It's the pain that wakes me up. As if the entire right part of my waist is on fire. I manage to fully open my eyes and take a look.
There's bandage around my waist and it's soaked in blood. The pain intensifies.
Groaning I look around. Hermann is on a stool, stoking the fire. Then I look up. Dark stone.
We are in a cave.
I'm trying to remember what happened.
Early morning I woke up beside Jackson. I heard my phone ping. It was Chloe, asking me to come to her. Message said it was urgent.
I looked at Jackson, his beautiful face looked calm in his sleep. I didn't want to wake him up.
I left back to my guesthouse to see Chloe. And the last thing I remember was opening the door and Hermann's wolf pounced on me.
I swallow to moisten my dry lips. I turn to Hermann. "Chloe," I say.
"She's safe. For now. I only stole her phone and texted you."
I begin to moan again as the pain spikes from even a minuscule movement of my muscles. "Fuck you, Hermann," I breathe out.
I hear some rummaging and see him from the corner of my eye get up and walk to me.
He has a palm stretched out and a glass of water in his other hand. "This will help with the pain," he says.
"Fuck you," I say.
He smiles. Puts the tablet in his mouth, grabs my chin and brings his lips over to mine. He shoves his tongue inside me, giving me the tablet and forcing me to swallow.
Then he doesn't stop. He forces his kisses on me. His hands on my body only worsens the pain.
Eventually he moves his head away to the side and licks my neck, over Jackson's mark.
"Fuck," I say, trying to push him out, not caring about the injury or the pain.
Hermann laughs. "I've to say, I didn't expect this. A mate," he says and bites on my mark. He can't overwrite it, not when my mate's alive. "It's that Yarvey's Alpha isn't it? The one you went to see the movie with."
"Stop this, Hermann," I say, "You don't have to do this. If you want to kill me just kill me." I've made peace with the fact that I've to pay for my mistake from the past. And if my death could keep those I love safe, then so be it.
"Kill you?" Hermann says, "If I killed you, then who would I play with?"
Tears cover my eyes. "I'm sorry, Hermann. What I di–"
He grabs the back of my head. "What you did was leave me. You left me. Grabbed your best friend and ran away."
"I'm sor—"
He pulls my hair tighter making me cry out. "Sorry? Sorry won't cut it. Maybe I would've forgiven if it was someone else. But not you. Why do you think I even hung out with you guys back then? It was for you. It was so I could be close to you. But then you left me when I needed you the most, and never showed your face again."
My heart aches from the pain I see in his eyes. "Hermann," I say and break down in tears.
He buries his face into my chest and hugs me. "You've to make up for it," he says, "For you, I can leave Chloe alone. Instead, we leave. You and I. We go somewhere far away."
I grab my forehead. I don't care how wrong he is I would've agreed to whatever he said for Chloe's sake. But now, it will be impossible for me to leave anywhere. Jackson will come after me and he won't stop until I'm with him again.
"We can't. They will catch us," I say.
"Who?" Hermann says, raising his head to look at me, "Your pack? Or your mate?"
"Both."
"Then I guess I'll have to kill them all," Hermann says and moves away from me. I grab his shirt.
"No, Hermann, please, don't do anything stupid. Fine, I'll go. Let's go."
He shakes his head. His hand touches my neck and his thumb rubs my mark. "I need this gone so I could put down mine."
I swat his hand away. "Are you insane? You think you can win against him? You think because you killed some poor, unarmed innocent people you're stronger than everyone else?"
"I know I'm stronger than you," he says and grabs my waist. I kick the floor in pain, screaming. When he pounced on me at the guesthouse Hermann clawed my waist.
I remember Jackson boasting about how fast he heals, I so wish I had his ability now.
Hermann stops squeezing my wounds. "Don't worry, Leah," he says, "I've got a plan. I've someone on the inside helping me out. Just one switch and boom! Everyone you've ever known up in flames."
I want to shout, and fight him and run to my pack to warn them. But my vision is fading again. "Don't," I tell him, holding onto the last shred of consciousness, "Don't be a monster."
"Monster? Me?" He whispers into my ear, "You're lucky I didn't throw you into a cave full of real monsters and leave."
With that, the light is gone.
End of chapter
