The Accused Mate

Chapter 6: The Silent Agony

Amara's POV

I was still here, alive and a prisoner. I hate it. If I ever got my hands on Luther, I would….

Do nothing.

My mind reminded me of my limits. I looked around, at the prison walls. It was cold and wet. 

My dried blood filled my nose. It was dull and my wolf howled. 

How much longer?

How much more before something inside of me just…broke?

I licked my dry lips, wetting them with my saliva a little. I was thirsty and my throat felt dry. I was starving and my body ached from my wounds. They were healing slowly because my wolf was hurt. 

And worst of all, perhaps? I was suicidal. 

The thought lingered around me like an anchor below the water, keeping me down lower than anything in my body could.

I compelled my fingers to my chest, over my heart, where the mate bond throbbed like an infected wound. 

Elias. 

His name was venom in my veins. 

I hated him. 

I needed to be free of him. 

The urge burned me bright, wild with desperation. 

I ached to reject him. Here. Now. 

I clenched my teeth, fists knotting as anger seeped in. 

Why?

Why had my life never been mine?

Why was I so lucky to have this boyfriend who tried to kill me?

Why did I never get chosen? Never get loved? Never get something I wanted?

Never ever.

I gave a sharp laugh echo that was more of a sob, my trembling hands.

And then I saw it.

A piece of broken glass, jagged and pointed, like someone deliberately left it there.

I stretched my hands, aiming for it and once my fingers touched it, I claimed it. I knew someone had left it there for me. It was probably Luther. He didn't want me alive and I was going to help him make it quick. 

I was surprisingly calm and raised the glass, drawing it in one quick movement against my neck, but I stopped. 

The glass only cut a small piece of my flesh. I couldn't do it. 

"Do it!" I screamed at myself. "C'mon, just drive it in."

I drew in a breath, my heart racing.

I tightened my fist, but I still couldn't bring myself to end it all. 

My hand trembled. My chest seared. My body failed me.

I screamed, the noise barely understandable, my hands falling from me. The glass crashed to the ground, and I was sobbing, my body collapsing in on itself as I stumbled forward.

I was not strong enough even to be able to say that I died.

I fell onto my side, cheek against the filthy, icy ground. My sight vanished, exhaustion pulling at me like an anchor. 

And then, the air shifted and my body stiffened.

It began slowly, as if the temperature had dropped a degree or two. And then it struck with more force, the pressure bearing down on my skin, wedging my breath in my throat.

Pain tore through me, except that it wasn't mine. It was his.

"Elias," I gasped. 

My eyelashes fluttered, my muscles tensing as the mate bond pulled at my center, enabling me to feel what he felt.

And what he felt was painful.

Every cut that he had inflicted on me, every bruise, every break, every drop of blood. It was being inflicted on him. 

I looked at my fingers, thinking of ways to make him come to me. 

The tables were turning.

A rough gasp tore from my lips as my wolf shifted, weak, in pain, and enraged.

She was furious.

She wanted revenge.

"Mate," she growled, a low, harsh sound that made shivers run over my skin.

"No," I wailed, tears streaming on my face. "Don't do that. Don't say his name."

She whined, melting into me, but she did not leave.

But instead, she said it again. "Mate."

And then she growled.

The sound made shivers of ice run down my spine.

And then, nothing.

*********

Slowly, I woke up to the smell of food in my nose.

The rumbling in my stomach served as a reminder that I was hungry.

For a second, I believed my dream had come back.

But then my eyelids fought to open, and I looked at her.

A woman crouched outside my cell, silver-blonde hair gleaming in the faint light.

I blinked. Twice.

She was there.

And she was holding a plate of food.

"Here, have some food," she whispered, pushing it into the cage from under it. "Before they return."

I did not hesitate.

I took the plate, hands trembling stuffing food into my mouth, not chewing, not breathing.

The woman watched me, her face expressionless.

"You must live," she wheezed.

I eased up on chewing, eyes narrowing as I finally looked at her.

She wasn't guarding. She wasn't a member of their pack either.

But she wasn't a stranger either. I knew her face. I just couldn't tell where I had seen her before. 

"Who are you?" I breathed.

She leaned in, her voice barely a whisper.

"You'll learn the truth soon."

"What?!" I said, with my mouth full. 

I did not have time to say another word before she shoved something small and cold into the palm of my hand.

I looked down. It was a little glass vial, with cloudy liquid churning inside. "What is this?" I asked.

She tightened her fingers hard around my wrist, fingernails digging into my flesh.

"Drink it on time," she commanded.

My mouth went dry. I didn't understand what she meant. Was I supposed to trust her? 

Before I could ask her another question, the cell door opened and the woman twitched. She looked quickly to the entrance and back at me. 

She leaned and put pressure on my face. "Your father sent me."

I remained there, and my breathing ceased for a while. 

My father had sent her?

For the first time in my life, my father was protecting me from someone.

A half-dreaming smile pulled at my lips. He didn't hate me after all. 

"Stand up."

A guard's voice cut into the moment, and I was handled again, rocked up off the ground by rough hands.

I clutched the vial, pressed so deep into my skin the glass was a hair's breadth from shattering.

"The Alpha wants her moved," a voice growled.

I struggled to stay upright, my knees shaking in obedience.

The guards pulled me along, their fingers closed, battered, but I did not feel it.

"Get her out of here," the guard ordered and they pulled me up.