ANASTASIA MULBERRY

Since there was no way of her being able to tell the time – not even a ray of light in the room for her to watch and figure out what time of day it was – Anastasia wasn't sure how much time had passed.

She was far too proud to admit it, but she had spent the first third of the time screaming as loud as she could, demanding that Harvey return and release her. The second third of the time had been spent begging for whoever was listening – because she just knew that someone was definitely either listening or watching her, most probably her – to let her go, trying to bargain herself out of whatever fucked up situation she had somehow managed to land herself in and finally, she had spent the last third of the time crying her eyes out.

And now, she had run out of tears and had nothing to do but sit in the dark, her eyes having become slightly adjusted to the lack of light now.

Despite her earlier belief that she was in a cell in some sort of basement, she was now surer of the fact that the room couldn't be more than sixty square feet in size; give or take a few. The room was smaller than a single bedroom, the main difference being that the room was completely devoid of any furniture; the only highlight and feature of the room being the metal wall chains that she was currently strapped in.

After what had felt like forever, the same set of footsteps sounded again but this time, she couldn't bring herself to get scared; having already given up.

Not bothering to greet her captor whom she had previously been foolish enough to assume was her friend, Anastasia made a point of turning her head away from the door and staring into the distance. Not that she could see too far with her werewolf vision.

"How does your throat feel?" Harvey asked in a quiet voice as he closed the door behind him which meant that there was no light in the room.

Anastasia couldn't help but gnaw on her bottom lip in worry at the thought of sitting in pitch black darkness with him, especially when she was restrained and after all those stranger questions that he had asked earlier. And so, when his face lit up with the glow form his phone screen and he turned on the flashlight before placing it down between the both of them, she couldn't help but internally sigh in relief. However, she refused to show it to him.

He had already misinterpreted her friendly behaviour and taken advantage of it; something which truly felt betraying to her even if they hadn't been very close friends.

"You're only making things harder for yourself by ignoring me." He pursed his lips and tutted, not at all fond of her childish behaviour even though she owed him nothing, especially since he had tangled her into whatever mess this was.

When her antics continued, Harvey groaned aloud, evidently frustrated.

"I could do this all day, you know? I don't have anywhere to be so don't think the silent treatment is going to get rid of me." Harvey chuckled, almost as if now amused by her behaviour despite the fact that he had been groaning only a few moments ago. However, when a few moments and she still refused to look at him, let alone respond, the façade dropped and he was back to being the growling, angry, impatient mutt that he was.

"What? You think that just because you're silent that we won't get what we want?" Harvey all but cackled, which was ironic since he was supposed to be a wolf. Not a witch.

Anastasia was very tempted to ask him who he meant by we, but the mere fact that he had refused to answer that very same question earlier had her biting her tongue despite her incessant need to know.

"If that's what you're thinking then I can't wait to prove to you just how wrong you are." He snickered darkly but very quickly, the sound was lost in the dark, very quickly followed by an eery silence that she grew accustomed to as the time past.

Unfortunately, the uncomfortable silence didn't last long.

It was only when he got a dark, feral look in her eyes that Anastasia deemed it necessary for her to answer him in fear of him retaliating for her continued silence.

The nice friendly Harvey Ainsley that she had come to know and grow fond of was definitely not the same man that was sitting in front of her right now, looking as if he was holding himself back from reaching over and strangling her to death.

She wasn't sure why he hadn't done it yet already.

"I'm giving you one more chance." Harvey spoke aloud after a few moments; the authority and promised threat audible in his voice. "You can either do this the easy way or the hard way. How much you suffer, ultimately, is up to you because either way, you're still going to end up answering my questions." A low, gruff growl wrapped around his voice and toward the end, his last few words were swallowed by it, rendering the end of it indiscernible however, she dared not ask him to repeat it and instead, just assumed that she had no other choice.

Suppressing the grimace that her lips desired to twist down into, Anastasia forced herself to glance at him from under her lashes, still damp from when she had cried her eyes dry earlier. Her eyelids now felt heavy and ached sightly with each blink however, she dared not complain about it in fear of the backlash she would face, especially since Harvey seemed to agitated and high-strung already.

All thanks to her, of course!

"My throat hurts a little." She whispered in a croaky voice which cracked in the middle. When she sniffled as her nose ran, she lifted a chained hand and wiped her nose on the back of her arm as she didn't have access to any tissues.

"Would you like some water?"

Her eyes trailed down to the ground by her feet as she nodded her head slightly.

"Use your words." Harvey muttered through gritted teeth as his followed the movement of her head; watching her every move.

Anastasia couldn't help but purse her lips and grit her teeth as her eyes rose to meet his, struggling to control the rage that was bubbling up inside of her.

"I would like some water, yes." She all but spat at him, her baby blues growing darker the longer she stared at him, almost as if threatening to brim over and drown him.

If only that was possible.

"How about you try again without the attitude?"

