*Isla*
The scent of mildew overcame me as I struggle to stay sitting upright, my eyes straining in the dim light. I need to stay awake, but it’s so hard, my head hurts so bad from the wolfsbane injected into my thigh earlier, but if I fall asleep, I may never wake up again, and then I have zero chance of ever getting out of here.
The stinging sensation from the chains around my wrists and ankles continues to bite into my flesh, a searing pain that refuses to dull, even though I’m pretty sure the silver has already eaten through my flesh. I know that Zabrina and her henchmen were hoping that I would just lay down here and die, but I can’t do that—I won’t.
The vision of King Maddox’s face keeps flashing before my eyes. He’s got to be back at the castle by now doesn’t he? I know that Zabrina concocted a plan to make it seem like I’d run away, but I am praying he’ll see through it. He’s an intelligent man—he won’t believe that, will he?
I’d like to think that Zabrina is a fool, that her plan has to fall apart, but when she stood at the bottom of the stairs, staring at my pitiful form hunched over in pain in the corner, she sounded convincing. She had it all worked out….
“The notes will convince them that the two of you left together, that you were in love, and I’ll be there when he falls apart to help mend his wounded soul!” She’d laughed hysterically, one hand on her hip. Her driver, some man from her pack, had been at the top of the stairs, a nervous look on his face. Private Wylie, who was also from her pack, I’d learned, stood behind her, also laughing, his hand on Zabrina’s shoulder. I knew the two of them were sleeping together now, but what he didn’t realize was that she was just using him. Did he think that she just wanted Maddox for his name and title but that she really loved him? If so, Private Wylie was the biggest fool of them all.
They’d left a few hours ago, before the sun went down, leaving us here, in the cellar of an old abandoned house too far away from the palace for Maddox to use the mind-link to reach me—unless he happened to start searching in this direction. By then, I will probably be dead.
How long did it take wolfsbane to completely kill a shifter? I suppose it depends on how much one has been given. I heard the two of them standing at the top of the stairs debating about how much to give me so that I’d stay awake and feel the torture from the silver chains that were preventing me from shifting.
At least Private Wylie had had the decency to knock Private Parker out. I felt worse for him than I did myself. He’d looked so scared when they’d hauled him out of the trunk of the car, bound and gagged already. I didn’t understand how they’d managed to get away with this. Were there no security cameras at the castle? I knew there was one on the gate leaving the palace because I’d seen it when we drove by.
But… that didn’t mean that Maddox would put all of the clues together in enough time to find me and rescue me. Even if he reached me by mind-link, I wouldn’t be able to tell him where we were. They’d blindfolded me pretty quickly once the car went through the gate so I wouldn’t be able to help direct anyone to our location… if I am alive long enough for someone from my pack or King Maddox to get within mind-linking distance of me.
It is hard to believe everyone who might be looking for me is over a hundred miles away.
And Private Parker is breathing very slowly. His face is pale… I’m not sure how much time he has left.
It’s no surprise that Zabrina so willingly sacrificed him. On the way here, she bragged about slicing that poor maid’s throat. “It’s not that hard, really,” she said. “It’s too bad I can’t do the same to you. I’d love to watch your blood coat my palms the way hers did.” Then she’d laughed, and Private Wylie had laughed, too.
My head is swimming. I lean back against the cold concrete, trying to concentrate on keeping air in my lungs. The stinging is enough to keep me awake for now, but it won’t last forever.
I think of my mother. She will have no idea what happened to me. She’ll be so upset. I can see her crying, on her knees, praying to the Moon Goddess that I’m found. My dad will comfort her, tears in his eyes as he tries to be brave.
And then there are my siblings. My brothers… Ben. He will miss me the most. My sweet brother who has already had such a hard life. I hope they have the money forgiven now so that they can afford any other procedures he needs. So that my mom doesn’t have to worry about how she’ll afford to make dinner every night.
Poppy is either fuming at me for pulling this stunt, or she’s searching frantically for me, trying to convince the others that I wouldn’t do something like this.
