A Friend To The Elements

Chapter 26

Chapter 26

*Trigger warning: Extreme abuse/Violence*

*Lily's POV*

"I'm done being patient with you!"

I had seen quite a few sides of Henry at this point.

There was the mischievous, but patient version I met at the school. He had made me nervous not because of anything particularly intimidating, but more because of what he knew. His knowledge made him dangerous, but that boy wasn't anything to worry about. Easily overpowered with a cool head.

When I was first taken, he became intimidating. It was as though he put on a mask of what he thought a bad man should be. There was always a smooth control over his actions even as he beat and abused me. He had a purpose with a goal in mind. I thought that would be the most terrifying. The worst that he was capable of.

For a few months he was almost bearable. His intentions and motives behind the positive actions were twisted, but I couldn't deny that this version kept me alive despite knowing the chances of my cooperation were slim. He came by less frequently and when he did there was a special meal or another pair of clothes. It was still captivity, but the wounds started to heal. I gained energy that I never thought I would have again.

This version was a completely different beast. He normally wore a neat long sleeve button up with the sleeves rolled into crisp cuffs just below his elbows. The always smelled clean with a faint scent of grass. Now he smelled of sweat with large circles underneath his arms. The formally neat cuffs were loose with one handing around his forearm. His jeans had grass stains coating his knees as if he had crawled through the yard unable to walk, but the biggest change was in his face.

A darkness settled around him. It was a face of a man who had snapped. Disheveled hair with curls that had grown wild sticking out in some places but clinging to the sweat on his forehead on others. As he screamed spit through across my cell landing on my face. When he stopped a small line of it was still stuck to his chin barely catching the light. Another was still connected to both his top and bottom lip swaying back and forth as he huffed aggressively with his mouth parted.

I slid to the back corner of the tiny cell. Only the bars separated us. He reached for the keys fumbling to get them in the door with fingers that were turning into paws. He roared out making me drop to the ground and cover my ears. Pain shot through my knees from making contact with the cement, but I forced my feet in front of me. Pushing off I scooted my back further into the back corner.

My own wolf that had always been strong and ready for a fight cowered. I couldn't get my thoughts together to summon a shift if I needed it. It had been too long.

The door swung open and he walked in holding a new whip in his hand. The one he used before was long and smooth. It burned and cut into my skin after a few lashes, but the one he held glimmered in the light. Small silver notches that looked like hooks stuck out from the material.

His face contorted into an evil smile and released the end letting the tip clink on the floor before he wiggled his wrist and sent the lash at my corner. The snap was followed by hot pain as the whip lashed into my leg. It sliced through the fabric of the sweats I wore and blood soaked the frayed fabric. I wanted to try and run to the still open door, but he was too fast with the whip throwing lash after lash.

I rolled over in a fetal position on my knees to keep my legs and face protected. If I had any hope of getting out of here my legs had to work. Henry was undeterred. He stepped closer standing over me without hesitation.

My body shook with tears and screams that sounded more like howls. Scabs that had almost healed were ripped back open with a vengeance.

I wasn't able to register that the lashing had stopped until I heard a low growl. I glanced up to look at the wolf through Henry's legs. It was small with blood of its own dripping onto the floor. I was baffled at the bravery of the smallest wolf I had ever seen challenging this man. It's lip on the side that wasn't dripping with blood curled up into a snarl.