Some Mate You Are...

--------------------------Marvel's Point of View-------------------------

I awoke with a pounding sensation against the inside of my skull. I felt as though I had been run over by a truck but was not certain why I was feeling such a way. I opened my eyes and looked around, but it was hard to make out anything in the sparse room from the dim light that seemed to be coming from down a nearby stairwell. The one thing that I knew of for certain though was that I was in some kind of a cell. I could clearly make out solid steel bars trapping me inside.

I was in a cage.

How had I ended up here?

I thought back, grasping for anything that I could remember before waking up here. The last thing that I could recall was Kiara and I running through the woods in our wolf-forms. Aida had stayed behind because she had not been feeling well. Kiara and I were speculating that she may be pregnant as we raced between the trees of the familiar territory. I had rushed ahead just a few paces, pushing my body a little harder. I could remember hearing a sudden yelp coming from Kiara and I slowed my pace so that I could turn to see her. I had assumed that she had tripped or caught something in her paw. Yet, as I turned to face her, everything went black.

“Kiara…” I wondered in a panic.

I had no idea of knowing if she was alright. Did whoever brought me here harm her? Had they left her behind? Or was she locked up somewhere alongside me? I needed to find out what happened to her. It was at times like these where I wished that our kind possessed the ability to mindlink when we were outside of wolf-form.

And that was when the thought occurred to me…I could just try changing into wolf-form. I could reach out to different members of my pack until I found someone who could pick up my signal. I could, at the very least, let them know that I had been taken in case they were not aware yet. Tell them to find Kiara and make certain that she was alright.

I began attempting to force my body to shift. I focused on my wolf and what it felt like to be in that form. I concentrated harder than I ever had on encouraging my body to make the change. However, no matter how focused I was. No matter how many tricks that I tried which I could remember from when we were pups being taught to turn for the first time. Yet, nothing that I tried appeared to have any effect.

I could not shift. I could not become a wolf. If the panic had not set in before, it was in full swing now. Why was I not able to shift?

“Trying to shift, are we?” A voice questioned from the darkness.

The sound was distinctly male and though I did not recognize it immediately, there was something oddly familiar about it.

“It is not going to work, just so you know.” The voice offered, a cocky air of certainty clear in its tone.

“Why not?” I questioned, attempting to sound far more confident than I felt.

I pushed myself up to my feet and stood tall as I faced the direction that the voice was coming from. It was only then that I realized that I was completely nude. But I could not back down now. I stood up to display courage in an, otherwise, bleak situation. I could not let this person believe that they had won. I may have been the captive, but I was not yet the victim and I would not let them see me falter while I had a say in the matter. So, despite the reality that my body was on full display and panic was building inside of me, I did not flinch. I stood strong as a true Luna should.

“Wolfsbane.” The voice answered, plainly, calmly. “I have injected it into your system.”

“What?!” I demanded, shocked at the admission. “Why would you do something like that?!”

I knew that this time they were not referring to the alcoholic beverage that was served at the Wolf’s Den. This was the real deal and wolfsbane was no joke, it was not something to be administered casually. There was an unwritten agreement amongst the wolf communities that you simply did not use it except in the most extreme circumstances. Many wolf packs had outlawed the substance altogether.

“You will be easier to control in human form.” The voice responded as if the answer should have been obvious.

“Control?! For what?! Why are you doing this?! Who are you?!” I cried out in anger.

I had done nothing to deserve this, and I wanted answers.

“As far as what I intend to do with you, that answer will reveal itself in a short time. As for who I am…” The voice paused, and I could swear that I heard a sad sigh. “I have to say that I am a little hurt that you cannot recognize my voice. I would be able to pick yours out in a crowd. But then again, I have accepted our bond long ago, while you chose to trapse around flaunting your relationship with that fake mate of yours. Rubbing it in my face at every turn.”

“Fake mate? What are you talking about?! Show yourself!” I commanded, hoping that they would abide this time.

Then with the click of a switch and the buzz of electricity, a light flickered on above, washing the room in a low light.

