"I'm sick and tired of your games, Titan." I growl, attempting to cover up the panic bubbling in my chest.

"But we're only getting started, Alessandra. You see, games and tricks are my specialty, and you are the perfect audience."

"What do you want, Titan?"

"Oh, I want many things, but most of all," He says, and yanks upwards on the chain around Octavius' neck, hoisting him off the ground. "I want to see the look in your eyes when I kill everyone you love, right in front of you."

"You fucking bastard." Octavius' chokes out as he is dropped to the ground again. He is covered in bruises and gashes, and I can smell a hint of wolfsbane in the air. Poison, the perfect weapon for a snake.

"Watch your tongue, young man."

"Just let them go, Titan. I know what you really want is to finally kill me." Octavius hisses, snapping his jaws together.

"It's as if you don't know me at all, son. I don't just want to kill you. I want to kill the hope and love residing in your gorgeous mate's heart. Killing you is just a tactic."

He looks to his side, where Lacy is squirming against his hold, twisting and turning to get away from him. But he just grabs a bigger handful of her red hair, and she screams in pain.

"Let her go!" I scream, and I prepare to lunge forward, but a sharp prick hits my neck. I don't even have time to react before my bones turn to jello and I am face-down in the snow.

"What the hell-" I slur, my lips numb.

"Little Benjamin here just helped subdue you, my love. To keep you attentive during our little presentation."

I am hoisted up so I rest on my legs, which are bent underneath me. A large, tan hand grabs my chin, forcing me to look at Titan. I am completely paralyzed, emotionally and physically.

"Don't look so scared, Alessandra. I'm sure you've spent a fair share of your time on your knees."

Octavius growls again, and twists against the chain's hold, to no avail.

It's okay, Octavius. It's all going to be okay.

I mind-link him, gazing down at my love's form on the ground.

"Aw, how sweet." Titan slurs and I snap my gaze to him.

"How did you know-" I mumble.

"I have more powers than you can imagine, darling. And here I was, thinking you were intelligent."

I spit at his feet, and he grimaces.

"Benjamin."

A hand collides with the side of my head and I shout out in pain. Black spots begin to cloud my vision and I can hear Octavius' vicious howl of protest.

"Stop this!" I scream, my voice muffled by whatever was injected into me.

"It will all be over soon..." Titan's response fades away as my vision goes to black.

I am drowning.

I gasp awake to an ocean of water falling onto me, and I sputter and cough, trying to get the liquid out of my lungs. I shake my head, blinking until my vision is clear. I am in a dark and metal room, in a chair, with my hands, legs, and chest strapped down.

I begin to squirm against my restraints, when a piercing pain seeps through the restraints to my skin and I grimace. Silver.

"Ah, sleeping beauty has arisen." Titan laughs, his cackle echoing around the room. In front of me, is two swinging cages, the spaces between the bars covered with a thick material.

"Let's play a game." Titan grins, and strides towards me. He looms over me, and grabs me by the cheeks and forces my lips onto his. I scream and try to move away, turning my head to the side to get away from his rancid kiss. I hear a howl and growls from one of the hanging cages. Octavius.

"You have such lovely lips, Alessandra. Just like your mother's." I widen my eyes, and spit blood and saliva into his face. He wipes at it with disgust, and then strikes me across the face. Stars cover my vision.

"And apparently, you're also as disrespectful as her."

He traces a sharp fingered hand across my cheekbone, and I try to get away from his touch.

"Ready to play?" He slithers, his tongue licking over his disgusting lips. "As you can see, there are two cages above me. One holds your mate, and the other, the little girl you are so fond of. And you get to choose, dear. You get to choose the one who is skinned alive as you watch with unblinking and burning eyes."

I shake my head, and I can feel unwanted tears flowing down my cheeks.

"Just stop. Just kill me please." I beg, the desperation in my tone stabbing at my ears.

"Where's the fun in that?"

"Just stop! I'll do whatever you want, please!" A river of tears and sweat is making its way down my face, as I scream and plead.

"Don't worry, you will. But let's have a little party first hm? Where's the fun in life without a little risk and excitement? Now, choose."

I shake my head vigorously, slamming my eyes shut.

Wake up, wake up, wake up!

This is just a dream, this isn't real. This cannot be fucking real.

"If you refuse to choose, Alessandra, I will have no choice but to kill them both. I'm perfectly fine with either option. So, choose the one to die."

"It's not even me choosing, I don't even know who is in which box!" I scream.

"That's the twist, I will give you five seconds."

"One."

Octavius, please tell me this is a dream.

"Two."

Somebody wake me up, why aren't I waking up!?

"Three."

Alessandra, choose or they are both going to die.

"Two."

Left or right? Right or left? I'm losing my mind I'm losing my mind.

"On-"

"The left!" I scream, Titan's countdown like a ticking time bomb that I have to defuse by annihilating myself.

