Black clouded my vision, my body felt like it was floating in space; weightless. But it was all over and I was falling hard towards something I didn't want to be.

*****

It was the most excruciating pain I'd ever experienced. Everything in me was breaking, my broken shattered bones being forced from their joints, tendons stretching and tearing. All I could do was lay there on the cold damp floor and scream till my throat was raw.

The next thing I remember was laying there my vision slowly clearing and seeing paws. Frowning I squinted down at the furry appendages and went to move away from them when they ended up following me.

'What?' I questioned on the verge of freaking out as I was staring down the nose of a canine snout, not a human one.

'Am I a... dog?'

This wasn't possible, was it?

"Seems like someone's awake" I snapped my head towards the voice in the room and saw Mistress sitting on my cot with a chain in her hand.

"I've been waiting so patiently for you to finish here." Standing she walked over to me her heels clicking against the stone floor.

Finish? What was she talking about?

"Come along" with that she walked out of the door and suddenly I was pulled off my feet and dragged across the ground. There was a burning starting around my neck as something closed tightly at my throat. With a whimper, I struggled against her suddenly realizing she had me leashed to that chain in her hands.

Why did it burn so much!

Choking I clawed at the chain its self but only ended up with a burn that singed my hand... paw? So I clawed at the floor instead, trying to gain my footing again but it was no use she was walking too fast and I was just knocked down again.

I just about had it when a deep rumbling growl was forced out of my mouth shocking me still. But I hadn't fazed the mistress in the slightest. I was harshly yanked, the chain cutting my air, as I slammed into the wall so hard I think a heard something break.

I gave a yelp of agony.

"Be a good boy now" Mistress said through gritted teeth and I knew from experience that was never a good thing.

"Looks like we need to teach you some manners" she continued to talk as I was dragged painfully across the filthy floor.

"Pets are never supposed to growl at their masters."

Then after what feels like a lifetime, we arrived at a giant silver door.

"This is your new room, unfortunately, I can't be the one to train you since I have important business to attend to but I leave you in capable hands." She crouched down to get at my level. She was always put together so neatly it made me sick. She had always made me dress her before this pain in my muscles had started resulting in what I had turned into. She had to always be dressed in what she called a pantsuit which consisted of black skin-tight dress pants or a pencil skirt, a jacket with a white blouse underneath or a waistcoat. Her hair was always up in a neat ponytail or bun, and her lips were always painted red.

I hated it, I hated dressing her. Being forced to touch her made me violently ill. And now she was inches from my face and I had a strong urge to lean out and bite her face off.

"Oh look at that expression, if I didn't know any better I think you wanted to hurt me mutt." She narrowed her eyes at me and smiled. Standing up straight she knocked of the door and glanced down at me once more.

"When I get back you better be like a well-trained lapdog because if I have to be told that you were being difficult while I was away..." she paused and glared down at me hard to the point I physically shrank back. "I'll make what you're about to experience look like child's play."

The door open then and I was shoved inside. She gave the chain to the woman, said I something couldn't understand and walked out. The last thing I saw before the doors closed again was her smiling face but underneath her façade I knew that she had been far from joking.

What went on behind that giant silver door was something even today I could never speak aloud. It was just a cluster of agony from what I remember but what I do recall very vividly was the voice that spoke calming words in my head. It told me that I was going to be okay, that I was going to survive and it would protect me. I didn't know till later that it had been my wolf who had spoke to me.

But he was gone now and there was no one to stop the pain. Everything the lady used was silver, that I learned was what caused all the burning pain. Knives, whips, the muzzle, chains to handcuff me to the wall for when she was down for the day. All silver.

Cuts and stabs from knives driving through my skin. With ever growl and snarl I was whipped repeatedly until I'm sure all the skin had been ripped from my back. There was this giant man-shaped metal contraption with spikes on the inside where the lady would shove me in and close it. That had to be the worst one. I stood there unable to move in fear of impaling myself of the burning spikes that seared my back and chest all the while my feet burned continuously making it difficult to stay up. After hours in that thing, I had become numb to everything. I didn't know if I was in pain or not anymore.

Make it stop please, make it stop! Why do I have to relive this again?

Wasn't living through it once enough! Why did the Spirits hate me so much?

'Please, Please, Please, Please!'

"Make it stop!"

<*><*><*><*><*><*><*><*><*><*><*><*><*><*><*><*><*><*><*><*><*><*><*><*>

~Gale~

At blurring speeds I carried Lakota to the pack infirmary, Cyrus was behind me keeping up with every step I took. Kicking the door in, I rushed into the room making the doctor jump from his seat. The chair crashed to the floor as he took in the situation in record time and instructed us to place Lakota down on the small bed.

