going to happen.

I wasn’t going to give him permission to my pack, and Lorelai wasn’t going to accept his marriage offer. It was a stalemate, and we all knew it, even Silas.

Which is why he kept us alive, so he could keep having fun, tormenting and torturing until we were nothing, not strong enough to fight him. And maybe we couldn’t right now, but he didn’t understand enough about the pack and how it worked.

The second he let my mate out of those cuffs, her magic would fuel the pack with strength, and they would send it straight back to us. We would heal, we would survive. Then it would be Silas’s turn. That thought was the only thing keeping me as strong as I had been.

“I want you whether we’re tied to a wall or back home. I always will, Little Luna, you should know that by now,” I responded before I could get too lost in my rage and revenge plans.

“I do.” She gave a half-hearted smile, then turned her head to me, leaning against the wall as her eyelids dropped a little. I grabbed her hand where it was shackled next to mine and held it.

“We’re going to get out of here,” I promised, and she locked her gaze on me.

“I thought that was true, but now, I’m not so sure,” she whispered, and I licked my dry lips before reassuring her.

“We will,” I said, planning on giving her a speech about Zale and Enzi, Derik and Brax. I wanted to remind her why she was fighting so she kept going, but before I could, Silas came in.

He wore a smug smirk as he looked over us. He put his little pouch of torture blades on the small table by the door, then stood with his hands behind his back.

“You won’t get what you came for, Silas, give up,” I snarled.

He grinned. “You and I both know I will not do that. Whether you give me what I want or not. Especially when I have decided on a new tactic.”

“Go to hell, Silas,” Lorelai bit through a tired breath, closing her eyes as she kept her head against the wall, not even bothering to look at him. It was clever, showing him the disrespect of not giving him the attention he wanted.

It did piss him off the fastest, though, and his smirk went from smug to malicious in a second.

“Oh, I run hell, winter born, and you just walked through the gates,” he taunted. She didn’t even flinch.

I hated the way he looked at her. Like he was a second away from sinking his fangs into her, and maybe he was. My blood boiled when he had his attention on her, so I rattled my chains, earning his attention instead, giving him the reaction he wanted.

“You are nothing but a pest. We will rip you apart with our teeth the second we get the chance.”

He laughed, that crazy look in his red eyes.

“I won’t give you that chance, Savage. But what I am going to do? Keep you here, suffering so your pack grows weaker and weaker. Every day that passes is another one they descend into mindless morons. They succumb to their base instincts and leave openings. Not to mention the humans. Did I mention them? They are scared, hiding but guess what?” He grinned, waiting for us to give him the audience he wanted for his show.

“What about the humans?” Lorelai bit out, her body shaking as her eyes tried to glow, but weakness kept her from pushing her wolf out.

“Oh, they are going to be a tasty snack to make my vampires strong before we take the city and the wolves. With the way they’re going, it won’t be long before they can’t form a sentence, let alone a defensive plan. I wonder which human I will start with? Maybe the pretty one with the matching navy eyes as you, Lorelai? I bet she tastes delicious.”

Silas grinned, his fangs baring, looking salivated as he got the reaction he wanted.

“Stay away from her!” Lorelai screamed at him, her voice raspy and broken as he lit that fire in her.

He was an idiot because when he earned her fire, he had no idea how close he was to being burned, but I knew. I knew she would get her own back, and that the fire kept her alive. It kept her from giving up.

“No, I don’t think I will. I will gut every last human, suck them dry, and then I will descend on the wolves with a calculated attack that leaves them all begging for my mercy. And only then will I give them the offer of a lifetime.”

“They will never take your offer,” I growled, but Silas grinned and turned to the table, picking up a curved blade with a patterned handle.

“Maybe not. But they might if I told them it would save you two. Or maybe it would only take one. I would bargain life and freedom for their dear brother or mate, and I bet they would cave.” He smirked, but I shook my head.

“They won’t.”

“You sure?” he asked, grinning as he ran the blade down my body—light enough not to draw blood but hard enough to irritate my skin. I clenched my jaw, waiting for the pierce of the tip in my skin, but instead, he went over to Lorelai.

He drew blood there, adding another cut to her arm. She refused to scream, clenching her jaw, meeting his eyes like a feral wolf, and daring him to cut her again. She was fucking perfect.

“Who would they choose, I wonder? Brother? Or mate? I think it would only take one of you,” he said with a smirk, and I finally caught on to the game he was playing—the mind fuck he was giving us.

He was insinuating that only one of us needed to live, which meant by the time he was finished playing, one of us would be dead.

But I had been here before; I had played these games before with him, and he was a fucking liar. He wouldn’t kill us; he wanted us as his broken toys that he could put together however he wanted us. Like a pet or a slave.

