Fighting for Power (Howl of the Elements: Book One)

Chapter 21

Chapter 21:

Time moved by agonizingly slow locked in the jail. Being underground, there was no way of being able to tell time, or how many days had passed. There was no sunlight. There were no moon and stars. There was just concrete walls and darkness. For all they knew, they could have been in there for years already, or at least that's sure what it felt like to Logan and Shawn.

The torture that they experienced was brutal. There were many times that Logan actually felt as if they were going to completely break his soul. The beatings and burns he could tolerate, but when they constantly taunted him with the fact that they had killed Layla, it felt as if pieces of himself were dying inside.

Never before had Logan realized exactly how his pack members really were or how they treated their prisoners, and one of the worst parts of it was seeing how badly it affected Shawn. Shawn was not a part of his pack and he had never met him before the attack, but after learning that he was Layla's mate it gave Logan a sense of connection to him.

He could see Shawn changing. It was a slow change, but it was happening and it wasn't for the good. The men that visited the jail to torture them were turning Shawn into something that resembled a monster. There wasn't much left of the Shawn that Logan had first met. Logan could never imagine the boy standing next to him now as being someone chosen to be Layla's mate.

There were scars across Shawn's face from repeatedly being burned and cut. Of course, he could heal faster than one-skinners, but with how often the same injuries were being repeated to the same area it was clear that those scars would probably never fade again. They were now part of him.

The look in his eyes had changed as well. They no longer held spirit. All that remained was a cold darkness. The only emotions they ever showed were anger and hatred. His blank stare would even give Logan the chills at times. Although, lately Logan was feeling a lot colder than usual anyways. Maybe it was from the lack of nutrition and growing thinner and weaker, or perhaps it was just from being down in the damp dungeon for what felt like an eternity.

"Why did you try to help Layla?" Shawn's voice came out as almost a whisper. This was the first time he had brought up her name since Logan had first told him that she was dead.

Turning his head to the side so that he could see Shawn's face, Logan replied, "I don't really know. She...she was different than other people. I guess I kind of grew fond of her during the time that I knew her."

"Are you saying that you had feelings for her? Do you know that she had said your name in her sleep when she had returned home? Exactly how close were you two?" There was beginning to become an edge to Shawn's tone as he went through his questions.

She said my name in her sleep? Did she really think about me enough for me to have possibly been in her dreams?

"No, I didn't know that. We were friends, but that was it. I mean I enjoyed spending time with her, but we never talked as anything more than friends. You have my word. I didn't know that she had already had a chosen mate, but either way I had a mate as well. Layla wasn't interested in me, trust me..." Logan's voice drifted as he began to feel almost sad over the fact that Layla hadn't shown any sign of likeness towards him. He had began to fall for her, but he wasn't about to admit that to Shawn. There wasn't any point now anyways since she wasn't even alive anymore for it to matter.

The sound of feet stomping down the stairway echoed throughout the dungeon. Both Logan and Shawn stopped talking and their bodies tensed up. Even though they knew what was coming, there was still no way of fully preparing themselves for the abuse.

***

Selena clutched her protruding stomach as she was awakened with a cramping pain. Forcing her eyes to open, she glanced around the room. Leon was still asleep next to her, his snoring sounding like a grizzly bear. It was barely light outside. The sun was just beginning to sneak its first rays through the gap in the curtain.

No longer feeling the cramp, Selena shook her head. It must have just been the baby kicking her bladder too hard. Now that she was four months along, she was almost full term and the baby loved being active as ever at all times of the day and night. Selena didn't envy the one-skinners that had to be with-child for nine months. She couldn't even imagine having to deal with the pregnancy symptoms for that long. Five months to give birth to her pup was long enough.

Swinging her legs over the side of the bed, she pushed her extra weight up by bracing her hands against the edge of the bed. Her night gown clung to her body. Pretty soon she would have to get a new one. She had definitely gotten a lot bigger with this pregnancy compared to when she was pregnant with Layla.

Once her body was upright, she turned to move towards the bedroom door, but stopped when she felt a gush of wetness run down her legs and onto the floor. A sharp pain had her doubling over and she screamed in agony.

Bolting up from the bed, Leon rushed over to her. The volume of her shout had woken him immediately out of his slumber. Although he was still trying to grasp onto reality, his heart was racing with worry.

"What's wrong dear? Is someone here? Are you hurt?" he started running towards the door to check the hallway, but slipped on something wet on the floor next to Selena, so instead he ended up sliding right into the doorframe and smacked his head against it.

"Damn it! What the hell was that? You know you could have warned me if you had been so incompetent as to of spilled something everywhere especially after waking me up like that," he shouted as he rubbed his forehead.

"Excuse me? Are you that blind that you cannot see that my fucking water broke?! I am in labor you damn fool," Selena screamed back at him.

His eyes widened and his jaw dropped. Standing there frozen in place, he was utterly speechless. Selena waited for a response, but again had to grip her stomach from another jolt of pain almost bringing her to her knees.

As she took deep breaths to work herself through the contraction, she looked back up at Leon's face, "Well are you just going to stand there like an idiot or are you going to get me some help?"

Leon quickly shook his head, as if to clear his thoughts and stuttered, "Oh, yes. Yes, I'll be right back. Lie down while I go get the midwife, but try not to soil the bedding."

He turned and ran out the door before Selena could snap a response at him. She bit her lip in frustration, but turned and waddled back to the bed to wait for his return.

A/N: Some time has passed and now it's time to meet Layla's little brother or sister! Any predictions on what's going to happen?

Things are still looking down for Logan and Shawn, and they still don't know that Layla survived. What will happen when they do find out? Will she have to choose between them? And if so, who will she choose?

I love seeing all of your comments and opinions, it really does make the writing experience that much more enjoyable. I have actually laughed out loud reading some of the comments :)

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