TW: drug abuse, violence

"Will I lose my dignity? Will someone care? Will I wake tomorrow from this nightmare?"
~Rent, 'Will I'

~~~

*Easton's POV*

My chest aches with the deep sadness that accompanies missing my mate. What I wouldn't give to see his sparkling blue eyes, to hold him in my arms, to just talk to him.

What is he doing right now? Probably losing his mind with worry. I hope he's still eating and sleeping. Knowing Landon, he's most likely driving himself crazy looking for me.

I swear to the Moon, he better not blame himself for any of this.

My family is with him. I know they're strong, and they can help Landon through his. They're his family too. They'll look out for him.

"Stop squirming," my captor orders as he positions yet another needle at my arm.

I'm currently strapped to a rickety, wooden chair in the middle of a humid room with mold creeping up the walls. There's a small metal table to my right where my captor keeps his supplies. I'm assuming we're still at the same location we've been in, but I've been in and out of consciousness so it's possible they could have moved us.

He's been using me as his personal science experiment over the last new days, trying out different drugs and serums that leave me weak and nauseous. He has me strapped to this damn chair with thick leather binds. Normally, I wouldn't have an issue with breaking out of these restraints, but these weird fucking drugs being pumped into my system keeps me too weak to do anything other than speak.

"Lennox, how long are you going to play with your little toy?" One of his men asks with a thick accent. His head is completely shaved, revealing tribal tattoos decorating his dark skin, from his neck to his scalp.

The blonde — Lennox, I suppose — gives him a pointed look.

"Stay out of it, Ren," Lennox mumbles.

Ren's eyes darken. "Our orders were to round up the Alphas and kill them. Not turn them into freaky experiments. You're wasting time."

"Orders?" I cut in, glaring between the two of them. "Who are you working for? Why do they want us dead?"

Lennox tsks and glares at Ren. "This is why you should keep your mouth shut. My little Alpha is a curious thing. Wouldn't want him finding something out that he's not supposed to know."

"Answer my question, dammit!" I snarl, thrashing in my restraints. My Alpha nature demands submission; something I'm currently being denied and it's driving me insane.

I'm supposed to be a leader. The strongest wolf in our pack. Instead, I'm being held captive by rogues who won't answer a single one of my questions. At least, I fucking hope they're rogues, and not pack wolves following an Alpha. The thought of an Alpha giving them orders to kill others of their kind makes me sick to my stomach.

"You're in no position to be giving orders, little Alpha," Lennox sneers. Leaning close, he grips my chin tightly between his bony fingers. "The less you fight, the easier this will be for everyone. In fact, this whole process could've been a lot faster if you weren't squirming every five goddamn seconds."

"There's no way in hell I'm going to stop fighting," I growl lowly. "An Alpha doesn't sit back and let others walk all over him."

'You're damn right,' Elias weakly wheezes. The serum Lennox has been injecting me with has greatly affected Elias's strength. I can barely feel my wolf, let alone access enough of his strength to defend myself.

"Just kill him already," Ren groans. "I'm tired of hearing his bitching and whining. Acting all tough when he's sitting there covered with bruises. He ain't shit and I'm sick of him acting like he's better than us."

"I am better than you," I manage a hoarse chuckle. Ren's nostrils flare in irritation. "You want to know why? I would never do such disgraceful things to another of my own kind. That's what separates me from lowlives like you. Fucking integrity."

Ren snarls and advances towards me, but is swiftly stopped when Lennox shoves him back.

"Take a walk," the blonde orders sharply. Ren's dark eyes remain fixed on me, blazing with hatred. He attempts to push past Lennox, but is once again stopped. "Take. A. Walk."

With an annoyed huff, Ren tears his eyes away from me and storms out of the room. Shaking his head, Lennox gives me a disapproving look.

"It would be in your best interest to watch yourself around him, little Alpha," Lennox warns me. "Ren is not someone you want to piss off."

"I'm not scared of Ren," I say, trying to sound more confident than I am. Lennox smirks, seeing right through my lie.

"That's the thing that has always annoyed me about you Alphas. Your constant obsession with being strong. At least, being perceived as strong. Even now, with my serum burning through your veins, you're still staring me down as if you're somehow capable of hurting me." Lennox tilts his head to the side, his white-blonde hair swishing slightly. "It really is annoying, albeit a tad fascinating too."