But most of all, my mind wonders to Maddox. Will he care that I’m not there? I would like to think he will care, but he probably won’t give it too much thought, except, perhaps, for the loss of money. What if he goes to Alpha Ernest and says the deal is off? Alpha Ernest will demand my parents repay their debt as well.
Maddox… the thought of him has me longing for his touch. He wouldn’t hesitate to break the silver chains from my body, though they would burn his flesh as well. He would scoop me into his arms and take me to the infirmary, have the pack healer administer the antidote to wolfsbane, something only invented in the last few decades. How many people died from this horrible plant being injected into them before that was created? Too many to count.
We read about it in school, how it causes the body to shut down. Slows breathing, heart rate, and then… thought. Next, a person’s vital organs begin to shut down, and then… death.
The Moon Goddess might be preparing a place for me right now, and Private Parker as well. I think they gave him too much.
“Maddox?” I cry out with my mind. “If you can hear me, I didn’t leave you. I was taken from you. I’m in a basement somewhere… far away. Please… look for me… find me… for Private Parker’s sake.”
My mind goes hazy again, and I am no longer in the basement. I’m on the beach. I see my sisters and my father ahead of me, waiting at the dock, and I am holding my mother’s hand. It’s nighttime or early morning. It’s dark, and my mother says, “We must be quiet, Isla. If they hear us… we could be in trouble.” In the distance, I see the boat coming in. It’s tiny. That boat will take us all the way across the sea? But it’s so small… just like me.
“Isla,” I mutter under my breath, jarring myself awake. Isla… like the islands… where I was born. We don’t speak of it. Thoughts of our former home make my parents too sad. They miss it. They miss our old house, our old friends, our old life. I don’t remember any of it.
I was only two…. I didn’t even know I remembered the beach and the boat.
But I do remember.
Maybe before I die, I will remember more, like what our life was like back there in our homeland before we came to Willow pack, but by then… it won’t matter. I will remember for a few minutes before I die.
“Maddox!” I try again. “Please, if you can hear me, I’m sorry. I think… I think I could’ve loved you. I think… I think I might now. I never would’ve left you. Tell my mother I love her. And my dad. And my brothers. Ben….”
My head lolls to the side again. I jerk back upright, trying to stay awake, and it makes the chains move, finding new flesh to eat away. I grimace as I hear my flesh begin to sizzle. I try not to move again so that it doesn’t bake my flesh further, but it’s hard.
The scent of urine stings my nostrils, and I look across the room. A puddle of liquid is forming beneath Private Parker. His kidneys, his bladder, they’ve failed him. I can see he’s breathing but only slightly.
It won’t be long now.
I look at the stairs. I wish I could climb them, but I tried to stand up a few times when I heard the car drive away, and I wasn’t strong enough, not to mention my ankles are chained to my wrists. No, I couldn’t get away then when I was stronger, so I don’t think I can now.
I’d even tried screaming aloud, but no one had come, and now, I can barely mumble. Zabrina had told me that we were in the middle of the woods with no other houses around, that she’d picked this place out specifically for me to die in. “Welcome to your coffin,” she’d said. “But we’ll come back and bury your corpse in a week or so, just in case someone comes across you. We don’t want Maddox to know you didn’t run away to marry your true love!” That had been so hilarious to her. Private Wylie had laughed, too.
Now, she is probably back at the castle, telling Maddox she’s sorry I left him….
“Maddox….”
I am on the beach. My mother’s hand is soft in mine. In the distance behind me, I hear howling.
“They’re coming, Daniel!” she says, and my dad turns his head only slightly before he assures her that the boat is almost there.
“The boat is almost here.” Did I say that aloud or only in my mind? “Maddox… the boat is almost here….” I am falling asleep, and this time, even the pain in my wrists doesn’t make me jerk upright. “The boat is almost here… Maddox….”
I am standing on the beach, holding my mom’s hand, watching the starlight twinkle in the water as the boat pulls up to the dock. We move forward. “It’s okay, Isla. We’ll be safe now.”
“We’ll be safe now.” My mouth doesn’t move. “I’ll be safe now….” I step off the sand, onto the dock, but my feet don’t hit the wooden planks. I am floating now, floating away….
“Isla!!”