Chapter 104: THAT WAS THE ONLY THING THAT MATTERED.

Chapter 105

Ren

My hands were shaking, but I kept them buried in my coat pockets so no one in that room could see it.

The silence inside the warehouse felt like a heavy weight pressing against my chest.

Every tick of the clock, every drop of rain hitting the tin roof, felt like a countdown to something terrible happening miles away at my home.

Lumi’s father took a step back, satisfied with the look of utter helplessness on my face. He rubbed his hands together, his yellowed teeth flashing in the dim amber light of the single bulb overhead.

"Look at you," he whispered, his raspy voice full of bitter joy. "The big, bad Alpha. The man everyone in this town trembles before. Look how small you look when you have nothing to fight with."

I didn’t answer him. I couldn’t afford to open my mouth. If I spoke, the wild rage clawing at my throat would leak out, and if the men behind me heard even a hint of a threat in my voice, they might give Callum the signal to end it all.

"Put your hands on your head, Ren," the old man commanded, his posture swelling with newfound power. "Slowly."

I swallowed hard, forcing my body to obey. I brought my hands out of my pockets and raised them, lacing my fingers behind my skull.

The three mercenaries behind me moved in closer, the hard steel barrels of their rifles pressing lightly against the small of my back and the base of my neck. The stench of silver off their weapons was so strong it made my skin itch, but I didn’t flinch.

"Search him," the old man ordered the men. "Take his keys, his phone, any weapons he has."

One of the rogues stepped up, his rough, dirty hands patting down my chest, my waist, and my legs.

He ripped my phone out of my jacket pocket and tossed it onto the desk next to the silver box. Then he found the silver-bladed hunting knife tucked into my boot and tossed that aside too.

"He’s clear, boss," the rogue growled.

Lumi’s father picked up my phone, looked at the screen, and threw it onto the floor, bringing his heavy boot down directly onto the glass. It shattered with a sharp crunch, killing the light instantly.

"No tracking devices, no calls to your friends," he said, kicking the broken pieces into the corner.

"You sit tight right here until Callum gives us the green light. Once he has the land deeds and the money transferred out of Lumi’s accounts, we decide what to do with you."

My heart pounded like a trapped drum against my ribs. I kept my gaze fixed on the floor, my brain racing through every possible scenario.

The old man didn’t waste another second talking. He stepped back toward the door as two of the heavy rogues grabbed my arms from behind, slamming me down onto my knees against the cold, filthy floorboards.

I tried to summon my wolf, trying to force the power up from my chest to throw them off me, but a sudden, burning pain shot through my veins.

One of the men shoved a cold glass syringe straight into the side of my neck, plunging a dark, chemical liquid into my bloodstream.

It hit my heart instantly. My vision blurred, and a heavy, suffocating numbness spread through my limbs.

My wolf let out a weak, dying howl inside my mind before going completely silent. The pack link in my head snapped like a cut wire.

I couldn’t reach Darren. I couldn’t reach Julian. I couldn’t feel a single member of my pack. Whatever they had injected into me was a heavy wolf-suppressant, completely cutting me off from my power.

"Wrap him up," Lumi’s father ordered from the doorway, his voice cold and devoid of any mercy. "Make sure he doesn’t move."

They dragged a thick, heavy iron chain around my torso, wrapping it tightly around my chest and pinning both of my arms firmly behind my back.

They looped the cold metal through a thick iron pipe bolted deep into the floorboards, securing it tightly with a heavy padlock.

Lumi’s father looked down at me one last time, a sickening smile on his face. "Enjoy the darkness, Alpha. By the time anyone finds you here, Callum will have everything, and your little mate will be long gone."

They turned on their heels, stepped out into the hallway, and slammed the heavy iron door shut. The lock clicked into place, leaving me in total, pitch-black silence.

Outside, I heard the faint sound of boots hurrying down the alley, followed by the roar of an engine fading away into the rain. Lumi’s father was gone. He was heading straight for my house, heading straight for Lumi.

