Sarantapente [ 45 ]

"Alpha Tristan won't like that, Luna."

I sighed and pursed my lips. "I know that. That's exactly why I told him to get some food. He doesn't have to know."

Matthijs stared at me cautiously and the rebuttal was on the tip of his tongue. "He'll know. And besides, the cells are quite far away. How would I take you there if you can barely move by yourself?"

"What about the sleds?"

He shook his head with a deep sigh. "Kara, this is a recipe for disaster. If you hurt yourself, I won't just have Alpha mad at me but your mother too. Surely you can wait another day to see Mindy."

"I can't." My voice was strained. "She has pissed me off since the very first day I met her. And now, she plays with me by getting into my mind and telling me my mate won't love her because of me." 

Matthijs still looked weary and I knew I had to say something to convince him.

"Put yourself in my shoes. Wouldn't you want to speak to her too?"

A conflicted expression crossed his face and he frowned. "Kara, the problem here isn't that you want to speak to her, it's that you just woke up today and it would be unwise of you to be near her right now."

My determination didn't waver. I took a deep breath before slowly climbing out of the bed. My legs trembled slightly but I stood as confidently as I could, ignoring the pain that gripped me. Matthijs stood with me after he pulled his jacket off. He reached out when I began to feel light-headed. 

"This is what I—" 

I swatted his hands away and gritted my teeth as I took my first step on my own. It felt weird to be moving but I powered through the discomfort. I didn't feel like myself and I wished with everything in me that the initiation fight didn't end the way it did. 

When I had woken up that morning, I expected to end the day with festivities and happiness—not blood and fatal wounds. 

I walked to the other corner of the room and I was oddly out of breath. I braced myself against the wall and Matthijs came behind me. 

"Kara, don't force yourself."

My forehead rested against the wall and I closed my eyes as a wave of emotion threatened to pull me under. I hated everything I felt and it was for the first time ever in my life that I wished I couldn't feel a damn thing, physically and emotionally. 

I was silent when Matthijs settled his hands on my shoulders, trying to guide me back to the bed. Stubbornly, I planted my feet in the ground and shook my head. 

"I'm tired of sitting down. I'm tired of laying down. I'm—" my chest felt like it was closing in on itself and I wouldn't let myself react in front of anyone. I forced myself to steady my breathing and ended up feeling slightly nauseous. 

Matthijs adamantly applied pressure on my shoulders, forcing me to sit down. 

"You need your mate, Kara."

I forced my eyes open and peered up at him. "What I need is to stop feeling so weak. I need to speak to Mindy."

His voice was sterner when he replied. Not in a challenging way but a fatherly way. "You know that's not a good idea. You'll only give her satisfaction if she sees you in pain like this. It's what she wanted, Kara."

My shoulders slumped and I turned my gaze to the door. Deciding to stay silent, I played with the drawstrings on my cotton trousers and didn't move when Matthijs sat beside me. He rubbed my back consolingly and sighed.

"I'm sorry, sweetheart." His tone was deeply apologetic and I could tell he felt bad. 

"It's okay, Matthijs." I leaned into him slightly and mustered up a glass smile, hoping he wouldn't be able to see right through me. "Could you get me some more fruit please? I'm still hungry."

He nodded and stood up. "Of course, I'll be right back."

As soon as he left the room, I stood up and scanned the space around me. I knew my clothes were ruined since I vaguely remember my shirt being cut off me when I was brought into the hospital. My shoes, however, were in a small plastic bag by the foot of my bed. 

I slipped them on and sighed when I realised the only jacket in the room was Matthijs'. He would definitely be alarmed if he saw it gone so I decided to forgo a jacket, slowly exiting my hospital room. The hall was quiet and I had to rely on my senses to guide me out of the hospital. 

The most likely reason why the hospital was so quiet was probably that not many people in the pack got hurt. 

When I stepped out into the cold, my eyes fell to the snow and I could see large paw prints imprinted into it. It was fading but I could tell they were Tristan's. I had studied him in wolf form enough. I forced myself to pick up the pace and walked backwards so it looked like I was walking towards the hospital rather than away. 

