Page 72 of Elas (Mate’s Mark #2)

Elas

Thud.

Awareness finds me, and the metallic tang of blood chokes me as I groan, but even that small noise is too much.

Too much.

It’s all too much, and I plead for the comfort of unconsciousness again.

How am I even alive?

Pressure hammers against my temples, again and again and again, until I’m sure I’ll explode with the tension.

It hurts… gods, it fucking hurts. I take a shuttering inhale, and the quiet rush of air threatens to shatter my skull, so I hold my breath instead…

decide I’d rather suffocate than let that torture shred me to pieces again.

Bone-deep pain radiates from my thigh, each beat of my heart sending another stabbing wave of agony through my destroyed leg.

Thud .

Darkness surrounds me. Pitch black emptiness. No light… there’s no light anywhere. There’s only total, complete, endless night.

I try to force my eyes open.

They won’t obey.

My world is only this obscurity… only this hole I’m trapped inside.

My head spins from the lack of oxygen, so I release my breath and fight through the pain that makes my body seize.

Everything is loud. The scratch of leather as I shift my leg is deafening, and my pulse claws at my sanity, but I can’t hear past it.

Thud.

Memories are cloudy, a clusterfuck of running and fighting and heart-stopping pain. Crusted blood coats my face, and as I slide my hand under my armor, the bullet wound on my shoulder is closed.

How much time has gone by?

My hands drag up my torso to find the collar secure on my neck, and my entire body shrieks as I try to move from my slumped position.

Another groan gurgles from my bloody throat as my shoulders slam against something hard.

The impact steals my breath. It throws my pulse into a pace my battered body can’t possibly maintain, thrashing in my chest so rapidly it feels like one continuous beat.

Nausea claws at my throat as I reach upwards.

Metal bars.

A cage.

Another fucking cage.

I try to open my eyes again, but panic closes my throat as I realize they’re already open.

Endless dark surrounds me .

Oppressive, impenetrable blackness.

Claustrophobia squeezes the air from my lungs as the cage presses in like a vise. My eyes fight the darkness, but only find the faint outline of bars mere feet in front of me. Beyond them is a field of nothing.

A low, gravelly voice rumbles, almost lost in the high-pitched ringing of my ears and the hammering dread of my pulse. I put all my effort into listening.

“Are you finally awake in there?” Khors asks as something slams against the bars again, vibrating in a shock against my skin.

Even though I know he’s close by and gloating, he sounds underwater and miles away.

I try to swallow, but my tongue is too thick for my mouth, swollen and sore.

“Never show others your weaknesses unless you want them used against you. Gods, I’ve never forgotten your screams.”

“August,” I rasp as I grope blindly around in the cramped, dark confines of the cage, trying to measure its size.

My shaking fingers reach between the bars, desperate to summon every exhausted ounce of strength to find the light again.

Meshed, rigid material meets my fingers and doesn’t budge as I try to fist it and yank myself from this nothingness.

A low whine builds in my throat as I shove my palm against it, fingers clawing and pushing in a fruitless attempt to remove it.

Agony lances every inch of my body as I move, but still, I search for a weakness I won’t find.

“Do you like that?” Khors taunts, and my ears twitch as he drags his hand along the shroud, tracking his position to my left.

“It was you that gave me the idea. A way to bring the darkness inside, without those bulky isolation chambers. It took the scientists years to design something strong enough for my liking… strong enough for you. ”

“August,” I repeat. My hands rebel against my logical brain and continue to fight against the wire-woven fabric, pushing and pulling and scratching despite knowing I won’t break through.

“Oh, don’t worry. He’s alive,” Khors says with a dark chuckle. “I should thank you, really. It’s a gift to have such a golden opportunity dropped into our laps, and we can’t afford to waste it. Do you know how many bonded mates we’ve been able to study, Elas?”

“Fuck you,” I growl, and my throat aches from the use. I desperately need water. My lips are cracked and painful, and my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth.

“All these years, and we’ve only ever had thirty.

It’s usually with the ones that come willingly, because they get to spend all that extra time together.

But we can’t separate them. Can’t study the…

” He trails off, a dark chuckle leaving his throat.

“…side effects of what happens while they’re apart. ”

“Fuck you,” I repeat, even though the words are like razors in my mouth.

“The mates in the cells don’t have a chance for these bonds to form. An unfortunate consequence of keeping them apart. Otherwise, we could tear them to pieces in front of each other… really study their bond in the face of danger.”

“ Fuck you !” My voice cracks as it raises. Metallic blood, hot and thick, gags me as it trickles down my throat, and I wonder how long it’s been since I’ve had anything to drink .

“Gods, I should just kill you so I don’t have to listen to this.

