Alpha & Omega // Ateez // P.SH

- 23 -

Ellinor:

Prison. She was a prisoner. This was nothing like the cell in the basement with her pack in the city. This was real imprisonment. Guards, moist walls and ceilings, bad food, fear. The worst part was knowing that Seonghwa was gone.

Her soulmate was no more, he had bread to death by a cold fire, far up into the mountains, so far from the forest that the pack would never be able to save him. Seonghwa, her beloved, her alpha, was gone. She had no mate and no pack. She was alone again. Truly alone. She was never a part of Hongjoongs pack, but they had become family. Now she had lost her entire family.

She tried distracting herself with thoughts of the others. Of Yunho, the gentle giant who always made the most delicious food. Of Mingi and Helena, and the pup that was probably born by now. The pup she would never know. She had looked forward to meeting the little one, to see the family grow. She had felt connected to them before they were even born and now... nothing. Emptiness.

«Seonghwa,» she sobbed, imagining the beautiful man he had been. His perfect features, those kind eyes and the hair that covered them far too often. He would have deserved to get a long life, a family. He would have deserved peace and prosperity with his pack. She had brought nothing but pain to him. They had a very short time of happiness together before reality set in and stopped it. Ellinor didn't deserve happiness, but Seonghwa had. He had done nothing wrong. Seonghwa. Her beloved Seonghwa. She couldn't stop thinking of him, even though the pain in her heart was making it difficult to breathe. How did she have any tears left? Her eyes were swollen and red, her body sore. She felt horrible. What the hell was she even doing here?

She had no idea how much time had passed. Many, many days, maybe even weeks. One morning she woke from her sleep, for a moment uncertain what had disturbed her sleep. She felt something in the link. Wasn't the pack link gone after all? She tried to feel who was getting closer. She called out to all of them. Hongjoong, Yunho, everyone. She even called for Seonghwa, but the link was silent. Nobody answered. But she could have sworn someone was getting closer. Darkness took over again.

—

«Well, well, well, would you look at that.»

The voice was familiar, but she wasn't able to understand. In the dark dungeons she couldn't really see, she just knew there were many. Several of the guards she recognized by scent, but who was standing in the middle? Her brain was working too slowly. She could scent him, but she couldn't remember. What was it she didn't want to remember?

«Who are you?» she whispered. Her voice was rough, she couldn't remember the last time she used it.

«Get her upstairs and clean her up, she smells absolutely revolting. Bring her to me after.»

«Yes, alpha,» the guards said and the man disappeared up the stairs. Ellinor was thrown over someone's shoulder and carried upstairs.

Daylight blurred her vision and made it impossible to see. She was too weak to fight it. She was basically hanging limp in the arms of the guard. She was brutally dumped on the floor, and the little she was wearing was pulled off her body. She wanted to cover up, but she was too weak, even for that. It wasn't just the lack of food that made her weak. She had no will to live. She had given up. Strangers seeing her naked didn't matter. She was too weak to shift into her wolf, but that didn't matter either. She allowed the darkness to swallow her, to bring her closer to Seonghwa. She had to believe she would meet him again in the afterlife. She chose to believe that.

«What the hell is this?!»

The alpha was furious.

«I didn't do all this to get her here, and then have her die in the dungeons. Get your best beta here, immediately!»