Page 113 of The Alpha's Fated Destiny

She always knew and she delighted in subjecting me to this torture.

As I grew stronger, she stopped doing it. And I began to forget about it. I never wanted to think about those years.

But as I stare at the bars of the cage, my body squeezed into the small space, I feel like a child again, scared and unable to breathe.

My heart isn’t beating fast enough. It is beating too fast.

I want to get out of here.

I want to go back to that cell. At least I could breathe in there.

I don’t know when I begin to feel a sense of calm. Maybe it’s the thought of Sophia. Maybe it’s the fear of the fate that awaits her. All I know is that her image is floating in my head, and I know I have to get out of here for her. The fear and breathlessness begin to abate.

Nobody’s coming to protect me, but I have something to protect, something precious that Karina cannot get her hands on. The dirt is packed around the cage. I cannot break the bars, but I can dig in the dirt. Using my fingers, I scrape at it. It falls within the cage, and I don’t care.

I’m not thinking straight. In fact, I’m not even thinking at all. I just have to get to my mate.

The bars are made of iron. Breaking them is impossible right now. But I keep digging. However, when I start digging in the dirt above me, it begins to fall into my cage, and it occurs to me that I might just end up buried alive.

It feels like a lifetime. My fingers are bruised and bleeding as I dig like my life depends on it. It would be easier if I could break the bars. I could use one of them to help the digging process.

I am plagued by thoughts of Sophia. Where is she? Has Karina gotten to her yet? How much time has passed?

I am now digging around the cage instead of on top of it. But as I do, I hear something strange. It’s as if somebody is digging above me.

The dirt is falling on my shoulders, on my hair. I can’t stretch and I’m feeling that sense of suffocation again.

The dirt has now piled up all the way to my face. A little longer, and I’m going to be out of air. My heart is pounding, but I refuse to give up. I have to deal with this somehow. If Sophia were here, she’d have a way out. She always has something cooking in that clever brain of hers.

She always underestimates herself, but I see how clever she is and how incredibly resourceful she is. Her brain connects dots in a way mine never could. If she were in my situation right now, after her little panic attack, she would have started figuring things out.

I take a shaky breath. I can overcome this. For her, I can overcome anything. Sophia needs me. I’m not going to let this situation get the best of me.

It’s a wonder what the desire to protect something does to a man’s morale.

I push the dirt to the side, forcing my face to stick up, trying to draw in air. And then I hear something hit the bars. It’s a metallic sound. At the same time, I scrunch my eyes when light hits me.

Somebody is pulling at my cage. I hear the sounds of grunting, and then a loud clanging sound as if a person has jumped on top of my cage. I can’t see because even though it seems like it’s dark outside, there’s a flashlight in my face. I can’t even get the scent of who it is because the dirt is surrounding me. Another grunt, and I hear one of the iron bars break. Panting sounds. Sweat falls on my face.

Whoever it is, is determined to get me out of here. It can’t be Sophia. She would have ripped the bars off. The second bar breaks. Then the third.

I keep my eyes closed because the light is shining directly into them.

With the last bar breaks, the person jumps off of my cage, and then begins dragging me out.

“Goddess, why are you so heavy?”

My eyes fly open as I recognize the voice. If I wasn’t feeling so weak, I would have attacked her.

I’m dragged out, and then something is forced into my mouth.

“Drink, you idiot! I don’t have all day!”

When I refuse to drink, the woman squeezes my nose shut, and I’m forced to open my mouth, swallowing the liquid.

“Finally!”

Within a few minutes, I feel some of my strength begin to return, and as it does, I feel the link to my wolf.

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