A Spiritual's Mark

Chapter 3: Trapped

-Phoenix-

I had heard plenty of screams. I had screamed plenty myself back when I was younger, when I was trapped like this, when I was being tortured and broken. But the queen’s cries for mercy were something else. I had heard other people’s screams as well, from both those I had tortured and those who had been tortured like me. I had heard so many different kinds, but nothing compared to the queen’s.

It turned my blood to ice, almost frightened me. Even though I could no longer feel anything, it was close to piercing through my dead heart. How long had I been listening to it? Days? Weeks? I had lost all sense of time in this place. Yet I wasn’t alone. I had Chris Adler here with me.

In a way, I wished I hadn’t. I had learned long ago a way to delve deep into my mind, into a safe place where nothing could touch me. It was kind of hard to go to that sanctuary when the male chatted away, refusing to stay quiet

“Tell me about my sister again,” he requested.

I sighed, opening my eyes. I had been so close. I just needed a little more time to find that bliss.

“I told you, I only heard the rumors about her.”

“Yes, but how is she doing?” he inquired, leaning his back against the bars.

He was closer to the small light in the hallway now, so I could see him better. He had healed considerably, indicating that some time had passed, but he still bore bruises all over, suggesting repeated instances of torture. I wasn’t certain whether they inflicted this solely because he knew how to provoke them, or if it was ordered by his father. Perhaps they aimed to break him too, though I couldn’t discern what they stood to gain from it.

“I don’t know,” I replied. “Fine, I suppose.”

I wasn’t the most talkative, but Chris knew how to coax me into conversation. I didn’t really blame him. We all coped differently, and since he had been trapped here listening to the queen’s screams for months, I could understand he needed the distraction.

“I was in a coma after she was taken,” I admitted.

“Taken?!”

“Don’t worry, the guy was dealt with, I heard. He worked with your dad. He was just a pawn to distract Hunter, I assumed.”

“Sh*t!” he exclaimed. “But she’s all right now?”

“I think so. I... I didn’t stick around after I woke up.”

“Why not?” he probed. “Anywhere else is better than here.”

A faint smile played on his lips as he turned his head to look at me better. I sighed, not wanting to discuss why I had left. I just didn’t want to think about her, even though the mere thought of her brought me relief in a way I had not felt before. She was so beautiful with her completely white hair and clear water blue eyes. She could be the Goddess herself, so beautiful she was, and now I bore her mark. I reached up to my shoulder, rubbing the mark hidden beneath my black and bloody t-shirt.

“Like the Goddess,” I murmured.

“Huh? What did you say?” Chris inquired.

I shook my head, remaining cloaked in the dark corner. “Nothing.”

“What do you know about everyone else?” he questioned. “I’m guessing Valerio lost the trail.”

“I heard a rumor he had been brought back home, and in his rage, he finally took action against the council.”

Chris straightened up now, looking highly intrigued.

“Did he disband it?!” he asked, sounding excited.

“I... I don’t know.”

I wasn’t one to indulge in gossip, but it was hard not to catch wind of a few things, considering it was all the wolves could talk about.

“I hope he did. We should never have set up the council like the old one. We should have done things differently,” he remarked.

I could only nod in agreement. The one in England wasn’t much better. Old males clinging to outdated ways, all because it granted them power, but it was the wrong individuals wielding this sort of power. Now, at least, the king had regained some control, but I also knew he had established the council to avoid losing his power entirely. I wondered how he would manage to appease everyone without forfeiting everything in the process. Goddess, I’m glad I’m not the king, I thought.

“They still look after her, right?” he inquired.

“Are we circling back to your sister?” I inquired, though the anguish in his eyes told me that was a yes. “I believe so.”

“She’s always been my priority,” he confided. “I had to focus most of my energy on shielding her from our father, leaving barely any room to protect my mother as well. But Speedy needed me more.”

“Speedy?”

“An old nickname, forget it,” he dismissed, turning away. “I just… I knew he could alter her. He did it to me. He did it to my mother. I was barely eighteen when I started aiding Valerio. He’d been fighting to reclaim his home since he was fifteen, and when I joined, I was petrified. I’d never killed before, but I could hear my father’s voice in my head, telling me he hadn’t raised a coward, and he’d make a soldier out of me. A true alpha. But I just ended up broken, like the rest. It took us so many years to infiltrate the old council, until one day we had almost all of them cornered in the same spot, and we slaughtered them. I swear there was blood splattered up to the ceiling of that room where we had them trapped. I couldn’t return home after that. I couldn’t even face my sister, and more importantly, I’d found another family. A real one. I regret not being there for her, but I tried to protect her even from myself. I knew she could see through the façade. She wouldn’t recognize me. She’s always been my weakness, and now that my father has no use for her, I know he’ll kill her…”

“She’s carrying the future heirs. Perhaps he’ll spare her,” I suggested, though I didn’t really believe it.

“No, he’ll see those kids as nothing but betrayal. Just like he will with mine. I wanted to be different. I wanted to be there for my son, but soon he won’t have a father anymore. I shouldn’t have left.”

“Then why did you?” I probed.

“Because once I had the chance to end it all, but I couldn’t. He still had power over me. I thought simply stepping down from power would suffice, but he made sure I knew I’d regret that decision, and I damn well do. Maybe everything would have been different if I’d chosen to mate with Maddy, but I also know it wouldn’t have changed much. My father would still have found a way to kill the queen, and he’d have found a way to seize more power anyway. I had to put a stop to it. I had to fix this mess, and I was so close,” he divulged.

“How close?”

“Close enough to have my hands wrapped around his throat,” he recounted, glancing over his shoulder with a smile.

“What happened? Did you hesitate again?”

He shook his head.

“No, I was ready to end him, but he always had a backup plan. He pulled out the one thing that would make me release him. He brought out my mother. His beta had a gun to her head, threatening to kill her if I didn’t let go,” he explained.

“Sh*t.”

He nodded.

“Yeah. So, I let go. The sight of my mother, she looked so broken. No real bruises on her, but I could see she hadn’t been eating. There was just a shell of a person in front of me. I’m still not sure what my father did to her. He liked to keep her submissive, but this was different… I don’t know, maybe he finally gave her to the others, let them have their way with her, as he liked to threaten me with.”

“He threatened to let the other pack members assault your mother?” I asked, thinking I had heard and seen everything.

Chris just shrugged.

“He knew where to strike, where to hurt me. Always my sister and my mother. My two weakest spots. After I released him, he just started to beat me into the ground. My mother closed her eyes but didn’t make a sound. She didn’t even fight back. She just listened to it all, and then I was dragged away, half-conscious,” he recounted.

“You failed,” I remarked.

He whipped his head around, looking at me incredulously.

“He had someone hold a gun to my mother’s head!” he exclaimed.

“Yes, and if you truly wanted to end it all, you wouldn’t have allowed it to stop you.”

“She is MY mother!” he emphasized.

“And?”

“What kind of sick bastard are you?” he demanded.

I shrugged, even though he couldn’t see me.

“A very sick one,” I replied.

“You don’t f*cking say. You would have sacrificed your own mother?” he interrogated.

I looked directly at him, though our eyes weren’t locking because he couldn’t truly see me.

“I killed my mother,” I disclosed.