“A broken heart is the worst. It’s like having broken ribs. Nobody can see it, but it hurts every time you breathe.”

°°°°°
Isabella

I wasn't sure how long he left me down here but I was becoming deranged staying within these four walls. My lycan was itching to be freed. We didn't like to be captured and imprisoned. I haven't seen him. I haven't heard him. I wanted to strangle his thick neck and at the same time wanted to kiss him senseless. Ten years and I was still seriously obsessing over him. No man ever got under my skin like Malcolm.

I don't know what he wanted to do with me but I can see the anger lingers behind those dark blue irises. He wasn't the Malcolm I knew. Malcolm never once threw me a malicious look until now. I smelled like a filthy piece of garbage sitting in his rotting dungeon. It was damp and cold. I screamed at the top of my lungs but no one came to release me. Only time I saw someone was when a guard was bringing me food and I foolishly turned them away.

Why?

Call me foolish but I wanted his attention.

I couldn't tell if it was morning or night. There were no windows. Dim lights lit the dungeon but barely visible. I heard the sound of the metal lock shifting. Someone was coming. I scrambled to my feet and hurried over to see.

I couldn't make out the person until they neared me. It was Damon. Ten years and he still looked the same, not a single scratch on his body.

"Damon." My voice came out hoarse from lack of water. I knew I was killing myself from refusing any kind of replenishment.

"Izzy, you need to eat."

It was then I noticed the tray of food in his hands. I shook my head and gave him a pleading look.

"Please let me out of here."

"I can't. Malcolm will have my head." He replied with a great amount of remorse.

"I can't do this, Damon. I can't stay in here any longer."

He ignored my pleas but instead shoved the tray under the heavily caged door. I looked at the food with a great amount of hunger but pushed it back out.

"Then leave and take your food with you." I demanded stubbornly and moved away from the door. I walked weakly back to the dirty bed and laid in it. Staring up at complete darkness, I felt defeat wash over me.

He doesn't need to know.

It was a mistake to cross this territory but I didn't have a choice. Gregory wouldn't leave me alone. The chase was a thrill to him. I knew the only way to get rid of him was going onto a pack of lycans' territory. He wouldn't have the guts to cross then.

I heard Damon sigh before lifting the tray and his retreating footsteps.

After I left Malcolm ten years ago, I ran as far away as I can from him. I found myself in America where I met Gregory. At first, he was nice to take me in but then five years later he showed me a side of him that had me sick. He used me as his pet, beat me until I was a bloody mess. It was then I snapped and left. I have been running for ten years from the demons of my past. So, Malcolm's territory was my last resort. I was getting so tired.

I curled up into a ball in the dirty cot. My eyes fluttering close from exhaustion and lack of nourishment. I allowed darkness to succumb my being.

I dreamt about him. I dreamt about his warm body touching mine. I dreamt about his gentle hands. It helped ease the pain and hunger. I dreamt that I never left him and that we were happily together. He had marked me like he had asked the night before I left him.

I felt a drop of tears escape my eyes when I imagined him kissing me and holding me close. I felt protected and safe. I don't know how long I was out for but I felt my upper body being lifted.

I opened my eyes tiredly to see Malcolm before me. His eyes cold as ice and it broke my heart. A guard had me wrapped in his arms. He lifted a piece of meat and placed it at my lips.

"Eat." The guard ordered. Malcolm continued to stare at me. I refused to look elsewhere and I refused to eat.

Malcolm saw the defiance in my eyes. His gaze darkened enormously. The guard poked at my lips again.

"You need to eat." He asserted.

I clamped my lips shut and Malcolm's nose flared up in anger. He snarled before shoving the guard aside and taking his place. He wrapped an arm around me and tried shoving the food in my mouth. I struggled with any strength I had left to get away from him even though my body welcomed his warmth and familiarity. However, my strength gave out after a few minutes. I laxed in his arms and my lips parted in exhaustion. He shoved the damn delicious meat in my mouth before covering my lips.

"Chew!" He demanded. "I will not have you die on my watch, Isabella!"

He forced my mouth to move on its own accord, I choked on the meat and began gagging. He noticed it immediately and removed his arm. I bent over and spit out the meat. He snarled heatedly and moved to grab another piece. He wasn't giving up. I wasn't too but I was too weak to fight him off.