He didn’t want us dead; he wanted to use us. But it didn’t mean the mind games wouldn’t work on her. Lorelai went stiff, her eyes darting to mine as she figured out that he was planning on killing one of us.

“Me, take me,” she said quickly, her eyes wild. But Silas laughed again, stepping back.

“Oh, it will not be that easy, winter born. I don’t want a volunteer; I want the strongest one to break, and only then will I choose my victor,” he said before spinning the blade and throwing it. I didn’t flinch as it sailed past my head and dug into the wall behind us.

“There will be no victor, only a loser, and I will make sure it is you, Silas,” I promised. But he just smirked, walking over to me and running his talon down my cheek so it did draw blood this time.

“No, you won’t, pet. Because we’ve played before, and we both know how that ended, don’t we?” he said, grinning. I lashed out at his hand, trying to reach it with my gnashing teeth, but he moved too fast.

“We do. I escaped. I killed some vamps, but I survived. And if I survive this time, I won’t be escaping, and I sure as hell won’t be running. I’ll be hunting, Silas. And every last minute you have been in here, I have been committing your scent and face to memory so the second I turn, my wolf will find you. And it will remind you of your place in the realm pecking order. At the fucking bottom.” I snarled, my lip curling as I used every bit of strength in my throat and chest to make the words as menacing as I meant them.

“Looking forward to it, Savage,” he patronized. I growled, straining against my cuffs, but they were bolted and locked in with some magic bullshit that stopped me from letting my wolf take care of this asshole.

“Oh, and just so you know, even if you get out of here, even if you manage to break out of this castle, my vampires will hunt you down. And if by the slim chance you make it to the werewolves, it’ll be too late. Because my plan doesn’t just involve you two or the leverage you give me. I have other wheels turning to make sure you all go down. So try it. You’ll still be mine before this is over,” he said before leaving the room. He turned in the doorway.

“No dinner tonight, sorry wolves. We’re in phase two, so we’re going to be busy hunting humans,” he said, grinning before slamming the door shut. I let out a roar so loud, the concrete cell shook, rubble falling as I fought the chains.

Fury was so tight in my body, so high in my veins, I needed an outlet. I needed fresh air, a run, to turn, to fuck, to fight. I was sick of this shit; I was sick of him. I was a fucking alpha, and Silas was acting like that didn’t matter. But it fucking did.

I was strong, and I was not going to break. But the needs and desires that ate away at my resolve were desperate.

The idea that the wolves and humans were about to get slaughtered and tricked by that fucking vampire sent my head into a spin I could barely breathe through. I roared and screamed, yanking and cursing at the chains, trying to get free.

Blood and sweat mixed over my body as I pulled, yanked, and fought. But the damn chains stayed in the wall, not letting me free. It made me panic. A manic desperation took over, and I tried harder.

“Kai!” Lorelai snapped, and her voice cut through my panic.

I swung my head to her. I knew I looked wild; I knew the savage inside me was trying to break through. It wanted to lash out, kill everything it saw, and I would let it the second I got out of those damn chains.

“Kai,” Lorelai said more softly, and I relaxed a little more.

“Mate,” I breathed, trying to pull on some semblance of sanity.

“The wolves are strong; they can handle Silas. Trust them,” she said.

I shook my head. “We have to warn them, help them.”

“We can’t. Not right now. All we can do is survive. But the more you struggle, the more you feed the need. And waste your strength.” She was the voice of reason and probably the only one I would ever listen to.

“You’re not worried? He wants the humans too.”

“I know, and I will cut his fangs from his mouth for whatever he does to them. But we can’t afford to lose our shit right now. He said that to rattle us; don’t let him win.”

“He won’t win,” I snapped.

She smirked. “No, he won’t. We know that, and we’re going to teach him that lesson the hard way. But we can only do that if you keep your shit together,” she said, and I nodded.

It made sense, and I knew that. But the bite of the cuffs seemed so much worse, the desperation eating at my sanity bit by bit.

I wanted revenge, the feel of his body crunching beneath mine a second before I had my mate screaming beneath me. I groaned and hung my head back.

“I need you,” I whispered hoarsely, and she laughed.

“I fucking love you, Kai,” she said, grinning.

I smirked at her. “That word is a human word. You, my Little Luna, have me—mind, body, and soul. I’m yours, and I will burn our world down to prove it to you,” I vowed, her words carving into my heart.

They branded there so I could repeat them over and over in my head until it was all I could feel and hear, bringing me back from the brink whenever my manic tried to take over. But I wouldn’t let it because she was right; we had to be patient.

We would get free, we would escape, and I knew that when my eyes fell on the knife in the wall and the tools Silas had left on the table across the room.

He was so confident we were stuck in our chains, but he was too confident. Because he should never underestimate how far a wolf would go for his mate.

Especially a mate like me, because there isn’t a thing I wouldn’t do.