Chapter 31

Kyles pov(whaaaat?)

'Leave me alone', my peaceful rest is interrupted by pressure on my chest, then a harsh sting to my face, followed by a second. I can hear sounds, it's like muffled voices but I can't make them out, then I feel pain flare through my body and I can hear them clearly.  "Come on, wakey, wakey," a singsong tone and the voice sounds familiar.

"Do you think we really killed him? He was under for a while, he should be responding by now," That voice I know, and reality slaps me in the face. I was taken by hunters, they tortured me and they drowned me. I thought I was done, but I guess not.

Another harsh push to my chest makes me lift off the floor and try to take a breath, only to be stopped by a burning sensation in my lungs and a need to hack up whatever is in there. "Hey, there you go, not dead after all." He sounds way too pleased with himself, it makes me want to die again just to piss him off. I'm turned on my side and start to retch up the water from my lungs, the violent motion makes me empty the contents of my stomach as well, since I haven't eaten for who knows how long only bile comes out.

After my breathing stabilizes I'm pulled into a seated position and leaned against a wall, I'm too weak to do anything more than just sit there and watch the two men in front of me.

"You gave us a bit of a scare kid, you were gone for almost five minutes, we kinda figured you wouldn't make it." He kicks my limp legs but I can't muster up the strength to react, "Hey, are you all there?" he waves a hand in front of my face, then he turns to his buddy, "Maybe his brain got fried? It may have been too long for him to go without oxygen?"

The first thing that really registers is a feeling of emptiness, I feel like I'm missing a piece of me. But I can't quite put my finger on what that something is.

"Nah, I think he just needs to reboot a little," I'm once again kicked and feel my leg jerk from the contact, "See? He felt that."

Kane leans closer to my face and make sure to have eye contact, "Did you know," he has a diabolic glint in his eyes, like he takes a perverse pleasure in what he's about to tell me, "that when one mate dies the bond is severed between them? Even if the one who died is revived the bond is still broken," I feel my heart thumping unevenly and my chest restrict as I realize what the empty feeling is, I can't feel Anders and Mads anymore. They are gone, and left a huge hole in my soul.

He just continues on like he didn't just deliver a killing blow, "We made this discovery completely by chance, we had a mated pair here and we accidentally killed the male, even though we got him back his mate went completely batshit crazy. She was screaming and wailing, clawing at her own skin, it was such a treat to watch," like the psycho he is, he is smiling. "As a little experiment we let him inside her cell to let them remark each other, just to see if that would work, but she was too far gone and managed to rip her own throat out. He lost every shred of sanity seeing his mate die like that, we had to put down the poor bastard after that."

Goddess, what does this mean for Anders? Does he think I'm dead? He must have felt the bond break, and if what these men are saying has any truth to it he could be losing his mind right now, he must be hurting so bad. I know without a shadow of a doubt that I need to get out of here, I have to get back to Anders. He needs to know that I'm fine.

"Let's put him in one of the cells to heal up, if we kill him again this soon we might not be able to bring him back and it would be a shame to lose him now." They waste no time lifting me up from the ground, carrying me two doors down and unceremoniously dumping me on the floor, I grunt as my bare back connects to the cold cement floor. A piece of bread and a bottle of water is thrown in, "Be a good boy and eat, the food will help you heal up faster, wouldn't want you to lose your spirit just yet." To be honest I think I have lost my spirit, the moment I realized that I lost my connection to Anders, I lost the support of the love he sent me, and I'm not sure how to stay sane without it. But I have to, if I don't, my mate will die for sure, and I will not allow that to happen without putting up a fight. So I eat the food and drink the water, I have to keep up my strength if I'm going to get out of here. My body I beyond tired, my eyes closes and with the image of my beautiful wolf before my eyes I fall asleep.

I wake up to the sound of cursing and shouting, one voice comes through loud and clear, "Take your fucking hands off me you, limpdick bastards!" Okay someone really doesn't wanna be here, I know the feeling.

He is cut off by the sound of fists hitting flesh and pained groans replace the cursing, for a few seconds that is, "I would like to see you do this without me being bound you cowards!"