And that was when I saw him…

Standing against the wall, directly in front of my cage was none other than Alpha Harm. However, there was something different about him. Maybe it was the fact that he had me locked in a cage. Or maybe it was the hungry way that he looked at me from where we stood. But his energy was vastly different from what I had remembered. When he had visited our pack, he had seemed mostly harmless. Now there was something sinister about him. Something dark. Perhaps even evil.

“Alpha Harm?!” I gaped, not having expected this turn of events.

The Blood Moon Pack was meant to be our neighbors and potential allies. What would possess him to betray Crescent Moon in such a heinous fashion?

“Yes, love. Of course, it is me.” He smiled.

“What are you doing? Why have you done this? And, most importantly, what have you done with Kiara?!” I demanded, as he stepped closer to my cell.

“Kiara is fine. She was knocked unconscious, but she was left unharmed. I would never hurt your friend. You are far too important to me.” He promised.

“Important? Important, how?” I pressed.

“You are going to be my Luna, obviously. We were meant to be together. The Moon Goddess made a mistake when she paired you to Enzo. He does not deserve you. You should be mated to me. So, I am going to right what is wrong. This was why I had to take you so harshly and hastily. I needed to stop you from going through with this false Accession Ceremony. If you are to be the Luna of any pack, it shall be mine.” Harm asserted as though his words were simple fact.

“I will not be mated to you, Harm!” I retorted, my anger rising.

How dare this arrogant, self-important male think that he has the right to make decisions for me. I was my own wolf. I was getting sick and tired of the males around me thinking that they had any control over the choices in my life. I may have been a she-wolf in a male wolf’s world instinctually following an Alpha. But I had a right to make my own decisions for my own life. Enzo thought he had authority over my choice about my mate. And now here another Alpha was trying to do the same thing. This was all beyond frustrating.

“I am mated to Enzo. And mark my words, he and the rest of our pack will be looking for me. They will find me. And you better hope that they do. Because if I find a way out of here and eventually I will. And if I get my hands on you before they can. Then I am going to tear you limb from limb.” I threatened, completely meaning every word that I said.

“I can see that you are not in the mood to be agreeable today. We will have to try this again later.” He offered with a sad smile before pulling a small gun out from his pocket.

He lifted it in front him and pointed it directly at me.

“Hey! Wait! Let’s just…” I pled hoping for a moment to come up with some kind of plan.

But the whooshing sound of compressed gas being released followed by the pop of a gun ringing off the cement walls, stopped me before I could finish. The tranquilizer dart lodged itself into my shoulder and I stumbled into the bars in an effort to steady myself.

As the drugs took hold, I slowly slumped down towards the floor, attempting to growl as I did so. And as the world began to fade into darkness, I watched as Alpha Harm approached my cage, lowering himself down towards my level with a twisted smile on his face and sick satisfaction dancing in his eyes.

“You are going to bend to my will eventually.” He promised. “You might as well make it easy on yourself and give in. You will be mine. No matter what lengths I have to go to in order to make that happen.”

I do not know how long that I lay there on that cold, hard floor, naked as the day that I was born. It may have been hours. It may have been days. It may have been weeks, for all that I knew. Every now and then my eyes would fall open and I would start the process of adjusting to the low-levels light. Then someone would notice that I was waking, and they would re-sedate me before I could fully come around. The world would fall dark again.

Finally, during one of these attempts to wake myself, I was able to rise completely without anyone putting me back to sleep against my will. I sat up quickly prepared to defend myself, but no one was in the cell with me. However, I did find myself startled to see that my cell had been rearranged while I was out. Instead of lying on the floor, I was now placed onto a portable cot and had even been given a blanket to cover me. In one corner sat several bottles of water which beckoned to me like an old friend. And in the other corner, several books had been stacked, I am assuming for my entertainment. While sitting next to the books sat a pile of clothing which upon further inspection were nothing more than sets of lingerie.

Despite my disgust at the suggestion that I wear this for him, I did slip into a semi-sheer black teddy because it appeared to offer the most coverage. Some clothing was better than none at all, I supposed. However, it was upon working to dress myself that I realized the most disturbing information of all. Bolted tightly around my neck was a thick metal collar with some kind of small box affixed to the back. I did not know what this could be for, but I had no doubt that it was not a good thing.

