The Unforgiving Moon

11.

"Haven't you grown tired of your little act, already?" she asked, though I knew she did not seek a reply.

I couldn't give her an answer anyway, as my limbs were burning, my throat was exploding, my head was throbbing, my lungs were hitching—

She just sat there, bored almost. Today, she had brought a chair. She had mumbled something about having to move her entire office here, since I was planning on occupying most of her time, anyway.

Even after her powers withdrew, my arms kept trembling against the chains. At my feet, I could see the small, dried stain of blood. At first, my nosebleeds meant the end of her visits was nearing, but now they meant we were just getting into it.

I watched as fresh red drops made their way down. I gulped. Some visits ago, my eyes had bled, too. And if I could believe what Mallee told me, my ears had, too.

Moons, it hurt. Even after she left, the pain, the draining pain remained. It lingered in my cell, my only company in these dark days.

I didn't know how many days had passed. How long I had been locked up here. There were no windows in these cells, no connection to the outside world. The only thing I did know, was that as long as Mallee came to visit me, Beckett still hadn't made his way down to Rahas.

"I certainly have," she continued. "I have a war to prepare for, a pack to protect, and here you are. Day after day, continuing to lie and waste my time. Everyone's time!" Her voice pitched, and she inhaled a big breath before she continued.

My eyes stayed glued to the floor as she berated me. I didn't muster the energy to fight her.

"I suppose I'm giving you exactly what you want, don't I?" she huffed.

And there that suffocating feeling was again—overpowering everything until I could hear nothing but my own heart crazing in my ears, echoing in my mind, bursting out of my skull.

She hadn't touched me, once. Everything she had done to me, had been with words or with her powers. In the beginning, I had wondered why. Was she afraid to touch me? Was she too disgusted by me?

Or did she simply not see the need to do so?

But I didn't wonder about that anymore. I didn't wonder about much, lately.

"You will give me what I want, too," she mused. "It would save us both a lot of time and effort if you'd just tell the truth now. How did you steal it?"

My eyes fluttered opened and closed, trying to lull me away from this constant state of agony.

"Pathetic," she murmured under her breath and her lingering touch disappeared once again. "I truly don't know how you managed to convince two Alphas to believe in you. Two!"

One, I corrected her in my head. But I didn't dare speak the word aloud—I wasn't able to, either way.

My eyes were stuck on her legs, on her feet. My head was too heavy to lift.

"You have betrayed this pack, in the worst way possible," she said, anger lacing her tone. "Moons, I'm not even sure what you did. What exactly it is that you stole—and your refusal of any answers doesn't exactly ease my mind."

I finally saw her stand up, and her feet marched closer to me until they stood right next to mine.

Her hands grasped my hair and pulled my head back, forcing me to look her in the eye. This was the first time she'd touched me since I'd been locked up.

"You've already seen what happens to traitors in this pack. A death for a death. And you stole Death itself, I'm guessing."

I didn't steal anything, I murmured to myself.