The Beast's Possession

**Bane

pov**

I knew better than to leave the pack unprepared, but I was in such a hurry to find out what was happening, I didn't think about the possibilities and risks. Or consequences. Fuck me.

As it turned out, some things didn't remain inside my pack, no matter how hard I had tried to ensure no information left our territory.

Well, on the bright side - I knew there was a rat among my people. On the not so bright side - I couldn't quite do anything about that while I was chained to a wall and slowly bleeding out.

I couldn't get even close to the Lycan King before I was shot with a fucking dart like some bloody wild animal and tadaa, I woke up inside a dirty, smelly cell, enjoying the luxury only silver jelwery could provide.

Every time I moved, my skin literally burned. And by burned I meant even with the damn sound, just like a piece of meat dropped into a pot of heated oil.

While I was fighting the urge to scream until I would lose my voice, some of the guards walked back and forth in the hall, but every time they looked at me, they tried to do it in a sneaky way, as if they were scared I would notice them watching.

Honestly, I was confused. If they acted like a bunch of low-life rats that feared me, why were they holding me here? What could I have possibly done to earn treatment as such. Other than wiping maybe a few packs off the face of Earth, of course. But I was good lately. I hadn't killed anyone in a month or so.

Another guard passed by the cell, so I called out to him. "Can I get water? I feel like an unwanted guest with the lack of food and water."

The guy stopped, but didn't look at me. In fact, he looked around as if he was scared someone could notice him and then, took a step closer to the cell. He didn't touch the metal, which was weird.

"If I were you, I would avoid drinking water or eating anything here. They're adding wolfsbane to everything. Don't touch the bars or anything that even remotely resembles metal, it's silver. We're working on getting you out of here, but that'll take time. Just.. try to stay alive, okay?" He whispered and walked away as if this conversation never happened.

Well, now I knew someone was trying to kill me. All that was left was to figure out who and why.

A muscle in my arm twitched, slightly moving my wrist and effectively forcing the silver deeper into the flesh. "Motherfucker," I hissed and gritted my teeth.

Yeah, getting out of here sounded like a good freaking idea. I had went through some shit in my life and knew what proper torture felt, but this was a little too excessive. There were better way to torture someone, especially if the target wasn't supposed to die fast.

Slowly, I turned my head to inspect the damage. My wrists were bleeding - baldly. I could kiss goodbye to the idea of wearing watches or bracelets as there was no skin left wherever silver had touched it and the areas around the cuffs were covered in very nasty looking blisters.

At this point, if I didn't come up with a plan to get out of here within the next few hours, I would surely bleed to death. That couldn't happen. I promised Aife I would come back home and if it came to it, I would come back from dead and kill every fucker who stood in my way just to keep the promise.

She didn't want me to leave in the first place, so this whole mess is on me. If I had listened to her, maybe I wouldn't be here. No, I fucking really wouldn't be here.

If only I could act like an adult and think about my choices, I most likely wouldn't have left the bed and could enjoy the calm days, holding her in my arms. I really fucking missed her. And not because of the pain, darkness or the stench. I missed her because that woman became the center of my universe.

Sighing, I focused on everything about her. Aife was the only positive thing in my life and deep down, I hoped that thoughts about her, the memories of the moments we shared, would help me power through this madness. My mind brought me back to every time I could kiss her lips. I focused on the smile she always had on her face and the beautiful blush that covered her cheeks. No matter how often I stole a kiss, the reaction always was the same, so damn pure and the look in her eyes.. Damn, it was so loving, so intense. I really missed her so fucking bad it hurt more than the stupid silver.

Just as the realization hit me, someone cleared their throat. I looked up and noticed the same guard standing by the bars, looking around and whispering. "Five minutes. We will have to act fast if we don't want to get caught, but be ready. Another guy will come here under the pretense of bringing you food and water. He will remove the cuffs and chains, and then, you'll have about three minutes to get to the exit until someone notices your disappearance. Will you be able to walk?"

Judging by how panicked the guy looked, I could tell whoever owned these dirty cells was some big shot. This wasn't the usual pack that took in prisoners.

"I can walk," I muttered and hung my head, playing along with his game.

"Three minutes. Get ready." He added and left.

A ray of hope spread through my chest. I hadn't experienced the worst here yet, but I already had someone on my side, which even with the circumstances was still a win in my damn books.

My eyes didn't leave the hall. Well, sort of. I focused my gaze on the dirty floor, but still kept an eye on the barely illuminated hall for the passing shadows to see if anyone arrived or left.

I ended up counting seconds to keep a track on the guards words and sure thing, just as he said, the man with the food and water arrived just on time. He shouted some insane accusations at me as his gloved hands unlocked the cell and he entered.

"This will hurt like a bitch, bite your tongue for all I care but don't make a sound," he whispered and placed the tray with food and water aside. He then hurried to me and unlocked the cuffs.

Just as he promised, the process indeed hurt like a bitch. I bit the inside of my cheek and held my breath as he peeled the cuffs off my flesh. As soon as he released me, I almost collapsed, but seeing the initial state of shock my body experienced, the guy tossed my arm around his shoulders and led me out of the cell.

"I can carry you, but not for long," he offered and stopped. I was about to say no, but he actually grabbed me and threw me over the shoulder. As he ran down numerous halls, I could hear him mutter something about being surprised that I was still alive, but I wrote it down to future discussion we might have if we really got out of here.

This time, I didn't count seconds, but I was sure it was less than three minutes by the time he reached the exit door. As soon as it opened, he took off, running towards thick forest.

Once we were pretty far in, he stopped and let me back to my feet. "Thanks," I muttered and glanced over his shoulder. "Where the fuck am I?" I couldn't help but ask.

The guard glanced back and encouraged me to start running as he was sure they would notice my absence very soon.

"Who are they?" I pressed, already turning my back on him and heading deeper into the forest.

To my surprise, he followed behind me instead of returning and pretending he wasn't involved. It had to be a good ten minutes until I heard alarms go off in the distance and we started running.

"The high Council. You were taken by the high Council. I have no idea what the fuck you did, but they want you dead. And by dead I mean six feet under like yesterday."