Chapter 45: Chapter 45

Chapter Forty — Five

Linda

Someone was chasing me.

I ran.

Run, run, run.

Don't stop.

They are going to get me.

“Catch them. They are getting away.” Someone shouted loudly.

Then there was a loud scream.

I let out a sob out of fear and helplessness.

Someone's big, dark, hairy hand caught me and covered my mouth.

"No." I shouted but my voice was muffled.

"Please, don't hurt me." I wanted to say but could not. I saw my last hope of survival fading away.

No, please no.

No, no, no, no, no.

NO.

“No.” The words left my mouth and I realized that I had been dreaming.

A glimpse of my past.

I opened my eyes slowly and saw nothing but darkness. That was when I realized that I was in a complete dark room.

I was sitting in a wooden chair with my legs and hands tied behind my back. I tried to move my hand to loosen the grip when another realization set in.

I was tied up.

With shackles.

Probably, the same shackles that James and Michael wore.

They were tight and felt rough around my wrists.

My head was fuzzy and felt heavy, like it had gained a hell lot of weight than my entire body. My focus shifted from clear to blurry over and over again.

I closed my eyes tightly and opened them again. My fuzz cleared and so did my vision.

And I saw what I did not see before.

A chair sat in the middle of the room which was occupied by the very person that I had seen before I fainted.

Alpha Elijah.

I had met him once before in the party. Where he had kissed my hand, leaving some particles of drool behind him. I remembered how I wanted to clean my hand on his ugly shirt but had decided better of it.

“No?” He asked, referring to my last word before I woke up. I wondered how much I spoke before and how much he listened. His question made me snap in whatever bubble I was in. It also made me realize that I was staring at his ugly face for way too long.

My face almost twisted into an ugly scowl, but I stopped myself from giving any sort of reaction. Although, I think I did not manage it quite well in hiding my disgust because he smirked at me. Like he could understand what I was thinking.

His smirk disappeared and his lips curled into an ugly from that could only be described as disgust and pure hatred.

“Who were you telling 'no'? What were you denying?” He questioned me, again. I masked my expression into a poker one. He would not get the answers out of me. Less than an expression.

In a flash, he stood up and was on my face in seconds. His hands slid into my hairs, and he gripped a handful of them, before yanking them back. I winced a little inside.

“Silent treatment? Let's see how longer you last. Nobody had ever got the best of me. Nobody. Never.” He growled. Then he smiled at me and threw my head to the side, leaving it with a slam.

He backed off and slowly lowered himself back onto the chair.

“So a hunter, huh?” He asked me. If I were not in a situation like this then I would have rolled my eyes. It was the same question that James had asked me in the tunnel.

James.

“You do know that your so-called master had left you all alone to get slaughtered like a pig while he escaped? Like a dog with his tail between his legs?” He asked me again but this time he continued without waiting for me to answer. Most probably because he knew that I would not reply to him.

Even though I kept my face devoid of any emotion, there was no denying the fact that the comment had gotten to me.

I remembered the exact time he disappeared. He had locked eyes with me for a few seconds merely, but I had gotten his message.

He was leaving.

I was on my own.

And I accepted it.

I knew that if the situation was reversed he would do the same.

I knew that if a situation arrived where I had to sacrifice myself for my master, for my clan, then I would. And that did not bother me. That was the cost of living in a group that almost went extinct once upon a time.

You have to pledge that you will go through fire, cut your own tongue and skin yourself alive then give away the secrets of our clan, our Family.

And I was ready for it.

If the situation turned out to be for worse than I would accept it. I will go through the immense torture just to keep my clan safe.

However, despite knowing the truth about the situation already, it still felt like a punch in the gut. The pain was still there. Pinching me just the same.

Master's last glance had conveyed his message clearly, and I was ready to accept my fate, but the pain was still the same.

The pain I felt when he abandoned me there, letting me off to get captured while he escaped like a coward into the darkness, made me angry.

I felt bad for feeling like that. It was the right thing to do. After all, there was no point in getting both of us in this mess, in a situation where there were more chances of dying than alive, when one life could be saved.

I swallowed hard, trying to subtly swallow the hurt and pain inside me.

“Even if you don't want to accept it. We both know that it hurts you to think of him abandoning you like that.” He told me. His remark about my feeling was as sure as the ugly smirk on his face. For a second, I grew nervous thinking that he could see through my mask of blank face. But his next words reassured me that my mask was still too hard to penetrate.

“I could say it so surely because I know that feeling.” He spoke in a whisper-like voice. Like he was reliving a moment in his own life. His eyes grew cloudy. Then his eyes shot toward me, dear like. His facial expression turned into a serious one, and he looked me dead in the eyes as he punctuated his last words.

“Rest while you can. You have a rusty road ahead of you. I don't know about anything, but I will promise you one thing. You. Will. Speak. And from now on You. Will. Regret. Every. Moment. Of. Your. Life. When. You. Thought. That. You. Could. Mess. Around. With. Us. And. Can. Get. Away. With. It.” He told me. With that he spun around and disappeared into the darkness.

I only heard his footsteps retreating and saw the outline of his figure fading away.

Yeah.

I was in a big trouble.