I sat in the dark, my chest heaving, cold sweat pouring down my face. I pulled against the chain with all my strength, but without my wolf, my human muscles were completely useless against the thick iron. The suppressant made me feel weak, sick, and dizzy.

I looked down at my hands pinned behind my back against the cold links of the chain.

Both of my wrists were far too wide to slide through the narrow iron loops. There was no key. There was no tool in sight.

I knew the answer. I knew what I had to do.

Lumi and my sister’s lives were worth far more than a few broken bones.

I braced my forearms against the cold concrete floor, set my left wrist tight against the iron ring, and twisted it inward with every ounce of force left in my body.

A sharp, horrifying crack echoed through the pitch-black room.

Pain...pure, blinding agony...exploded up my left arm and shot straight into my brain.

Tears sprang to my eyes, and a breathless scream caught in my throat. I bit down on my lower lip so hard the taste of blood filled my mouth, forcing myself not to make a sound.

Do it for Lumi, I told myself, my teeth grinding together as heat flared through my nerves. Feel this pain. You need to feel this to save them.

I gritted my teeth, ignored the intense nausea washing over me, and immediately set my right wrist against the second link. I slammed my weight down and twisted it violently in the opposite direction.

CRACK.

The second bone snapped. The agony was so intense my vision went completely white, and my stomach turned over.

I panted heavily through my nose, my heart hammering like a wild animal against my ribs, but I refused to stop.

I squeezed both of my limp, shattered hands together, ignoring the sensation of skin tearing and raw bone scraping against metal, and dragged them both through the tight iron loops.

With one final, agonizing pull, both of my hands slipped completely free.

I collapsed forward onto the dust, gasping for air, cradling both of my ruined wrists against my chest.

Violent tremors ran through my entire body as I sat there in the dark, taking deep, shuddering breaths, waiting for the worst of the dizziness to pass.

I couldn’t afford to pass out. I couldn’t afford to be weak. Every second I wasted sitting here was a second closer to Callum hurting Lumi and Neve.

I pulled myself up onto my feet. Both of my hands were hanging completely useless at my sides, throbbing with a sickening heat.

Without no wrists, I couldn’t use a gun, and I couldn’t punch with my fists. I had to use my legs. I had to be smart and dead silent.

I dragged my boots hard across the dusty floor, intentionally making a loud, heavy scraping sound against the wood.

Then I stepped silently to the side of the door, pressing my back against the damp wall, holding my breath.

Outside in the hallway, footsteps paused.

"What was that?" a voice muttered. "Check on him. Make sure he isn’t causing any drama because he’s going to rot there."

The heavy iron door unlocked with a loud click and swung open slowly. A single rogue stepped into the dark room, holding a flashlight in one hand and a knife in the other.

Before he could even shine the light toward the corner, I lashed out with my left leg.

I wrapped my calf around the back of his neck and hooked my foot behind his ankle, using his own forward momentum to snap his head violently downward while driving my knee straight into his throat.

There was a muffled crunch. He collapsed to the floor without ever making a sound, his flashlight rolling uselessly into the dust.

I didn’t pause. I moved back into the shadow right beside the open doorframe.

"Hey, what’s taking so long?" a second man called out from the hallway, his heavy boots thudding against the floorboards as he walked toward the open room.

The moment his head cleared the doorway, I lunged. Unable to use my hands, I leaped forward and drove my knee directly into his chest, slamming him backward into the doorframe.

As he stumbled, I brought the back of my heel down in a vicious kick right against his temple. His eyes rolled back, and he hit the floor like a sack of stones.

Every sudden movement sent agonizing bolts of fire up both of my ruined arms, but I locked my jaw and pushed the pain deep down inside.

Every time the pains threatened to make me drop to my knees, I pictured Lumi’s face. I pictured Neve standing in front of her, trying to shield her. I needed to save them. That was the only thing that mattered.