Page 1 of Dark Goodbye

CHAPTER 1

Ladria

Plink. Plink. Plink. The sound bounces off the small walls enclosing me, never stopping. Plink. Plink. Plink. Looking around, I glance at all the nooks and crannies, desperate to find where it’s coming from, but like every other day, nothing is visible.

A heavy sigh pulls from my lips as I force myself to stand up, kicking yesterday’s food to the side. Already maggots squirm about, threatening the few contents of my stomach. Turning, I hold my hand to my lips and gag. Bile rises, choking me, but nothing comes up any further.

I don’t even want to know what that smell combination will do. Already, the fetid stench of dampness and mold fills the confines, setting my head to throbbing, not at all aided by the infernal sound. Plink. Plink. Plink. Even as I sleep at night, it invades my dreams, what few I have.

It’s a cacophony of madness with no end in sight. There aren’t even any windows to tell me what time of day it is. The only way I have any semblance of a routine is based off of the guards and when they switch up, but even that doesn’t tell me if it’s day or night.

Walking over to the wall, I slide my fingers down the rough surface, touching the marks I’ve gouged out. There are far too many. Counting them in my head, I sink to the floor and curl into a ball. It’s been almost a month since I’ve been tossed in here, alone with nothing but my thoughts and the infernal sound.

Plink. Plink. Plink. Has it always been with me? It’s hard to think back to when I first arrived. It felt like ages ago though the scratches tell a much different story. Everything is blurred in my mind, a jumbled mess that I have no hope of sorting out.

Tears slide down my cheeks as I stare at the lines. They merge into one blurry blob until I can no longer differentiate which is which. Wrapping my arms about my shoulders, I rock back and forth, self-soothing in the only way I know how. If only I hadn’t listened to Alexi. If only I had done the right thing and told Alpha Altris what she was planning.

But no.

I wanted to be included, to not be exiled from my friendship. And where did that get me? Alone in a cell with no one to talk to except the jeering soldiers that keep watch. Their merciless taunts echo about in the empty cell, the only thing to keep me company as I force myself to sleep.

“Looks like you’re having maggots for dinner again, ay?”

My spine stiffens as the familiar voice taunts me. “What is it you want?” My voice is garbled, wet with my tears.

“You don’t get to talk to me like that,” the man seethes. “I’m a Guardian Alpha. You’ll be treating me with respect.”

“Respect.” I spit the word out of my mouth like the vile acid I long to regurgitate. “It’s laughable that you, a pig-headed buffoon, have the audacity to talk to me about respect.” My voice still wavers, threatening to reveal the false bravado I so desperately try to put on.

I long to hurl threats, harsher insults, but I hold back, not wishing to get into any more trouble. It’s bad enough I allowed myself that moment of weakness, to say anything to the man at all. Normally I’m able to let things go, but for some reason, I reached my endpoint, and unleashed a fraction of the hopeless rage that bubbles inside.

The squeak of the door is ominous, threatening even, as he shoves it open. Soon, the heavy tread of his shoes is cut off by a loud clatter and squish. My body seizes at the loud sound, my pulse racing so fast my vision blackens for a second. My maggots. I guess I won’t be eating them for dinner after all.

A ghost of a smile hovers on my lips at the idea of this behemoth of a man becoming even more enraged for ruining my supposed punishment. Did he really not know that the medical staff that seems to work down here brings me fresh food daily? He would have to forcibly shove it down my throat for that to be my dinner.

Large, meaty hands wrap around my shoulders, pulling me up to a standing position. The sudden change in altitude, along with my minuscule eating habits, converge in my stomach, flipping it about until I can no longer hold in the contents.

Turning me in his grasp, the man has no idea how very close to danger he is, but he insists on shaking me, tossing me about like a rag doll as he screams in my face. Unable to hold back any longer, my mouth opens, pouring out the meager contents of my stomach until it coats his face.

Outrage vibrates through the air, souring the dank scent even further with the acrid stench of his fury. A roar rips from his throat, setting my body to trembling. I have no means to protect myself, no way of keeping safe if he decides to take his anger out on me.

“I-I’m sorry. I-.” He tosses me to the side like some worthless thing, as if my very being isn’t enough. I’m not enough.

Agony explodes through my skull as my body slams into the wall. I lay there, broken, crumpled, without enough energy to even cry. My body throbs with each beat of my heart; ironically, it syncs up with the water that continues to drip somewhere unseen.

Plink-pound. Plink-pound. Plink-pound.

My eyes drift shut as sweet release drifts over me, easing the pain from my body for these precious moments of unconsciousness. I can hear frantic movement, detect the small eddies of air as it swirls over me, but it’s all ethereal, otherworldly, as if none of this actually exists.

Fuck Alphas. This is why I ran. This is why I chose to live a simple life in the desert as opposed to being a broodmare for the elites. None of them valued life, least of all, a life like mine. Once more, thick hands wrap around me, and I whimper as they tug at me, moving me.

I don’t want to move. I want to lie here, to be nothing, to just exist until my life is finally over. Unwilling to open my eyes, I force my other senses to assess for me. The hands aren’t like the guards. They feel kinder somehow, if that’s even possible. This new man even smells different — masculine and clinical at the same time. More than likely, he’s one of the doctors that roam the halls.

It’s not a scent I recognize enough to put with a name, so he’s certainly not one of the various workers that bring me my meals. Though I’ve smelled him before, we’ve never interacted. What does he want with me now? No doubt the guard has harmed me in some way, and that’s why the doctor is pulling me up.

But what’s the use of fixing something that you’re just going to toss aside later? Why not let me lie here in peace, taking my last breaths alone as I have been for so many weeks? Unless that’s my true punishment. Keep me well enough to suffer and not seek the sweet release of death.

He cradles me to him, hugging me close to his chest where I can hear his heart. It’s discordant to the plink that haunts my dreams, as if his body is purposefully pulsing at an off beat, breaking up the monotonous rhythm that is my new life. Though I detest being this close to an Alpha, the sound offers me something new, something different to latch onto.