Two days.

For two days, he stood me there, immobilized behind him, trapped. He commanded me to signal when I needed to use the restroom.

He refused to let me go. He brought a bucket.

Hate.

Deep, intense hate.

How could someone do this to someone they loved?

I was humiliated, exhausted, in pain, and honestly wishing for death.

I had thought every though I could. I couldn't sleep standing up without choking myself. I had to stay awake. My brain started to short-circuit.

For the third night, Damien stood up to leave. He turned to me.

"You may speak."

"Damien, please," I whimpered hoarsely. I had to get out. Who know the next time he'll let me speak? The cold stone floor seeped into my feet. The skin around my neck felt like it was rubbed raw. "Let me go. I'll do what you want."

Damien leaned in. His movement were sharper each day, more erratic. He was like a caged animal. And he wasn't the one bolted to the wall. He had washed up and his eye had reduced in size—he was only sporting a black eye. It only let me see the crazy in his eyes more clearly. "You'll mate with me?" he asked, lust burning a hole in me.

"Please. Just let me go." I wanted to sleep so badly. Thoughts of rest were consuming me.

He thought about this for a few moments. I could practically see the gears turning in his head. He whirled on me and drilled me with his dark green eyes. They saw right through me. "I don't believe you."

Panic shot through me. "Damien," I practically whimpered. "Please. Just let me go. How do I prove it to you?"

"I'll mate with you right there on that wall. No escape. No running. You can prove it to me that way." He began to unbuckle his pants and panic flooded my system like ice.

I bit my lip. I could do it. I could do it. I needed to sleep.

I couldn't do it. The thought of him touching me would have killed me. He was a monster.

"No!" I sobbed.

He sighed and quickly buckled his belt again. "That's what I thought. Dove, I'm not a monster. But I need to make you mine. Now. Someone could still steal you away," he reasoned, grabbing me by the ribs and shaking me violently. Frustration built as I struggled for the billionth time against the cold metal locking me in place. Who could steal me away? I couldn't even run away.

"Damien—let me go! I don't want to be with you!" I shouted.

Damien smiled sadly and stopped shaking me. His finger traced down my head and lingered on the mark on my neck. It tingled at his touch. "Yes. Yes, you do. You just can't see it yet. Don't worry. Eventually we will do it right. You want it. I want it."

He began to walk away, trailing the scent of rain and wood behind him. "You know, I could keep you locked into my side, dotingly forever. I had the Alpha's Claim. But I want you to like me. I am giving you the option. Isn't that what you want? The freedom to choose?"

I jerked against my bonds uselessly.

"Ironside will keep you company tonight." I was shivering in the cold. My feet were aching from standing for so long. This would be the third night without sleep. My brain was already slowing down.

"I hate you!" I screamed at his retreating shadow. My body was crying out for sleep, but if I let the pressure off my legs, the collar would choke me. Damien stopped. In the dim light, I saw him turn his head to me. In the shadow of his face, I saw genuine happiness. "You're a sadist!" Tears trailed down my face. "I thought you cared about me! I thought you loved me!" I screamed.

He began walking back toward me and I struggled again, hating that he had so much control over me. He stopped a few inches away.

"I know what I am," I said, mustering up all the courage I had left even as tears blurred my vision. "I'm an elemental. I could knock down this entire building," I challenged.

Damien smiled and gently grabbed my chin. I shook my head vigorously to dislodge it.

"Don't touch me!" I shouted. He ignored me and trapped me facing him.

"That's my girl," he whispered. "Fierce. Determined. Strong. When I found you, you were so...easy. Malleable as the dirt everyone treated you like. But now...strong-willed." His hands trailed down and rested at my hips. I whimpered and flinched away. It didn't stop him. "Powerful," he whispered. "I was worried that you would stay weak. Of course, I could still use you no matter how strong you were. But, I must admit. I like my women to be...robust."

His finger traced the metal collar around my neck lovingly as I looked at him in frantic disgust. He was close. My feet were free. I could take out a knee. I could. He might kill me, but at this point, even the sleep of death sounded better than staying here.

"I will make you mine," he said decisively. "I am very good at taking what I want. And I want you: a mare, just waiting to be tamed."

I took my chance. I lashed out with my foot, barely missing his knee, and hitting his shin instead. Oh no. Oh no. Oh no. I missed.

He grunted in pain and stepped back. Suddenly, his pain turned into laughter.

"Damien, Damien, I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. It was an accident," I begged.

"Even the most stubborn mare can be broken. You're right. You could knock down this building. But would you risk killing Berry and her precious little baby? Consequences."

He was right. I couldn't knock down the building. I would kill almost everyone inside. Innocent people. I could knock down a building, but right now, I needed to pick a lock.

"Speaking of consequences, I am happy to show you the consequences of your own actions."

Suddenly, he lashed out and drove his fist into my stomach. I gasped in shock and pain. He reared back and lashed out at me again. I gasped as he landed another blow.

"Just," he said, landing another blow. I couldn't breathe.

"Love." Another.

"Me," he said.

I was sobbing uncontrollably. My ribs throbbed...bad. They had to be fractured. Or broken. Each breathe was agony. My corners of my eyes were black.

He finally leaned back and sighed. The heat of pain rippled through me. "I realized that I did not adequately keep your feet adequately...engaged. The longest time anyone has stood in place is eleven days. The last few days were full of agony and mental breakdowns. You've made it...sixty hours. But something tells me that these consequences with severely limit the amount of time you will stay sane."

When his eyes met mine, they were shining with amusement. He walked in a broad path behind me. I tried to follow him to see what he was doing, but to no avail. Suddenly, I heard a grating noise from behind me, and the metal band across my neck began to rise a few centimeters at a time. The mechanism lifted all three clasps higher off the ground.

I yelped in panic. The heels of my feet couldn't touch the ground, so I stood on the balls of my feet, pushing as high as I could. If I tried to lower myself an inch, the band around my neck cut off my airway. Suddenly, the strange bulge at the front of the collar made sense. It was crushing my windpipe at this height. I pushed off as tall as I could to breathe, even as my body was trying to curl in on itself to protect my ribs.

Damien came back around and smirked when he saw me frantically trying to figure a way out of this predicament.

"Damien," I said. "Damien, please stop," I begged frantically. "Please. Please, Damien." My ribs were screaming. My legs were already tired from standing for over two days in the same position. My calves were beginning to cramp from the extended pressure. Despite the cold, I was beginning to sweat from exertion. The pain was making my head swim. I was going to die.

He gently wiped hair out of my face.

"I love you. I truly do. You are the most precious thing in the world to me," he said, reaching out to me as if trying to make me see what he was saying.

I choked out a sob. "Don't lie."

"Naomi, you represent my mission. The Old Magic, caged for too long."

"Damien, you're hurting me," I pleaded.

"You need to be broken," he said gently, as if reassuring a child who had broken a favorite toy. "But after you are broken, you will be set free. Your feet will hold strong for a few hours, but eventually you will need to rest. And when you rest, you will not be able to breathe." His head tilted left to right. He had truly gone mad. "Back and forth. Back and forth. Your arms may be able to give you a sliver of relief from both if you can hold yourself up. Ironside will make sure you stay alive until sunup. I will be back for you. We will discuss our relationship again then. You'd better behave. I would hate for something to happen to baby Seth."

"Damien!" I screeched. "Damien!"

The Damien I once knew was long gone.