Alpha Instincts

Chapter 39

They fed me just enough to keep me alive. Often I received small remnants of stale bread with a cup of water. What little food I did receive, however, was injected with a powerful drug that blinded my thoughts and robbed me of any remaining energy.

After my failed escape, Lucille decided that I had too much energy and that I was likely to try to escape again. So I came to the ultimate dilemma of either letting myself starve to death, or passing out from the contents of the food. I chose the latter. The drug made me unaware of where the nightmares ended and reality began. The boundaries were as vague as fog. And if the guard who visited me to deliver food made a daily appearance, then about thirteen days had passed since I'd been thrown into the cells. It had been even longer since the car crash.

My eyes drifted along the inside of the cellar, where the steel bars, stench and loneliness were starting to become all-too familiar. The werewolves remained in their cells, with only a few of them managing to escape. The lady that had grabbed my arm and thanked me had managed to escape, but Beth remained in the cell beside me, trying her best to remain positive.

Lucille had doubled the guards so that one rogue remained inside the cellar with us–much to his dissatisfaction–two were just outside the door and another further down the hallway. Knowing that Lucille had underestimated my willpower gave me some satisfaction.

Beth's presence acted as a buffer between me and insanity. Whenever we had the energy we talked with each other and Beth often asked me of my own pack. Those conversations often made me feel elated and upset at the same time. It was impossible to know what the pack were up to at that moment–they had to know that I was missing, and I felt a stab of pain in my heart when I thought of Hanna. As far as she knew the mission would've only taken a weekend, but now it had been extended to weeks.

If something happened to me I could trust Hanna to stop Lucille.

And Cole. A cry escaped my lips. He'd look for me. But I had to accept he was more of a victim in this than any of us. I'd cared for him, in a way, but I'd never loved him. I wondered if he was still angry at me because of what had happened on my birthday. It had been so long since I'd seen him that I could barely remember the image of his face. If things didn't go my way and I couldn't escape this place, then he could take over my role as Alpha, ruling under Monroe's watchful gaze.

Monroe.

I grasped one of the cell pipes and looked down. He'll be maddened, take it out on the pack. Losing his wife was one thing, but losing his only child would almost kill him. He would blame my disappearance on himself, think he should have been at the pack house to stop me from going. But he was our leader and he would do his duty to the end.

Listening to Beth's stories made me realise just how brave and determined she was to get out of here, and I wasn't planning on letting her down. I may be locked up, but I hadn't completely given up hope.

Despite being exhausted and wanting nothing more than to fall back to sleep, I stood up to stretch in my cell. My wolf had never yet felt so repressed, so animalistic. I had reached the limit where I could no longer transform into my wolf. Instead, I resorted to pacing laps around my cell until my muscles heaved with exhaustion and I was forced to lie back down on the ground of the dirt floor.

"Sabine?" Beth pulled me out of my thoughts.

"Hmm?"

"What's it like outside?"

My breath halted as I suddenly remembered the lengthy period of time that Beth had been imprisoned here. I clenched my teeth as a surge of anger coursed through me. Beth was so young and had missed the best parts of childhood because of my own mother.