I don't know how long it had been but it had been long enough for me to start hearing things. Like things crawling around or the scuttling of what I assumed to be a rat. I couldn't be sure that what I was hearing was real or whether my mind was playing tricks on me.

My clothes were now wet from sitting on the floor and my fingers and toes had become numb from the cold. To be honest I was surprised I was still alive. I mean surely my body should have given up by now.

My stomach made a horrendous sound and I realised the last time I had eaten was when I was with Gemma at Mora's.

Oh god, that double sundae, chocolate chip fudge with marshmallows on top was the most amazing thing ever.

Just thinking about it made me drool.

Spending a prolonged amount of time in isolation in an environment such as this can lead to delirious thoughts and self doubt and that was exactly what started happening to me.
I started dreaming that I was back home, back in the sterile room but it didn't seem so bad anymore. Mum and Dad were standing outside and then suddenly Gemma appeared and everything was fine... I was alright, my parents were fine, Gemma was fine. Everything was fine.

And then suddenly a shift and I was back alone and cold in the cage. Nothing was fine.
What happened to my parents? Did Alpha Stone keep his promise? Is Gemma alright? Did my parents go back home? 

All these thoughts bounded through my head and eventually I thought my head was going to burst.

Against my better judgement, and simply because I was too tired to hold my head up, I laid down on the slimy floor.

Please let this be over quickly, I begged in my head, hoping that someone above would be listening.

                                                                                              ★☾★

When I woke up, I thought for a split second that I was back in my own bed. I was lying on a bed, warm and comfortable and it smelt clean and nice and for that split second I was overcome with a great sense of happiness and then suddenly I heard the beeping.

Beep. Beep. Beep.

I blinked several times and turned my head to the side where there was a monitor set up. I watched as a heart rhythm traced on the screen and it took me a few seconds to notice all the wires and leads attached to me before I realised it was my heart rhythm on the screen. 

I glanced around the room and realised that I was back in the same medical room I was in when I first woke up.

"Hello," I gasped in shock as a woman approached me. Bloody hell, where did she come from?

She walked towards me, head held high, wearing a while lab coat and a stethoscope around her neck.

"I'm glad to see you're finally awake." Her voice was sweet and she smiled politely. She turned to the cardiac monitor and started to press some buttons, examining my heart rate closely.

She nodded finally, and turning to me she said, "Well everything looks fine. Let's get you disconnected from all of this." She gestured to all the leads attached to me.

I glanced around once again as she took off the leads and noticed a bag of blood hanging up.

"Oh yeah, you were severely anaemic so I gave you a blood transfusion."

I watched the doctor with a bemused expression.

"Um-" I stopped to clear my throat when I sounded croaky, "sorry, I just- um you do realise I am a prisoner here."

The doctor looked up at me and raised an eyebrow. 

"Yes, I'm aware," she stated as she continued to unplug me from the monitor.

There was a silence while I tried to process my thoughts.

"I'm sorry I just can't process why you would treat me. Surely as a prisoner it doesn't matter if I am anaemic or not."

The doctor smiled knowingly.

"I just do as I am told. To me it doesn't matter who you are. If you need help I will help, prisoner or not."

We sat in silence for a bit more and the doctor walked over to a cupboard and brought back a grey top and trousers.

"Here, you can get changed into these."

I take them from her hands and I realise for the first time I am wearing what looks like a hospital gown.

"What happened to my clothes?" I ask and the doctor smirks.

"Honey they are no use to you now." She nods over to the bin where what looks like they were my clothes have been chucked in. Though I can't tell for sure since they were ripped up into pieces as if an animal had got to them.

I raise my eyebrows but don't question it as I slip the top and shimmee into the trousers.

"You know-" the doctor starts as she stands away from me, leaning against the counter while observing me, "you're a really sick little girl."

I feel somewhat offended at the abrupt statement.

I'm speechless; what am I supposed to say.

"Like your body," the Doctor continues as she takes a step towards me, "is always trying to shut down. In fact, it's almost like your body is just trying to kill you." I watch as she circles around me like a vulture circling a prey. "I'm just in wonder at how you are still alive. It's basically a medical wonder."

