Chapter 3

Still X-amount of time ago…

Dargan’s POV

I wasn’t even questioned.

I was taken straight to the torture chamber and tortured for days.

Or weeks…

Or months, I wasn’t even sure at this point. Passing out from blood loss, thirst or hunger tended to do that to a person. Pain was a constant companion of mine and the only way to tell time was by the muscles gradually disappearing off my body.

Hell, at this point I wasn’t even ashamed to admit that a sliver of fear crept down my spine every time the alpha or one of his guards walked into the room. The pain he inflicted was enough for me to wish for death. To curse myself for ever being so stupid and naïve to stick around to help a pack bitch.

Packs were nothing but hell!

And nothing really changed until one day when the alpha came in and had a man with him that I hadn’t seen there before.

“You don’t have to do this,” the alpha said gently, in a tone he’d never used while talking to me. Not that we talked much. It was mostly just him spewing profanities at me, telling me how useless and worthless I was, and then torturing the living shit out of me. And just to make sure I couldn’t tell the little fucker shit, he put a spiked gag in my mouth.

Talk about a mouthful of shit…

“Yes, I do,” the man gritted with determination, although he clearly didn’t want to be here. And ok, I might have been starting to go slightly insane from the pain and the torture and the fact that I had to do my business down my own fucking pants, but I somehow found it amusing.

Why would anyone think they’d get closure by watching their torturer suffer? It just made them the same!

Funny, how life sometimes turns you into what you hate the most…

Curious as to who graced me with their presence today, I forced my head up and met his gaze. He was a big guy, bigger than the alpha in fact. But the aura coming from him was that of a beta or gamma, I couldn’t pinpoint it without my wolf present. He has salt and pepper hair that didn’t at all match his intense blue eyes that were directed at me. He assessed me much in the same way I guessed frogs were being assessed by teenagers in a biology class.

He was disgusted and not really impressed by what he was seeing.

“Why?” he asked, his voice shaking from anger and unshed tears. When I didn’t instantly answer, the anger took over.

“Why?” he roared, taking a brave step towards me. “She was only 15!”

The dead girl’s father I supposed…

I wanted to answer, but--- yeah, there was a big ass gag in my mouth. I made a groaning sound and finally, it seemed to click that I couldn’t answer even if I wanted to.

Rolling his eyes – as if this somehow was MY fault and that it was a great inconvenience for him - the alpha finally pulled out the gag and I threw up a bool of blood. Despite my injuries, my wolf was still able to heal me, but not as fast. He was pissed about being in this fucking situation in the first place but given the chance, he’d do it again.

He wouldn’t have left that girl to die alone…

He was an alpha after all…

“I…,” I wheezed between dry lips and throbbing muscles. “I didn’t--- kill her---”

And that resulted in me being punched in the gut…

Whatever fluids had been in my stomach gushed out on the floor and left a familiar sour taste in my mouth. But I wasn’t really surprised to see that most of it were blood…

“Lier!” the alpha boomed in my face. “My son saw it all! He saw what you did to her.”

I couldn’t help the chuckle that escaped me. Perhaps it was the pain that made me finally snap. Or the lack of food, or the cold… Or hell, all of the above! But right at that moment, I didn’t care! My mind was deliciously numb and I didn’t give a shit about anything.

Not even my own life…

“Hate to break it to your, alpha,” I spat the last word, hating it just as much as I suddenly found the situation hilarious. “But your son is a lying piece of shi---!”

And he hit me!

And again…

And again…

And for some reason, laughter echoed off the walls. It took me a hot second to realize it was me laughing. Yeah, because it was fucking hilarious! Someone in the universe was fucking playing a big, fucking joke on me.

I’d tried to do the right thing and help my mother---

Accused of murder!

I didn’t want to leave behind a poor dying girl---

Accused of murder!

It was funny…

It was fucking hilarious…

Suddenly someone pulled the alpha away from me and I realized it was the man from before. I’d almost forgotten he was in the room. He stood there, with a panting alpha on his hands watching me in stunned shock as everything seemed to fall apart before him…

“Why aren’t you laughing?” I wheezed, panting for air, as the pain in my ribs and jaws made me forget why I should be scared. Or hell, just shut the fuck up…

“He’s lost his---” the alpha sneered, but I cut him off, not caring that I pissed him off again.

“It’s fucking hilarious,” I continued laughing throwing my head back and making the chains rattle, as I strained them. “And let me guess? He’s being treated like a hero, your son?” I smiled widely, as I looked the alpha dead in the eye. “For abandoning a pack member and leaving her to die at the hands of a deranged rogue?”

I didn’t give a shit anymore.

I didn’t care that I looked deranged at the moment.

I didn’t care much about anything at that moment.

The universe want to play a joke on me?

Fine!

I’d laugh…

“What a fucking hero!” I grinned. “What a fucking alpha!”

I threw my head back and laughed harder. Something connected with my temple and pain exploded in my head. Darkness finally closed in on me, but I welcomed it.

At least in the darkness, I didn’t feel pain…