"What happened?" he asked. The man looked to be in his late forties I would say. Starting to gray at the temples a clear sign he was much older than he looked. I watched him pull out a stethoscope and place it over Lakota's heart.

"That's a really good question," I said looking down at my unconscious mate. Cyrus came up beside me and answer the doctor to the best of his abilities.

"He was in the middle of an argument with some stupid kids I guess and they started fighting. Both Gale and I saw him somehow mentally push his opponents away. He threw them into the wall on the opposite side of the hallway without touching them."

"He's an elder then?" the doc pulled his stethoscope from his ears and let it hang around his neck. Cyrus and I glanced at each other before shaking our heads.

"No, he's not"

The doctor frowned now.

"How are the others he was with?"

"Who cares about those little shits." I growled causing him to purse his lips in disapproval but he never stopped checking Lakota. He lifted his lids shining a small light in his eyes. Checked his pulse at his neck, keeping his eyes on his watch.

"I'm going to find Jim, I think he's still in the house." Cyrus told me before running out of the room. Pulling up a chair I sat at Lakota's bedside and held his hand tightly.

'What happened to you?' I asked silently reaching out with my other hand and pushed his hair from his face.

Not soon after the door to the infirmary opened and Cyrus and Jim came rushing through.

"Alright I'm here now tell me what's going on?" Jim came up to the bed staring down at Lakota.

"What happened to him?"

"That's why we called you." I answered and Cyrus continued.

Just as we were about to tell him what just went down back there Lakota started thrashing around.

"Lakota" I shot to my feet and reached down to him. Cyrus was there on the other side of the bed and holding him down.

"What is this?!" I growled glaring at the doctor for answers. He was just as shocked as all of us as he was writing something over at his desk before he jumped up and raced over.

But it was too late though as Lakota's eyes shot open, those beautiful golden orbs were full of such painful anguish it broke something inside me at how much suffering he was going through.

"Make it stop!" he screamed

And then the next thing I knew I was sliding down the wall with pain vibrating through me from head to toe. It was then I found myself, with my head swimming, on the other side of the room as I struggled to get to my feet. Glancing around I saw that everyone had suffered the same fate. The room hadn't fared well either.

Groans sounded throughout the room from everyone as we all staggered.

"The f*ck was that?!" I recognized Cyrus's growl. Glancing around my eyes instantly found Lakota, and what I saw defied all logic. Hovering a few inches from the bed was my once again unconscious mate. There was a pulsing wave of gravity that seemed to be emitting from his body, it was so strong you could actually see it in the air around him. It was pushing against my body almost like it was keeping everyone away.

"How is he doing this?" I asked never blinking away from him.

"I-I don't know." This time it was Jim who answered.

"He's not an elder he can't be able to do this... can he?" Cyrus demanded.

"No, he can't. We already know his brother, Teagan is an Elder and there can only be one Elder born from an alpha each generation... if that. So that would make his sibling either the alpha, beta or just a regular wolf and we already know that Lakota doesn't have any traits to make him an alpha."

"Okay, then how the hell is my mate levitating like that?!" Cyrus growled.

"Its Gravity manipulation." This time it was the doctor that chimed in causing all of us to snap our heads towards him.

"What makes you say that?" Jim asked glancing back at Lakota with a frown.

"Because he's floating and just when we were all flung I noticed that my body felt weightless before something heavy forced me into the wall just now." He explained and we all became quiet.

"But where the hell did he get it." I voiced my thought out loud.

Just then there was a strange sensation was tingling in the back of my head almost like a hum, glancing around I was sure everyone else felt the same because we all reached behind our head. The vibrating humming was getting worse and worse till I was gritting my teeth.

"What now?" I hissed, the pain forcing my instincts to go on the defensive and causing my fangs to descend. A thud caused me to snap my head over to see Cyrus collapse withering on the floor. Concerned I ignored the pain to the best of my abilities and dragged myself every agonizing step towards Cyrus. When I reached him, dropping to my knees I pulled him close and laid his head in my lap.

"Hang in there" I gasped. His blue eyes looked up at me then and I could see the agony.

"It's Lakota, he's trying to tell us something." He struggled breathlessly before his face scrunched up again and he curled into himself. My eyes traveled back over to my levitating mate to find the same painful expression etched on his face too.

What lakot, what is it that you want to say to us?

'Am I a... dog?'

Wait what is this?

'I've been waiting so patiently for you to finish here.'

A Syrin?

'Be a good boy now'

'Pets are never supposed to growl at their masters.'

I was suddenly bombarded with images, images I could have never thought would happen to someone as sweet as Lakota. Torture I didn't think anyone could survive, intact that is. What they put him through. A rage was boiling in my gut as I was forced to watch Lakota's memories.

