Everything Anew

Chapter Thirty-Seven

TW

~

Thirty-Seven

Nathan

Everything inside of me told me to run. To turn back now, and keep going. I regretted not leaving the land and packing up earlier, I should have taken my pride and dignity and buried it along with everything else. Start fresh with the Shadow Pack, somewhere new and safe.

Now it was too late.

I walked the familiar path North to where the rebels stayed. I could almost smell it when we crossed the threshold of the road. Once I stepped off my land, my body weakened. The fight had taken a lot out of me, and the bond shared between Lila and I was suffocating with the amount of distance that now separated us.

I nearly fell over when I finally realized how little energy I had, but Skoll pushed me forward and forced me to keep going.

Everything was the same as I remembered it. Other than a few more tents and shacks, the Rogue Pack barely changed regardless of the years that went by. My nightmares came back to life, and it took all my self-control not to throw up at the memories flooding back to me.
The things they did in front of me, what they forced me to do. I shook my head as if I could rid the thoughts, but all it did was made my head spin further.

"Get him checked by Ryken and give him something to help him sleep."

I struggled against the two men holding me, growling as my wolf surfaced. I had to hold him back, had to do everything I could to stop them from putting a leash or collar on me. Instead, I struggled but allowed them to drag me towards one of the nearby shacks and push me down onto a wooden chair.

I was panting by the time they left, having little energy to do anything else. They must have known I wasn't a threat, or they just had too many injured people to care enough to keep an eye on me.

Instead I was left in a small room that only had enough space for the chair I was in, a table, and a counter stacked with medical equipment. The white room was oddly clean despite how unsanitary the Rogue's were, though I guessed it was the only area that was kept clean and sterile in this rotten place.

Seated beside the counter was a man I had never seen before. He looked at least ten years older than me with bags under his dark brown eyes and black hair cut close to his scalp. He watched me expectantly, as if I was about to perform something for him. When I stayed seated, he stood up and walked over to me.

His expression stayed bored even when I looked at him with malice. He was most likely used to threats and violence already. "I've been waiting to see you." Ryken said. "You're all they talk about these days, or at least the last few months."

The idea unsettled me, and I sneered when he turned toward the counter. "Months? They've been planning this?"

"Certainly." Ryken was pouring liquid onto a rag and going through a cabinet hanging on the wall. "I wondered why you were such a big deal, but I never cared enough to ask. I'm just here to be paid for what I do, no questions asked."

When he turned back towards me and reached out, I snapped forward. He flinched, but otherwise looked unfazed. "If you really insist on being difficult, then we can let your wounds fester and become infected. It's your choice."

I wanted to strangle him, I wanted to kill everyone here, but I knew better than that. Even if I didn't like it, Ryken was right. I was bleeding, injured, and had no strength to defend myself.
When he knew I wouldn't make another attempt to fight back, Ryken began his work. I lost count of how many cuts and broken bones I had, it didn't seem to matter anyways. They were all cleaned and bandaged, but not with a gentle hand. I cringed when the doctor pressed a little harder than necessary, or when he whispered, "Oops" when he turned my now broken wrist too hard.

I remembered suddenly the way Lila had taken care of me. Her gentle movements and hands cared for me when I trusted no one else to do it. The memory pained me more than my physical injuries, the ache in my chest worsening the more I thought of her.

Once he was done, I was breathing raggedly from the pain, but I did everything in my power not to show it. When Ryken turned back from the cupboard, I saw a syringe in his hand and backed away from the needle. The energy I didn't think I had suddenly returned to me.

"Get the fuck away from me."

"It won't kill you Nathan. It's just to help you sleep."

I wasn't an idiot; I knew what they had in those vials. They've used them on me before. Even if he was telling the truth, there was something else added into it, the same thing that made me lose myself and my sanity the last time I was here.

"Fight it, and it'll only make it worse. Or will I have to ask someone to hold you down while I inject it into you?" Ryken tilted his head.

When he grabbed my arm, I still tried to yank myself from his grasp, but it barely mattered. My strength only made it so that I tugged at his arm, so weakly that he still managed to push the needle into my skin and inject the drugs into me.

I reached out and grabbed the syringe from him, ripping it from his grasp and getting up from the chair. I staggered but took his shirt in my fist and hovered the needle over his eye. "What do they want from me?" I snapped while my chest heaved.

Ryken seemed pretty calm despite the circumstance he was in, but I could see the sweat on his brow and twitch of his eye. He was nervous, and it was only then that I noticed his scent and realized he wasn't a shifter. He was human.

"They say you have power, that's all I know. As I said, I don't care about specifics, all I care about is my paycheck. Now, I suggest you take a seat before that sedative kicks in."

I growled, but the sound was weak and low. I dropped the syringe and found myself faltering backward. Bracing a hand on the wall, I heard voices nearby, the sound growing closer and closer until my eyes closed and suddenly I heard nothing at all.

~

My sleep was dreamless. Every time I went to open my eyes, the sharp pain in my arm returned and I fell back into deep slumber, but something else inside of me woke. A sliver of a thread hung in front of me, but instead of taking hold of it I found myself prowling around it, protecting it. My wolf was loud in my mind, overwhelming me to the point where I felt like my skull would explode.

Get her back. Take her. My wolf, but it wasn't him, not entirely. I knew this side of him, and I was terrified of it.

I couldn't hold back the feelings he sent my way, the forced emotion and ideology we both were beginning to feel. Even when I knew I should be fighting it, there was nothing left in me to push back. Each hour that passed began to steadily become one day after the other, until they all began to blend together.

Until one day, they let me wake up.

"I'm glad to see ya back, Nate." A man said beside me.

When my eyes finally adjusted, I sat up in bed slowly and turned to face him. The room was spinning, and my vision was fuzzy, but it didn't take long for me to register who the speaker was. When I recognized Caligo's grinning face, I found myself smiling back at him. 

"Cal." I muttered, and shook his outstretched hand. "It's been a while." 

~

TW: Drugs (pills/needles) will be mentioned throughout some of the next few chapters including this one. Some of these include characters being forced to take drugs, and some intentionally taking them. Please be advised.