*Zara*
My heart felt as if it had sunk to my toes.
I tried not to move my wrists too much from where they were shackled above my head by harsh chains. Each ti I moved them, they scread out in pain, the skin raw and red from where the tal rubbed.
We were in so kind of transport vehicle. My thoughts swirled anxiously as Niva and I listened to Damascus talking to one of his n.
“I just received word that the counter-trap is well underway, sir,” one of the n said to Damascus. “The alpha’s son appears to have been caught well off guard.”
“Excellent,” Damascus practically purred, his dark eyes glinting. “He was a fool for thinking he could get away with trying to ambush us.”
My chest constricted, and my throat felt as if it was closing up as panic filled my lungs. Noah had tried to rescue us and attempted to ambush the car. I pressed my lips together, confusion temporarily causing the panic to ebb away. If there was a battle going on, I wondered why we weren’t hearing so kind of scuffle.
“I like to imagine the look on Black’s face when he realized that the vehicle he thought housed his precious mate was only a decoy,” one of the n said, barking out an obnoxious laugh that caused my temper to flare briefly.
Horror struck my insides as I realized what had happened. Noah wasn’t coming. He was who knew where possibly injured or worse. My breathing started to quicken, coming out in harsh pants.
I felt cold fingers wrap around mine. I lifted my head to look over at Niva, who was shackled against the wall right beside . Her eyes were wide and round, and they begged not to worry. I tried to smile back at her, but how could I given our current predicant?
Damascus smirked at us, causing heat to burn across my cheeks as I glowered over at him. He was sitting in the driver’s seat of the convoy we were currently trapped in, his dark eyes scanning over our bound forms. He looked pleased with himself. It made want to scream out in anger.
“Your precious alpha thought he was going to save you, but he should’ve just accepted that you both need to be questioned,” he said. “I saw the fire in his eyes as I dragged you away and predicted his brazen tactics, so I arranged a decoy convoy to et him.”
He looked proud of himself. He even raised an expectant eyebrow like he wanted us to praise him on a job well done. I bit back the urge to curse in his face, knowing that that probably wouldn’t bode well for . I couldn’t risk Niva getting punished because I couldn’t control myself.
As my temper simred, I shuddered, imagining what new tornts awaited us now that Damascus foiled Noah’s brave gambit. It hurt to imagine my fearless mate striding into battle to rescue .
I felt my teeth sinking into my lip, nearly drawing blood as I tried to push the negative thoughts away, but all seed hopeless. I was completely trapped and helpless, shackled cruelly to a wall with the skin around my wrists breaking and raw. And sowhere out there, Noah and probably a bunch of others were risking their necks to save ours.
Niva’s fingers tightened around mine, and I glanced over at her. Her eyes were so wide and warm, just as I rembered them when she was my ntor. That felt like another lifeti now as our fate was so uncertain, darkness hovering over it like a foreboding storm cloud.
She moved and was sohow able to put her ear right by mine, keeping her words just between us even though Damascus was easily within earshot. “Do not lose faith, Zara. Your mate is just fine. We’re going to be alright.”
Sohow, her calming voice worked wonders. I felt myself relax slightly despite all the tension in my body. My eyes shot nervously to Damascus and his n, who were still cackling over the failed rescue attempt and weren’t paying us any mind.
My voice broke as I whispered back to her. “How can you be so optimistic at a ti like this? We are chained to a wall, and Noah’s rescue didn’t work.”
Niva tilted her head at , her lips tilted upward. She looked at with so much compassion that I felt my throat close up as tears burned my eyes. “Have you forgotten that I was once your matchmaking ntor?” she asked rhetorically, her hand twitching as if she longed to caress my cheek the way she would when I was discouraged or distraught.
“No, of course not,” I murmured back, horrified even though the question wasn’t serious.
Niva chuckled, a light, airy sound. She glanced warily over at Damascus and his n, but they were laughing louder now and talking over one another. “In the short ti I spent with you and your mate, it was obvious that you have a bond like no other. Trust in it to bring you back together.”
My breath caught in my throat at her words. I knew Noah and I had a powerful mate bond, but to hear my forr ntor confirm it with such conviction made my chest feel warm. I turned my hand so that I could grip hers firmly. I hoped she could see how grateful I was by my words as I looked into her eyes. “Thank you,” I whispered.