"What the fuck is the point of this? Ren said your orders were to kill us. So what's the point in injecting me with these serums?"

Sighing, Lennox sets the unused syringe on the metal table. "If I answer this one question, will you finally shut the hell up?" When I don't respond, he clicks his tongue. "Fine. But only because I'm positive Ren is going to kill you soon anyway."

Fear grips my chest, but I try not to let it show in my face. They can't kill me. I have to get home. Back to my pack. Back to my family. Back to the love of my life. There's so much I still need to do. I want to be around to see our school flourish, to watch the pups grow up, to lead our pack into greatness. And to apologize to Landon for our last fight, and show him how much I love him. It kills me that the last time we saw each other, I yelled at him for trying to comfort me. It was rash and stupid, and I regret it now more than words can say.

"These serums," Lennox starts, pulling me away from my thoughts, "have been a little project of mine for a few years now. Although this is the first time I've had access to a group of Alphas to actually test it out. That's why I couldn't pass up the opportunity by letting Ren kill you all right away."

"Why Alphas? Why not experiment on other rogues? I'm assuming you have plenty of them at your disposal," I say, hoping to get an idea of how big their group is.

Unfortunately, Lennox sees right through me and smirks. "Nice attempt at extracting more information. But if you want me to finish, you'll shut up and stop interrupting me. You see, my former Alpha was a terror to our pack. He physically and verbally abused the weaker wolves. He was not fit for the role he was born into. That's when I began to wonder, is there a way to revoke the power an Alpha has? To take away their superior strength and speed, leaving them as nothing more than an average wolf. If my former Alpha was weakened, I have no doubt that any one of my pack mates would have challenged him. But they couldn't, because he was stronger than the rest of us combined. We stood no chance against him, and instead lived in fear every day. Until I couldn't take it anymore."

That confirms my suspicions about these wolves being rogues, and not pack wolves. It's a slight relief to know another Alpha hasn't betrayed their own kind, but also another grave concern. Rogues are known to be unhinged, bloodthirsty creatures. Being separated from their packs for too long makes the wolves slowly lose their minds, until they're unable to control themselves. Until they eventually become feral, and they turn into true monsters.

"Is that—," I start to say, but Lennox shoots me a look that tells me to keep my mouth shut.

"If you were about to ask if that's why I'm now a rogue, yes it is," Lennox answers, crossing his arms and leaning back against the table. "Long story short, I challenged him, he publicly beat me to a bloody pulp, and exiled me from the pack. That's when I found... well, that part doesn't matter. Once I recovered, I began researching ways to weaken an Alpha, so I could go back and take my revenge. It's taken years of research and experiments, but I finally concocted a serum to do just that. And from my trials on the four of you, I'm extremely pleased to know I'm on the right track. Although, you are fighting a bit harder than I would prefer. And my former Alpha is a lot bigger than you, so it would probably be wise to increase the serum strength before going after him."

"That's why I'm being used as a fucking lab rat?" I growl. "So you can get revenge on your Alpha?"

"He's not my Alpha," Lennox snaps. "Not anymore. And soon, he won't be anyone's Alpha. My serum will take away his strength, leaving him vulnerable enough to be killed. I will not rest until I can soak my hands in his warm blood."

I inhale a deep breath, trying to compose myself. "Look. I am sorry that your former Alpha was a dick who mistreated you. I agree he needs to face justice for his misdeeds against his pack. But that doesn't justify you tormenting innocent Alphas!"

"You're all going to die anyway," Lennox says in a nonchalant way that makes my stomach twist. "In fact, you'd already be dead by now if it wasn't for me. You're living on borrowed time, time that I granted you. Besides, I don't believe in innocent Alphas. All of you have too much power, and it goes straight to your big fucking heads."

Without warning, Lennox snatches the syringe off the table and jams the needle into my arm. My jaw locks as I scream into my throat, throwing my head back and feeling the veins of my neck protruding out. The serum burns in my abused veins, setting my whole body on fire, making me convulse. I gasp for air, but my lungs can't seem to get full enough. It hurts so fucking bad; way worse than the drugs previously given to me. My hands ball into fists, letting my nails cut into my palm while the fire blazes through my veins.

"Interesting," Lennox muses, gently running his cold hand through my hair as I continue to convulse in the chair. "This is the highest dose I have. If this is its affect on you, perhaps this is the right one to use on that pathetic excuse for an Alpha."