The fresh air helped with my nausea and I held a light hand to my abdomen as I took a quick break. It must have been ten minutes later when I came to a gate. The building looked run down and when I pushed at the gate, I shivered when it creaked. 

I knew exactly why it was considered to be the Tartarus on earth. It was dark and cold. It was silent as I travelled down the long winding stairs. I gripped onto the bannister tightly and my heart stopped when my gaze levelled with the Hounds. 

The scream was trapped in my throat and I swallowed it down as they stared at me. In the dark, they were terrifying. I took a deep breath and held out a hand. 

"Don't mind-link Tristan straight away, okay?" I continued when they remained unmoving. "As your Luna, I ask for a little time with her."

I knew they couldn't speak so I focused on opening a mind-link with them. I heard their collective voice seconds after. 

'This is no place for a Luna, especially without her Alpha. Horrible things have happened here, Luna…horrible things that are designed to make you insane.'

I spoke back in their minds. 'Insanity is inevitable if I don't speak to her now. Please.'

They felt my inner turmoil and there was a moment of silence before they stepped aside from the door, opening it for me. I forced myself to ignore the pain and acted as if I didn't feel a thing when I walked into the room. 

The Hounds turned the light on and that was when I saw her. Mindy was crawled against the edge of her cell, far from the vomit that was on the other side. She held a hand in front of her eyes, trying to adjust to the new light. 

When her gaze fell upon me, she stilled. She looked absolutely terrible. Dried blood coated her face and her nose looked oddly crooked that I could tell it had been broken and set back into place. Her neck was bruised all around and I knew she had managed to anger Tristan when I was unconscious. 

She brought out the beast in him and threatened to do the same to me. 

"W-what are you doing here?"

I stared at her, doing my best to control my anger at the sight of her. The one thing I wouldn't forget was the pure hatred on her face when she stabbed me. "You didn't expect me to live, did you?"

She hugged herself and the scowl climbed onto her face. "I should've gone for the jugular."

I wouldn't allow her to get to me. Pointing to her neck, I huffed out a mirthless laugh. "It looks like Tristan wanted to."

She growled lowly and forced herself to stand up. I knew she was still being fed since she hadn't touched her bowl of food but she seemed weaker than me. She came close to death more times than I did. 

"You ruined everything. He's never been violent with any of us. Not only did you rob me of the chance to be with him, but you also turned my own alpha against me."

I pitied her. "I could never rob you of something that was never yours, to begin with." I wanted to get under her skin. "You ruined everything, Mindy. You want what I have so bad that you tried to kill me. And now, Tristan wants to kill you."

She snarled and stepped closer to the bars. I instantly knew they were silver when she wouldn't touch them. "I'd be a better mate to him than you."

I crossed my arms. "I'm the one who bears his mark." The small smile pulled at my lips. "We're never going to be the same, no matter how hard you try to get what I have—what's always going to be mine."

She snapped. Her hands curled around the bars but she recoiled when they burned her palms. She screamed in anger and our gazes turned to the door when Tristan stepped into the room. 

Mindy was like a wounded animal. She instantly forced herself to the corner of her cell and she seemed to shrink as soon as Tristan glanced at her. I had never seen him murderously angry but the way her eyes were wide in fear told me that he was a force to be reckoned with. 

His arm wrapped around my waist and he gently pulled me to him. He knew I could barely hold myself up and I leaned into him as he pressed his lips to my temple. 

'We're going to talk later.'

"You have no right to be angry, Mindy." His gaze turned to her and it was like the room froze over as his crystal blue eyes glared daggers at her. "You need to understand that we were never going to be together. Mates complete each other and we're two puzzle pieces that were never going to fit together."

She set her jaw and her gaze dropped to his arm around my waist before settling back on his. She seemed heartbroken but most of all, defeated. "If you're going to kill me, just do it."

Tristan was chillingly silent. He studied her for a long moment and he exhaled a laugh through his nose. "I told you death is too easy. You betrayed me and most importantly the pack. Eighteen years without a Luna and when we finally have one again, you tried to take her away from all of us." The menace infiltrated his tone and I couldn't help but shiver. "One way or another, Mindy, you are going to pay for your crime."

Tristan didn't make promises loosely. The way Mindy began to tremble in fear told me she knew that too.