Darkest Before Dawn

Chapter 8

Shortly after the Alpha left, Ace entered.

"How ya feeling drinking buddy?"

I simply narrowed my eyes at him and glared.

He clutched his heart as if wounded, "I'm sorry I yelled at you yesterday, truly I lost my temper."

I kept my slit eyed stare on his large frame. He looked back at me to see if I would acknowledge his apology and all I did was point to the wound near my throat.

His eyes grew wide, "I really did not think he would do that Dawn. I knew he was angry but he had been so lenient with you already especially for Draven."

"Draven?"

"His beast, you just call him Alpha, but he has a name. And Draven is neither a patient nor merciful creature. But he had been both with you, if I had known I would have made him cool down before handing you over."

I continued my unwavering glare. Ace finally held up his hands and left the room. I placed the tray of food minus the water bottle on the floor outside the door untouched before crawling into bed. I had no tears left to cry so I simply listened to my own rhythmic breathing to lull myself to sleep.

If he had come to bed the previous night he was long gone before I awoke. Food was left for me but neither Draven nor Ace made an appearance. I kept up my part only drinking the water not touching the food through all three meals that were left.

I spent most of the day ignoring a small ache in my gut that was slowly growing. And it wasn't because I hadn't eaten, it was because I fucking missed that stupid monster. I was sitting on the floor leaning against one of the wooden bed posts feeling like my sanity was crumbling. I was furious with myself, so much so I screamed and screamed. I screamed until my throat went raw and Draven and Ace raced into the room.

"What's wrong? What happened?"

Both men looked concerned but I just narrowed my eyes at both and turned my back on them before my fury turned to tears. I pulled myself onto the mattress and kept my back to them as my body was wracked with sobs. That stupid ache in my gut urged me to seek his comfort but I stubbornly refused curling into as tiny of a ball as I could.

I heard a deep sigh come from Draven, and heavy foot falls as he left the room.

"Dawn," even with my eyes tightly shut I could tell Ace was kneeling in front of me, "Dawn please stop fighting. Your causing yourself so much pain. The bond is inevitable now. I am sorry this was forced on you like this, but the harder you resist, the harder you fight, the more you will hurt. And the more he will hurt too."

I opened my watery eyes only enough to give him the same squinted eye glare from our previous encounter. He shook his head disappointed, but stood up and left me to fall into the bleak peace of sleep.

The ache I woke up with the following morning was most likely at least partially in fault due to my lack of eating. But I continued to ignore it. And I did the same for four days following. Any time Ace or Draven tried to come and talk to me I would just glare at them until they gave up. As I had assumed the big bad wolf had no more threats up his sleeve to make me play along after marking me. He had solely been relying on the bond subduing me against his previous actions and the situation.

I will admit to myself and only myself, I was feeling pretty weak at this point. It was harder to get to and from the shower, and I was taking shorter showers due to not being able to stand too long. But I could out last this wolf and this bond. A knock on the door signaled lunch had been left outside and I left it there. I didn't have the energy to even go grab my bottle of water just yet.