I clung desperately to this flicker of hope, trusting that Noah was the mighty mate I knew him to be and that our bond truly was unbreakable. Just as Niva said, it would reach and bring us back together despite the darkness that attempted to separate us. We were stronger than that. We had to be.
I wasn’t sure how much ti passed as we hung against the wall like a couple of rag dolls. It could have been hours judging by how hungry I was and how dry my throat beca. Niva and I glanced at one another nervously when we felt the car go off the road and were jostled around as the ground below us beca bumpy and uneven.
I tried to crane my neck to look out the front windshield, but all I could see was darkness.
My heart flew into my throat when the vehicle stopped. We had arrived at our prison. My breathing started to beco labored with panic again as I started to pull at the chains that held my wrists. A hiss escaped my lips when the tal dug harshly into my skin.
“Zara, please, you need to calm down,” Niva said in a soft, soothing voice. “Look at .”
With difficulty, I obeyed, locking eyes with my forr ntor. Her warm brown eyes were almost stern, ordering to get a hold of myself. I swallowed thickly and started to count my breaths in my mind, causing them to gradually decrease in speed.
Damascus opened the back of the prison transport with a terrifying screeching sound that caused both Niva and to jump. He smirked at the look on our faces.
He looked to the guard next to him. “Grab the dark-haired one,” he ordered before reaching to undo my chains from the wall. “The little Luna is mine.”
Fear gripped , but I lifted my chin defiantly as I was yanked out of the car by my wrists. I couldn’t help but yelp as my wrists protested against the pressure as I was pulled roughly along.
As my eyes adjusted to the darkness and my ears took in the sounds around , I realized we had reached a nondescript seaside cave. I shivered as the frigid sea air swirled around , nipping at the bare skin on my neck and arms.
Damascus had one hand gripping the chains attached to my wrists and one hard hand on the back of my neck, his fingers digging into my flesh. I tried not to cringe away from his touch, knowing he would likely strike if I did.
As soon as we entered the cave, we were shoved down what felt like an endless underground staircase. Damascus seed to think I wasn’t taking them fast enough, so he grabbed the fabric of my dress on the back of my neck and pushed along. I would have been afraid of tripping and tumbling down the dark steps if he didn’t have such a hard grip on .
I would have rather fallen down the stairs than have this creep touching any longer.
Finally, after winding and tripping several tis, we reached the bottom of the dank, dark steps to a large array of what looked to be an ancient prison section carved into porous stone. I started to shiver. It felt as if the air was below freezing in the underground labyrinth.
I glanced behind at Niva, who was being manhandled similarly to how I was as she was pushed forward. She gave a frightened look, such a contrast to the reassuring one she gave back inside the transport. The fear in her eyes caused my stomach to drop.
We were dragged to a cell at the end of the dark tunnel. The cold damp air and the slimy mineral crust on the bars of the prison cells seed to foreshadow a grim fate for Niva and .
My breathing beca haggard once again.
Niva and I both cried out when we were shoved inside that last cell together. The ends of our chains were attached to the wall, but thankfully, we weren’t hanging this ti. We sat miserably on the dusty, cold floor as the cell gate shut with a loud clang.
I could do nothing but weep. I tried to be brave, but shackled inside the underground cell, likely hundreds of feet below ground level, there was very little hope of even being found. We were too well hidden.
Niva didn’t speak as I continued to sob loudly for my stolen child and my missing mate, hoping only that I would live long enough to one day be reunited with them. That was all I could hope for at this point. It could be years before Noah could even locate this remote prison.
Imagining years apart from my love and baby made my heart ache horribly. The pain was so piercing it made it difficult to breathe.
“Quit your blubbering,” Damascus sneered, but he looked pleased by my cries. He smirked. “You’ll have plenty of ti for that. You aren’t going anywhere.”
Suddenly, our captor’s eyes widened before he suddenly disintegrated into cinders, the dark smoke hovering upward.
Niva and I scread.
My eyes nearly bugged out when Malphas stepped out of the shadows. He was just as my nightmares rembered him, tall, thick, and sinister. He grinned cruelly when he laid eyes on . I felt myself shrinking away in absolute horror.
It felt as if I was no longer breathing when he lifted a hand, and the cell gate swung open. He stepped inside, crossing the small space between us. My blood froze when he reached down and gripped my chin, his touch just as repulsive as I had dread.
“Do not resist , my dear,” he warned, his black, soulless eyes glinting as he gripped harder. “Swear your loyalty to , and I will take you to your daughter.”
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