"There is no pain greater than feeling helpless in the face of a loved one." - Unknown

My head was absolutely killing me. It almost felt like a truck crashed into me. My body was feeling stiff from spending too much time in one position, and my neck hurt a lot. A whole fucking lot.

Groaning, I tried to squeeze my eyes shut to let the pain go away, trying to understand what happened to me. But all of it was a haze, and the more I tried, the more painful the banging in my head got.

There was also a weird spot on my neck which wouldn’t stop hurting so I moved my hand to rub the area but couldn’t.

My hands were tied.

Almost instantly, as if someone dumped a bucket of ice cold water on me, my eyes opened and adjusted to the new environment.

The air was thick and stuffy. It was dark and there was a strong, metallic smell of blood lingering in the air. I tried to move my legs and arms but they were restrained. The more I pushed and pulled to get out of it, the more it dug in and hurt my flesh.

That’s definitely going to leave bruises.

On the ceiling, there was a small light bulb which partially illuminated the room, allowing my gaze to drift away and take in the area around me. It was practically empty. There was nothing but an empty, wooden chair in the corner of the room.

My eyes travelled to the opposite side of the room and that’s when the world, time and everything in between stopped.

In one shattered moment my heart and breathing stopped, just stopped.

Lying on the floor was a body of a man whose entire face was bloody, broken and swollen. This man had not only been beaten but tortured violently. I had never in my life seen someone battered so viciously.

The face was virtually unrecognizable; bloody, dirty and swollen. It was a bloody mess, nose smashed and eyes almost shut with swelling.

And then I saw the shoes.

The Air Jordan III.

“Josh?” A sob was choked in my throat. My heart was pounding in my chest but there was a numb, ringing silence in my ears. I couldn’t hold the heartbreak any longer, my grief poured out in a flood of uncontrollable tears. My entire body wracked with an onslaught of sobs and tears.

No… no… no… this can’t be true. He has to be alive.

He has to be alive.

“Josh! Josh! Do you hear me? Josh?” I kept raising my voice in hopes of receiving an answer but he wasn’t moving. “Josh! Please tell me you are alive! Please… Anything, please… Josh?!”

An anguished and blood-curdling scream left my mouth when I did not see any movements. With all my strength, I tried my best to break free from my bonds but it was literally impossible.

“Josh! Please get up. Please, Josh…” I collapsed on the floor, wanting nothing but for the angel of death to take me away.

He can’t be dead.

I won’t let it happen.

“Josh, it’s me! Vivian! Look at me… Come on, open your eyes.”

I begged, pleaded, cried, screamed, shouted, prayed but those mischievous, cerulean eyes won’t open and look back at me.

The door flew open and florescent lights buzzed on. The intensity of the lights made me flinch. Two men stepped in and behind them a face I could never forget.

“Don’t worry, Vivian. He is not dead… yet.” He smirked, his, brown cold eyes rejoicing in my pain and fury.

“You fucking bastard! You fucking son of a bitch!”

The bonds dug in my skin as I thrashed violently.

He scoffed, “Now, now, Vivian. Don’t waste your energy on me, trust me you’ll need it later.”

Dragging the wooden chair, he let it scrape against the cemented floor and placed it right in the middle of the room and turned it around to sit on it.

“Why are you doing this, Elliot?”

He stroked his chin, pretending to think, and then shrugged nonchalantly, “Just felt like it.”

My entire body was full of fire and venom, “How could you do this to me?”

He got up from the chair and knelt down in front of me. One of his hands tightly gripped my hair back and pulled, making me scream out in pain. “What makes you think you’re special, Vivian?”

I spit in his face, “Suck my dick, you fucking traitor.”

His eyes blazed with fury and for a second, I thought he was going to slap me but he didn’t. Instead, he laughed and walked back to his chair. Positioning his left ankle over his right thigh, he interlocked his fingers, and leaned his upper body very slightly to the front.

“What did Josh ever do to you, you bastard?”

He turned around to look at the two guards standing behind him and then back at me, “There are things you don’t know about Vivian.”

I was fucking enraged but I knew I couldn’t do anything stupid because our life depended on him. Especially Josh’s. I couldn’t have another death on my hand.

“Please. I’ll stay here,” I pleaded, desperation leaking from my voice. “Do whatever you want. Just let him go. Please, Elliot!”

He raised an eyebrow in amusement, “Never thought I’d see the day when the famous female Alpha Vivian would be reduced to begging.”

He plunged a hand inside his pocket and took out a pocket knife. Flicking it open, he twirled and played with it, looking almost bored.

