Aiden groaned softly and curled up on himself, he'd lost track of time. Days, weeks, months, it didn't even matter anymore, it'd all be over soon enough. They'd caught up with him a week after he left Ethan, and from there, it'd been a painful and exhausting blur of days. He always thought it'd be old enemies that caught him, but who knew there were rogue hunters in the area? He hadn't been expecting it, he'd gotten careless, or maybe he just didn't care anymore.

The cement floor felt like a pillow after everything he'd been through. It was his safe time, when they were done with him, they'd throw him back in for the night, leaving him there to his nightmares. The one constant thought on his mind was his absolute relief that Ethan wasn't here. No matter what happened to him, as long as he didn't talk, didn't open his connection to his brother. He couldn't, Ethan could never know, it was the least he could to keep his brother safe, even if was the absolute last thing he ever did.

Something changed today though, maybe they finally got tired of just hearing his screams of pain, and his refusal to tell them anything. He was just an omega after all, nobody would miss him. Ethan, Danny, Scott, they'd never know, but he was okay with that. He just had to stay strong a little longer, before it reached the point where he wasn't healing at all, and from then, it'd only be a few days more, all in all, maybe a week of this left. He could do it.

They didn't stop, even when he eventually passed out, they kept waking him up, using a higher and higher voltage. Soon, he couldn't help the screams that came from his throat, then, he couldn't even scream anymore. His voice was gone, and so were the barriers that he'd tried to hard to hold onto. The connection was forced open with a burst of excruciating pain. He hung limply by his hands from the chains they'd put him in, his eyes closed, his body jerking and shaking with the continued current running through his veins.

He wasn't even conscious when they finally took him down, carelessly tossing his limp body into his cell, not even bothering to put fresh food and water in with him before they locked it. He'd outlived his usefulness to them, there was no point in doing anything more to keep him alive. They simply left him there in the basement of an abandoned house, choosing to let time do their dirty work for them.

Ethan woke up in Danny's arms, surrounded by the pack. "What happened Eth?" Danny's voice was soft but concerned, "Babe, what is it?"

"A-aidie, h-he's..." His voice broke and he choked back tears as he looked over at the pack, "h-he's in so m-much pain right now. W-we have to find him, p-please...I-I don't know how much longer he can t-take it."

Scott took the lead, trying to get Ethan to calm down, "Ethan, just look at me, okay? Just take a deep breath, you need to tell me anything you know, anything you now about where he might be. Anything that can help us track him down, okay?"

Ethan nodded, and took a shaky breath, trying to calm down. "H-He's all alone, I-I don't even know if h-he's conscious, b-but, he's not, h-he doesn't seem like he's really far away. I-I think he's still near Beacon Hills."

The pack looked around at each other, then Scott nodded, "We'll start checking around nearby towns, and we'll each have something with his scent, something to help us find him. Teams of two, we'll call each other if we find anything, okay?"

They packed supplies quickly, and headed out, hoping they would be able to find Aiden before it was too late. It took them a few days of searching, but eventually, they came across an abandoned house, one that smelled like blood, sweat, terror, hopelessness. They could feel their wolves straining to surface, they raced inside, checking all the rooms, until they found the one to the basement.

Ethan pushed ahead of them and raced down the stairs, letting out a strangled cry as he laid eyes on his brother for the first time in months. "A-Aidie, aidie, Aidie! No no no no no, please, no, Aiden, please, y-you have to be okay." He threw himself against the door, finally breaking the slightly rusty hinges. He all but collapsed next to his brother, pulling his limp body close, cradling Aiden in his arms.

"P-please, Aidie, y-you have to wake up, y-you h-ave to. P-please."

The rest of the pack joined them, reflexively gagging at the sight and smell. Scott was the first to recover, "We need to get him to Deaton, he'll know how to help."

As they moved to help pick Aiden up, the injured wolf started whimpering brokenly, "I-I won't tel y-you anythin' about t-them, I-I won't...y-you can't make m-me..." Their hearts sank at the words, it was worse than they'd thought. "We need to leave, now, help me carry him out to the car."

They lifted Aiden as gently as they could, but he still moaned in pain, then went silent, as he passed out again. The ride over to Deaton's was tense, everyone had their eyes on Aiden, wincing as he groaned whenever they went over a bump. Scott called ahead to let the vet know they were coming, and as soon as they pulled up, Deaton came outside and helped them carry Aiden in, then started him on an iv, and carefully started cleaning him up.

It was over an hour later when Deaton finally finished, and gently draped a blanket over Aiden's still form. Ethan looked up at Deaton, "W-will he be okay? D-doc?" He was nervously playing with his shaking hands, "P-please say he'll be okay."

Deaton sighed, "It's hard to say, his injuries were severe, we'll have to wait and see if his healing kicks in. Until then, all we can do is watch and wait, and hope." He walked over to a cabinet and pulled out another blanket and gently wrapped it around Ethan's shoulders. "You should try to get some rest, he'll need you to be strong when he wakes up."

Ethan tried to protest, but his yawns gave him away, "How about this, I'll pull up another table, it won't be very comfortable, but you can sleep next to him, does that sound okay?" After a sleepy nod, Deaton efficiently set up another exam table and used another blanket to make a pillow, then helped Ethan up onto it. "Just rest now," he tucked the blanket around Ethan's form, "Aiden will need you well rested when he wakes up." Ethan's hand slowly moved and gently held Aiden's limp hand, then his eyes fluttered closed, and he was asleep.

Deaton quietly started cleaning up his supplies and the room, sighing as he glanced over at the sleeping brothers. It might be a while before Aiden woke up, but he didn't lie, Aiden would need his brother's strength to get through things, when he woke up.

If he woke up.