"Please can I have some water?" Anastasia all but begged, forcing herself to speak in a small voice and with her eyes downcast, hating just how vulnerable and weak she felt, and all for something that as a living being, she should be entitled to.

"That's better." Harvey chuckled as he leaned back slightly to pull out a small metal canister from the front pocket of his jeans. "Here." He murmured quietly as he pressed it into the palm of her hand, no longer a feral glint in his eyes.

Anastasia didn't trust herself to say anything further and instead, she quickly accepted the canister and raised it to her lips. While she feared that he may have given her something other than water, she knew she had pushed her luck too far already and anymore than that, she would literally be asking for it.

Beggars couldn't be choosers. Except she wasn't a beggar. She was a prisoner.

Tipping her head back, she welcomed the cool flow of water, her throat feeling slightly better already. To avoid choking and angering him even further than she already had, Anastasia made sure to take a few breaks between gulps, all the while keeping her eyes on him in fear of him trying something while she was momentarily distracted.

"Seems like you were thirsty." Harvey laughed as she handed the small metal canister back to him.

Instead of ignoring him again like he had accepted, she made a point of nodding her head.

"I was, thank you." She all but forced the words out of her mouth, trying not to gag on the disgusting taste it left on the tip of her tongue, more than just partially to do with her thanking him. While Harvey certainly didn't deserve any thanks from her, she much preferred staying alive than him coming for her head, and since she was chained up with absolutely no chance of escaping, she knew she needed to play things smart.

If that included feigning being meek and sickly sweet, then so be it.

If she played her cards right then she would have the rest of her life to live whatever way she wanted but right now, she had to push through her natural instincts and make herself appear smaller in front of him. Only then would she be able to reassess the situation for her next steps.

"You're welcome." He hummed quietly, a slightly impressed look on his face as he stared at her. "Your throat feels better?"

Anastasia nodded again. "Still slightly sore, but much better now after the water."

"And your wrists?"

"They don't sting anymore." She answered honestly, glad that she wasn't bleeding anymore. Thankfully, she had only cut into them a little, having given up before causing anymore damage to herself.

"To return to my earlier question, are you still on your postpartum period?"

Even though Anastasia still felt uncomfortable answering the question, especially since it was Harvey, her kidnapper, asking. However, she had already learnt the hard way that now was not the time for insolence

"Yes."

"Good." He hummed while reaching a hand up to rub his chin, a thoughtful expression on his face.

She was very tempted to ask what he meant by that and why he had that disturbing look in his eyes, though she bit her tongue as she sincerely doubted that he would answer. Instead, she would probably get rebuked for such a question and after earlier, that was something that she was looking to avoid.

A few moments of silence filled the dark room, but Anastasia was quick to break it after having suffered in silence for a prolonged period of time earlier.

"Are you going to tell me what's going on?" Anastasia couldn't help but whisper in a small voice.

"Will you stop asking me if I just tell you?"

"Yes." Anastasia rushed to lie.

"It's a long story so I hope you haven't got anywhere to be." Harvey chuckled sadistically, very much aware that he was the one keeping her trapped here.

"I'm in no rush so feel free to start anytime." She stated dryly, unable to see the humour in the situation like him.

"Well, that Alpha mate of yours was correct in saying that I'm a rogue." Again, Harvey laughed freely, almost as if there was any part of this situation that he was somehow able to find funny in that twisted mind of yours. "My mate never rejected me and I never left my previous pack because I was heartbroken. I've actually had a mate and pack this whole time."

"You're a rogue." She stated as her lips trembled slightly, unable to believe that all of this time, Marcellus had been correct in his initial judgement and prejudice against Harvey. At the time, she had just believed he was acting that way because he was jealous but now, looking back, she should have assessed the situation and genuinely considered his concerns without allowing her hurt and pain from his actions to cloud her vision.

"I prefer the term lone wolf, but you know that already."

Anastasia wanted to roll her eyes, but instead, voiced aloud something which had been dancing on her mind since the moment he had mentioned it earlier. While not for one second did she believe him, her cruel mind kept taunting her with the possibility of it despite her aggressive denial.

"You said Marcellus was behind this whole thing but I know that's not true." She held her eyes as she stated the fact instead of questioning him, daring him to deny the claim.

"You're right." His lips stretched out into a comical smirk, once again irking her with how much he enjoyed watching her suffer; a truly sadistic characteristic. "I just said that to play with your mind." He stated simply with a shrug of his shoulders, almost as if he hadn't just admitted to lying in order to manipulate and scare her into complying with him. "You were being very difficult so I was hoping that after some time, you'd calm down and we'd be able to talk properly. You may consider dropping your mate's name like that as cruel, but it worked, didn't it?"

Despite the fact that she insisted within herself that not for one second, she believed Marcellus to be behind this whole thing even though things were currently very rocky and uncertain between them, Anastasia couldn't help but feel relieved that it was now confirmed.

-

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Layla Knight

18.11.2020