Reclaiming Her Heart

Chapter 10 - Sacrifices

Jadea

Unfortunately, I was never able to re-connect with Adam. No matter how hard I tried. I was beating my mind against a proverbial wall.

It was so frustrating and so hard to accept.

I felt like a prisoner within my own mind and body. My dreams turned to nightmares every night. I was losing my appetite. My mind a dark, nightmarish landscape I couldn't escape.

Silas could feel the storm, but even he didn't know what to do. He spoke with me, tried connecting with me as a father would do with a child. I barely engaged. His pack, and his family, both accepted me and treated me as they would each other. While it did help sooth some of the loneliness and ache, it wasn't enough. And Silas understood that. It wasn't just the camaraderie I needed. I needed a deeper connection. Though, he never actually fully came out and said it, he did imply I earned my spot in his pack and could officially join them. In doing so, I would have to pledge myself to him, to bind my wolf to his. While this would connect my mind, and wolf, to him and his pack—to help ease that debilitating loneliness and craving, needing to be connected on a deeper level—it was a forever kind of bond that couldn't be broken unless the alpha severed the bond. If I pledged myself to him, he would have complete access to my mind whenever he wanted, and I would never be able to leave.

And those two things I was not okay with.

I couldn't believe five months had passed since my accident.

Five months of just trying to survive.

It was exhausting, pretending everything was alright. It was exhausting staying here when all I wanted to do was run. To escape. The only reason I hadn't done it, yet, was due to Silas's unease and constant watchfulness. He knew I was a flight risk. He'd had eyes on me constantly.

However, as of late, he'd dropped his guard. I wasn't under constant supervision anymore when I ran the perimeter during the night.

On one such particular night, right after I fell into bed, there was a loud pounding on my door. My heart constricted, thinking I was going to be put on the post again. Before I could even move to answer, Silas threw open the door and barked at me to meet him out front. Dragging myself outside, I found Silas, his beta and one of the guards detaining a stranger.

He looked haggard with only his frayed shorts on. Haphazard dirty bond hair stuck in all directions, his hazel eyes an unnerving calm. The instant our gazes met, my mind rebelled. Fought against the barriers separating the last five years from my conscious thought.

I knew him.

Morgal, the beta, kicked the back of this stranger's knee, forcing him to fall. A snarl emanated from my chest at this show of force. He wasn't struggling.

"Do you know him?" Silas demanded.

I shook my head. "No. Who is he?" I asked, hoping Silas would have the answer.

"An enemy," Morgal hissed, tossing a sword to me. I barely caught it before it smacked me in the face. I bared my teeth at him.

"What do you want me to do with this?" I asked Silas specifically, though I kept my gaze on Morgal for some reason.

"You need to kill him."

***

One night, at the dinner table, I stared numbly down at my food, pushing it around my plate. After that night, nothing felt the same.

I hated myself, and Silas, especially Morgal, for what transpired.

Bitterness clouded my tongue, tears stinging my eyes.

Suddenly, Silas's voice was sharp and clear in my ears. He stated we would be having important visitors coming in a few days' time. He didn't specify who these visitors were, and I was instantly on edge. I followed orders, though, and helped prepare the compound. We prepared some of the empty apartments in the pack's separate complex for them. We moved other items around the compound, so there was a larger area to accommodate the feast and festivities that would be held outside.

When the visitors came, my anxiety peaked. While I couldn't remember them, they felt familiar. And not in a good way. The alpha, Keb, oozed anger and malevolence. His gaze instantly zeroed on me, and I could see the wicked gleam in his gaze, a dangerously satisfied grin splitting his face.

He knew me.

But I didn't remember him.

My mind rebelled.

I knew this wolf was dangerous to me. I would have to be careful while he was here.

Silas could feel the dangerous tension in the air between us. After the formalities, he sent me to my room while the festivities started. I couldn't tell if he was trying to protect me or keep me out of trouble. Not that I would have intentionally gotten into trouble.

As night fell, bonfires were lit, so the celebration could continue. Mateo retrieved me when the feast commenced. He hovered. Silas must have asked him to keep an eye on me. While I was a bit annoyed, I did feel better not being alone, especially when Keb descended on me.

"Jadea Knight." I hated how my name rolled off his tongue, like a snake's. It made my skin crawl.

"Do I know you?" I asked bluntly.

"Not officially," he replied, his smile predatory and victorious.

I didn't like his answer. I just didn't like him in general. I shivered in revulsion as his gaze moved down my entire body. It felt like he was trying to undress me with his gaze alone. He licked his lips, as if imagining how I would taste, caught in his unforgiving jaws. Wondering if I would fight or fear him. I could smell the sickening desire on him. Mateo stepped closer to me, protectively. He could sense Keb's heightening interest. A low growl emanated from Mateo's chest, as if warning away the other alpha.

Keb bared his teeth in response. "Careful kid," he said more in a demeaning way than in warning.

Before things could get out of hand, Silas morphed from the shadows beside us, taking a stance just in front of me. "It would be best if you left her alone," Silas stated, his alpha authority bleeding into his tone.

