The Alpha and his Mate
Chapter 32

Annabelle’s POV

I had no idea how much time had passed since the stranger had given me the ultimatum. We were both starving by now and were in desperate need of a glass of water, but we unfortunately hadn’t been offered any, not that I was surprised. At the rate we were detreating I wasn’t sure how much longer we would survive in this place. Not only were we suffering from starvation and dehydration we were also having to deal with our injuries and the silver cuffs. Our wolves were working overtime to try and heal us as much as they could, but to do that they needed sustenance and they’d used that up long ago.

Xavier has tried to be as supportive and positive as he could, but I could tell he was also struggling, not only with the lack of food and water but also with his injuries. That last beating he took was a pretty harsh one and with the silver going into his system he wasn’t healing properly.

I couldn’t wait for Jax for much longer, if I wanted to save everyone I had to do what the scent double said, but how could I say the words that would forever rip me from Jax?

“Oh little Annabelle” I heard someone sing from the other side of the door and I immediately tensed up, knowing who it was and what they were here for.

The door suddenly swung open after it had been unlocked, hitting the wall with a thud as crumbs of brick fell to the floor at the impact. I shrunk back as the fluorescent light came flooding into our nearly pitch black cell, burning my eyes.

“It’s time to make your decision little Annabelle” the scent double smirked as he came and crouched in front of me. “What’s it to be, death for everyone you know and love or sever your ties with your precious little mate and save everyone?”

I stuttered as I looked up into his eyes. They were pure black with a ring of red around the pupil and they terrified me to my very core, I’ve never seen eyes like them.

“I-I Umm...” was all I could manage to get out as I sat frozen in my spot on the cold wet ground.

The man before me sighed before dropping his head slightly in exasperation. “Sebastian!” He suddenly shouted, making me jump out of my skin at the invasion of the silence I had grown so accustom to. “Guard the door” he demanded towards the bulky man that now stood behind him “me and little Annie here are going to go on a little field trip” he smirked.

I frowned, confused by his words. Where the hell could we be going?

The scent double pulled a pair of what looked like heavy duty gloves out of his pocket and slipped them over his hands as he reached over to the wall above me, pulling the chains that were connected to me out of the wall. Dust and debris flew everywhere and I covered my face with my arms as a little squeak escaped my lips.

Without warning he pulled me to my feet by the chains and started dragging me towards the door and past Sebastian. I took one last look behind me at a now passed-out Xavier before turning back and looking where I was going.

“Where are we going” I whispered, afraid to make noise in the almost silent stone corridor, my voice echoing as we continued to wherever we were heading to”.

The scent double chuckled but didn’t answer me as he continued to drag me down the hallway. I sighed when I realised he wasn’t going to answer and just focused on trying to not trip up on my own feet instead as I tried to keep up with him.

“What’s your name by the way?” I asked, if I was going to be killed by him I at least wanted to know his name. That way on my head stone it wouldn’t have to read ‘death by scent double’.

The scent double chuckled again but this time did answer me with a simple “Matthew”.

Hu, so the scent doubles name was Matthew, well at least now I didn’t have to keep calling him the scent double anymore.

Matthew carried on pulling me for a few more seconds before he suddenly stopped at a closed door and turned to face me with an evil glint in his eye. “I think it’s time for a grand family reunion, don’t you think so?” He chuckled.

I didn’t have time to think about what he’d said because before I could even blink I was thrown into a room, landing on my hands and knees with a thud as the skin split open.

“I thought it was time to finally come face to face with the two people who you’ve been longing to see since you were a little girl” Matthew said as he walked past me and proceeded to pull the hoods off of two figures that were tied up to chairs in front of me.

They were bound and gagged with bruises, cuts and dirt covering them, but even if I hadn’t recently seen them in a dream of mine I still would have recognised them anywhere... my parents.

I sat there, frozen on the floor for a second, as I took them both in. They both looked similar to how I had last seen them in my dream only this time they were even more beated and bruised than before. My mums golden blond hair was almost black with dried blood and grime as it stuck to her face and neck in large clumps around her head. Her eyes were both swollen and she had a split lip that looked like it stung every time she licked her lips to try and sooth the dry skin.

My dad wasn’t doing much better, although his hair was naturally much darker than my mum’s his too was ratty and covered in blood as sweat beaded across his forehead, making the roots look that much darker than the rest of it. It was obviously very rare for them to allow him to cut his hair or shave his beard off so half of his face was covered in brown dreadlocks as they constantly fell into his eyes. I couldn’t see much of his face but I could tell that his nose had been broken and he was sporting a sizable cut that ran from his temple all the way down to where his dimple used to sit.

I sat there as I stared at the state they were both in, I didn’t know how to react to it all as a few tears rolled down my cheeks. I quickly recovered though when I saw them try to turn their heads towards me and I quickly ran over to them, hoping I could help them in some way. I didn’t make it very far though as Matthew stood on the chains that were trailing behind me, making sure I couldn’t reach them. I hissed at the pain of the silver digging into my skin as they yanked me back but I ignored it as I looked over at my mum and dad.

They were facing away from each other and about a foot apart so as not to be touching but their heads were both turned in my direction, pain and desperation written clear as day in their facial expressions.

“Mummy” I whispered in desperation as tears leaked out of my eyes, “Daddy?”

“Aww...what a heart wrenching moment, all the family back together again” Matthew said in a sickly-sweet voice. He took the chains back into his hands before he dragged me to the other side of the room, away from my parents, and secured me to the wall.

Matthew then proceeded to circle around my parents a few times before looking up at me from across the room with an evil glint in his eyes, the red more pronounced then I had even seen it before.

“It would be a shame if someone were to... ruin the moment” he chuckled and before I could blink, he punched my dad square in the jaw, knocking his head back.

I screamed as I watched him do this over and over again, but it only seemed to spur him on. He alternated between my mum and my dad, torturing them in ways I could never unsee. My voice had gone horse from the amount of screaming I had done, and tears had drenched my cheeks and the neckline of my shirt.

“I’ll do anything... please just stop hurting them” I sobbed as my legs finally gave out on me and I crumbled to the floor, my arm still bound in front of me.

Matthew suddenly stopped and make his way over to me, blood covering his knuckles as he forced my chin up so I could look him in the eyes. I cringed at the sight of them so close to me but stopped myself, not wanting to anger him further.

“Reject your mate and announce me as your new chosen mate, then I will let them go” he growled, looking more feral than human.

It seemed I took a second to long in answering him because he stood up and turned around to face my parents. I was worried that he was going to go back to torturing them again before I could scream at him to stop he spun around and brought his closed fist down against my cheek, effectively splitting my lip open and bruising my cheek in the process. I let out a whimper at the pain but managed to keep most of it in, I had gone through much more pain than this at the Leftens and if I learnt anything from them it was they the abusers loved to hear their victims scream.

“O-Okay” I whispered as I collapsed back onto the ground, all the fight I had left in me now gone. “I’ll do it”.

I hope you enjoyed it!

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