My mate and my gift

Chapter twenty: Matthew

I felt a sudden sharp pain in my cheek and my head was violently pushed to the side.

“Wake up!” I heard someone order me. I opened my eyes and glared at the guy who had just taken his fist to my face. I curled my lips back in a menacing snarl. He slammed his fist into my cheek again, and this time I heard something crack. I spit out a mouthful of blood.

The guy crouched down in front of me, and I lunged for him. I was brought up short by the chain that bound my hands behind my back. I was tied to something. I twisted around to see what it was, but once I turned my side, I felt a fist connect with my ribs.

I crumbled, resting my forehead on the cold floor.

“Look at me” the guy said. When I refused, he lifted my head off the floor by my hair and slammed it back down on the cold concrete. I grunted in pain.

“We can do this the hard way, or the easy way. Your choice” he said and pulled my head back, so I was facing him. His hair was light gray, bordering on white. His eyes were red, and his skin was pale.

I glared at him. “Good.” he said “Now that I have your attention, you are going to tell me everything I want to know”

“In your dreams” I said. He laughed and I felt something hard hit my other cheek.

“If you keep this up, I will have to take drastic measures, to ensure that you cooperate”

I spat at his feet, and he stood up, kicking his knee in my face. I leaned forward, seeing a trickle of blood fall on the floor.

“Now, let’s try this again, shall we?” he said, and I looked up at him.

“Tell me what your pack is up to. We have observed an awful lot of activity between You and the Luna pack”

I glared at him, feeling the trickle of blood run from my eyebrow and down to my eye.

“You have three seconds to answer, or else” he said. He seemed perfectly calm, which was sending a shiver down my spine. I didn’t answer.

He kicked me in the stomach repeatedly until I spat out more blood.

“You will pay for this” I said, trying to sound just as calm as him.

I saw a flash, quickly followed by a sharp pain in my shoulder. I arched my back and shouted in pain. He pulled the knife back out and placed it on a table next to him. I could feel the blood soaking my shirt.

I gasped for air, my heartbeat quickening. The healing process wasn’t kicking in at all. The pain just kept getting worse.

“What did you do to me?” I asked, feeling the fear creeping in on me.

“We put some liquid silver in the tranquilizer darts we shot you with. It stops the healing process”

Fuck! This was not good.

“Now, if you’ll be so kind to answer my question” he said with a voice a soft as silk

“The alphas of both packs found each other. They are going to be paired next week” I said. It was the truth.

He grabbed my hair again and pulled back. His calm demeanor slipped, and he snarled at me.

“Bullshit! That’s just some lame excuse to combine the two packs and take over our territory!” he spat.

This guy was crazy. Why would we want to do that?

Before I could answer, a door at the other end of the room opened and another guy entered. “Alpha! The scouts have reported increased activity in the Night village” he said. My hair was released, and my head fell forward.

I noticed there was a third guy standing near the door. He had been quiet up until this point, so I hadn’t seen him before. He had long, dark-brown hair and matching eyes. He spoke up, “They are probably just talking about what their next move is going to be. They’re a bunch of cowards anyway, they pose no real threat.” He looked at me with ice cold eyes.

“Just in case, we should move our patrols to the front gates. Don’t want any surprises” the white-haired guy said. “Take care of it, Diego”

The two guys nodded their heads in respect and left the room.

“Do you think they will come for you?” he asked as he bend down to look me in the eyes. I nodded.

“Well, they won’t find you. This village has more than 200 houses, and they won’t know which one you’re in. It’s too bad you don’t have a mate. Then they might have a chance.”

It hit me that they didn’t know about me and Mira.

“How do you know I don’t have a mate?” I feigned surprise.

“We’ve been watching the ‘single’s mansion’, as you call it” he said, with emphasis on the single’s mansion part. Actually, we didn’t call it that. “And made notes of who lives there. It just so happened to be you that were on patrol the day we decided to strike. Nothing personal.”

He continued, “Now, I am going to go get some food, and in the meantime, you can think about how you want to die. Fast or slow.” He walked out of the room and I was left alone.

Many attempts at escaping later, I was lying on the floor, cold and out of breath. Every part of my body was hurting. I kept thinking about Mira, praying to the Goddess to let her know that I didn’t want to leave her. Not now, not like this. I had pictured us growing old together, with grandpups visiting us every day.

A tear rolled down my cheek.

The door swung open again, and I sat up. The alpha walked in with Diego behind him. The alpha walked up to me and kneeled down, while Diego stood in the same place he had before.

“Now, tell me the plan to take over my territory, or I will let Diego do whatever he wants with you.” The alpha said.

If I was going to die here, I might as well have some fun before I go. I looked at Diego and laughed, which took both of them by surprise.

“I’m sorry, man. I didn’t think you swung that way.” I said in a mocking tone. Anger flared up in Diego’s eyes, and in the blink of an eye, he was standing over me, pressing a foot against my chest.

“Now, now, Diego” the alpha said, “calm down. You can kill him in a minute, once I’ve gotten the info I want.”

Diego moved his foot and the alpha looked at me expectantly.

I smiled at him. “Dude, no one wants this crappy territory. It’s in the middle of nowhere.”

The alpha sighed and stood up. “He’s all yours” he said to Diego, who smiled, showing me his canines.

What felt like hours later, Diego had used a knife to s***h open my back, my thighs, and my chest. My blood was covering the floor, soaking my pants. My clothes were shredded. He brought the knife up, stabbing me between the ribs. He must have hit my lung, because I heaved for air, and it felt like my left side was on fire.

The alpha was sitting in a chair in the corner, looking bored.

There was a noise outside, and we all looked towards the door. A boy, barely a teenager, came running inside, falling on his knees in front of the alpha. He was out of breath and sweating.

“Alpha…” the boy began “there are intruders… coming towards… the front gates…”

The alpha got up from his chair. “Stay here!” he told the boy, “Diego, come with me!”

And then they left. I was about to pass out and but managed to focus my thoughts long enough to call out to Mira in my mind. I could have sworn I heard an answer.