The Dark Side of the Moon

T H I R T Y - N I N E

Another chapter! Please vote and comment bc it makes my day :)

Thing 1 doesn't have time to grab me before I disappear into a dark blue haze. I come to in a dark, empty room that resembles the interior of a warehouse. The floors are coated with a layer of dust which thickens the air in the room. I turn in circles as I search for an obvious exit- at least, I feel like I'm spinning. Actually, no- I'm just extremely nauseated. I try to take a step forward, but I crumble with my first step.

I hunch over and gag a few times, thankfully not expelling any of my breakfast. When the room finally stop moving, I take in my surroundings. I see a dark form on the floor about five feet from me and I instantly scoot back as I gauge the danger. Once I see white hair on the individual, I sigh in relief and rush over to him.

Eli looks... awful. He's sweating profusely and that's not the worst of it. He has horrible injuries all over his arms, face, and neck- and that's only the ones I can see. His face is red and swollen. I see more bruising than skin color. His lip is split, his cheekbones are scattered with tiny cuts, and he looks like someone just left him bruised and battered on the side of the road.

"What the hell? Eli are you okay?" I frantically search his body for more obvious injuries. When I notice the yellowish- green bruises on his face that accompany the purple and reds, I realize that these injuries aren't new but days old.

"'Mm fine," he mumbles incoherently. He opens his eyes and takes a sudden breath, then winces at the action. He tries to sit up with difficulty, so I gently aid him in sitting up. He definitely is in pain, but he tries to hide it with a fake smile.

"Who did this to you?" I whisper as tears form in my eyes. He leans in to wipe my tears away, but I gently grab his wrist and look at his hand. Two of his fingers look crooked and are most likely broken while the rest of the hand looks bruised.

"What-"

"Shh, don't worry about it. That's not why I brought you here," he reasons. If he thinks that I'm just going to sit here and not find out who hurt him and beat the shit out of them, he has another thing coming... Okay, maybe I'll make Grayson beat the shit out of them, but it's the thought that counts.

"I needed to talk to you, and your freaking werewolf boyfriend wouldn't let me get within five feet of you. And he blocked my number from your phone after we texted, so none of my newer messages were going through."

My shock turns to anger when I realize Grayson invaded my privacy and took away my freedom without me even knowing it. My mind slows down enough to process that Eli must have portaled us to this obsolete building so he can talk to me. That explains why he brought me here, but not why he looks like he was run over by a truck. Unless...

"Eli," I begin, anger seeping into my voice, "Did Grayson do this to you?"

He looks at me with a small grin. "I wish. Maybe then you wouldn't talk to him again. Werewolves are so primal, animalistic. They're beasts, Thea. But to answer your question, no. Your perfect little wolf didn't touch me." He groans as he rises to his feet. He stumbles forward, and my hands shoot to his shoulders to steady him. I'm usually the one with balance issues, so it feels good to help someone else for a change.

Tension leaks from my body when I realize that Grayson didn't do this to him.

"If Grayson didn't do this, then who did?" He looks like he's going to skirt around the answer, so I firmly order, "you have to tell me. Right now."

He grumbles something under his breath, then looks at the floor. The small amount of confidence he did have drained out of him the moment he answered me.