Then as if an idea popped in his mind, his face lit up and he got up from the chair.

“Let’s see how far you would go to save him, yes?” He winked and then walked towards the unmoving body of Josh and knelt down. The knife shined under the light and there no mistaking the silver.

“No! Please!” I yelled, struggling to move in my bonds. “Don’t do this to him! Elliot, please!”

He chuckled darkly but paid me no heed. Gripping Josh’s brown hair in his tight grip, he pulled his face upright and turned it towards me.

My knees gave out and I felt my body shake and tremble.

He was unrecognizable.

His beautiful face was marred with so many cuts and bruises. The blood from the wounds on his body had streamed from the saturated cloth and formed a dark pool of blood underneath him.

He had endured so much of pain and torture. My heart ached.

“Josh…”

Words failed me.

Elliot brought the knife near his neck, right against his jugular, “What’s another cut, am I right?”

“Leave him! I’ll do whatever you want just please fucking leave him! Please, fucking leave him!”

He pressed the blade deeper inside his skin and a low groan left Josh’s mouth, “Where’s the fun in that?”

A little more pressure and he’ll cut right through. Silver will kill him. He was one cut away from dying.

I screamed and screamed, “Stop it! Stop it! Stop it!!!!”

The door opened again and in walked a person I knew I’d see again. Because he himself promised me.

Black, cold eyes settled on me, “Give the poor girl a break, Elliot.”

My eyes moved back and forth, trying to connect the dots but nothing in my mind made sense.

And then it clicked.

It was him. The black figure at the Academy that hid in the darkness. Who was almost at one with the shadows.

“Well fucking played,” I spat. “Never thought you’d be one of them, Shadow Wolf.”

Braden had a strange look on his face. It was very cold and distant. But then his dark eyes slowly drank in my appearance, the corner of his mouth curving up.

“Ah, so you still remember me? And here I thought I would come and reintroduce myself to you.” He ran a hand through his wavy hair, and then walked over to Elliot who had thankfully left Josh alone.

This meant Braden was in charge here.

“I’ll take over, Elliot. You go prepare.” There was an immediate change in his features as he clenched his jaw. “He is on his way.”

They shared a look and then nodded at each other. Before Elliot left, Bradon grabbed the knife from him. Now only one guard remained with him.

“How long has it been since you kidnapped me?”

“Kidnapped? I wouldn’t use such a strong word,” he traced his finger on the knife, relishing in the pain the silver left behind. “Borrowed is a better word.”

I glared at him, “How long?”

He watched me with an amused face and smirked, “Almost two weeks.”

Two weeks?

He has got to be fucking kidding me.

“What’s the point of keeping me alive? Why not kill me and get it over with?”

He walked towards me and crouched low on his feet. His face just inches away from mine.

With the knife, he traced the edge of my jawline, and then moved it further up to push my hair behind my ear. The path of the knife moved to trace my neck, stopping only once it reached the spot where my mark went.

He smirked and then pressed the knife hard enough to let a little blood trickle down my neck.

His objective was to scare me. To let the silver burn my skin. However, there was no fear in me which he noticed.

His smug face fell.

Before he could say anything, the guard spoke up, “He is here.”

Braden got up and stared at me with his cold, dark eyes. “I’ll enjoy my time breaking you,” he mock curtsied, “Be seeing you, Vivian.”

Both of them left the room, leaving me and Josh to be alone finally. And that’s when I let the tears flow again.

Not for me but for Josh.

Every fiber of my being wanted him to get back up, wanted to see his boyish, mischievous smile, his twinkling and playful eyes.

“See you later, lefty! Don’t worry, Daddy Josh will be back.”

“Afternoon, Vivian. You look as radiant as the sun itself.”

“Come here and cheer pretty for Joshy.”

There was no way we could escape without my wolf. But she was not responding which could only mean that the restraints were made of silver.

But what was strange about it was that it did not burn which made me doubt if they were silver at all. They looked like silver cuffs but felt like regular ropes.

Maybe she is tired… that was the last thought in my mind before I saw black dots appearing in my vision and everything blacked out.

A punch to the face woke me up. The bright light made me flinch. Same people stood in the room but this time, there were more guards. One of them was the bald guy with the golden pin that I saw twice.

And from behind him, walked the bane of my existence.

Lycan King Randy.

Flanking his sides were Elliot and Braden; Elliot with an impassive expression and Braden with a smug smirk as usual.

“Welcome back, Alpha Vivian. We were wondering when you'd come back to us.”