'Make it stop please, make it stop! Why do I have to relive this again?

Wasn't living through it once enough! Why did the Spirits hate me so much?

'Please, Please, Please, Please! Make it stop!'

Lakota! I cried out but I doubt he could hear me.

This is what he's been going through by himself this whole time?! My eyes could no longer hold the burning tears in as I faintly heard an excruciating wail echoing in my ears below me, Cyrus must be seeing this too. I wanted to hold him so badly but I was held prisoner by Lakota's past.

It was then, as I grimaced at the continuous pounding in my head and the agony over what I just saw happening to my mate stirring a fury in me, that I burned from it. That the painful vibration wasn't a hum. It was... a scream.

Lakota's scream!

'I just need something from you.'

'What?'

'Payment'

Wasn't that the Seers voice?

'What do you want?' Lakota!

'Something you hold very dear Lakota. Your sanity.'

No!

"Lakota!" I yanked myself out of his head which in turn almost felt like I had split my head open.

"No, come back to us now Lakota! Wake up" I exclaimed crawling from the floor. Cyrus was struggling to his feet with me as we pushed through the pulsing waves that kept him midair.

"Move!" Jim stood in front of us raising his hands in front of him, aiming towards Lakota. Suddenly the feeling of being pushed back, stopped and both Cyrus and I took the opportunity to try and reach our mate who dropped back down on the bed.

"What is it? Did he tell you something?" Jim was trying to follow behind us but he seemed like he was struggling to even stand. Stopping that strange phenomenon that was happening to our mate must have been really taxing on him.

"It was the Seer" I growled reaching out and grabbed Lakota off the bed, collapsing to the floor with him.

"The seer?"

"An exchange for payment." Cyrus whispered in refection. "That's what she said before she stole his wolf. An exchange for payment."

Jim frowned in thought.

"Lakota wake up" Cyrus said caressing his hair. "Come on baby"

"Wait, you're saying that, the Seer gave him her powers? But for what possible reason?! I thought she only asked for payment."

"And he gave it" I hissed making everyone around me shrink back a little as the room grew cold.

"What?" Jim asked a little more quietly this time.

Both Cyrus and I couldn't say it. We saw what he had to go through to get the answer. The answer he didn't even want. No, he suffered because it was my father who wanted the information to where Lakota's disgusting parents were. The parents that sold him into the reality he was dealt.

If I would have known that my father's revenge would have led to putting Lakota's sanity on the line I never would have let this happen. But then again, I was no different from the king. I let this happen because I too was full of revenge and so prideful. Seeking retaliation for the humiliation and loss, Lakota's parents had put our family though.

I did this, I was to blame for his suffering too.

Just then Lakota lurched up in a sitting position so fast we all jumped back in a start. His eyes snapped open but there was no life there.

"Lakota?" Cyrus scooted in front of him, his expression was full of concern as he cupped his face gently between his hands when a distorted echoing voice surprising us all came rushing from his mouth.

"You will find what you seek one hundred and twenty kilometers to the east from this exact location. They hold pack in a rundown castle at the edge of town."

Cyrus let go as we all stared wide-eyed at this new development.

"What are you talking about Lakota?" it was Jim who asked this question slowly as he knelt down to him.

"The rogue parents of Lakota and Teagan Bateman are located one hundred and twenty kilometers to the east from this exact location. They hol-"

"Yes, thank you" Jim interrupted him "But how do you know this?"

"Payment has been fulfilled."

"And what is payment?"

"Jim-" I tried to warn but it was too late.

"This boys sanity was payment in exchange I can accomplish the task I was given." Jim narrowed his eyes.

"And who are you?"

We all waited,

"A messenger spirit of the Seers to make sure that the job has been completed.

"I shall return, this boy will no longer need me to find what he seeks. I leave the rest to him."

"Wait!" I called but it was too late as Lakota's eyes brightened back to life. A sure sign that whatever had possessed him was gone now.

"Lakota!" we cried to him but all he did was blink at us, saying nothing.

Oh please, please be okay.

He held no expression though and I knew it was too late. Slowly he stood sparing no one a glance and walked out of the messy infirmary room. Scrambling after him all of us, even the doctor rushed after him. He walked with an even stride but almost trance-like till he reached the front door where Teagan was standing with his mate Connor and the Alpha. They all frowned at us as Lakota threw open the door and walked down the porch steps.

"What's going on?" Alpha Avery demanded with a confused frown.

But before we could answer Lakota stopped at the edge of the tree line. Lifting a silent hand, he pointed inside the forest. I ran in front of him to finally get ahold of him but what I saw almost turned my blood cold.

With the most deadly expression I'd ever seen on my gentle mates face appeared, his lips curled against his teeth and growled out something we all didn't expect.

"My father's here."