Claire

I groaned as my head pulsed with pain. My whole body felt sore, weak and tired. I shifted a little and tried to open my eyes, but the bright light caused a searing pain through my skull. I sucked in a sharp breath at the feeling and coughed a little as the air stung my dry throat.

"Oh good. You're awake."

The unfamiliar voice jolted back my memory. The last thing I remember is being out looking for Bennett. I force my eyes open this time and an older man with dark eyes and an evil smile is hovering over me. I whimper in fear and try to pull away from him, but my hands are bound above my head. My head whips around to take in my sorroundings, I'm laying on a bed in a room brightly lit by the many windows. As my hands jostle, there is a stinging pain around my wrists. I hiss at the feeling and look back at the man who watches me with cruel excitement.

"Who are you?" I ask, my voice raspy from my dry throat.

"Pleasantries aren't necessary, sweetie. All you need to know is who my son is. Well, was." He says with bitterness coating his tongue.

I look at him confused and he sighs as if annoyed that I don't know who he's talking about.

"My son. His name was Damon." He says and my heart drops at his admission. My eyes go wide as I try to wrestle out of my binding. I furiously try to mind link my mates, but it's as if a block is up in my mind. The effort makes me feel weaker, makes my head hurt even more.

"What do you want with me?" I ask, terrified to hear the answer. The man's responding laughter only adds to my unease.

"Your mate killed my son. The only family I had left. So imagine my fury when I heard he himself was going to be a father. Why should Rowan get to go on with his life, have all of his aspirations come to fruition, when my son is decomposing in the ground? It's cruel, isn't it. Do you know what he did? Do you know what your mate did to my son?" He asks and I shake my head, because I honestly didn't. I only knew that Rowan had killed him.

"He skinned him. He skinned my boy alive then hung his skin like a fucking flag outside of the council headquarters." He spits in fury. I feel my stomach recoil at the thought of Rowan doing something so horrific.

"I... I didn't know. I asked Rowan not to. I'm sorry he did that." I answer quietly and the man just scoffs.

"Don't worry. Revenge will be sweeter than your apologies." He answers before standing and walking across the room. I try to shimmy out of my handcuffs again, but they don't budge.

"Why do I feel so weak?" I ask quietly.

"Because I injected you with gold." He says, his voice devoid of emotion.

"Why would that matter? I'm not a dragon." I say and the man looks at me confused before his boisterous laughter fills the air.

"Your mates really didn't tell you?" He asks incredulously, but I just stare at him.

"When they marked you, they gave you some of their strengths, but they also gave you their weaknesses. Gold and silver both in your case, since you're marked by both a wolf and a dragon. The gold in your system makes you weak and unable to mind link. The silver cuffs were an added precaution, since I didn't know how it would effect you." He smirks as he watches me try to jostle myself free.

He turns to grab something from a drawer, then stalks back towards me. My eyes widen in horror when I see the glinting tip of a dagger. I try to pull away from him, but my struggling only seems to make him enjoy this more.

"When I stalked by your house today, I was only going to watch, as I have been for the last week. But the opportunity was so perfect, I had to take it. There you were, all alone in the trees, screaming like a banshee just broadcasting your location to anyone who was in earshot. Luckily your wolf mate was far away enough that he couldn't hear you. It's like fate, sweetie. The universe was telling me to take revenge. To make your mate suffer the way that I have suffered." He says, moving the dagger so it catches the sun's rays. The light makes me squint and I can't help but let out a pathetic sob.

My body begins to tremble with fear, but I try to subdue it and think up a plan.

"Rowan will kill you. You know that, right?" I say quietly. The man laughs again and shrugs.

"He won't have the chance. I will do that myself. I have no interest in living an eternity devoid of my mate and my son. He never got to find his mate, you know. He never got to experience the love, devotion, the all consuming joy. He never got to have pups of his own. To watch them grow, mature, shift. And yet Rowan gets two mates. Three if you count the last human. He was so fucking selfish. He killed his own mate, the fucking barbarian. Such a thing is an atrocity. I suggested we kill him after he did that, but the council didn't care because she was human. I don't know what makes you different, special. But he had no right to torture my son like that. To murder him." He spits in fury.

He walks up to the side of the bed and I cower away from him, pathetic whimpers leaving my mouth despite how hard I try to prevent them. I want to be strong, to fight back, but I feel so weak that I can barely move. I know I'm no match for a full grown wolf, all I can do is hope that my mates arrive in time to save me and our baby.

"Don't you want to know what I'm going to do to you?" The man asks with a sinister smile.

I can't help but scoff.

"Honestly? No. I really don't. Unless it's let me go." I say bitterly and he huffs out a laugh.

"I heard you were a saucy one." He says, dragging the blade down my cheek, nicking it a little with the tip. I bite my bottom lip to keep from crying out at the sizzling pain as I feel the trickle of warm blood down my face.

"Silver dagger. Hurts like a bitch, doesn't it?" He asks, amusement clear on his face as he wipes the blade on his pants, smearing my blood across them.

"So, here's my plan. I'm going to cut that baby out of you and send it to Rowan as a little gift." He says maniacally, his eyes shining bright with his lunacy.

"NO!" I shout as tears begin to gather in my eyes. "Please don't! My baby is innocent. He did nothing to you." I beg and the man shakes his head.

"That thing will grow up to be just like his father. Cruel and cold." He spits at me and my body wracks with sobs.

"But don't worry. You won't need to mourn the loss for long. You'll be dead shortly after your baby." He says, the humor back on his face. I try to squirm some more, but I'm so weak I can barely move an inch. He watches me with pleasure before walking towards me. I scream at him and try to kick him away, but he only chuckles.

"I think we'll take off these cuffs. It'll be fun to watch you try and fight." He says, unlocking the cuffs around my wrist. I watch as they fall to the ground, the metal clanging on the floor, the sound reverberating off the walls along with his cruel laughter.