I know she was just curious but her tone was grinding on me now.

"Yeah my parents worked hard to keep me alive." I try to speak boldly but the mention of my parents make me weak.

Sympathy flashes quickly though the doctors eyes. "But they would have had to have done more than 'work hard' to keep you alive. I mean you must have been isolated, kept away from anything that can harbour bacteria, kept in a protective bubble." I don't say anything and it seems to have finally clicked in her mind.

"Ohh," she whispers, "that's-that must have been hard."

I sigh, yeah it's a hard life. 

Suddenly a bright smile fills the Doctors face. I mean the smile was so wide I thought her cheeks were gonna split open.

"But don't you worry!" she exclaims, making me flinch. "I have fixed you."

My mouth falls open and I just stare at the woman in front of me with an expression of shock, worry... disgust?

"What do you mean by you fixed me?" 

The woman hops around excitedly, a complete change from the professional woman I met when I woke up.

No, this woman was crazy. Totally and utterly bonkers.

"You see I gave you a blood transfusion and I'm serious it's fixed you."

Oh my gosh.

I felt like bursting into laughter. Like this situation was just too funny. I began to suspect that this woman might not actually be a doctor. In fact, perhaps she was a prisoner too who just went crazy and decided to pretend to be a doctor.

On second thoughts that was a frightening idea.

"A blood transfusion fixed me?" I asked incredulously.

This has to be a joke. My whole life I have been getting blood transfusions and none of them has cured me and suddenly this lady thinks her magic blood transfusion has 'fixed me'.

Just as I was about to say something back, the door flung open and Alpha Stone walked in.

His eyes immediately locked in on me and his gaze roamed my body from top to bottom and then something flashed in his eyes but it was gone before I could figure out what it was.

"Taliya, I need to speak to you." His attention turned from me to the 'Doctor' and she nodded in reply, turning to follow him out of the door.

And then I was left alone again.

Strangely though, thinking about it, I did feel different. There wasn't that usual tightness in my chest or that constant ache in my bones and muscles. I felt lighter, like I could breathe, like... like, don't say it, I have been fixed.

Before I could ponder any more on whether I had somehow been miraculously cured the door opened once again and this time it was the same man who had taken me to the basement.

He looked a lot bigger today, like he could crush me with his thumb. He was about 6ft 6 tall and looked like he was three times the size of me. His hair was shaved and his eyes were cold and empty. His nose looked like it had been broken a few times too.

He raised his hand and beckoned me.

"Follow me," he commanded; I noticed a slight accent and his voice was rough.

I hesitated, the thought of going back to the basement made me want to puke, but one fierce glance from the man made me move faster than Usain Bolt.

I trailed behind the giant, this time managing to look around. We were walking through a corridor; the walls were painted white and a burgundy coloured carpet was on the floor. The ceiling was so high that looking up made me feel dizzy.

"Faster!" barked the man and I noticed he was quite a distance in front and I quickly jogged to meet him.

We kept walking, up some spiralling stairs and past some rooms until we stood outside a door.
The man looked down at me and I watched him as he pushed opened the door. It was a tiny room, probably previously used for storage. It was clean and empty apart from a single bed and a cupboard. The room was painted white and the floor was laminated wood. There were no windows or any natural light, but the room was brightened when the man flicked a light switch on the wall.

I glanced up at the man in confusion. 

"This isn't the basement," I whispered.

The man breathed a heavy sigh, annoyed.

"The basement is being used for another prisoner. You use this room." And with that he shoved me in with a mighty push and then closed the door behind me, locking it.

I stood near the door, glancing around the room, still confused.

I mean this room isn't the most comfy, homely looking place, but it looks like heaven compared to the cage in the basement. So why the hell am I here? Surely to punish me it would be better if I was somewhere more disgusting? More dirty? Perhaps without a bed?

I seriously doubted that such a large and feared pack such as this one, only had one cage in the basement to punish people in.

Oh for goodness sake Eve, just thank your lucky stars that you get an actual bed to sleep in, I scold myself, walking cautiously to the bed.

It was quite comfortable actually, the mattress sank as I sat down and lay back feeling suddenly very tired. Looking up at the ceiling, I wondered about my parents. Are they alright? Are they hurt?

