19's POV

   Just as I had told Antone, Thayer came back to have me go fight somone. Before he took me to the regular place, he had me shift into  my panther form. He bent down and ran his hand along my back.

   "I do so love it when you shift into your animal forms. There is no other that can match your beauty." He said as he started walking towards the door. But then he stopped.

   "Wait. I have one more thing to add." He said as he reached into his coat and quickly snapped whatever he took out of it around my neck.

  It didn't feel pleasant so I tried using my claws to try and break the thing but it wouldn't break.

   "Don't even think about trying to get that off. It is made of the strongest metal there is and it is locked around your perfect little neck. Only I have the key so it'll be on there until I take it off."

   I tried to pounce on him but I was yanked back by the chains. Thayer just grabbed the chains and dragged me to the place where I get my food with Antone following quietly behind us.

   When Thayer put me into the arena, I noticed that it was different than usual. 20 people were in there along with one person who was stuck to the wall by metal bands.

   As soon as I stepped in, all the people turned towards me. Their eyes widened before they filled with the emotion I have come to know as hate. They all charged me at once. I fought all of them off  of me and made sure that there was nothing left of them. But I didn't get off clean either. They did a decent amount of damage to my back.I walked over to where the last one was stuck to the wall and laid doown in front of him, waiting for my wounds to heal.

   All of a sudden, the bands released the man into the floor. I got up ready for a fight, but as soon as I saw his eyes, I knew that I could rest a bit more. His eyes looked like the eyes of the dead. He just stared at me.

   I kept waiting for him to attack me, but he never did. He just sat there until he finally said something.

   "Kill me." He said

   I was not expecting to hear him say that. No one has ever told me to kill them. They always begged for their life which always made something inside me wish to kill them. But this one was different.

   'You wish for me to kill you? That is not normal. The other people I have killed, as well as the people I just killed, begged for me not to kill them. Yet you do not. Why?'

   "I couldn't protect them. I could only watch as you killed my pack members. I am a beta. I am supposed to be able to protect them. If I can't then I have no reason to live."

   'I do not understand what a pack or a beta is. I also do not know what you mean when you say protect. However, I do understand that you have no reason to live and wish to die. Is that correct?'

   "That is correct."

   'Then you are similar to myself. I have never met someone who also wishes to die.'

   "Wait. You wish to die?" He asked me as something changed in his eyes

   'Yes. I wish to die. There is no reason for my existence. For that reason I have attempted to kill myself. However, the one who holds me in this place will not allow me to die.'

   "Are you being held prisoner here by someone?"

   'I do not know what the word prisoner means, therefore I cannot answer your question. But I have two questions to ask you.'

   "Since I'm going to die anyway, I don't see the problem. Go ahead."

   'What do people call you? Wait. I learned a word for that before. The word was name. What is your name?'

   "My name is Barin."

   'Okay Barin. Do you know of anybody who will get mad because of your death?'

   "I can think of a few, but I am not sure if they will get mad for me. Actually, I don't think they would." He said with his head low

   'Then I shall kill you. It is better than being kept here.' I said as I pounced on him and took his neck into my jaws.

   I inserted my fangs into his neck  and when he started to go limp, I threw him against a wall. To make sure that he was out, I broke his arms. The sound of his bones snapping resounded around the room. I prodded him with my paw to see if he would move, but he didn't.

   When I was done, I walked over to where Thayer was waiting for me. He ordered the some men to take Barin's body and leave it outside while he harshly pulled on the leash to take me into my room.

   Once me, Thayer, and Antone were inside the room, he had me change to my human form and chained my wrists to the ceiling. He continuously paced around me with his anger just filling the room.

   "Why did you talk to him?" He finally asked me

   "Why not?"

   "Because I don't want you to! You belong to me and only me so the only one you can speak to is me. I own you. Yet you're over in the arena talking to someone else. It's unacceptable." He lectured

   Thayer kept going on and on about how I was his and nobody else's until he stopped. He turned towards me with that smirk on his face and I instantly began to growl.

   "I have the perfect punishment. How about I teach you about the bones in your body?" He said as he started moving towards me.

   "Let's go from the bottom and work our way up. So first you have the Phalanges." He said as he broke all of my toes.

   He continues doing this, breaking my bones and naming them, until all of my bones, except for my neck and skull, were broken. Not even my wings were spared from the punishment.

   I screamed out in pain. Everything hurt. I couldn't move at all. But Thayer took in my pain like I take in blood. 

