I lied curled up on the lumpy mattress, breaking off the connection to the others, reassuring them that I was fine. Which was the truth. The only person I had seen was Joseph since the first time I woke. He would come in and bring me meals and that was the only way I could tell what time of day it was. The dark, damp basement, I assumed, had no windows and the only light was from a hanging bulb in the middle of the room. Concrete walls and floor that sloped in the middle where a drain was placed. Many times I wondered about that drain, but immediately refocused on other things.

The door clicked and I curled my knees up to cover what I could of my still naked body. After Mr. Whyte slashed my clothes, I had been refused anything to cover up with, including a blanket. Joseph was pretty quiet during the time he brought the food and never once tried anything. When I lowered my shields with him in the room I could feel his sorrow and anger on how I was being treated. It just proved to me no matter the size of the package, and he was a big muscled bound guy with power behind him, if you're a follower and not a leader you do what you are told.

Something told me that Joseph has had it pretty rough and I thought if maybe I could get him to open up that just maybe he would help me get out of here. Not that I trusted him, but he definitely seemed the lesser of evils.

Joseph walked in with not his usual soft face. I didn't need my shields down to know that he was not happy and that I too would not like what was about to happen. Keeping his eyes down cast, no expression at all, he carried in another tray. Just finishing lunch not too long ago, my mind went a mile-a-minute on what he could possibly be carrying.

"You need to clean up," he said, voice cool.

I sat there staring at the tray, that was when I recognized a towel and soaps. Three days here, feeling ripe, I was not going to argue, but his actions told me there was more to it. Not moving, I waited for the other shoe to drop.

"Sam, now," this time his voice sounded strained.

Sliding off the bed, walking up to him to retrieve the tray, he stepped back, "They don't want you getting any ideas and maybe hurting yourself so I will need to watch you."

That was it, the other shoe dropping. "You have got to be fucking kidding me. What am I supposed to do, OD on liquid soap?" I asked astonished on their tactics.

"I was told if you put up a fuss, I was to knock you out and clean you myself," he stated, then lowered his voice to a whisper, "Please Sam, I don't want to hurt you in anyway, will you please just get in the shower before they come in." Looking up into his eyes, they were pleading with me. He knew what was coming and if I fought him, it would be worse.

Turning on my heels I headed for the bathroom, where I showered under Joseph watch and he passed each item one at a time, including shampoo, conditioner, and a razor. Yep, I was not going to like what was to come. Scrubbing every part of my body as fast as I could, keeping my breathing level, instead of giving in to the panic attack that was creeping up slowly.

Alone, clean, and wrapped up in the towel, Joseph let me keep, even though the experience was not a good one by any means of the imagination, if it had to happen I was thankful it was with him. Pacing the cell, with nothing else to do, I wondered what they had in store for me. I knew I could not waste any more time. Doing my best to send reassuring thoughts to my friends and love ones helped, but they didn't feel any closer and time was wasting and possibly limited.

The click of the door had me assume it was dinnertime and some company from Joseph. I was half-right; it was dinner, but Mr. Whyte brought it. Walking in with a tray, wearing only a pair of loose fit jogging pants and excitement written all over his face. "Thought I might change things up for you," he said in an upbeat voice.

"I was perfectly happy with Joseph's company and only his company," I replied, venom in my words.

Placing the food on the bed beside me, taking in the towel I had wrapped securely around my body, he said, "It's nice to see you clean, although, you should not have been able to keep that," he moved his hand closer to my chest to tug on the towel.

I scrambled to the other side of the bed and jumped to my feet, leaving the bed in between us. "DON'T TOUCH ME!" I pronounced every word slow between clenched teeth.

He chuckled, "Oh Sam, what's with all the anger? I did tell you that we were going to be spending time together," he was talking down to me like a child and that was one way to push my buttons.

Seeing red, I picked up the tray of food and swung it at Mr. Whyte, clipping his shoulder. Not giving up the upper hand as he raised his arm to warn of the assault, I jumped over the bed and pushed him hard to the ground, and for good measure, I kicked him in the ribs. Full of adrenaline, I raced to the door, only to smack right into Joseph's hard chest for a second time.

Like last time his arms came around me holding me in place. Screaming, kicking and pleading with him to let me go, I could see the inner struggle he was having. In the end, he bent his head down to her and whispered, "You need to stop. You're just going to make it worse."

Before I could say anything else, Mr. Whyte had a firm hold of my hair and yanked my body away from Joseph. Once I was free from Joseph's arms he throw me across the room. Slamming my back against the wall, wind knocked out of me, knees giving out, I landed in a slump on the floor. Working on getting my breath back, Mr. Whyte had a hold of my hair again, picking me up off the floor. Not willing to give him the satisfaction of me submitting to him, I threw a sloppy punch, hitting him in the stomach.