You never knew when to shut the fuck up.

” He clicks his tongue, snorting a hateful laugh.

“Don’t worry. I’ll keep you alive for now, Elas.

You’re far too valuable to waste. Think of all the data that lies in that mark on your palm.

Things we’ve never been able to test before…

how a mate reacts when his bonded partner is suffering. ”

“I will fucking kill you! ” I bellow, throwing my weight against the cage in a fit of rage. Blinding agony crashes through my body, but the enclosure doesn’t even budge.

“No, you won’t,” he responds coolly. “Not before I see if his pain kills you first.” Footsteps move away from my cage, and I scream, tearing apart my throat in my fury. I scream until my voice is gone and blood pours from between my cracked lips.

But as that scream dies, it’s quiet.

Silent.

There’s nothing to distract me from my thoughts. I close my eyes, pretending that I’m anywhere but here as the darkness slices against my skin.

Hours pass. Days, maybe.

There’s no light to be found.

A soul-deep cold makes my muscles twitch and shiver despite the oppressive heat inside this tiny cage. Grime coats my skin. The acrid stink of urine scorches my nostrils, leaching from where I’ve been forced to piss in the corner.

Reality is slippery, and my desperate mind creates delusions. August’s face smiles at me, and I force my broken brain to acknowledge he isn’t there.

He isn’t real.

He’s make believe. Imaginary. It’s my head playing tricks on me, sucking me back into a time when the world had light and color.

Hunger stabs at my gut. There’s been no food, and the minimal water I’ve been given doesn’t quench this undying thirst. It’s just enough to stave off death by dehydration. Footsteps enter the room, and like a fucking dog, I perk up, wondering if they might decide to feed me this time.

My entire cage is lifted and moved before it’s sat down once again, and I’m thrown backwards against the bars as wheels squeak beneath me.

“Where are we going?” I ask, but it’s nothing more than a rough, scratchy whisper that doesn’t leave the confines of my prison.

I’m wheeled through a few doorways, and whoever is moving me leaves without a word.

“You’ve not been behaving.” Khors’s voice is tinny and crackled, like it’s projecting through a speaker. “I told you, if you’ll just stop fighting, things will be a lot easier for you.”

“Where is Elas?” August asks, and my weakened heart kick starts back to life.

Part of me realized I’d know if anything happened to him.

The other part has spent my time in this cage consumed by the worst-case scenarios.

It’s pictured every terrible thing that could’ve unfolded while I sat here, helpless.

“He’s alive.”

“That isn’t good enough. I need to see him.” His voice is surprisingly strong, and a fraction of the weight pushing down on me lifts.

“That’s not going to happen, and if you continue causing problems, his situation will only get worse.” In the darkness, I can picture his hazel eyes pleading.

Gods, I miss him.

His smell, the sound of his laugh. I never took it for granted, but now I wish I’d spent every day we were together worshipping him. I should’ve told him with every breath just how much I love him.

“With a little cooperation, things could be better for both of you.”

“Let me see him,” August demands again, and Khors sighs.

Metal clanks through the speaker, not heavy and dense like my cage, but light and delicate. “What are you doing?” August asks, and I hear the fear in his voice. Grunts and shifting fabric are followed by something crashing to the floor.

“August!” I scream, and his yell overlaps mine. The sound of flesh hitting flesh is sharp and brutal, leaving my mind to create its own images of his forced submission.

“Hold still, human,” Khors taunts, “or it’ll just hurt worse.

” Panting, labored breaths puff through the speaker, quickly morphing into gasps of pain that deepen until he’s calling out.

Invisible restraints bind my ribcage and stomach as I push what little energy I have into thrashing against the cage, but I only hurt myself.

My head droops, my chin to my chest as August cries on the other end of that speaker.

So close, so fucking close, but so far out of reach.

His shouts get louder, more desperate, as tears well in my eyes.

Moisture I can’t afford to lose rains down my cheeks as the walls close in again and time ticks away, agonizingly slow.

August’s voice goes hoarse, his sobs strained and torturous when the instruments clank back onto their table. “Now, that wasn’t so bad, was it?” Khors asks, and I know the words are directed at me. “All that fuss over a little pain.”

“Fuck you,” August whispers, his voice shaking, and Khors chuckles.

“Ah, now you’re sounding like him.”

“Fuck you,” August repeats as the door opens.

“No,” I moan, reaching blindly towards his voice as I’m wheeled away, and my own sobs come out strained.

There are no more tears left in my body as I feel myself detach.

Numbness spreads through my limbs, down to my very fucking soul, as they place me on the ground again.

Their footsteps recede, and by the time they make it out the door, I’m so lost in my head, I’m not sure I’ll ever find my way out.