"I can't..." I mumbled, my eyes fluttering as I fight to stay awake. My hand coming up to stop his halfway weakly. "Malcolm, I can't. I'm sorry. I am so...sorry."

The black dots that were hurriedly taking over my vision took over. I was about to let it take me. I was done fighting. I was done running away. Maybe it was better to just die right here in his arms where I have always wanted to be.

"Bella...Bella..." I heard his voice faintly calling out to me. He sounded worried or it might just be my poor hallucinations.

~~

"She's got to be the most infuriating and stubborn woman I have ever met in my world!" I knew that voice. It always sends a pleasurable shudder through my body.

"I wouldn't blame her. If you stuck me in a dark dungeon, I'll starve or have you kill me instead." Damon's answered.

"Damn it!" I can feel his frustration rolling off from him. My heart sped up as I quickly realized I wasn't alone any longer. Two very familiar men stood in the same room with me.

The room went quiet and after a moment Malcolm spoke up, "I know you're awake."

I opened my eyes to see them staring at me from the foot of the bed. Briefly, my eyes roamed around the room. I was in Malcolm's room. I was not in the dungeon any longer. I pulled myself up into a sitting position. The needle poking in my arms led to a bag of fluids.

"How are you feeling?" Damon asked, my eyes flitted back to him.

"Fine." My voice sound like scratching on the wall.

Malcolm's jaw clench. His eyes were glaring at me.

"Smart move you pulled Isabella. Starving yourself for attention." Malcom bit out with an underlying anger.

"Would I have gotten your attention if I didn't?" I replied honestly. My voice shaky as ever.

I noticed his irises dilated upon my response before he clenched his jaw again together, "My attention for what? What you did was pure stupidity."

"You would have left me to rot in that dungeon and wouldn't care if I didn't defy you. I get it. You're angry but you just need to let me- "

"If you are going to convince me to let you leave, you can save your breath." He interrupted. His eyes flashing with a barely controlled rage.

I sighed and looked down at my body. I was wiped clean. Someone had changed my clothes and now I was wearing an oversized t-shirt that smelled so much like Malcolm.

I can't run from him. I knew that if I did, he will chase me down before I could cross the border. That doesn't mean the threat I carried isn't following me. All my life, I spent running. When I ended up in his arms that first time—I felt safe until I started seeing things. That's when I knew I had to leave.

Malcolm won't understand and just looking at him I knew he wouldn't believe me.

"What are you going to do with me?" I asked.

"Since you won't stay in the dungeon without killing yourself. You will remain in my room. My doors will remain locked. You will have no access outside. No one will see you except for me." He explained.

Damon shook his head with his gaze on the ground. When Malcolm turned and left the room. I looked up from staring at my clenched hands.

"He hates me.

"You left him, Izzy, but don't mistake. He has never stopped loving you." Damon answered me.

My heart fluttered in my chest. I couldn't help the small glimmer of hope that bloomed inside of me. I hoped that what he said was true. I hoped that somewhere underneath his anger there was still the old Malcolm but then I remembered the way he looked at me in the woods. So much hate and malice.

"He is not my Malcolm." I whispered, a tear slipped from my cheek. I wiped it and straightened my back, pushing all the confidence I had left back to the surface.

"Please don't try to run." Damon said.

"I won't. I know he won't let me go." I responded with defeat.

"You have to understand him, Izzy. Ten years does a lot to a person."

I knew that was true. Ten years can really change a person. I left him to protect him but ten years brought me nothing but heartache. Maybe it was time to stop running and start fighting—maybe the decision I made ten years ago was the wrong decision. Fate brought me back here for a reason, I have to believe at least this if not anything else.

"Thank you, Damon." I said quietly. I watched him turn around and leave the room. The sound of metals sliding into place indicated the door was locked from outside. Malcolm's room was many feet off the ground even I jumped, I will jump to my death.

I looked at the IV in my arm and yanked it out, using a tissue on the nightstand to stop my blood. I scooted off his king size bed and walked around his room. Everything was still the same. Nothing has changed. I walked over to the window and looked out to the familiar land.

I missed this. I missed Scotland.

My eyes looked back at his bed. The last moments I spent with him were in here on his bed. I walked over and touched his pillow before lifting it up and breathing in deeply. I missed this.