Jaidan

Had it been hours? Days? Weeks...months?

There was no time here. There was nothing here. My fingers brushed the cold wet stone of walls, my knees grazing jagged rocks as I sat in a puddle of water that had leaked from a small crack that provided a pin prick of light in the otherwise dark, stone cell.

It couldn't have been more than two weeks here, my lips were still scabbed, my eye still was swollen and my body still sore and bruised from being dragged here, yet I hadn't seen anyone since I passed out somewhere along the way.

My stomach churned reminding me that I had not been fed since I had been thrown in this dark torturous place without knowing the way in or out. My only source of water was the hopefully clean water falling above me.

I was in a box and I didn't know how I was going to get out. I wasn't afraid to admit that I was terrified of my situation.

Was I going to be left here until I died or were the rogues going to come back? Had they taken the pup? How were my friends? Was Tatum fine or was he still at the same place looking for me? Was he alive?

I screeched in pain when my knee moved and landed right on top of a sharp rock effectively burying it into my skin where I convinced myself that the tears falling down my face were from the pain of my knee and nothing else but I couldn't tell what had come first, the tears or the rock?

My head banged against the wall as I threw it back in frustrated helplessness, my hand going to remove the small rock effectively releasing a slow trickle of blood from the angry red skin.

Breathe in

Breathe out

I rubbed at my face for a moment before there was a cracking noise to my right, like a thump of rocks against the floor being thrown away making me quickly scoot the few feet towards the farthest wall from the noise.

''...... still alive?''

''Should be.''

Unfamiliar voices started breaking through my small prison as rocks were moved, light bleeding through the widening gaps between the now open spaces where hands reached in aimlessly.

A frightened growl rumbled in my throat and I bundled myself as far as I could move in the few feet the room provided to the darkest corner where the light couldn't touch.

Chuckles were sounding off behind the wall. First one person, then two then a whole lot more as I continued to shake in fear of what was waiting beyond the reaching hands.

One hand snatched at my arm and ripped me forward until I was firmly smashed up against the remaining few rocks until more hands grasped me in painful grips ripping and pulling me between rocks until I had fresh scrapes along my arms, thighs, and face. None of that bothered me however as I was dropped roughly onto the wet snow and surrounded by the menacing glares of rogues.

There would have to be at least twenty men and women all staring at my small body as I tried to cover myself from the biting cold of the weather and stared. My pants were ripped and tattered and my shirt was basically useless with a slit running from the bottom to the middle of my chest, splayed open for anyone to see the cuts and bruises.

I'd prayed in my box that these cuts and rips happened along the way and not by someone's hands while I was passed out. I wouldn't be able to forgive myself if it was the latter.

The laughter stopped as a man drew near, his feet were covered with old boots and his tan skin was wrapped up with warm looking clothes surely made of animal pelts. His aura was terrifying. He left the same aura a warrior or enforcer would choke a room with, it was suffocating like the air had been compressed and pushed downwards from the heavens onto yourself forcing you to lower your body in submission.

His dark blue, almost black eyes sunk into his sharp, strong features, thick but tamed eyebrows that were slightly veiled by his black hair that came to rest just grazing his muscular shoulders.

He reminded me terribly of someone I had seen, maybe in a picture, but as the rogue who had chased me joined his side I quickly darted my eyes away and towards my hands that were holding me up as I stayed on the ground.

The two men whispered before my nightmare made his way towards me with a sly smile coating his thick lips. Fingers pushed my untamed hair back behind my left ear before his lips made their way to the shell of my ear.

My body shivered on its own accord at the repulsion I felt towards the way the man was touching me. My wolf objected too, the way my canines elongated and my vision became sharper.

The man must have mistaken my shivers for pleasure as he licked my ear and pulled me towards him whispering the words ''You're Mine,'' but my wolf had other plans as my jaws sunk into whatever was closest to my mouth which happened to be where his shoulder met his bicep.

A growl vibrated my ear as he ripped me from himself and threw my head towards the ground. It felt like my head split in half as my vision became blotchy not a moment before my body sank to the ground.

~~

It was night time by the time I had awoken, the stars shining brightly in the sky. It was apparent that they had left me where I had lost consciousness, the sun melted snow chilling my bones.

My body went into survival mode as I looked around and saw no one around me, my first instinct to jump up and run as fast as I could towards the tree line, but as I did so my body felt heavy and dizzy, not lasting a moment before I fell with a rattle of chains and a coldness on my ankle.

I had been chained to the spot they had left me. No wonder they couldn't care less if I was by myself and not back in that box. My vision was still groggy from just waking up, my head heavy from the fall and a nasty headache forming in my back of my head where a bump was pulsing along.

My hand was shaking from the cold as I lifted it behind my right ear towards the back of my head where blood was firmly caked into my blonde hair. It felt like chunks of wet sand had been matted into my scalp and then dried into a hard sandy concrete.

The metallic, battery taste of blood still lingered in my mouth making my insides churn in disapproval as bile rose from my throat, my back arching as I wrenched only stomach acid up as there was no food in me.

My stomach and throat burned as tears sprung to my eyes, my throat feeling abused as it tried to wash the blood away, but the lingering feeling of the man touching me had me shivering and heaving once more.

There was a small clearing of a throat to my side and shuffling of feet before a plate was placed beside me full of old bread and what must have been soup or a stew.

My eyes wandered up pale skin littered with a bruise here and there, hand prints firm on wrists and on exposed thighs barely covered with denim shorts.

''You need to eat.'' The voice was broken and hoarse, throat covered in more hand prints leading up to a freshly cut lip and old bruised eye.

My eyes widened at the deep red colour his eyes held, however, they weren't bloodshot and rage filled like the rogues, he didn't even smell like a wolf. The scent of a wolf lingered on him, but his scent was different, it was almost a non-existent vanilla and lavender mix as if he used it to bathe but he had no natural musk.

His head lowered a moment before he walked off around a boulder I couldn't see past, my eyes returning to the stew in front of me where my stomach churned angrily again in hunger.

It wasn't my Aunt Petricia's chicken noodle soup or Uncle Rick's 'stew surprise' he made when my aunty was busy, but I could barely taste it as I devoured it, my throat crying in pleasure as the bile and blood were washed away and soothed with the watery broth and stale bread.

This story is sadly coming to an end soon as we've well passed half way. Don't fret we still have a few more chapters and all the characters will reoccur in a future book in the series especially Tate and Jai Jai, well hopefully not all these guys will reoccur.

More importantly, we need a name for our new little bruised boy. I've been itching a way to introduce him into this book for a while, he was only going to be introduced into Charlie's story but I couldn't help myself. I can just tell he is going to be my favourite of everyone, maybe you guys will fell the same once you figure out why, though maybe we'll hate him for a bit, depends. What will his name be?

Don't forget to follow me guys especially seeing as this story will be ending shortly so you can all receive updates when the new book comes along.