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Story contains graphic content including rape, violence, strong language and other non-suitable aspects not appropriate for minors or those sensitive to such content.
Hushed voices could be heard, before the panicked eyes of Jacob Black opened wide in the bright room. He tried to jump up with the buzzing urgency to flee, but found his entire body was belted down to a gurney. The growl that emitted his pale lips was feral and frightening than any sound he could ever make as the wolf. The restraints had been designed to hold him down, even at his superior strength the belts held well till The Monster started to thrash violently in his panic. Soon the hated face of the patriarch Cullen was standing over him, along with other vampires that Jake didn't recognize. They all held him down, not afraid to hurt him as the bounds started to rip at their seams. He felt something pierce the vein in his arm, where his muscles involuntarily relaxed and made him very still. His mind remained very much active and his infuriated gaze locked with Carlisle's, which fully grabbed the Doctor's attentions. "You better hope I never escape. If I do...I promise you I will kill each of the Cullen's and burn your entire fucked-up circus to the ground." Carlisle simply blinked after his prized fighter's eyes started to close, when he turned his attentions to his nurse that had just administered the helpful drug.
"Hit him again with that in an hour. His body burns off medications fast. Order security to release him into the padded room." The highly reputed Doctor stepped back from the scene and went to the hallway, where his wife and new business partners James and Victoria were waiting for his presence. He looked to Esme and shook his head with disappointment.
He didn't have to speak the words in order for her to know the coming bad news. "There's no way he's going to be able to fight by the next full moon. After all the blood transfusions, his body, even though it heals quickly, is still worn from his close call. I'm not going to risk it." Esme nodded and closed her eyes, mentally exhausted from the fiasco in the ring last week. Millions of dollars had to be returned and recounted, since Bella had ruined the outcome of the match, along with the venue's reputation. Victoria spoke up, trying to shed some light on their situation. "Well soon enough we won't have to wait for the full moon and the werewolves, considering we now have a new shape shifter in the making." Her and James smiled excitedly as the Cullen couple looked to them with much needed relief. They all exchanged smiles and handshakes, congratulating each other on their success with dollar signs pronounced in their immortal eyes. Across town though, there was an opposing force that planned to bring them all to ruin.
"This is the floorplan of their base of operations." Embry Call rolled out the large white map of the Cullen's hidden fortress, where he had marked a route in a strategy they all had been working on for months. The remaining Quileute pack was now gathered around the illustration, desperate to bring back the pivotal members and friends that were stolen from them. The brother of one of the captured came closer to Embry as he pointed out one of the entryways to the complex.
Seth Clearwater was the youngest of the group, but his intentions were intense and set on saving his sister, Leah. "Is that where I come in?" He asked eagerly, knowing his focus was to free his sister and the group had agreed without a single argument. Each member had their own purpose and only a select few were splitting off from the pack. Seth would be one of them. "I've been told that Leah is being held here." Embry trailed his finger along the path Seth would take, landing on a small room just beyond a hidden corridor. Looking up to meet his best friend's gaze, Embry nodded to Quil as he gave his directions. Embry's tawny finger went to a different entryway, that was on the opposite side of where Seth would be entering. "Quil, Jared and Paul are going to infiltrate the arena on this side once the event has started and the hallway is clear. There is no easy entry to the fight ring, of course, since it's heavily guarded and security codes are needed to access it." Embry took a deep breath and then a sigh as he voiced the decisions that may very well end each of their lives. "You have to travel down this hallway and then go through the hidden corridor, where you'll find the leech who's going to help us retrieve the rest of our pack."
Paul shook his head as he watched the impossible path being traced. "That's a hell of a long way to run without someone seeing us. You sure your inside vamp can be trusted? What if this is a trap?"Embry's annoyance was obvious as he held his hand out to stop Paul's paranoid rant. "I'm not saying this is going to go smoothly, but this is the only chance we have. This blood sucker doesn't have my full trust, none of them ever will, you know that. He's going to make it a lot easier for us, since he claims he may have the ability to take away the powers that some of them have. There are no guarantees with that, but he promised that he'd send us vampires that'll fight with us.""No way I'm allowing any leech to be at my back!"