"Shut the fuck up! We have already killed one tiger today, none of us will mind killing another," that has my attention. They caught another tiger? "Put him with the other one, but chain them to separate walls, two male tigers in close proximity will probably mean at least one dead." The door to my cell opens and two hunters come inside, and with my brain still being a little scrambled from...well dying, I can't seem to find the strength to fight back as they pull me against a wall and chain me down. Then two more hunters follow, hauling a huge guy that definitely smells of tiger, he is chained to the wall opposite me, and then the humans leave the cell.

The tiger doesn't speak, he just eyes me with fury in his eyes, I don't mind the lack of conversation, that just means that I get to observe him too. He seems to be about my age, maybe a few years older, he's built like a truck, with bulging muscle, his clothes are torn but they look like the type of clothes a biker would wear. All in all an impressive tiger.

"Soooo, how ya doin?" Maybe a bit lame, but how the hell do you start a conversation with a person who's seemingly busy trying to kill you with their eyes?

"Just peachy," he snarls in response, "I just love being chased down by hunters, who recked my bike by the way, and being carted off to wherever the hell this place is. And then, as icing on the cake, being chained to the wall next to a male whos triggering my tiger something fierce, and this place must be coated by cyclamen which it is hindering my shifting meaning I can't rip anyone's head off. How about you?"

Cyclamen? Why didn't I think of that? That's a plant which is poisonous to tigershifters, it keeps us from shifting and hinders some of our strength, it also leaves us a little dased and less clear headed. I've been too caught up with the pain and anger to really consider why the hell I haven't shifted and killed these bastards yet.

So he's not friendly, but at least he's talking, I can deal with that. Luckily for me my tiger is more used to sharing space with another tiger, granted Leila is a female but a tiger all the same. That coupled with the fact that my tiger is slightly more tolerant of others means I'm perfectly fine being in close quarters with this guy.

"Oh, I'm just fine, I just died and came back to life and was told that the love of my life is probably going insane because he thinks I'm still dead, I'm having the time of my life really," there, if you're going to be a sarcastic dick I can be one too.

He stares at me for a while, his eyes are difficult to interpret but he seems to be contemplating something, "Have me met before? No scratch that, if we had met before I would remember or you would be dead, but there's something really familiar about you." He tilts his head and actually looks pretty cute as he seems to try to remember me. "Wait one minute, do you know a girl, about your age, really cute, freckles, hangs out with wolves?" I was not expecting that.

"That sounds vaguely familiar, why?" Like I would tell him before he gives me a reason to.

"I met her, like a week or so ago, she showed up at a bar I like to hang out and almost started some real trouble. Some cock blocking wolf showed up, and she left with him," that is way too specific to not be Leila.

"I would guess that you had a run in with my charming sister."

"Sister hu, yeah, I see it now, different eyes, but other similar features, she seemed like a alright girl, bit of a cock tease, but she was in heat so I guess I can forgive that," he smirks at me, probably expecting me to get pissed at his description, but I know her good enough to know that she can indeed be a cock tease. Hell, I can be one too, even though I don't quite agree with the term, there is no law that says you can't flirt without putting out.

"Oh yeah, that's Leila," I shoot him a smile, and see him relax a little bit, maybe the guy doesn't want to kill me after all?

"I liked her, a tiger after my own heart, by that I mean willing to fuck me," he guffaws at his own humor, and I can't help laughing a little myself.

The hours pass and we are left alone so we have some time to get to know each other. He tells me his name is Connor, I, in turn, tell him about myself and Anders, and that's when I'm informed that rumors about my mating to Anders have been spread pretty far, and Connor seems amazed that he is now meeting the tiger behind the rumors. After a while we're both exhausted and end up falling asleep and get quite a few hours rest.

We are both woken up when the door opens, and Seth walks into the room "Well, well, looks like the boys are getting along, maybe they're both into dick? Sorry to break up the flirting, but I want to get to know my new toy," three rogues walks into the room and approaches my roommate, the feral growling coming from him clearly scare them making them decide against taking any chances, they band together and fists and feet fly, after a while his growling stills and so does his body. He's dragged out of the room, and I can't help being happy that it's not me. Knowing it won't be long until it is my turn I settle back against the wall and go back to sleep.

Once again I wake up with the sound of cursing, guess they didn't break the guy. The door opens and he's dragged back inside and chained back to the wall, he's covered in blood, cuts and burn marks but he seems to be somewhat conscious as he groans and sputters out insults at his captors. They just give me a look and walk out of the room, leaving us in peace for the time being.

