One of the guards briefly let go of Reyna's arm and as much of a mess as she was, she didn't miss her opportunity. Kicking the other guard in the balls as hard as she could, he let go of her and for a second she was free until the muscleheads grabbed her again. 

"She's got spunk," one of them said as they dragged her into a separate facility they had just unlocked. The sound of loud howls and screams chilled her to the bone. "I can't wait to see it get snuffed out in here."

"Shut up man, this is our future Luna!"

"Whatever, the Alpha isn't here right now. And did you see how he turned away? He clearly doesn't care much for this human." Reyna was completely limp in their arms. Escape was impossible and she just stayed still as they dragged her down a pair of stairs closer to the noisy howls. As far as she could tell, she was in a facility made entirely of a shiny metal that judging from the guard's wincing was silver. They dragged her to a tiny 4' by 6' cage and without another care threw her in. 

"Have fun!" said the mean one. The other guard who was older just looked at her apologetically before leaving. There was a sound of finality as the door slammed shut behind them and left her trapped with crazy werewolves. 

Huddling into a corner, Reyna finally let her tears flow. Like a dam that had broken, they fell nonstop and were coupled with the loud hiccups and sobs. Reyna didn't know how long she had stayed there sobbing until the door opened and in walked Rodrick. He had a sorry expression on his face as he crouched in front of her cage. 

"Why?" Reyna sobbed at him. "Why did he do this to me? Why take me in the first place if he would do this to me?" Reyna paused for a moment as another wave of emotional agony flowed through her. She looked at Rodrick with her tear filled eyes. "I wish I could die!"

Rodrick looked alarmed. "Don't say things like that!" he said as he awkwardly patted her hand and avoided the silver bars. 

"You're right," Reyna replied venomously. "I wish he would die! He has brought nothing but trouble to my life!"

Rodrick looked like he didn't like that option either, but Reyna wasn't done speaking. "My life wasn't perfect but it wasn't bad you know? I was on track to becoming class valedictorian and winning the fencing championships! I could have gotten a scholarship to an Ivy League and gotten far away from my mom! But no, fate had other plans for me. Plans I did not ask for!" Rodrick was staring at her as if she had gone mad. With the way she was feeling, maybe she had.

"Erm..." Rodrick interrupted. "Do you want me to tell you why you're here?"

"Oh, I just figured it was the consequence for interrupting the match. But I didn't do that on purpose! It was like some otherworldly force propelled me there! He can die for all I care! I never wanted him in the first place!" Rodrick nodded understandingly. 

"That was the mate bond, which makes you protect your mate in dangerous situations. Usually, when such matches take place, the mates are held back or surrounded by strong warriors but since you are human, I didn't think that would be a necessary precaution."

"See it wasn't my fault! Will you tell him that?" Reyna felt a shred of hope at the thought of leaving the cage. She hadn't even been there a day but she felt like she was dying. 

"He knows. However, when you jumped into the match it made him look weak as both an Alpha and a General so you need to be punished." 

"That's not fair!" Reyna cried. "How long am I stuck here? I feel like I'm already going insane."

Perhaps there was a certain look in her eye, but Rodrick nodded as if he could tell as well. Suddenly, he got a faraway look in his eyes. 

"I need to go," he said abruptly. "The punishment is usually 2 weeks but the Alpha has made it 1 week."

"Wait no! Don't go!" Reyna said, trying desperately to cling to his hand. Even though they had just met that day, he was one of the few people who didn't seem brainwashed and was friendly to her. She didn't want to be left alone in the scary prison and he felt like her only lifeline. However, with the help of his werewolf speed, Rodrick ran out of the prison and Reyna fell back onto the dirty floor, rubbing her arms to warm herself. In the cell right beside her was a mangy wolf who stunk and had patchy fur. She made sure to stay on the opposite side of the cell but with its frightening growls and the dropping temperature, she couldn't stop shaking.

Reyna fell into fitful bouts of sleep plagued with nightmares of Elias' brown wolf attacking her and being left behind in the woods at night. By the third day, as Reyna woke up and took a shuddery breath, she realized she was sick. By midday, she could feel her skin get hotter, and when the mean guard who brought nasty gruel came with her food, she didn't acknowledge him.

