CHAPTER 24: BARBARIC

The sight of him broke something so profound and deep inside of me. I had never seen him like this before. His eyes were closed but even if they were not, he couldn’t see me. The glass was just a one-way screen.

I wondered if he had given up all hope of survival. He probably thought there was no one to save him. He was in the clutches of the notorious tyrant now, there was no way he had even hoped for escape.

A scientist in his signature lab coat was quickly ushered in and after a feeble glance towards my chained form, started quickly towards a set of control panels fixed near the glass. He pressed numerous buttons and then stopped to look back at Darek.

"Go on," he commanded.

And my world tilted.

The scientist pressed a button while standing on my side of the glass window and a surge of electricity ran through the chains binding Valden and pierced his already limp body. His drooping figure suddenly shot up, convulsing in agony until his eyes finally opened.

His eyes were bloodshot and in despair.

A raw growl broke free from his throat as his face twisted in pain and suffering until his knees buckled and he dropped back down again. The chains were the only thing holding him upright and also sending him into the darkest pits of hell.

The man pressed the button one after the other, numerous times as Valden kept convulsing in shock and pain.

"No!" I screamed and then again and again until my voice broke. "Please don’t do this," I begged. I was looking at Darek now but he completely ignored me and kept his searing gaze on Valden.

My restraints rattled as I tried desperately to break free. My wrists burned in pain as I pulled against the chains.

Valden’s body was failing him. I could almost make out the life leaving his body, bit by bit. He was getting weaker, and the screams spilling out of his lips were reduced to feeble groans now, even after each surge of the electricity.

He was going to die.

"You can save him if you want to," Darek murmured as he stood facing me, watching me with the most infuriating but detached look, as if everything happening was just a performance he enjoyed. As if he enjoyed watching the life seeping out of someone’s body like that.

"How could you?!" My sobs choked my throat but I glared at him through tears streaming down my face. "He hasn’t done anything to you. He has nothing to do with me. Why would you do this?"

"I wanted to extract a little information about your life before the mist. I know you have secrets, Maeve. And I want to know all of it. As your mate, I think it’s only fair. But Valden didn’t seem very keen on talking."

Dread filled my stomach.

Valden’s body was pulsing again as if the electricity was somehow reviving his body, trying to keep it afloat while torturing it at the same time. A sudden roar hit against the hard walls again and I nearly puked from the sound.

He was in so much pain.

Because of Darek.

He was in so much pain...because of me.

My wolf howled within me, like it was thrashing to break out free, as if clawing to leap out from my weak body. My feet clenched hard on the ground, digging into the cold tiles.

I felt it then.

The pulsing in my bones started all the way from my feet until it spread all over my entire body. My veins burned with the familiar fire, as it spread and engulfed me like a storm.

I didn’t recognize my voice as it came out of me.

"Stop it."

My voice was deep and authoritative, reverberating off the walls, like it came from a machine rather than me.

Darek raised a brow, intrigued but his stance never changed. Not one muscle moved.

Valden screamed again and I lost it.

I was overcome with rage that was so potent it felt like my body moved on its own. The chains binding my arms felt like butter as I yanked them away to free my wrists.

My blood was boiling, but the glass separating me from Valden felt like thin, wafer-like barrier of ice, shattering like rain as my fist came in contact with it. I didn’t even understand how my feet moved, how my body flung against the wall until I was in front of Valden, surrounded by broken debris.

"Lose the chains," I said in the same deep voice.

The men standing on the sides didn’t waste a second. They rushed to Valden and took off his chains until he fully dropped to the floor in a heap.

I couldn’t find it in me to lift him up. To check if he was even alive.

The burn fizzled out in a blur, like a cold stream of water was wiping it away. I turned and glared back at Darek. His smug expression seemed to falter for a moment. I wanted to rush him. I wanted to be the one to to kill him. Because...I knew I could.

The door slammed open.

"What the hell is going on here?!"

Kinley stormed into the room, his hair flying, his lab coat put on backwards, and a wild look in his eyes. He stared at all the rubble in disbelief, his eyes flicking from me and the rubble and then to Valden’s battered form until realisation finally dawned on him.

He knew exactly what had happened. As if he knew Darek might try something like this. And he had been dreading it.

"What have you done?" He turned to Darek. "Are you out of your mind? This isn’t what we agreed on. We weren’t supposed to force Maeve into anything."

"She was lacking motivation, Fowler. You may not like my ways but you and I both got the results we finally wanted."

Kinley’s mouth dropped open until his features darkened in anger.

"It was never supposed to be like this. Never this barbaric. She’s not our lab rat."

I turned back to Valden and kneeled down in front of him, cupping his bruised face in the palm of my hands.

His eyes slowly pried themselves open, and I sighed in relief.

He was alive. But that wasn’t enough.

I moved forward and whispered in his ear. "I promise to kill him, Valden. For all of us."

Valden may not keep his promises but I sure as hell did.