You Rejected Me. Remember?
In Love With My Best Friend Chapter 27

Astrea

Three days. Three long days had passed since that night. After I passed out, they took me back to their lair and locked me up. This time, I found myself in a blocked room. There were no windows and no opening that would provide proper ventilation. Just tiny slots high up on the wall that barely let any daylight in.That was how I differentiated between day and night.

I soon learnt that I couldn’t reach anyone through the mindlink. It was as though the links were blocked. Anyway, I was glad that I had Ash to converse with, otherwise, I would have gone insane. However, the silver chains that bound me were slowly making her weak.

That’s right. When I woke up, my limbs were chained up in silver. Even the tiniest activity only made my situation worse. The silver cut through my skin, hence I made minimal movement because I needed Ash with me.

I rarely had any visitors. The only time I saw anyone was when they brought me food twice a day. Anyway, I was glad that Calvin never paid me a visit. I would rather be alone than spend time in his company.

“Ash? Are we seriously going to give up?” I asked.

“No. Of course not.”

“But we need to get out of these chains to be able to do anything,” I sighed.

“Our only chance is by tricking the rogue who brings us food,” she stated. She was right. I had to think of something.

After some time, I heard footsteps. Wondering if it was already time for them to bring me food, I glanced at the locked door, expectantly.

I didn’t feel hungry, however, I was looking forward to seeing that wolf again. I had to uncover a way to escape. He might even have a key… I just had to try something.

Alas, when I saw Calvin at the door, my heart sank and dread settled in my chest.

What was he doing? He never came to see me. Why would he pay a visit, if it wasn’t to cause havoc?

I kept glaring at him as he strolled inside, surrounded by his loyal men.

“Hi, little mate. How are you feeling today?” an annoying grin was plastered on his face. Rolling my eyes, I pursed my lips and looked away. I wanted to show how uninterested I was in him. Yet, he didn’t seem to be concerned about my lack of attention. He just chuckled and leaned towards me.

Annoying tingles erupted when he placed his finger under my chin and made me look at him.

“Feisty, aren’t we?”

I narrowed my eyes on him. He was the most despicable individual I have ever met.

“What kind of a companion chains his mate up in silver?” I sneered.

Although I didn’t believe him when he said that we were mates, I wanted to use it against him.

He stared right into my eyes, giving me the creeps. There was no emotion in them. His unfriendly countenance added to my discomfort. With each passing second, I felt my anxiety sky-rocket. The silence and his lack of response were quite unnerving.

The corners of his lips twitched a little after a while. “And what kind of a mate jumps off a window and tries to escape?”

I clenched my jaws. He wasn’t my mate! I wanted to scream and tear his pathetic head off his body, but the burning sensation on my wrists reminded me of the silver chains that bound me.

“You… I don’t believe that we are mates,” I hissed into his face.

His lips suddenly stretched into a smirk as he stepped back. His eyes twinkled as though he was amused by my opposition.

“You know what? I wasn’t interested in you before. But this… I am starting to like you. You are a fiery chick. Exactly my type,” he snickered, earning an eye roll from me.

“Well, I never liked criminals in the first place and now, I loathe you with every cell in my body!” Tears of anger gathered in my eyes as I screamed at him.

He laughed along with his crazy followers.

“Girl… don’t. Your anger will only fuel their amusement. Don’t react at all,” Ash weakly mumbled via our link. Panicking at how vulnerable she sounded, I hastily gulped down a breath and squeezed my eyes shut.

I must calm down. I had to. For my wolf’s sake.

I chose to ignore the laughter that resounded in the blocked room. I was at their mercy anyway. Silent tears rolled down my cheeks as I struggled to contain my fury. I hated him and everything related to him.

“Aww, don’t cry, my love,” he chuckled. “We just found it humorous. I mean, you are shackled up, but still, you choose to rebel. It is funny, don’t you think so?”

I pulled my lips into a thin line. I wanted to protest and retort against him, but Ash was right. My anger would fuel their joy in addition to tiring me out. When I didn’t respond, Calvin leaned forward and frowned. I didn’t like that the distance between us was so short. I needed him to leave me alone, forever. He grabbed my face and forced me to move my head so that he could inspect his ridiculous mark.

I held back my urge to resist, just for the sake of my wolf.

“That is bizarre. Why isn’t the mark healing?” He mumbled and stepped away. Glaring at him, I scoffed internally.

Because we weren’t mates, duh!

I wanted to say, yet didn’t. Instead, I decided to use the opportunity to interrogate them. I just might be able to catch an important piece of information.

“What do you want, anyway,” I asked. “And what ritual were you talking about the other night?” I added and pretended that I wasn’t aware of what he was talking about.

“You don’t remember?” He cócked a brow as I gave him the most innocent look I could muster.

“Well, I think you won’t forget that you were captured by a bunch of rogues some time back. They caught you and brought you to me. You wouldn’t remember that, because you were already oblivious,” he chuckled. “Seeing a beautiful young girl who wasn’t clothed was tempting, but we had better and more serious things to do.”

My heart thumped in my ribcage as I carefully listened to every word he said.

“It was a good thing you arrived at the right moment. We were worried that we wouldn’t be able to capture an unmated female in time. You see, the ritual had to be done on a full moon night. We had been trying every month and failing for six months. We were worried that our plans would fail if we couldn’t get our hands on an unmated she-wolf soon. If we didn’t catch you that night, we would have to go back, and try again next month. The ritual had to be completed before the night of the first b***d moon this year.”

His eyes studied my demeanour as he spoke. I tried my best to be poised and show that I wasn’t affected by his words. But the truth was, I was petrified. It was the first time I was hearing what they did to me when I was senseless that night. I was partly eager and at the same time anxious. I wanted to know what they did, yet, worried because I knew that the consequences of the events of that fateful night would be disastrous.