"I knew this place would break you," he chuckled. "Eat up buttercup! You're not even halfway through!" Distantly, she heard him tell another guard that they owed him money since she broke before falling into a feverish dream. Dragging herself to the bowl of gruel, Reyna took a few bites before violently throwing it all up. Mixed in the throw-up, she could see flecks of blood. For some reason, she didn't care even though she knew she should. 

By this point, Reyna's fingers and toes looked permanently blue, which concerned her because since she was black, it was difficult for her skin to show different colors. Her nose was permanently runny and she barely had the strength to lift her head. 

On the fifth day, Reyna reached a horrible conclusion. I'm dying, she thought. These days when the guard brought food she could no longer move from her fetal position in the middle of the floor. She couldn't even drag herself to the bucket to relieve herself and humiliatingly could only pee from where she lay on the floor. Each breath that she drew in hurt and she had to make an effort just to get a proper lungful. 

This is it, Reyna thought as she somehow found a dreg of strength to flip herself on her back. Her body uncontrollably shivered as she looked at the ceiling of her cage. At the moment, her only regret was that she couldn't take Elias with her. Just thinking his name brought a black hatred to her heart that she had never experienced before. Even the "mate bond" as everyone seemed to call it, could barely stand in the face of her rage. 

"Do not go gently into the good night," Reyna whispered to herself, then giggled. Why did it seem so funny? Lying on the floor, where she could hardly do anything other than wait to die, everything seemed funny. Even the crazy wolf that had been barking at her seemed funny. Distantly, Reyna heard the sounds of keys and someone calling her name. A face appeared in front of hers and somewhere in the back of her mind, she realized it was Rodrick. His face looked frantic. She wanted to pat his cheek and tell him everything would be ok but she hardly had the strength to move. 

"Do not go gently into the good night," Reyna told him. He just looked at her confused, before continuing to yell for a doctor. Reyna started coughing, the loud noises turning into painful hacks that tore at her throat. She could feel blood wet her hands but her body wouldn't stop. Soon she could see the pack doctor in the corner of her eye and a few assembled pack members looked at her with concern. Reyna wanted to roll their eyes at their fakeness. Just a few days before they had been happy to watch her rot.

The pack doctor suddenly injected her with something and for a moment everything was clear again. The man was talking to her and she tuned in to listen. "... sedative so that I can take you back to my office and put you on a drip right away. Ugh, why does he make these hot-headed decisions? This prison is meant for wolves, not humans!" Rodrick was squeezing her hand and telling her everything was going to be okay. Reyna wanted to tell him that she already knew that, because how on earth was she going to escape if she kicked the bucket in such a godforsaken prison? As Rodrick picked her up, she could finally feel whatever she had been injected with kicking in. She felt like she was floating out of her body, a heavenly feeling with all the pain she was in. 

"I'll come back for you all!" she sang to the wolves who were locked up. All she got were louder howls as the bright sunlight met her eyes for the first time in 5 days. 

Elias POV (I don't plan on writing his perspective often, tell me what you think!)

The damn mate bond had been tugging at his chest for the past few days. So many times at night he would wake up out of bed and with his hand on the door, ready to go to his mate's side. But he couldn't. Not when he had made her look weak like that. His wolf had been urging him strongly for the past few days before quieting down and ignoring him altogether.  

He had been sitting at his desk working on important files for the Alpha King when his wolf came to life all of a sudden. Something was wrong but not with him. He mind linked his beta to go check on his mate, all of a sudden he had an uneasy feeling about her. What his beta reported back had him sprinting out of the pack house and to the prison in seconds. 

Reyna was shaking uncontrollably in the arms of his beta and clinging onto his shirt with a viselike grip. A surge of jealously rippled through him and he had to resist the urge to attack Rodrick. Meanwhile, in his arms, Reyna was clearly under some form of sedative but when her wandering eyes settled on him, the anger in them was so strong he had to resist the urge to step back. Even Rodrick looked angry as he and the pack doctor rushed past him to the infirmary. The pack wolves who had assembled looked at him with pity in their eyes as they rushed past to follow the action. He didn't want their damn pity! But as soon as everyone left, he fell to the ground on his knees, clutching his chest. His pack needed a Luna but with the anger in her, once he made her into his Luna he wasn't sure if she would ever forgive him.

Yay 2 chapters in one day!! Please tell me what you think of the short Elias POV and don't forget to vote on my chapter! Thank you so much for reading!

xx Katreadsabook