   When he was finished, we were both out of breath. Him, from breaking all my bones and me, from my broken ribs. But he didn't say anything. He just took me into his arms and strokes my chest.

   "You know, it didn't have to be this way. You should've just did everything like you did before. After all, I can't have you publicly disobeying me. You're gonna be like this for awhile so get used to it." He said, before he let go of me and walked out the door.

   Not having the energy to do anything, I just closed my eyes and hoped that I could fall into a dreamless slumber.

Barin's POV

   I woke up and looked around myself. I saw trees, grass, a lake, and the sun. 'Huh.' I thought to myself, 'So this is what the afterlife feels like.'

   I kept looking around until I laid eyes on something I never thought that I would see again. The Underworld compound.

   "Why the hell is this in the afterlife?" I said to myself, but then I really took things in.

   My heart is still beating and I can feel the blood flowing through my body. To make sure that I wasn't imagining things, I grew out my claws and slashed my arm. I watched as blood from the wound and it healed itself.

   "I'm alive. That shouldn't be possible. I felt as that panther killed me. Or did I?

Flashback

   'Then I shall kill you. It is better than being kept here.' The panther said as it pounced on me and grabbed my neck with its jaws. He inserted his fangs and I was getting ready for him to rip me apart. But it never came.

   Instead, I started to feel drowsy. That feeling continued until I felt my body go limp and my breathing, as well as my heart, stop. However, the weird thing about it was that I could still hear.

   "Take the body and put it outside." I heard a man order.

   Next thing I know, I hear two men picking me up and taking me somewhere. The good thing was that they talked while they did it.

   "It's been awhile since that slave left someone in one piece hasn't it?" One man with a deep voice said

   "Yep. What do you think the reason is this time?" A guy with a higher voice asked

   "I think that he just wanted to play. He already ate 20 people. Maybe he was tired of eating and wanted to play but misjudged his strength and killed him."

   "I get what you're saying. It has happened before. He take people and bat them around with those huge paws of his before they died. Remember how he poked him with his paw to see if he was still alive?" Higher voice said

   "Yeah. So what do you think about him?"

   "I think he's just a monster. I mean, look at him. His meals plead to live but he mercilessly kills them."

   "I don't agree with you. I don't think he's all that bad. I mean, before Thayer got this slave, he would torture the prisoners to death and threaten them with families. Now their fate lies in that slave. What many don't know is that they have two choices: death by torture or death by a challenge that they could never win. In that way, it is good that he kills them.

   "Not only that but I can understand his anger. Who wouldn't be rubbed the wrong way when someone who doesn't want to die pathetically begs for their life? Especially in that slaves case." Deep voice said

   "I guess I can see where you're coming from. But still-" The rest of the conversation faded away as I have in to the darkness.

Flashback over

   I got up and started the long journey home and used that time to collect my thoughts. During that journey I kept thinking of the reasons why he would let me live but I could never find a good reason so I put those thoughts aside for now.

   It took me a month to get back to Bloodmoon territory. I had to hunt for food and fight rogues but I'm still alive, albeit a little underweight.

   I walked into the pack house to see Alessio, my friend and alpha, looking depressed on the couch. I walked over to him and put a hand on his shoulder.

   "Dude, you alright?" I asked

   "No. My best friend, who you sound like, died. I should never have sent him on that stupid mission."

   "By best friend do you mean someone who is my height, hair color, eye color, and wears these clothes?" I asked as I described myself

   "Yep. Actually, now that I take a closer look at you, you do look a lot like him. You guys could even be twins." He said as he looked at me. As he kept looking at me, his eyes widened.

   "Is that really you Barin?"

   "It's really me dude. You want proof? Ever since we started school, you have been asked out by boys and girls alike. It was funny. Once people found out you were bisexual, Valentine's day has been hilarious. Even in preschool, you would get so much chocolate that you would give me some. Because of that, you get hives whenever someone so much as mentions Valentine's day."

   "Barin. It really is you. But how are you alive? I could've sworn that I felt you die through the bond."

   "Yeah, you might wanna sit down for this explanation. It's unbelievable." I told him

   Once he sat down I began my explanation, "So like we planned, me and 30 other pack members went to go raid the Underworld compound. Like the informant said, security was low so we attacked. We were winning at first, but then a whole new wave of guards came from out of nowhere.