I thought I would manage to sleep but I couldn't. I was too worried to even close my eyes. I needed to make sure my parents were fine. I needed them to know that I was okay too.

A few hours had passed, or at least I thought so and I was starting to feel nauseous due to hunger.

A knock suddenly sounded from the door and I sat up waiting for the door to open but it didn't. Then whoever knocked tried to open the door, turning and shaking the door handle. I wanted to call out and say the door was locked but decided to keep quiet.

It went silent again and the handle stopped turning, and listening carefully I heard footsteps walk away.

What was that about?

Just as I was about to lie back down again, the footsteps came back again and this time there was a jingle of keys and the handle turned and the door opened.

"..bloody locking the doors, stupid idiot."

I sat on the bed, wide eyed as a girl walked in carrying a tray of food. She looked at me, raised an eyebrow and then said, "Yeah I guess you're alright."

Wait what?

The girl came into the room and kicked the door closed behind her. She was tall, probably a head taller than me, had short black hair and a nose piercing.

She was pretty. Like incredibly pretty. In fact she reminded me of someone. Who though?

"Alright? My name's Kate, I'm Zac's sister."

She placed the tray of food on the bed and stepped back, leaning against the wall to watch me.

Zac? Who is Zac?

"Um, sorry I don't know who Zac is."

Kate looks at me with shock.

"What do you mean you don't know Zac. He's your bloody ma- oh shit, yeah. You don't know right."

I was just getting more and more confused by the minute and the smell of the food beside me was making me slightly delirious. Bloody hell it smells so good.

"Zac is," Kate started again, though I was only half paying attention. Most of my thoughts were on the tray beside me. Is that roast chicken?

"...the Alpha of this pack." Ah wait what?

I turned my attention back to Kate, who was watching me carefully.

"Zac is Alpha Stone?"

Kate nodded.

What the heck was the sister of the Alpha doing in my room - a prisoner's room. Was she here to torture me... with roast chicken?

"I heard we had a new guest and I wanted to see for myself." Guest? Psshh I would hardly use that term to describe me.

"Aren't you hungry?" Kate asked, gesturing to the tray.

I glanced once again at the food. What if it was poisoned? Well to be honest, I was going to die anyway, it wouldn't be too bad to die by eating chicken... would it?

I watched Kate for a few moments before temptation got too much and I reached over and lifted the tray onto my lap. Lifting the cover the smell wafted up and before I even knew what I was doing I devoured the whole meal; it must have looked like I hadn't eaten in a year.

Feeling shy, I placed the cover back on the tray and placed it beside me.

"Damn girl, are you sure you're human because you eat like a werewolf."

I felt my face flush bright red.

Her eyes roamed over my body, taking in my outfit.

"Yeah you definitely need some new clothes." What?

"Um Kate, I hate to be rude but you do realise I am a prisoner here."

She raised an eyebrow and then burst out laughing.

"A prison- a prisoner!!" She stomped her feet as she laughed, as if what I had said was the funniest thing she had ever heard.

"Oh child, you my dear are certainly not a prisoner." Kate continued to smile. She picked up the tray and started heading out to the door.

"No Kate, I surrendered, he was going to kill my parents if they took me away."

Kate turned back, shuffling her hair with one hand while balancing the tray with the other.

"Eve? It is Eve right?" she asked; I nodded. "Well listen Eve, you my darling were never gonna leave, surrender or no surrender. The moment my brother saw you, he was never going to let you go."

"Is it because of what I said?" I asked, wondering whether this whole situation could have been avoided if I had kept my mouth shut.

Kate seemed interested; she cocked her head and raised an eyebrow.

"What did you say?" she asked curiously.

"You know about my father burning the pack to the ground." Even saying it now made me cringe. I should have just shut up.

"Oh my god, you said that?!" Kate exclaimed but not in anger; her eyes twinkled wildly with amusement. "No wonder Sven hates you so much." Kate giggled.

Sven?

Noticing my worried and confused expression she explained, "You know the big Hungarian lad who brought you to this room."

Oh dear god.

His name is Sven and he hates me.

Kate gave me one last glance and with a wink walked out, closing the door behind her.