I eye the injured man in front of me. For a while he seems to be asleep, but suddenly his eyes open and he looks me straight in the eyes, "You ready to get out of here?" He's got a grin on his face telling me he's got something up his sleeve.

"Yeah, you got a plan?"

"Oh please, chains can't hold me, I know every trick in the book and have no problem freeing myself from this," he makes some odd movements with his hands and sounds of popping joints are heard, and sure enough, his hands snap out of its restraints. He stands up and snaps his joints back in place as he walks up to me, "Now, this is going to hurt, just don't make a sound," he grabs hold of one of my hands and twist making pretty much every bone pop out of its place, and fuck yes, that hurt. I do my best to control my breathing and not groan as my hand slides free. Then he moves to my other hand and repeats the process, and just like that, I'm free. He helps me realign the bones and in a matter of minutes, I'm healed enough to use my hands again.

"Now all we have to do is wait for our next 'appointment', shouldn't take too long, the two us should overpower a couple of humans without breaking a sweat, and I doubt it would be too much of a problem if a few wolves show up either."

That sounds easy enough, just one problem, "I have no idea where to go, I was unconscious when I was brought here."

He just scoffs, "Luckily for us, they weren't smart enough to keep me under, I know where to go."

The Goddess must be rooting for us, cause we didn't have to wait long, maybe two hours of anxious waiting later the sound of the door unlocking is heard, me and Connor assume our positions trying to make it look like we're still secured to the wall, and watch silently as Seth walks in. He turns to me with a smile, "Kane and I decided you have gotten more than enough time to recover, and he has agreed to let me play with you this time, I can assure you that my tastes run more towards pleasure than pain," the creepy perv is all but saying I was about to be raped, I may not be the most violent person out there but this guy is in serious need of dying.

He leans down with his face close to mine, big mistake, I pull my hands away from my shackles, as he realizes the danger he is in his face is filled with brief fear. I say brief because that's all he has time for before I wrap my hands around his head and apply every ounce of pressure I'm capable off. His skull cracks with a crunching, popping sound, his eyes turn blood red as the blood vessels break and blood streams from his ears.

While I take care of Seth, Connor is busy killing the two rogues who came in with him, he makes quick work of breaking their necks. We give each other a quick glance as we move towards the door, and what greets us is an empty hallway, "Come on, it's this way," Connor hisses out as he moves down the hall towards a big door "fingers crossed this isn't locked," he tentatively tries the handle. And we both breathe a big sigh of relief when the door starts to swing open. But this is where our luck ends, when we open the door we are greeted with another hallway, but this one has 6 wolves and three hunters in it. They are standing with their backs to us listening to someone talking, but as they turn around another person becomes visible, Kane stares at us with anger as he realizes we have escaped.

"Hello there boys, someone's been naughty," he slowly move towards us with the rest of the men following his lead, "you have to realize you are severely outnumbered and don't stand a chance of actually getting out. So how about you give up now, and I will go easy with your punishment?" His voice is eerily calm, and his eyes shine with murderous intent. We would have to be idiots to listen to him.

"How about no? You fuckers might be able to kill us, but we will take a lot of you with us," Connor seems to share my thoughts.

The rogues crouch down ready to attack and the hunters all pull out knives, this is going to end bloody, but we have to try.

Two rogues launch themselves at us, at the same time some of the others attempt to attack, but the hallway is narrow, meaning they end up bumping into each other making the attack far less effective. The rogues who reach us are not very strong and we kill them easily. Our captures seem to be shocked at how fast we took down the wolves and pull back slightly.

"Ah, screw this, we'll just shoot them!" there's a commotion in the ranks no doubt from people heading to get weapons that packs a little more punch.

That plan is interrupted by the most beautiful sight I have ever seen, the whole hallway is suddenly flooded by wolves, they don't smell familiar, but who cares? They are fighting against the hunters, meaning they are with me.

