CYRUS
Perhaps when a person had been locked up in a cell, having a single person-who was barely even functioning himself-for a companion, and being continuously tortured, they started to see things that weren’t actually there.
Or maybe, when a person thought about another person hard enough, had vivid, almost real dreams of them several nights in a row, and wished hard enough that they were with said person, the person was conjured up in front of them.
It had to be one of these two theroies happening right now because a man I had seen twice, on the two times I had been tortured, walked into the basement housing our cells, with the woman I had seen several times in my dream right behind him.
Avery.
My back was against the wall as I sat on the bed in my cell. Normally, I would be conversing with Rhys, telling him everything that had happened in his absence, but he was sleeping at the moment. He had just endured another round of torture and he needed all the rest he could get.
I still hadn’t told him what happened with the Alpha that caused me to come to this town. I still hadn’t told him that I had a mate. I had told him alot, but I had not told him the major things. The things that had set my life on this new track.
I stared at the man they called general, then my eyes drifted to Avery behind him. I wasn’t reacting because I didn’t believe what i was seeing. That Avery was actually here, walking towards my cell.
There were tons of reasons why I didn’t believe that it was really her.
One, no one knew where I was. When I was taken that night, I think they might have confiscated my phone because I couldn’t find it anywhere and I knew better than to ask the general for it. That meant, no one, not even Marcus, knew where I was. So there was no way for me to be found. Unless a lykae traced my scent.
Two, even if anyone discovered my location, these men definitely weren’t going to let them in. They seemed intent on getting the information they wanted and every new torture session, the torturing was more intense. They were getting frustrated that they couldn’t break us and it made every hit all the more painful.
Three, why the hell would Avery come for me? She had specifically asked me to stay away from her. Told me that I wasn’t human and that there was no going around that. It was a deal breaker. She hadn’t said these exact words, but I translated them into simpler terms.
The fact that she wanted nothing to do with me, however, didn’t stop me from wanting her. She was my mate. It was impossible. But beyond her being my mate, there were more. I loved talking to her, having her around me, her smile, her hair and her scent.
I missed her so much I almost went mad with it. I thought about her daily. How everything could have been going differently for us if that night had not happened. Still, I it was probably best that it had. She needed to know what I was. I couldn’t keep the truth from her forever. I didn’t regret the truth coming out, the only thing I regretted about that night, was the fact that the attack had ruined our peace and the way she reacted to the truth.
It still hurt. And it hurt worse to know that it was impossible to get her back. She didn’t want me because of what I was.
All these and more made me believe that the person I was seeing in front of me wasn’t Avery.
Maybe this was another torture technique. Torture me into giving information by giving me what I wanted the most.
But how?
How was it possible to conjure her up like this? They weren’t witches and only witches and shapeshifters could do something like that.
Still, I wouldn’t put it past them to have someone dress up and make them up to look like her. Humans could do anything. The only issue was that she was exactly like Avery. Eyes, lips, nose, hair, height, that body, and her feet size.
Yes, it was probably weird that I knew her feet size, but it was Avery. I wanted to know everything there was to know about her, even if it meant going the extra mile. It only made me want to do it more.
Fake Avery stood a few inches away from the iron bars, beside the general. She didn’t look scared at all to be in his presence. She wasn’t looking at him; she was looking at me.
With her eyes on mine, I felt that awareness I always felt whenever she was in the room. The hairs at the back of my neck stood at attention and only one word we t through my mind.
-Yours-
The instinct wouldn’t tell me that she was mine if it wasn’t really her.
Which meant that it was actually Avery.
In this place, this basement, in front of this cell where I was being held. It was actually Avery. Avery was here.
But why?
She turned fully away from me to face the general, giving me her profile in side. I still hadn’t gotten up from the bed, I had not even changed my posture or done anything to show that I was aware of what was happening. The only thing that told them I was awake, was the fact that I was looking at them.
“You can leave us now.” She said to the general.
Her voice drifted to my ears, soft and raspy, and the sweetest melody I had ever heard. It even managed to give me a semi in my condition. My body was beat up, dirty and tired. I shouldn’t be able to produce a semi at a time like this but apparently, Avery’s voice could give me one.
The general cocked a brow, giving me a nasty look but when he turned to her, his gaze turned tender. “Are you sure? He’s unhinged.”
I amost sneered. This asshole wouldn’t know unhing if it but him in the ass. He had a boner for her, that was obvious, and it ate at my insides.
How did he know her? And could he please stop lokkingat her like that? I wanted to gouge his eyes out.
“I need to be alone with him.” She repeated forcefully. From the tense lines of her shoulder, I took it that she didn’t return the general’s interest in her. It filled me with so much relief that my shoulders sagged, dropping an inch.
The general shrugged, gave me a warning look, turned once to stare at Avery-who still hadn’t looked at me-before he left.
It was a few seconds after he left, that Avery finally turned to look at me. I was astonished to see tears in her eyes. There were tear tracks down her face to show that she had been crying for quite a while.
The tears almost moved me. I was already moving to stand up from the cot and go to her, but somehow, I managed to force my ass down.
She had abandoned me. Told me to stay away from her. I was only doing what she asked me to do. Besides, none of what has happening made sense. What was she doing here? What was her relationship with the general?
She came even closer to the bars, holding it with her hands and resting her head on it, tears still streaming down her face. Tears that were driving a knife into my heart.
“Cyrus, I’m sorry.” She sobbed.
Fuck. I couldn’t take it anymore.
I flew up from the bed and walked over to the bars to her. My hand was already stretched, wanting to touch her cheek, to apologize for making her cry. For making her hurt.
She should be the one apologizing for leaving me the way she had, for asking me to stay away from her just because of what I was, because she couldn’t accept me and I guess I shouldn’t blame her because it was all up to her anyway. If it wasn’t something she could do, then there was no forcing her to do it. I should respect her boundaries. Just because she was my mate didn’t mean that I could just have her without my consent.
But she looked heartbroken now. And I could not stop myself from reaching out to her. My hand was already a few inches from her cheek when I remembered.
My hand dropped. There were cameras in the cell.
She mistook my reaction for rejection because her face scrunched up and more tears flowed down her cheek.
“Baby…” She tried to touch me and I jumped back quickly.
It killed me to do it, killed me to reject her touch like that, but I had to. It also hurt that I couldn’t touch her. I hadn’t seen her in over a week and now that I was seeing her, I couldn’t touch her.
“There are cameras.” I said by way of explanation. I whispered the words so that in case the cameras had sound, they wouldn’t hear me.
She lifted her head to search for said cameras but I stopped her immediately.
“Don’t look.”
“Oh.” Wide, teary eyes turned to me and just as easily, I was lost in their brown depths.
Her eyes took in my face, before slowly moving down to look at every other part of me. Her eyes burned a trail down my body and I struggled not to move as she looked at me.
“What have they done to you?”
“Nothing I can’t deal with.”
Her eyes jumped to mine at my tone, and she nibbled on her bottom lip, looking unsure. “Cyrus…”
“What are you doing here?” I asked her. I didn’t know how long she was going to be here for, and with the look the general had thrown to me before leaving, it was obvious that he didn’t like that she was in here. He could come for her soon. “And how do you know the man you walked in here with?”