Kade
The moment I opened my eyes, I found myself trapped behind the closed doors of the North wing.
Yes, the North wing.
Making out objects was difficult as blurriness clouded my eyes, impeding my vision. I could feel the heat in my head as it banged violently and my muscles were weakened by constant aching.
My head ached badly as if someone was slamming a hammer hard on it, causing me to support it with my hand as the pain soared through my body.
“Where am I?” I whispered tiredly, gasping hard for breath, squinting hard to have a glimpse of the dark room. Soon, blurriness dispersed my eyes as I regained my sharp vision, glancing around the familiar room.
I recognized it.
The room that held the most painful memory.
I cringed my nose in disgust as the air was filled with sweat, saliva, fluid and blood. Lifeless battered bodies laid on the floor, close to each other with pain and anguish in their eyes as they stared into space.
Bodies that were battered beyond recognition. But only I could identify them.
An elderly man laid beside a woman. His bruised arms appeared to protect her. Lying beside them were two young adults. A lady and a man that the elderly woman tried to protect.
The room smelt of death and destruction, but somehow, it canceled me out of its plan.
I knew it would come back for me. Sooner or later.
Following the gaze of the dead people, I was greeted with my form. Beyond their blood-soaked body and brutally injured faces were tears in their eyes.
Painful tears.
Their sorrowful expressions conveyed messages to one another and somehow, they stared at me with hope.
Strange.
“Why this room?” I asked myself, tears flowing freely from my eyes. My heart ached terribly as realization dawned on me.
This was my favourite playroom!
Why did death visit my playroom knowing it would ruin the memories?!
Throwing my father’s teaching out of the window, my head slumped forward and my hands rubbed my thighs as tears cascaded through my eyes.
Bitter tears.
A sticky substance on my thighs caught my attention, causing my eyes to widen in shock the moment I saw myself soaked in blood.
Feeling alarmed, I rose to flee out of the room, but I was slammed back to a sitting position.
“Fuck!” I screamed, yanking myself off the shackles and chains that held me down as hard as I could, but my strength was no match for it as my captor had succeeded in tying me up firmly.
Afraid and confused, I glanced around the dark room for objects that I could use to liberate myself, but there were none.
I resumed yanking myself off the shackles when the sound of light footsteps echoed throughout the room, gaining my attention and making me stop. My heart pounded in my chest as the footsteps got louder and closer.
“You are awake, Kade,” A feminine voice reverberated throughout the room, slowly coming out of the darkness, “I would save my strength if I were you,”
My blood froze and my jaws hit the dark cold floor the moment I saw the lady lurking in the darkness, behind the stern voice.
How could she?!
My Fear and confusion were replaced with anger and determination as I pinned her down with the most deadly gaze, “You snake! How could you do this to him? To us?” I spat, shaking up the chains again in an attempt to escape.
She rolled her eyes, “Him? Us?”
“Don’t pretend, I saw you,” Anger laced in my voice as I clenched my fist into a ball, “Why did you do that to him? Knowing he loved you!” I growled, ready to pounce on her, but the chains restricted me.
Fuck!
“Despite your low status, he accepted you, we all accepted you. Turns out you were a backstabbing bitch!”
She ran towards me, her eyes darkened with rage, “Have some respect!” She pulled down a long chain that slammed me hard, causing pain to radiate throughout my body.
“Stop acting like you all did me a favour. He didn’t have a choice because I was his mate. You cannot reject your mate, you accept whoever the Moon goddess gives you!”
I shook my head negatively, “You can reject your mate. That is what he should have done the moment he saw you but he was deceived and blinded by your fake love,” I eyed her with contempt.
She let out a burst of loud laughter, clapping her hands mockingly, “Stop acting like a dumb high school kid. I never loved him, I never loved any of you. I just… played along,” She gave a puppy face.
“Any last words before you join them?” She pouted her lips as her slim fingers caressed my beard but I snatched my face from her.
“Be strong, Arcade. Never show people how vulnerable you are even if you are at the point of breaking,” My father’s words echoed in my ears, strengthening me at my weakest point.
No.
I wasn’t going to show her how broken I was. I wasn’t going to cry. I wasn’t going to beg.
“Rot in hell,” I spat at her face as my lips curved in a smirk, “I dare you to do your worst!”
“I will. But it’s a shame that you will be there first,” She planted a kiss on my forehead, “Till then, Kade,”
Her burst of wicked laughter almost deafened my ears as she walked out of the room.
Suddenly, the room was covered in blood, swallowing the corpses that laid on the floor before other items got drowned in it.
Fear and confusion got the best of me as I jerked the chains violently in an attempt to escape. My heart beat fast and loud as adrenaline filled me, fuelling me with strength.
I watched in horror as the pool of blood slowly reached my knees, covering my body halfway.
“Help! Help me!” I screamed till I lost my voice, still jerking the chains that held me bound, hoping they would loosen.
“Please, anybody,” I whispered as I spat out blood, struggling to stay afloat as the pool of blood danced around my neck. I tried to lift myself to swim, but it was impossible. The chains made my drowning easy and my swimming impossible as they glued my legs together.
I struggled with the chains, trying to keep my head above the blood, but the current of the pool overpowered me, causing me to drown slowly.
“No!” I screamed, panting hard.
Turned out to be a nightmare.
The atmosphere felt different and comfortable, except for the beeping sounds and the murmurs of people that filled my ears.
I tried to open my eyes, but I shut them immediately as I was blinded by a bright light that hung above me. Sounds appeared distant, but recognizable.
“Alpha!” A voice gasped and I recognized it as my Beta.
“He is awake.”