"Interesting choice, dear. Let's see who's behind door number one..."

Titan reaches up, and pulls down a rope sharply, and a large body drops with a enormous boom.

Octavius.

I begin to sob hysterically, fighting against the straps, burning holes into my skin and soul.

"WAKE UP! WAKE UP!" I scream out loud, my voice almost swallowed by Titan's cackle.

"Octavius and Alessandra, sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G. First comes the choice, and then comes the death. And then Alessandra's mind goes to rest." Titan sings, and I want to cover up my ears with a thousand pounds of bricks to escape his voice.

I hear a groan, and Benjamin and Tyler appear, hoisting Octavius into a chair across from me, tying the restraints around him twice.

Octavius shakes his head, coming to. He blinks quickly and then once his eyes land on me, he is fighting against his restraints, and I can see his skin burning under the silver.

"I'm so sorry!" I shout, tears flowing freely. "I love you, I'm so sorry."

"Aw, young love. How disgusting." Titan growls, and he comes between Octavius and I.

"Before I kill my son, I have a little torture for him first." He hisses, and he grabs me again, his lips covering the mark on my neck, and I scream in terror and disgust.

Octavius is shouting and growling and snapping his teeth, his skin turning red and white from fighting against his bonds.

"DON'T TOUCH HER!" He shouts, his entire face turning red with anger.

Titan lets me go, and I shudder against the harsh wood of my chair, trying to get as much distance as possible between this monster and me.

"What fun!" Titan chuckles darkly, and he turns back to Octavius. "You never could fight against me, boy. I'm here, loving your mate, and you just sit there like the disappointment you are. You are a pathetic excuse for an alpha, you are a disgrace to my name. I wish I would have drowned you when I had the chance. You are a mistake of nature."

"Shut up!" Octavius screams, and his eyes are blacker than a panther on a moonless night. "Shut the fuck up!"

Titan's hand slams against Octavius' face, leaving a bright red mark, but Octavius doesn't even flinch.

"Enough talk, let's begin my game."

Titan moves behind Octavius, wrapping an arm around his neck.

"Alessandra, which would you rather I break first: his arm, or his jaw?"

I just shake my head, hissing at the burning pain of the straps. They have almost burned completely through my shirt.

"Arm it is."

"Stop!"

But my scream comes too late, as a sickening crack echoes around the room, followed by Octavius' heart wrenching howl.

I know he will heal, since he is an alpha, but with a bone like an arm, it will be excruciating.

I shut my eyes, trying to take away the agony from watching the one I love suffer.

"Open your eyes, Alessandra, this is the real world. Reality is pain, burning, searing, gashing wounds. The world is cruel, child. I'm only fulfilling my role in the world's cruelty. Everyone ignores it! They think that the blood and tears will go away, but it won't! To survive, you have to embrace the monster inside of you, appreciate the evil in your heart, and then rip it out of your chest! Love is a mistake of human nature! It is a lie! Love only brings more suffering and loss. Love is the enemy, Alessandra. Not me. And I am going to steal your love right in front of you."

"You're insane, you're the devil on earth, you're a beast!" I scream, and my voice is broken, my heart is broken, my very being. Broken.

I've let Titan win.

He's broken me.

He has buried me alive in my own insanity.

And my mouth is filling with dirt and tears.

And my world is exploding into thousands of glassy sharps, which cut into my skin like the wind through your hair as you through yourself off a cliff.

Dear Goddess, help me, please.

"Goddess, luna, beauty in the sky

Help me, help me,

Before I die.

Save me, lift me,

From the blood

Which fills the streets,

A crimson flood.

Defend me, Avenge me,

In the face of the wicked one

End a war that has just begun."

I am singing at the top of my lungs, drowning out the horrors around me, filling corners with my voice, filling my heart with my mother's songs.

"Shut up!" Titan screams. I open my eyes, and his face is beat red, and a ghost of a tear fills his eye momentarily. "Shut up, SHUT UP!"

His screams are frantic, child-like, his form a flailing child in tantrum. His response shocks me, and I watch him with wide eyes.

"Stop singing her song!" He screams, raking his fingers through his hair.

"What-"

"Quiet!" He shouts, and lays a hand against his chest which is rising and falling like a tide in a storm.

"How the hell do you know my mother's song?" I whisper, my eyes squinting.

"She should never have been your mother!" He hisses, and I widen my eyes in shock. "She should never have been mated with Alvarez! She was supposed to be mine! MINE!" He's shouting, but his eyes dart around the room, crazed and wild.

"What the fuck are you talking about?" I snap.

"Nothing!" He starts, and he advances on me, and grabs my throat with his hands.

"I changed my mind." His eyes are glowing orange above me and I try to scream but my voice is being trapped in his tight fingers. "This is my choice now. To squeeze the life out of you with my bare hands."