Twenty-Nine

Amira has no sense of time at this point, but she assumes at least a day has passed since she has gone missing and wonders if she is close enough for Calix to even sense her. There have been times when she believes she feels his presence slightly but isn't sure if she is giving herself false hope that he will come and rescue her soon.

"Still alive in here?" Evander calls out before entering the room. "The time has come, my dear sister."

"Don't call me that, it's weird, and what are you talking about?"

"Does it bother you to think about being related to the likes of me?"

"Do you have to ask? Of course, it does." She sneers.

His face darkens and he pulls out a knife, instantly making her regret her choice of words.

"It's time for the Alpha Challenge, a one-on-one duel to the death. I'll need you front and center to lead your mate to his death and give him a front-row seat to your own. I'm looking forward to quite the performance tonight, so you better not disappoint, sister."

Amira shudders, her blood running cold.

"Someone will be here for you soon to ensure you don't miss the grand finale. Until then, I want to give Calix a reminder of what he is dying for tonight," Evander says, then stabs the knife into her thigh.

Amira lets out a bloodcurdling scream, the pain so intense her eyes roll back into her head, and she passes out instantly.

What feels like seconds after, she can sense someone quickly wrapping something around her leg before faint whispers reach her ears, dull but clear right next to her.

"She's already lost a lot of blood again, how much does this chick have?" She faintly hears the gruff voice of one person.

"Shut up and bandage, we have to get her out of here before someone comes back." This voice she recognizes right away.

"Isaac?" she mutters.

He gasps. "Amira! Are you okay?" He clutches her shoulders and helps her to sit up. She winces when she moves her leg and the pain shoots up.

"Try not to move too much, he missed any vital spots but you have lost a lot of blood and the cut is pretty deep," Malachi says, helping Isaac to stabilize her.

"How did you guys find me?"

Isaac just grins and points behind him. Amira turns to see half the wall has been punched through, rubble lying all over the room. From the large whole, pack members from both the Greybane and it looks like the Highmoon Pack are waiting.

"We don't have time to waste, let's go. We can try and leave out the same way we came, you guys can ride on my back," Malachi says.

Before they have the chance to lift her off the hospital bed after breaking her restraints, the door is kicked open and a petite brunette walks in.

"Oops, a little too late it seems," she says with a grin that rivals Evander's.

Behind her several large guys pour into the room and rush them, taking out studded clubs, knives and an assortment of other weapons while others choose to shift instantly and attack. The room erupted into a full-blown battlefield in the tiny, confined space. Malachi is instantly pulled away by an attacker, leaving Isaac to fend for himself as he tries to lift Amira off the bed and toward the hole in the wall.

He is almost there when someone knocks him over the head from behind, causing him to drop Amira. She hurriedly tries to rush away from underneath Isaac and help him up, but he pushes her away and turns to defend himself.

"Get out of here! Go through the tunnel, it's the subway system we found. Just keep going, we'll catch up," he cries out to her.

Amira looks around the room and sees that everyone is preoccupied fighting for their lives, she is the only one left vulnerable on the floor, unable to do anything. She will become an obstacle in the way and nods firmly to Isaac before crawling toward the hole. She gets through the tunnel entrance and tries to hurry her pace, but the rocks are sharp and painful under her hands.

She lets out a cry when her hair is yanked from behind and turns to see the girl from earlier, her blue eyes wild and crazed as she grins down at her.

"We can't have you running off before you complete your mission, can we? You're the grand prize for tonight, we need to have you there." The girl yanks her back toward the room, dragging her across the floor as she screams out.

"Leave them all alive! Bring them to the Highmoon territory and let them watch the fall of their beloved Alpha!"

The room responds with roars and growls as the brutal fighting continues. Isaac hears the shouts of Amira and tries calling out to her but is dragged back by his attacker and hit over the head, knocking him out. Malachi is too busy fending off two others to notice that Amira has been captured again, it is too late before she is knocked out again and dragged through the door.

~*~

This time when she wakes up, she isn't lying down but is hovering. She opens her eyes to see she is hanging above the ground, looking above her to see she is tied to wooden beams in the ceiling of an old barn, from the looks out the window in front of her, she is on the top floor.

"You're finally awake," she hears the girl speak behind her.

"Who the hell are you?" Amira asks.

The girl laughs. "Why do you think that's important? You're going to die soon; it doesn't matter who I am. Just watch the show and wait until you're needed."

"What show?"

"Oh," she says and holds up a finger, disappearing behind Amira again. "Hold on a second."

Amira suddenly starts moving to the window, looking above to see she isn't tied to the ceiling, but some large square structure on wheels.

"What the fuck am I, a sacrificial lamb?" she cries out.

"That's funny, Evander said you are pretty entertaining, he wasn't wrong."

She stops the contraption just in front of the large window.

"Now, watch over there." She points straight ahead of Amira. Through the small opening in the trees, she can see a gathering of people, and in between all of them are two single people standing against each other.

Calix! 

As if hearing her silent thoughts, his head turns in her direction and she hears her name faintly called back, but not out loud.

Amira! She hears it through her mind as if it's a thought pushing through the back of her head. She watches as Evander tackles him from behind and looks like he takes a large bite out of his neck before Calix shakes him off but collapses again.

"No, get up, Calix!" she screams.

"No use screaming, he is going to die if he believes in the hope of at least saving you."

"What are you going to do?"

The girl rolls her eyes. "Useless questions, your job here is almost done, now hush."

Amira continues watching in vain as Evander approaches him again, this time leaning down toward him but not attacking. He quickly shifts back, Amira not even looking away as he reveals himself to everyone standing there, and says something to Calix that she cannot hear.

It seems they both look in her direction before continuing to talk, Calix finally nodding in the end. He makes no move to get up as Evander rises and stands above him, looking one last time in Amira's direction, silently letting her know the end she has feared has come.

She feels the girl cut the ropes and free her, only to grab her by the neck again and drag her out the window on top of the roof.

"No, please! Leave him alone!" She continues to cry out but it is no use. The girl takes out a knife and raises it to her neck, but something inward feels like it is building and about to break out.

Amira continues to struggle against the girl, kicking and screaming with all her might until her vision turns white. She has no idea what happens next but feels the change in her body and the pain ripping through her, feeling as if someone has set her bones on fire.

She faintly hears a feminine scream before she falls from the roof, landing hard in the mud and hears a howl of agony. It is as if she is having an out-of-body experience while still trapped inside, having no control over her limbs, voice or vision.

What the hell is happening to me?!