“Oh good! You are awake! I was starting to think that you were going to sleep forever!” Alpha Harm chirped with glee as he descended the staircase that led into the room, a tray of food in his hands.

“Well, yeah, that will happen to someone when they are sedated repeatedly.” I huffed in annoyance as my hands fidgeted with the collar, tightly, clasped around my neck.

“Oh, don’t be like that. I just had to keep you out for a few days while I gathered the evidence that I needed to help begin to convince you.” Harm offered as he set the tray down on the floor just outside the reach of my cell bars.

“Convince me of what?” I pressed.

“Convince you that Enzo does not deserve you.” He clarified without hesitation.

“This is ridiculous.” I scoffed.

“Is it really?” He questioned, cocking a confident brow.

“Yes, it is. You are not going to convince me of anything. This is all just a pathetic waste of time. Enzo is my mate and nothing you say is going to change that.” I asserted, matching his confidence with my own.

There was already a part of me that knew that Enzo did not deserve me. If he did, then we would not have gone through all the drama that we did at the start of our mating. But whether he deserved me or not was not the issue here. Enzo was my mate and I loved him. There was something inside of me that always had. Somewhere in my soul, I had always known that it was going to be him. So, regardless of anything else, he was who I was going to be with. He was who I wanted to be with. He was my heart and my home.

“Are you certain about that?” He continued, his cocky arrogance still on full display.

“Yes. I am.”

“What if I were to tell you, that I have had you held captive for just over a week now. And that your sad excuse for a mate has come nowhere near finding you. As a matter of fact, he is not even looking any longer. Your pack is. Led by your parents, your friends, and your Alpha. But Enzo gave up looking on the second day. He has returned to business as usual. As if you had never even existed.” Harm remarked, taking delight in the words as he spoke them.

“I would tell you that I do not believe you.” I spat back in return, crossing my arms in front of my chest. “Enzo and I may have had our issues in the past, but we are solid now. And even if we weren’t, I am still a member of his pack. He would not abandon me like that.”

“Oh yeah?” Harm questioned, a sinister grin spreading slowly across his face. “Why don’t you take a listen to this…”

Harm reached into his back pocket and pulled out his phone. It took a moment, but soon a very familiar voice began to play through the speaker. It was a little grainy, obviously having been recorded from a distance, and it crackled in a few places. But the source was unmistakable.

“I don’t even care…that she is gone. Now…I am finally…free. Whoever took her…did me…a favor. I owe them a thank you.” Enzo stated clear as day.

And that was when my rock-hard façade began to crack. I was not certain of what I was hearing. I could not be positive that it was not taken out of context somehow. But it did not change the fact that the words still hurt to hear. Was there a chance that Enzo might really be happy to get rid of me?

“No. Do not be manipulated so easily. Even if Enzo did say these things. You cannot let Harm know that he has gotten to you. Stay strong.” I reminded myself, sternly.

“That could be about anything.” I argued back even if I struggled to believe my own words.

“Really? Perhaps you did not hear it correctly.” Harm quipped. “Here…I know a way to make sure that you do not miss a single word.” He began to fidget with his phone for a moment before explaining. “While you were asleep, I installed a speaker system in here and for your convenience, I had it set up directly to my phone, so that I can control it with ease.”

Seconds later, Enzo’s voice began to ring out, loudly, all around me. The words playing on repeat over and over again. Bearing down on me with the weight of their implications.

“I will leave you to consider this for a while.” Harm snickered before reaching down to the tray on the floor. “And I was going to give you this, I figured that you must be hungry as you have not eaten in over a week. But, I think that you can wait a little longer.”

He giggled to himself as he walked away, leaving me with nothing but Enzo’s voice for company…

“I don’t even care…that she is gone. Now…I am finally…free. Whoever took her…did me…a favor. I owe them a thank you. I don’t even care…that she is gone. Now…I am finally…free. Whoever took her…did me…a favor. I owe them a thank you. I don’t even care…that she is gone. Now…I am finally…free. Whoever took her…did me…a favor. I owe them a thank you.”

Over and over again.

And thus, my torment began.