Sacred Decree

•Chapter Eight• Living A Nightmare

Aubrielle

I'm not sure how long I have been here. Since there are no windows or even a clock. I do not know how many hours, days, or weeks have passed. What I do know is that I am being held captive by my mate. I am being physically abused constantly. I'm given enough food to keep me alive, and given the way my filthy clothes now hang off of me, I have lost some weight.

My mate hardly comes to see me, but when he does, he takes pleasure in taunting me. He likes to remind me that while I rot in this dungeon, he is living life with his chosen mate as if I were ignorant to that fact. He knows well that I can FEEL it when he touches, kisses, or has sex with his whore. Still, he rubs it in.

For us werewolves, your mate is what humans consider to be a soulmate. But for us, the bond of a mate is so strong that when you have been marked, you can feel what your other half is feeling. If they are touching, kissing, or having sex with someone other than you, you feel pain. It's not physical pain, it's an emotional pain that tears at your heart.

I continue to hope that someone will come looking for me, that someone will come to rescue me. I keep praying that mom will realize something is wrong and either come looking for me or send someone to come find me. But I know this is real life, not a movie. Bastian can convince anyone of anything.

I feel a solitary tear escape my eye and slowly travel down my cheek. How I wish I were back home right now and that this was all just a horrible nightmare. That I would sit up in bed with my heart racing, tears staining my face, and realize I had been dreaming. But there is no waking from this terrible reality.

Just then I heard the now-familiar sound of the heavy metal door that led into the dungeon, open and I wondered if it was time for a meal. Not that it mattered much. I didn't get fed as much as the other detainees, nor as frequent. My body has adjusted to the lack of food enough that I only get hungry minutes before I get fed.

I stayed where I sat with my back to the wall, I didn't feel I needed to move. The sound of footsteps was drawing close to my cell when the overhead light came on, completely blinding me. The steps stopped in front of my cell as I blinked my eyes repeatedly to help them adjust to the sudden flood of light that hurt like crazy.

"It seems we have a problem mate," Bastian's voice surprised me. He'd come to see me yesterday and I knew he wasn't due for a visit for six days more. Because he had found his mate, his wolf would take over to come to me if he did not come to see me once a week. So him being here now surprised me.

"A problem?" I asked as I blinked up at him, still unable to see clearly due to the light.

"Your mother, she is the problem," Bastian's statement was more of a growl, his face wore a fearsome scowl. "She has threatened to jump in her car and come out here if you do not call her before she goes to bed tonight!"

He punched the stone wall next to the bars of my cell with enough force that I felt the vibration on the ground I sat upon. I felt a sense of relief to know that Bastian was unable to fool my mother. The thought of mom rushing here to come for me made me want to jump for joy, but that joy was short-lived.

"Don't go getting any ideas," Bastian warned me in a deadly tone. "Unless you want your mother to die, you will call her back and convince her you are fine, that you have been too busy to call and dissuade her from coming for a visit. Got it?"

By the look on his face, I knew he meant what he said. Swallowing hard, I nodded to show that I understood. "Good girl." Bastian unlocks the cell, walks in, and squats down in front of me. "I'm going to stay right here to make sure you do as you're told and that you don't give your mother any reason to come or send someone here."