"For now," Keb bit, his gaze turning once more to mine before he slunk off.

"Mateo, see Jadea back to her room," Silas ordered evenly.

Mateo nodded, catching my elbow in a firm grasp. I could feel both of their anxious energy, especially at Keb's interest. I heard Mateo's voice while he spoke to me quietly, but I couldn't focus on his words. My gaze was caught on the large pentagram and other symbols painted on the ground, the hair on the back of my neck standing on end. I had seen this before. Back when I was young, when I was with my blood family. Pappy Elam had come over to celebrate. These same symbols had been drawn into the ground right before a young woman was brought out and sacrificed.

Panic reared its ugly head. My gaze searching the bodies, looking for the innocent that would be laid out and restrained as wicked deeds were done and evil danced and sang around her before being killed.

This went against everything I stood for. I was a protector of innocents. I hunted and killed immortals for doing this very thing! An inferno was ignited within my chest and I swung on Mateo. "Where is she?" I demanded. He was taken aback by my outburst.

"Who?" He stuttered.

"The sacrifice?" I snapped quietly, pointing to the pentagram.

"What are you talking about?" he asked, not understanding. He was confused.

"Have you witnessed this kind of ceremony before?" My tone softened a bit. Maybe Mateo hadn't been subject to this type of abhorrent behavior yet.

"No." He said, reaching out, his hand closing around my upper arm as he tried to push me towards the house. "I'm sure if they are going to sacrifice anything, it'll be an animal," he assured me.

Right as he said it, though, I saw her. She was led out of the apartments where Keb's pack was being housed. Her hands were restrained behind her, a wolf on either side as they fairly dragged her towards the pentagram. She was dressed all in white and bare foot. Had long blond hair. She was a teenager. She was scared, but had come to terms with her fate.

No!

My heart rate picked up. I had to do something!

Right when I was going to charge Keb's men, Silas was there, blocking my way. "Get to your room," he ordered sternly, no room for argument in his tone.

I shook my head, staring up into his eyes, begging him not to allow this to happen. Deep in his gaze, I saw the silent apology. He was just as horrified, but couldn't show it. And there was something else buried deeper. Perhaps fear. It was almost like Silas didn't want to be a part of this at all, that he was being forced. What did all of this mean?

I calmed down, seeming to understand if I didn't, Silas's hand would be forced to do something else. Something that would be far worse than anything I experienced so far. My compliance was absolutely necessary in this very critical moment, especially with Keb present.

"Okay," I breathed, nodding. Trying to silently convey I understood.

I dropped my gaze and allowed Mateo to lead me into the house. At least in my room, I couldn't see the atrocities that would happen. However, it didn't drown out the sounds. I heard the girl's screams. I heard her terrified cries. And the demonic chanting and singing that occurred while her wails subsided.

I curled up in the corner, covering my ears with my hands, begging for this nightmare to end.

***

Somehow I had fallen asleep. Maybe it was my mind's way of protecting me?

But why was I awake now?

Something had woken me.

My senses sharpened, my gaze landing on the door. It was opened just a fraction. Enough to allow someone to peek inside. In the dark, my gaze focused on the slit and saw an eye gleaming back at me. Terror gripped my chest as I bolted to my feet. At the same instant, Keb was inside and on top of me. His hand crushed my throat so I couldn't scream. He pushed me back into the corner of my room, his eyes wild with a sadistic excitement. He breathed in my scent, his nose tracing over my neck and cheek, and he sighed in sickening contentment. "Oh, Jadea Knight. You do not know how long I have waited for you."

"Let go of me," I snarled in his mind. We were both alphas, which meant we could telepathically communicate with each other without needing any form of bond. In that moment, I wished I wasn't being collared by the toxin. If I was at full strength, my manipulator powers wouldn't have been hindered. I could have easily ordered him away from me. I could have forced his compliance.

He pulled far enough away to stare deeply into my eyes, and I saw some kind of resolve take hold. "One day, very soon, Silas will not be able to save you, my little bird." He cooed, as he ran his thumb over my lips. His face twisted into a sinister smirk, one that made my blood run cold. "Hmm, maybe I could have fun with this," he said more to himself than to me. He leaned in and ran his tongue over my face, tasting me. I jerked away in disgust. He hummed his approval. "When you fail to bond with Silas, I will have no choice but to take you as an enemy to his majesty. And when I do that... You will serve me, little bird, however I see fit."

The way he said it had my skin crawling and my heart pounding out a fearful rhythm. Fear wasn't something I was used to feeling. I was so used to being strong, independent. In control. I had been trained to be composed in any circumstance I faced. Fear was poisonous to the heart, mind and body. But I couldn't stop it as it took hold and spread.

I knew why I couldn't stop it. And it frustrated me to no end. It was because of the demon's blood running through my veins, keeping me compliant. Keeping me in a mind fog. I wouldn't be able to have full control over my own body and mind until the toxin left my veins entirely. And if I fell into Keb's hands... This would only get worse. I could tell based on the gleeful look in his gaze as he soaked up the tendrils of fear that were seeping off of me.

"Sleep sweet, little bird, while you still can," he laughed, slinking back out of my room.