Beloved

Chapter Thirty-Five

Kristen's POV

I felt stupid. I felt utterly dumb. My right leg was ripped apart and my body was thin and fragile. I had even been held against my will in a basement by Calvin and probably other people. And the only reason I knew all of this was because people had told me. 

"Alpha," rumbled through the guards, who were all scattered around the building. As I looked at the men and women, I caught eye contact with one of the guards. Her fiery eyes widened as our eyes met, but her gaze quickly fell to the ground again and she bowed her head. She mumbled something, but with her mouth hidden from my view, the word was completely inaudible.

"Have you had any problems or disturbance so far?" Emanual asked the guard who was situated in front of the main door. Their black hair was in a big, frizzy bun on top of their head and they were extremely broad. This person's whole persona screamed tenacious. I could see why this would be the leading guard.

"No problems, Alpha," A huge smile broke out on their face and I was almost shocked by the cheerfulness. They continued, "But I don't think it's safe to leave this place unprotected yet. They'll probably come as soon as we leave." Their voice was surprisingly full of joy and the guard's eyes glistened as they spoke.

"You must be Kristen," they extended their hand towards me and I shifted in Emanual's arms so I could shake their hand.

"Nice to meet you ...?" I hesitated at the end and hoped the guard would take the hint.

"Oh! I am Kahekili. Sorry, Alpha," I furrowed my brows at Kahekili's words. They looked directly at me when they said Alpha. Didn't they mean Emanual?

"Thank you for your help, Kahekili. It is highly appreciated and I'll make sure you and your guards will be free of work for a while after all of this." They beamed at us again before opening the iron door that led into the dark house.

Dust and muskiness floated out of the door, and tiny particles in the air showed themselves in the sunlight. Some cold light flickered on and revealed a gray room with doors against the walls. Different signs hung on each door, either screaming danger or forbidding access. Emanual stepped in and Sarah dropped the wheelchair, for me to be sat in.

The building was pretty much empty. Each time we turned a corner or walked through a door, it got more and more repetitive. Dark gray walls, buzzing, cold lights and a hint of mold; that's it.

"Do you recognize any of this?" Emanual asked me after about fifteen minutes of traveling further into this mystery house.

"Not at all," I answered. My voice was monotone.

I didn't know what to expect. And I didn't know what to remember. A fear of not remembering any of this ever had built up in my stomach, getting stronger every time we passed another door.

"I'm pretty sure this is the last one," Sarah said. She seemed hesitant to open the door, and her anxiety immediately spread to me. I swallowed a lump in my throat and pressed myself into the seat. Hands were clinging to the armrest.

A stank of blood hit us when she opened the door. I couldn't even imagine how strong it was for the other two. Sarah stuck her head out of the door and after five slow seconds, she walked through. When her silhouette was gone, the room opened up to me and Emanual. Weak wooden stairs lead down to a big open room with concrete walls. A humidity stuck to my skin, coming from the holes in the corners. I grabbed Emanuals arm as he lifted the entire chair from behind and looked between the steps of the staircase, estimating how long it would take for me to hit the stone floor if the stairs decided to give.

As we went through the rooms, memories appeared. Emanual stopped in a specific room, telling me that this place specifically smelled of me. The wooden door was familiar. I remember peeling splinter by splinter away from the door when I was still vaguely determined to get out. Calvin's face appeared in my mind and I shivered. As the familiar feeling of the room settled in me, my face fell.

"Wait."

"What?" Emanual jumped to my side, his eyes wide open. They were traveling over my face and I knew that he could correctly analyze every sign of emotion I had. 

"I think he mentioned my parents," I stopped to gather my thoughts.

"He said my dad was alive and had rented someplace..." The room became quiet again and I looked at the two people in front of me. My heart sunk as I saw them exchange looks. 

"What?" I breathed out. 

"Don't you think it's possible that he just lied, Kristen? You were tired and abused... it probably wasn't hard for him to manipulate you." His voice was soft as he spoke and one of his hands went up to caress the side of my neck. 

The sign of affection brought more of Calvin's words to my mind. I immediately shrugged off his touch as the memory came back. 

The only reason a guy like that would be into you is the mate bond. If he wasn't raised to only be with his true mate, he would have found someone else the second he saw you. 

Emanual didn't seem to notice and he stood up tall again. 

"Do you remember more?" I shook my head at him instantly, not wanting to interact with any of them anymore. We left the familiar room and travels further down the maze of hallways and blinking lights. 

• • •

"It smells like shit down here," Sarah moaned.

"We should probably get some cleaners down here later. It's a shame we don't use this building." Emanual said as if he spoke to himself.

"What was this even used for?" I asked him with a tiny voice. I didn't bother to twist my neck to see his face. I didn't want to. 

"It used to be a prison," he sighed, "but it's built for old-fashioned methods. We stopped using it generations ago." He explained.

"Seriously, guys, it's like something is wrong down here," Sarah's voice rung through a hallway. She had gone down one of the hallways and had now disappeared from sight in one of the rooms. Emanuel wheeled me down the hallway and I scrunched my nose at the foul smell.

Emanual sniffed the air after entering the room, and I scrunched my eyebrows at the weird sight.

"You're right." He said to Sarah and with a weird look on his face, he rolled my wheelchair to the corner of the room. Another glance was exchanged between the two wolves and I watched as Emanual slowly stalked towards the wall in the back of the room. I could see that his shoulders were tense and I continued to scrunch my face at his behavior. Was he always this... Animalistic? Feral? 

He was almost circling in front of the wall and with a sudden jolt, his arm went back and into the wall with inhuman speed. The crack of the wall wasn't what made my blood run cold. It wasn't the shaking of the room either. What made even Emanual stagger backward, was the bloodcurdling scream coming from the wall. 

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hey lovely people who still read this! sorry for always being so super slow, i just feel kinda stuck with this story. but i won't stop yet :') dont worry 

thank you all for reading this and please vote and comment if you liked it. I promise i'll try writing more often so you can get more chapters!!

- the sleepy student