Music: "One" by Apocalyptica
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The stench of silver and blood surrounded him in the dark, dank cell. Out in the middle of nowhere, guarded by a single wolf, the concrete basement was built under a secure building smaller than the cabin he and Sam lived in together. Long thin grates ran the length of the floors for blood, water, urine, and excrements to drip down and run off into a drain in the back corner. There were no windows to let in light. Only a single light bulb dangled from the middle of the space comprised of four cells. The air was stale and damp. No life had existed in this place for years—until now.
Fire burned his back, his flesh torn open from the lashes of Noodin's silver-tipped whip. His wrists were raw from the silver chains digging into them during the lashings.
Not only did images of Sam over the last couple of months flash through his head, but so did his father. Every strike was worse than his father's fist.
To make matters worse, he was informed that there would be no one to tend to his wounds for a long time as they were all working hard to save Sam.
Before Noodin began his punishment, Mik asked him as he clutched the wooden post, "Why did you bait me?"
"I didn't. I told you, I had eyes everywhere. Everyone reported back to me if you stepped out of line. It didn't surprise me that you would make a move on our highest ranking non-mated female warrior. Nikki just happened to be our best baiter. If she had free reign, she would have enticed you to mount her immediately."
Mik groaned as Noodin tightened the chains securing him to the post, his wrists already rubbed raw.
"Never underestimate your adversary," Noodin told him as he stepped back and grasped his whip. "Even if they are the mate of someone you care about."
The chill of the cell's cold grated floor was comforting against the heat of his body. His temperature was already climbing, fighting off the infection brought on by the silver. He was going to be delirious with fever by the time anyone came to him, but Sam needed their care and attention more.
Sam had to live. He had to. Mik had to see him smile again. Hear him laugh again. He had to see those robin-egg-blue eyes gaze at him again.
'He won't ever look at you like that again,' his father's voice whispered in his mind. 'And even if he did, you don't deserve it. Look at you. Pathetic. You were never strong enough to take it all back. And you never will.'
Does that even matter now? Mik thought to himself.
Becoming Alpha... Taking back his inheritance...
Look what it cost him.
He deserved to be whipped. He deserved to be locked up. He deserved to have everything taken away from him.
But Sam didn't deserve any of it.
He was surprised, actually. That he had been able to get away with as much as he did. Noodin knew he was a threat. He was responsible for attacking the pack and trying to kill others. Did he succeed? No, and he should have been killed immediately. Instead, he was spared. Instead, he was given a chance, a little bit of freedom in exchange for cooperation. To make Sam happy.
'They all knew you'd fail,' his father's voice sneered in his head again. 'Because you're weak. Because your mate is male.'
'Because your nature is wrong.'
He squeezed his eyes shut. His head felt like a hot iron was pressed against it. Everything burned with an invisible fire pressing down on him—like he was buried under a pile of smoldering coals and he couldn't move. He could barely breathe.
YOU ARE READING
The Defiant Claim (The Claim: Book 2) LGBT
Werewolf[COMPLETE] Revenge drove him. Bloodlust raged in his veins. All 22-year-old Mik (Mikwam) wanted was to reclaim his birthright and destroy the alpha that took it from him. He never expected to find his mate within the pack of his enemy -- nor was he...