I want to curse him, to scream at him for what he's doing. Not only to me, but the other captive Alphas. But the only thing that leaves my throat is a pained cry while my body burns from the inside. My vision is hazy as my eyes rapidly dart around the room. I faintly hear Lennox murmuring something, and what sounds like Ren's voice responding, before everything goes black.

***

"Alph-...... -ston! Eas-...... wa-....... up!"

Someone's shouting.
My head hurts.

"East-....... up!"

Please stop shouting.

"Wake up!"

My eyes fly open, and I sit up with a jolt. I'm sweaty and hyperventilating, my chest rising and falling with each breath. I frantically look around the room, seeing two familiar faces looking at me with grave concern.

"Easton!" Onyx shouts from several yards away. Once the adrenaline in my body wears down, I feel the intense ache settling deep in my muscles. I groan, rolling onto my side.

I realize with dread that I'm back in that dark room from before, where the rogues have been holding us when we're not being experimented on or beaten. We sleep on the cold, dust covered floors, breathing in the moldy air throughout the night.

Onyx's dark green hair is no longer damp, but her leg is twisted in a way that makes me feel sick. Kneeling by her side, Kaden is finally conscious and watching me with swollen eyes. Through the darkness, I can see his wounds slowly healing, although the process surely slowed down by the drugs we've all been injected with. A few feet away, Harrison is crumpled on the ground with his eyes tightly shut.

"Is he alive?" I manage to ask, although my throat feels raw from screaming earlier.

Kaden glances over to Harrison. "He is. Barely. Whatever they gave him today was a lot stronger than what he's been given before."

I close my eyes, remembering the awful pain of the serum I had been injected with. If that was the same dosage given to Harrison — who's smaller than me in stature — then I'm not surprised by his current state.

Metal rustles as the door to the dark room is unlocked and pushed open with a loud creak. Ren walks into the room, carrying a plastic bag and four thick ropes.

"Lennox says we need to feed you," Ren grunts. "Something about keeping your strength up for his fucking experiments."

"And you're his errand boy, huh?" I mutter, although apparently not quietly enough. Ren's nostrils flare as he growls a warning.

"Shut your fucking mouth. I'm not afraid to kill you right here, right now."

Walking over to Harrison, Ren pushes the unconscious Alpha onto his stomach. Taking the first rope, Ren ties Harrison's arms behind his back.

"Is that necessary?" Onyx chokes out. "He's clearly not in any state to try something."

"Can't be too careful," Ren says with a shrug. "None of you Alphas can be trusted."

He moves over to Onyx, roughly grabbing her by her hair and dragging her away from Kaden. She screams as she's dragged, her broken leg contorting gruesomely.

"Leave her alone!" Kaden shouts, standing up on wobbly legs.

Ren's eyes snap towards him, letting go of Onyx's hair and taking long strides across the room. His fist connects with Kaden's jaw before the latter has time to react. Kaden stumbles backwards before tripping and falling onto the hard ground. His head smacks against the wall with a sickening crack. Blood trickles from his head, and his eyes roll back.

"Whoops," Ren grunts, seeming unaffected. Anger burns in my lungs, growing with each breath.

Hoarse breaths wheeze from Kaden's lips, along with the thin stream of blood that trickles out. He's alive. For now.

"Fucking bastard," I growl lowly.

"You do not speak to me that way," Ren warns slowly. "I'm so fucking sick of you Alphas acting like you're better than everyone. Keep your mouth shut before I put you in your place."

I open my mouth with a fiery retort ready, but Onyx stops me.

"Easton," she whimpers, shaking her head. I can see it in her shining eyes; there has been too much Alpha blood spilt as it is. Provoking Ren won't do anyone here any good.

My mouth snaps shut, making Ren smirk. He finishes tying the rest of us up before emptying the plastic bag onto the middle of the dusty floor. Stale loaves of bread thud against the concrete. As unappetizing as old bread looks, my stomach has been empty for days. My instincts tell me to reach for the bread, but my arms are tied behind my back.

"How are we supposed to eat with our hands tied?" I question.

Ren looks at me with cruel amusement in his dark eyes. "You're smart Alphas, aren't you? Figure it out."

And with that, Ren slams the door shut, locking us in the room that reeks of Kaden's blood, unable to eat our stale meal. Leaving us to sit in silence and contemplate the absolute nightmare of this place.

~~~