Alpha Vaughan

Chapter 29

A single lightbulb lit the long hallway. On the other end of the narrow corridor was Vaughan's cell. My heart twisted when I saw him, and for a moment I just stood there staring at him.

He was sat on a large, throne-like stone chair, with heavy manacles connected to his wrists, and iron fetters to his legs, his black hair plastered with sweat allover his chiseled face.

Seated there, on the throne-like chair with tortured eyes, he looked just like the painting back in my room.

A thought occurred to me. "Do you...do you paint?"

Thrown off guard by the question, he momentarily lost the freezing look he'd trained on me. "Why do you ask that?"

I stilled the urge to tuck my hair behind my ear. "Because there are these, er, paintings that are in my room and... and last week it was one of this sick little b..." I trailed off, feeling ridiculous. I went back to the matter at hand. "I want to know where William and Nayla are."

He pinned me with a wilting look. "Where you can't find them."

My temper spiked. "I was the one who convinced them to do what they did. If you want to punish anyone, punish me."

He said, "No punishment would ever be enough to atone for all you've done, Hilda."

I suddenly bursted out. "And what was it I did, huh?! Was trying to find my best friend a crime?!"

He roared, "You almost got yourself killed!"

Throwing my hands in the air, I yelled, "But I didn't!"

His tone grew low and dangerous. "I had given you my word that I'll bring Eunice back to you."

On a quiet note, I said, "What good would it have done, though. She's..." A lump formed at the back of my throat. "She's gone."

He looked at me expressionlessly, then said in a toneless voice, "So your going out tonight had been pointless. How unfortunate."

Holding his gaze, I expelled a disbelieving breath. "Pointless? Unfortunate? What is pointless and unfortunate is being mated to you, Vaughan."

"Likewise." That cold and indifferent tone.

I stilled the urge to wrap my arms around myself in a protective shield. "You wouldn't have to be if you just rejected me."

"No," he said, then smiled humorlessly. "I want you tethered to me, Hilda. When I mark you, I want you a slave to the bond, feeling all my destructive emotions, experiencing all my suffering. If I ever go down below, I want you coming with me."

At his words, chills slithered up my spine. "What made you this way?" I whispered. "Who did you kill to get the curse?"

His eyes turned stone cold. "None of your business."

My ire rose. "A lot of things about you are 'none of my business', Vaughan. You know all there is to know about me. Why am I the only one baring it all?"

"Don't make it sound like I'm the one with the problem."

"What do you mean?"

He leaned in closer, his chains rattling to follow the movement. "Don't act stupid with me, Hilda. Not so long ago, like a fool, I'd poured out my f*cking heart to you. And what did you do? Trample all over it like it was trash."

I averted my gaze. My voice shook when I said, "I'm sorr--"

"Too late." The indifferent tone was back. "In an attempt to save one friend, you've lost two."