Chapter 6

Melissa’s Pov

“Take her to the dungeon,” His order rang in my ears like steel bells with his unnerving gaze on me.

I moved away from his grip, scared out of my wits. There was no way I escaped a dungeon to end up in another one. Blue eyes that stared at me under the faint glow of the moonlight were no longer enticing and mysterious, having lost all of their allure to a coldness I couldn’t fathom.

“No, please. Don’t do this to me,” I pleaded, stepping backward with every word I said to gain distance from the men in front of me.

“Do you know where you are, spy?” He said the word with venom under his tongue. His word rang through the woods and sent birds fluttering into the night.

“I’m not a spy, I beg of you. If only you would let me pass and I’ll be on my way,” I continued with my pleas, but none of the men before me looked touched by my words as fangs reflected silver under the moon’s glow. Bloodthirst filled the air from their bodies and auras.

The man named Alpha Farell stood as his men surrounded me, fading into the darkness as they had done before, fangs pouring out of his lips.

“Run! Run……!” Lyra's voice screamed into my unconsciousness, knuckles popping as Lyra took over. Her white fur covered my body as we made to escape those men.

The sound of mocking laughter chased us from the darkness, with occasional swipes to the head that Lyra couldn’t take anymore. Tired from running, and devastated from the hits. She dropped to the ground, letting me take control as I regained my full body form.

“What was she thinking when she tried to outrun us?” A man said as they surrounded me. I saw it at that moment, the design of the nightshade plant embedded to the crest on their chest region.

I lay on the ground, gasping for breath as the hits had knocked every ounce of air from my lungs. I had taken my shot, thinking I could escape their grasp."

“She thought she could do as she pleased within this area,” another man said as he bent beside me, caressing my hair.

“That’s enough. Take her to the dungeon. We can’t have spies running through our lands last they own it,” the person they called Alpha Farrell said as he stood next to me like a shadow.

“Please don’t take me to anothe—” the words barely left my lips when I felt I saw the stars dancing around my eyes. The men standing in front of me blurred until they were nothing but shadows etched in the recess of my mind.

I woke up with a shout, scrambling to get on my feet, only to find myself bound once more in silver chains that rattled to my movements. 

“Is anybody here?” I screamed at the top of my voice, added with the rattling of the chains as I moved about. Everything seemed fuzzy, but my mind kept me in the dungeon I found myself.

I calmed down when I realized no one had come to see me. The silver handcuff burned any part of my skin they came into contact with. I took a deep breath, trying to piece the information in my head about the event that took place.

“You are awake,” Lyra said, her voice aching like she had been waiting for me to wake up.

“You are awake,” I repeated, as I didn’t hear her speak while I threw a tantrum. I sat on the floor to remember all the incidents. The cell I was in told me I wasn’t at Stormforest anymore, as it looked different and smelled different as well.

“I waited for you to calm down before I could speak to you,” she said as she stared inside me, her furs 

appearing around my body as she stretched. 

“What’s happening?” I asked after she finished with her stretch, but she locked me up in suspense before she answered.

“You are back in a dungeon. That’s one thing for sure.”

I gave a little growl at her answer, as I knew I was in a dungeon already. The information she gave was a bit obsolete at the moment.

“And it’s no other dungeon than the one that belongs to the nightshade clan,” she continued like she didn’t understand the state of affairs we found ourselves in. It was like falling from the frying pan to the flames.

Her words reminded me of the event that had happened the previous night. My escape from Stormforest with the help of the Luna’s beta and Alfredo's attack. A shiver spread through my body when I recalled what he wanted to do. His fangs, drawn out to bond us together for life. He only needed to bite me once, and it was over with.

“We are in Nightshade territory,” I said repeatedly as everything returned. The fuzz from last night with the shadows that chased after us while we ran away. The alluring blue-eyed man whose gaze felt like death itself: enticing death. “We’ve got to get out of here.”

“It looks like you’ve forgotten the thing placed around your wrist. If you have, I haven’t and it burns so bad that I’d like it if you stop moving around,”

Lyra scolded, her fur pouring out of my body from her irritation. “We escaped with only our life and the help from the maid. Why do you think we would escape on our own from a territory we know nothing about?”

I sat still to avoid adding fuel to the fire, taking deep breaths just as the sound of metal grating against each other reached my ears. Light flooded the hallway in front of me from the opened gate with a shadow walking steadily into the room.

The man stood in front of my cell, his gaze demeaning as he stared at me. Brown curly hair was on a smooth chiseled face with stubs of beards underneath his chin that spread from ear to ear. His body was covered with a dark cloak, and the nightshade was imprinted on a metal that held the cloak together.

“Frin, the spy is awake,” 

The man in front of me called to another guy, making jeering sounds at me. I remembered his face; he was the man who made me see stars before I found myself here.

“I’m not a spy. I don’t know why I’m placed in this dungeon right now,” I said as I moved towards the bars, the silver cuff burning my skin the more I struggled with it. 

He laughed over it as his partner came over, both men rubbing their claws against the metal bars. 

“You’ll know your crime very soon when our Alpha comes to meet you. Frin, inform the Alpha about the spy; she’s awake.”

I swallowed hard at that information, watching Fring disappear from the room. Those blue eyes flashed into my memories while they invoked fear from me, haunting even.

Frin appeared not long after; alone at first, but I could feel the aura that followed him as he stood by the gate before entering.

Both men lowered their heads as he walked in, his gaze on me, blue and uncalled for. His blonde hair danced to the slight draft that blew into the dungeon. 

“What do we do, Lyra?” I asked the wolf inside me, waiting for an answer I knew I would not receive, nor support from her side.

“Now, where were we?” 

His voice echoed through the cell, sending shivers down my skin that I dropped back on my butt.