   "We were greatly overpowered. Ten of our wolves died. The rest of us were captured and put into cells. At first, I thought that they were going to torture us. But they took us out of our cells and put us into this arena. Everybody was free to move except for me. I was restrained to the wall and made to watch as our pack members were killed and eaten. When it was my turn to die, they released me from the wall. I told the panther to kill me because I didn't have a reason to live. But instead, he talked to me and told me how he also wished to die. That's when he pounced on me and then next thing I know, I'm outside and alive. So I think he helped me."

   "He may have helped you, but he killed all the others. I cannot just let that go." He said with anger burning in his eyes.

   "I'm ordering the pack warriors to up their training. I want them battle ready by next year. Now go see Clara. The poor lady locked herself up in her room because we thought you were dead." He said as he went to supervise the pack warriors' training

   I made my way upstairs to the third floor and in front of the door that I knew belonged to Clara. I knocked but I was rewarded with a weak 'go away' from her. I sighed, picked the lock, and went in.

   When she saw me, her teary eyes widened and the next thing I know I'm being tackled to the ground with a crying mother wolf on top of me.

   "I'm so glad you're alive! I couldn't bare to lose another son. I just couldn't bare it." She cried

   "It's OK mom. I'm alright. But speaking about sons, there is someone I want you to meet."

   "Really? Who?"

   "That's the weird part. I don't know his name. But when I was in the compound, he saved my life. Now I want to save him and I think you could help me."

   "Sure. I'll do whatever I can for the person who saved my child."

   "Thanks mom. So, when are you going to let me go?"

    "When I'm ready to let go."

   I just sighed and made myself comfortable.

Antone's POV

   "How long are you going to leave him like that, Thayer? If we don't set his bones they won't heal right." I asked Thayer

   "He's staying like that until he gets it into his head that I own him. If they heal the wrong way we can just break them again and wait for them to heal. Over and over again until he learns his lesson."

   "Fine. Do whatever you want. I'm going to go watch over him." I said as I rushed out of Thayer's office, down the hall and into 19's room.

   I walked into his room only to hear him still screaming out in pain. For hours, he would scream as his bones tried to heal. Soon, hours turned to days, and days turned to weeks. He would even lose his voice from screaming so much, but then he would just silently scream until his voice came back.

   The worst part about it was that Thayer would still torture the poor boy. Poison him, whip him, cut, burn him, and a lot of other things. He did so much to him that he filled the record room all the way with books and had to start putting his books in the equipment room.

   As the days went by, you could start seeing his ribs because Thayer wouldn't allow him to eat. It was always kill but not eat now. His hair grew longer but instead of it being its natural black, it was coated red by his blood. In fact, the wall where he was chained was coated red with his blood. He got taller but he was always too weak to stand so he would just hang from the ceiling with his legs on the ground being his only support.

   To bide my time, I started looking through all of his records, starting from the beginning, so that I could try to come to understand 19 more. But it was hard. Reading the records of what Thayer did to him when he was just a baby had me putting the book down for awhile before I continued.

   When I finally got to the latest ones, including the latest book of death, I walked out of that room with tears. I just couldn't hold it in anymore and I was full on sobbing.

   "What...are you...doing?" 19 asked me

   "I'm crying. Can't you tell?"

   "Crying? Ah. Isn't that...when...liquid comes out...of your...eyes? I was...not sure since...I have not heard it...since I was small. Although, I do not remember...the reason for...a person to...cry." He said

   "It is natural for a person to cry 19."

   "Then I guess...that I am not...what you call...natural." He said as his breaths started to even out and he fell asleep for the first time in a long while.

   "I don't know what to do anymore 19. My plan failed and it brought you more pain." I took a moment before I went on.

   "I'm so sorry. I said that I would help you but I couldn't. I just wanted to get you out of here so you could experience the world and learn new things, but I guess you were right not to put faith in anyone but yourself."

   Right then, Thayer barged into the room with rage written all over his face. He walked over to me and grabbed me by my collar.

   "How dare you betray me!" He roared

   "I was on my way here and I caught the end of your little conversation. Or should I say confession?" He yelled as he dragged me, struggling, out of 19's room and down a few halls.

   "You know, I always wondered how that pack found out where this place was. I knew that there must've been an informant, or traitor, here but I never thought that it would be my dear friend Antone who I thought would never betray me. So guess what?" He said as he grabbed my face and brought it closer to his.

   "You can rot down here with the rest of these people who weren't good enough to be granted death by 19." He said and then threw me into a cell, locked it, and left.

   The only thing my mind cared about was 19 and whether he was okay or not.