Her Second Chance✔ (Completed under edit)

22

Claire

Huddling against the wall, she fought not to let the tears fall. There was nothing to sit on, no padding on the wall and the three remaining sides were made of silver bars. It was dark, damp and musty. She could feel the cold seeping into her body but she was too tired to get off the floor.

Her heart felt shattered. She wanted to scream but remembered it'd done nothing. The walls seemed to be closing in on her but no one was around to hear her pleas. Still, she kept on begging. Andre had to come back for her. He might be angry with her but she was his true mate after all.

Even knowing how futile it was, Claire tried to reach out to Xander. A mate bond was the strongest one there was, yet she couldn't seem to get past a wall that gave her a headache for even trying. Andre had to have blocked her mental abilities. As a royal he had authority over their abilities and could take them away if he wished.

She curled around herself trying to preserve the little heat she had left to her. Her mouth felt dry, hunger twisted her stomach and for the first time she was filthy. How had she miscalculated this much? If only Andre hadn't pretended to be a mere guard ten years ago.

'You're not worth my time.' He'd told her.

Could he really have meant that? As his true mate, he had to feel something for her, had to have a desire to protect her. Yet he'd left her here in a place many had forgotten existed. The silver encased dungeons.

She hadn't done anything to her sister. As a prince Andre should've been able to sense the truth of that. Which meant either he was an incompetent one or he was being vindictive. She suspected the latter. Which meant he would probably choose to still be with Cari on that principle alone.

Claire knew most people would think badly of her if they knew but she couldn't really fathom anyone preferring Cari over her. Even Xander's occasional attraction to Cari had to be because males loved having the attention of more women than the one they had. Not because he thought Cari was better.

In her misery, it took her a while to hear the sound of footsteps coming towards her. She raised her head, hope budding inside her that he was back to take her away from this dank place. Anticipation had her heart thudding hard and her mouth drying even more.

Only it wasn't him. Three male turned the corner that led to her out of the way cell. She really had been placed where people were put to be forgotten. There were only three cells this deep into the mountain dungeon where light never even reached. The other two were empty but she'd been put in the middle. A cell where she couldn't huddle in a corner but was on display.

A lump formed on her throat as reality started to burrow its way into her head. Could he really not care about her? Two of the males held a big screen between them and the third held a laptop.

"Wha..a..a..t..." her voice was rusty, as if she hadn't used it in ages. The males ignored her, as if she wasn't even there. Claire had never been ignored, she'd always been the center of attention.

She swallowed hard, humiliated.

Still huddling against the wall, she watched as they plugged the tv into a port she hadn't even realised was there. Her mind shied away from the reason why they'd need an electrical port so deep underground.

The tv was turned towards her cell then pushed closer. The third guy connected the laptop to the tv with a usb to usb cable. A chair was taken from out of her sight and the guy holding the laptop brought it closer to her and sat down. The other two retreated to the far wall from the cells and stood guard.