Lethal Sins (Feral Souls Series - II)

Chapter Three

|Elliot|

Minutes bled into hours that bled into days. In the deep, dark cells that they had been kept, time felt like an illusion, leaving no clue how much of it had passed already when darkness surrounded him.

Although he didn't want her here, didn't want to see her in pain, Elliot couldn't help but be a little selfish at being grateful for having his mate, Celeste, close to him. His shoulders felt weighed down by the guilt of having involved her in this mess. But, no matter what he would have said, it had been Callahan's confident words against his pathetic excuse of a lie. More so than that, his heart had felt heavy for how he hadn't been able to do his part at saving his people and now there would be no other way.

The only sigh of relief was that Malcolm was unaware of this development, and with the traitor captured, Elliot could only hope that the vampire would not be able to hurt his pack, whether it be by turning them feral or by attacking them.

Would it last long enough, though? Would it keep his pack safe? His family safe? Elliot shuddered, immediately regretting the moment as he hissed with pain that came due to the silver shackles.

He had never, before, been in this kind of pain. Having led a human life, the worst kind of wound he'd got was when, during track, he had tripped and scratched his knee. It had bled, it had hurt and itched, but if he had to compare that pain to this on a scale of fifty, he'd rate this one a solid ten thousand.

Being held in silver, cuffed around wrists, throats and ankles, had brought down all three of them to their knees. It was so strong a torment that Elliot had slipped into oblivion within moments and Callahan had followed. Owing to her witch blood though Celeste, his brave mate, had been able to hold on for the longest.

When Elliot had come to, it was with a scream that left his throat hoarse.

"Elliot? What's happening?" Celeste had asked.

Albeit not much, but her whisper of a voice had been like a balm to his aching soul, subsiding some of his pain.

He had opened his mouth to respond, but all that had come out was a groan of pain. He felt pathetic, but it wasn't like he could do anything about it.

"It'll pass in a bit. You'll..." He heard her shuffle a little, followed by a wince of her own. "You'll get used to it. Just..., just breathe."

Elliot wanted to laugh at that but did not even have the energy to do so. He wanted to cry, but it hurt so much that even the tears refused to fall; his mind was afraid of the impact it might have and the reflex actions of his hands to wipe them off. He just wanted the pain to end. Even that was too much to ask.

"Are... you... still alive?" They heard Callahan ask from the other cell. Elliot was overcome with anger so fierce that he, for a moment, forgot about the shackles or the pain that he'd been utterly afraid of not moments ago.

He moved in the direction of Callahan's voice however, in less than a second, Elliot was down on all fours, screaming as the shackles burned his flesh where they touched, sticking to and scraping against some of the already charred flesh.

"Elliot!" Celeste cried in alarm while Callahan managed a weak snicker.

"This is... so much mo-more fun," he croaked out, "my last... days with-without having... to pretend to... be your friend." He croaked out a laugh.

Had Elliot been on the other side of the cell, he would have made Callahan regret speaking those words. Right then, he couldn't even think properly beyond the burning sensation of his gradually numbing skin.

"Once we are all dead, I am going to..." pausing to take a breath, Celeste continued, "kill your soul in thousand different ways after I have tortured the other life out of you."

Despite the weakened state, her threat carried all the anger and betrayal that she felt. It even rendered Callahan speechless.

Thank Qaphsiel for small mercies, Elliot thought, exhaling a forced breath out of his nose.

|Celeste|

Time took its prolonged and excruciating time to pass.

Celeste had no inkling of how long it had been since any of the three had last spoken. She could hear their labored breathing and slight wincing sounds that Elliot had been making.

The need to comfort her mate was strong enough to make her entire being pain with a renewed intensity. Helplessness. That's what she felt at not being able to do anything for him or their people. It made her want to lash out and end everything that came in the way. Try as she might, even with the witch blood singing inside her, she wasn't powerful enough.

Her wolf had hidden in a crevice of her mind, and she didn't blame her. If anything, Celeste was envious that her wolf could get away from this, but she couldn't. That fact, in turn, frustrated her even more. It was a vicious cycle.

As though the physical torment wasn't enough, the higher powers cruelly decided to test their emotional limits as well.

It was, apparently, a few hours later that she heard someone climbing down the stairs. Heels clicked against the stone floor as a sweet fragrance wafted across the dungeons. Cherry mixed with a hint of sandalwood.

Celeste felt an invisible hand take hold of her heart, squeezing with all its might, as she struggled to breathe harder. She knew better than to hope, but that tiny flicker burned a little stronger in her chest.

"Tyra!" She exclaimed in a whisper an instant before her best friend came to stand still in front of her cell.

It seemed as if the world was holding its breath as Tyra's eyes adjusted to the dark and found Celeste's. It was then that Celeste noticed that her best friend wasn't alone. Dominic came to a stop next to Tyra, his face full of disgust.

I can't do this, Celeste thought.

Seeing the contempt, hatred and disappointment raging in Tyra's eyes made Celeste feel like she was choking on something. How had they gotten here?

A moment passed before Tyra took a deep breath, steeling herself to speak, "do you have any idea what you and your pathetic breed of friends have done, Celeste? I hate myself for being called the friend of a traitor! A fucking traitor who led to the murder of thousands of innocents!" Her voice echoed through the dungeons, but Celeste said nothing, instead, she lowered her eyes to look at the ground.

"Where is that fire now? What's with the silence? What pleasure did you find by killing those wolves?" It was Dominic's turn to question now. His voice, unlike Tyra's, was even-toned and that somehow made the accusations pierce deeper.

"It's a good thing," he crossed his arms over his chest, "that three of you are going to be executed in a day's time."

No one spoke after that revelation.

Elliot's pained voice broke through the silence.

"Dom-Dominic," he managed. To hold himself still was a struggle, but he had to do this for Celeste.

"Celeste's only fault is th-that she is my m-mate," he continued. "She has done not-nothing."

He tried to breathe harder, his next words were merely a whisper as his vision began to darken, but everyone heard him loud and clear, "please have her released."

The last thing he saw before giving in to the darkness was Tyra spitting in his direction.