He chuckled and looked at the rogue wolves who posed as his guards.

“See how curious she seems to be?”

I felt like crying out. Of course, I was interested in learning what they did to me that night. I started to feel that my life depended on it.

Snickering under his breath, “do you want to know what happened?” He asked.

I wanted to resist since I didn’t like to show even the tiniest bit of submission. However, my curiosity was eating me alive. I nodded timidly, my gaze fixed on him.

“Our friend used my b***d to bind us. Ever since that day, we have been keeping an eye on you because we will need you on the night of the b***d moon. That was when our bond would ripen,” he explained.

I frowned. The b***d moon… could it be that I was the secret weapon they were talking about? Gulping, I faced him.

“We had gotten ourselves in a huge mess,” I told my wolf, who said nothing in response. I started to regret keeping that ordeal a secret. I should have confided in someone. Maybe Leo. He would have understood. I may have gotten scolded, but we could have braced ourselves for this.

“Any questions?” He asked.

Gulping, “wh… why me?” I inquired. My voice sounded softer than I wanted it to. However, realising that I was bound to this rascal by a forbidden force had shaken me up.

“Why? Because we had to get someone dear to the Queen. I wanted her to take this seriously. I was aware of her connection with the Dark Howl pack. If we could get someone from that pack, she would take me seriously, ” he shrugged his shoulders.

“Yup, we have fúcked up. So much for being a stubborn prick,” Ash mumbled. I was too perplexed to reply to her. Before I could say anything, Calvin sauntered over to me and knelt on the floor so that he could look right into my eyes.

“At first I didn’t have any interest in you. I wanted you as my secret weapon and then waste you. But now, I want you as my chosen mate. I like fiery women and you are extremely interesting to me,” his low toned whisper felt like poison to my ears. A cold shiver ran down my spine as the hair on the back of my neck rose.

When he leaned forward, I pressed my back against the wall. Nonetheless, he didn’t seem to care. He cupped my cheeks and started to tilt his head towards me.

Was he going to k**s me?

I squeezed my eyes shut and turned my head just in time. His lips landed on my cheek. He growled and forced me to face him. When he captured my lips in a brutal k**s, tears rolled down my cheeks. Sparks erupted where our skin contacted, but I found none of it pleasurable.

After he explained what happened that night, I knew what they were. We were bound by b***d using magic. That didn’t sound acceptable to me. I had seen Leo’s mom, Ava, and Amelia use magic in the pack. They never used b***d in their spells. What Calvin told me sounded forbidden.

Tears of resentment were streaming down my cheeks when he finally broke the k**s. I felt used. He was taking what didn’t belong to him one by one, but I was determined to annul all of that… somehow.

“You taste good,” he smirked, “mate.”

Holding back my sniffles, “and you leave a bad taste in my mouth, asshóle,” I sneered, my voice quivering as I trembled in fury.

“They will come for me. Just wait. They will come and you won’t stand a chance,” I stated. I needed to hear the reassurance. I was starting to feel desperate.

Shaking his head as though he was fascinated, he laughed.

“How? They would never replace this place. Do you want to know why?”

The way he stared at me made my chest constrict uncomfortably. I stared back at him. When I didn’t respond, he waved his hand as though it didn’t matter anymore.

“I’ll tell you anyway. Because this place is shielded using magic. Even if they came here, they wouldn’t see this place. To them, this place doesn’t exist. So you tell me, how would they replace you?” He chuckled.

A breath of despair escaped my lips. For the first time since I was captured by the rogues, I felt hopeless.

“Ash? Are you listening,” I called the only one I could reach at the moment. Perhaps that shield was the reason why I couldn’t reach anyone via mindlink.

“Yes,” she sounded weaker than before. My heart plummeted, as I feared for the safety of my wolf. If anything bad happened to her, I would be anguished. I would be losing a part of me.

“My wolf…” my lips moved unintentionally.

Clicking his tongue, Calvin stood up and walked towards one of his men.

“Is the silver draining your wolf, my dear?” He seemed to be mocking me.

I wanted to cry, but not in front of him. Silver wouldn’t hurt the lycans. He would never know the pain. I threw a spiteful glance at him. If only looks could kill…

I realised that he was taking something from the rogue. It looked like a little injection. My eyes widened. Not again!

“What do you want from me?” I started to panic.

“Nothing much, darling. And don’t worry. This won’t hurt you. It will make your wolf stronger. It will make you one of us. Then, when we defeat the Queen, I’ll be the king and you will be my Queen,” he mumbled out his answer.

I couldn’t believe my ears. “What?”

He snickered and prepared to inject me with the contents of the injection.

“Don’t worry, dear. This vial is perfectly generated in our laboratory. It is tested and proved. I think you shouldn’t resist. We all know resistance doesn’t prove to be healthy for you,” raising his eyebrows, he offered a smile that made me shudder.

Vial? Was that the vial the group of rogues we encountered in the woods talked about?

My heart was erratic. Whatever that vial was, I was not interested in getting it in my system. When Calvin gestured to a rogue, he came with a cotton swab dabbed in a colourless liquid and started to wipe the skin on my arm.

“No!” I struggled, but the silver chains forbade me from moving much.

“Ah, ah,” Calvin shook his head. “I told you not to resist.”

There wasn’t much I could do to avoid what was coming to pass. Calvin asked his men to hold me down while he injected the vial.

“This will help you and your wolf,” I heard him say, but his voice was muffled.

I felt the vial burn through my veins and my senses slowly depleted. What was going on? I wondered, panicking.

“Ash?” I wanted to hear from my wolf, although I was barely receptive.

Nothing. She wasn’t there.

I closed my eyes. The best thing I could do was mumble a silent prayer before darkness engulfed me.