Thrown across the room again, landing hard on one knee on the concrete floor, falling forward, losing my breath again as I slammed against the bed. "Well I could not have planned that more perfect," he laughed.

The next thing I knew he had my hair tangled up in his fist, pushing my upper body across the bed, face smothered into the mattress with my knees still on the cold damp concrete. Using his knees to spread my legs apart, fighting to get up, I was not ready for what happened next. With one hard push, he was inside me. Not prepared for the assault and the pain, I screamed in agony. My reaction made him sigh in pleasure, then pulled back and did it again. This time ready, I dug my fingers into the mattress, refusing to make another sound. Eyes squeezed tight, digging fingers into the mattress and biting the inside of my mouth until I could taste blood, anything to keep from screaming and giving into this psycho's pleasure of love making.

* * *
DMITRI

Heading back to Sam's under orders, another day with no new evidence on where Sam might be; emotions were at their peak. Counting on the submissive wolves to run the businesses, I had all day to concentrate on finding Sam. On the road with four others, we had been constantly searching for almost 24 hours straight and if it were not for Jack's orders, I would still be out looking.

Last ones back to Sam's, the next shift was making it to their cars, while others just ending were heading home, but most to wound up to sleep so they were hanging around. Meeting in the dining room, which had become the debriefing room, I caught the last of Nickoli's finds, the same as mine. Nothing. We found nothing. Instead of going through the whole day's events, I, just shook my head. With that, they all deflated a little more.

Sam seemed to open her thoughts to us three times a day, after breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Looking at the clock, I noticed that any time now we would feel her. One bit of hope was that she was gaining more control and could keep the connection a little longer. That was about all that was keeping me and the others from going completely out of our minds, even though we were not far off from that.

Lawrence walked in and seemed to be in higher spirits. Moving right over to Jack, they stepped out of the room. A few minutes later, they came back and Jack too seemed almost hopeful. Ready to ask what was going on, I was interrupted by Lawrence.

"Ok, first of all this may be nothing so I don't want all of you to get to excited," Lawrence started, pointing his attention on Nickoli then myself. "Do you remember the herds and bowl that were found out by the tree line? Well I finally got in touch with an acquaintance and she agreed to meet with me. From what I told her, she believes these items and the situation with this house, that she may be able to come up with a list of other witch's that may have the power to pull this kind of thing off. So tomorrow, I will be meeting with her so she can get a better look on what we have. Here is the not so great part, it may take her a few days to come up with the names and ask around about it. Like I said it may be nothing, but what else can we do besides what we are still doing?"

Nickoli was the first one to ask a question, "Why can't we just go talk to these people and knock some heads around until we get the right answers?" I liked the sound of that and showed it by nodding my agreement.

Lawrence sighed, "Well Nickoli, if you were thinking straight, you of all people would know the use of violence is a last resort with the witches. We will get the information we need faster by going through the proper channels. And let's not forget when you put a witch's back against a wall, nothing good will come out of it and we have other things to worry about then someone walking around half animal for the next month or worse," Lawrence explained.

"Also, during the next shift, Lawrence and I discussed that we are going to change things up, get more ground covered. It has come to our attention that there are a couple more people that can sense when Sam lowers her guards. So due to that there are now eight groups that have the upper hand, and instead of working out we will have four teams working in to meet the others halfway," Jack said, taking out the new map that has already had sections circled off.

This news surprised me, as far as I knew it was just himself, Nickoli, Mason and Matt. Looking around the group, no one gave anything away. "Who else?" I asked reluctantly.

"You, Nickoli, Mason, Matt, Nate, Quinn, Lawrence, and I," Jack answered, keeping his focus on the map in front of him.

"When the hell did that happen?" Nickoli took the words right out of his mouth.

Lawrence piped in, "Are you serious?" he sighed, seeing the seriousness in both mine and Nickoli's face. "Since Sam seems to gain more control, others have been feeling it as well."

I looked over the room again and I could have sworn that Quinn looked guilty, but it passed by so fast that I was not sure if it was that or paranoia.

At that moment I was hit with a rush of pain that was not mine and I knew exactly who's it was. Grabbing the edge of the table to stay on my feet from the assault, looking up to see it was not only myself that felt it to that magnitude. Nickoli too was grasping at the chair in front of him, Mason and Matt were leaning against the wall, losing all colour in their face, Quinn looked sick, and for a split second Lawrence's eyes widened.

More must have felt it because in a matter a second howls and roars echoed throughout Sam's home, including my own.