In the chaos that follows their arrival I can see Kane manage to sneak inside one of the rooms in the hall and I try my best to get to that same door but there are just too many bodies, the hunters have far more people than I would have thought and right now they have all shown up fighting for their life. And losing I might add. By the time I get to the door I'm greeted by an empty room, how the hell is that possible? I saw him go in here, and I know for sure he didn't come out. I move along the walls and use all my senses, and finally, I smell it, one of the walls smells different, like clean air. I put my shoulder against it and push, feeling the wall give in. As it moves a hallway is revealed and I move along it only a few feet before I find a ladder, climbing it takes me to a hatch which in turn opens to a forest.

The sight before me is chilling, laying on the ground is Kane, and not in just one location. He is spread around the area, I can even see pieces of him dangling off the trees like some kind of morbid Christmas decoration, and along with the scent of blood and guts I can smell something that brings a tear to my eyes, Leila is here, that must mean my pack is here.

As soon as I step outside and away from the influence of the cyclamen my mind feels clearer and my body stronger, I have no problems following Leila's scent and soon I find a clearing where my pack is gathered, there are quite a few strange faces so they must have gotten reinforced by another pack. Leila is leaning on Axel with a forlorn look in her eyes.

Carl is barking out orders, "Secure the prisoners, they will be taken back to be questioned. Kill anyone who fights back, we don't need the hassle!"

My tiger is calling out to Leilas, and she must feel it. She tenses and shifts her eyes in my direction, as her gaze lands on me she stiffens. Axel immediately tenses as well, feeling the change in her, suddenly all eyes snap my way. They stare at me like they can't believe their own eyes.

"Kyle!" "Luna!" "What the hell?" "My Goddess!" The reactions are varied, but they are all equally shocked to see me, meaning they all really must have thought I was dead.

"Where's" my voice is shaky, "Anders?" He's not here, surely he would have come to save me? No one answers me, "Guys! Where is Anders?"

Leila takes a hesitant step in my direction, Axel tries to hold her back but she shrugs off his hands, "My Goddess! Kyle? How is this possible? You were dead, he said you died! How could he be wrong? The pack could feel the bond sewer too." Tears are pooling in her eyes as she moves towards me, when she gets close enough she reaches out and as she touches me she must finally believe I'm not some strange mirage. The tears start to spill, and I feel my own cheeks get wet as I shed some of my own.

"Kyle, it's really you," she leaps into my arms and sobs, "I don't know how this is possible and I don't care, you're alive. Thank the Goddess, you are alive."

It almost seems like some kind of spell has been broken as my pack members move towards me as one and all express their happiness at seeing me alive, there are tears and laughter as they take turns hugging me. Leila doesn't release me for a second, not until Axel walks up to us and wraps us both up in a real bear hug and somehow extract her as he pulls back, taking her with him.

The last person to walk up to me is Carl, he also pulls me into a hug, "Words can't express how happy I am to see you alive Luna," he leans away but leaves his hands on my shoulders looking into my eyes, I can see that his eyes are filled with conflicting emotions. He seems genuinely happy to see me, but there is a deep sorrow there, I'm not sure I want the answer but I have to ask.

"Carl, where is Anders?" Judging from his quivering chin and the tears that form in his eyes the news must be worse than I could imagine.

"Anders disappeared," his voice is strained as he tries to get the words out, "when he felt the mate bond break he couldn't deal with it. Only Mads is left, and he has gone rogue. The pain and loss were too much for them."

No, this can't be true! As I lose all strength in my legs I fall ungracefully on my ass. Leila plumps down next to me and pulls me into her arms. This can't be true!

"But if Mads is still alive Anders must be there too right? He must be somewhere inside, maybe he can come back?"

"I honestly don't know, as far as I know, this has never happened before. I'm pretty sure Anders, for all intents and purposes, is dead. I just don't know." Carl is clearly crushed by the loss as well.

So this is it? I found the love of my life and got to keep him for mere days before he was taken from me? Then what's the point? I might as well join him, maybe if I die too I can join him, wherever he is?

I almost smack myself at my thoughts. When have I ever been this willing to just throw in the towel and give up?

I wipe my tears, get back on my feet, then I look at all the people surrounding me, they stare at me like they're expecting a complete meltdown but that won't be happening.

"Hell no, he is not dead!" They flinch at the harshness of my words as I channel my inner Luna and let my power lace my words, "Anders is still in there, and I'm going to drag him back out!"

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See, I'm not as evil as you thought!

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