Paul slammed his fist down at the table, but all of them were so used to his outbursts that they barely flinched at his actions. "I'm not ending up as one of their dogs, Embry. You are puttin' way too much faith in these psychos and I'm not letting you get the rest of us captured or killed!" Tired of Paul's mouth, Seth's clenched fist was there to quiet him.
Clearly upset by the whole situation, Seth's face was beat red from Paul's upsetting outburst. As he watched Paul's anger start to escalade after the blow to his face, tears started streaming from young Seth's strained eyes. "They have Leah! They have my sister! And they have Sam and Jacob! We don't even know everything they're doin' to them, but from what Embry's been telling us it's nothing short of torture! They could even be dead already!" Seth gasped for air in between his sobs, seeing that Paul was now looking down in shame. "Stay here if you're too much of a coward to try and save them, but I'm going with or without any of you!" No words passed between the team of Quileutes, as Seth struggled to compose himself.
After several painfully silent moments, Paul apologized. "I'm sorry, Seth. I want them back too. I'm only havin' a hard time believing that this leech saying he's helping us can be trusted. What did he say was in it for him? Who is this guy?" Paul looked to Embry and all other eyes followed. Embry feared releasing the information about to leave his lips, for his ally's confidentiality remained the key to the Cullen's undoing.
"He told me that the Cullen's have a major rift in the family. Apparently, the mind-reader has an ego that is too big for the rest of the siblings, causing tension and lack of trust. Money that has been won has not been given out evenly to the rest of them, because of Carlisle's favoritism towards Edward. He needs our help to bring down Edward and Carlisle, so our ally and his wife can take what they can and get out."
Paul growled and clenched his fists as he fought his flying temper. "So we're really just playing devil's advocate? Saving our own and leaving the possibility for Judas Cullen to come after us again. We are rare to them, Embry. If you think that any one of those gamblers aren't going to see the investment in our blood then you're stupid to think they won't come back.""It's our temporary solution. We finally have a way in after countless months and that is not an opportunity we should pass on, Paul."
"It's a trap, I know it." Paul sighed under his breath and leaned on the table, staring down at the map with hopelessness and defeat.
"So when do we do this thing?"Embry locked eyes with Paul, before nodding to Seth, then Jared and Quil. This was all that was left of the pack on the outside and he silently prayed he could keep them all alive.
"The next full moon. Carlisle is going to fight Jacob anyways, even after his devastating injuries from the last one. It's going to be rigged, so Jacob loses. Bella interrupting the last fight caused a bit of controversy, so Carlisle plans on saving their reputation by having Jacob killed in the ring."
For the first time, Jared spoke up. "Good thing these werewolves are half the size of us, right? Jake still stands a chance."
Embry was silent for a few moments."What? What is it?" Seth asked with concern.
"They're going to fight him against Sam." Embry had managed to escape from the ambush on himself, Sam and Leah. Sam had sacrificed himself and Embry had felt like a coward for running, even though Sam had urged him to do just that. "Being injured, Jake won't stand a chance. The Cullens know this. They're going to bet against Jake in an attempt to win back all the money they had lost. Carlisle is attempting to keep his plan secret from several of his business partners, so more money can be won in his favor."
All of the young men shifted uncomfortably. Paul spoke up. "In and out. We get them as undetected as we can. Try not to shift or be separated - and I want to know all the damn exits in this place - along with everything about this Cullen helping us out."
"Why can't you all just let me go?"Bella whimpered through cracked lips, hovered over the floor in a fetal position. Alice stood over her with a tray of food, placing it on the side table as she sat on the bed helplessly.
"You made quite a scene the other day Bella. Edward isn't happy with you and we're deciding-" She cleared her throat. "We aren't sure how to handle the situation yet."
In her simple black tee shirt and grey sweatpants, Bella slowly stood and slunk on the bed next to Alice. She had looked broken, much as she had for several weeks after her attack in Seattle all that time ago. The man she loved had betrayed her, hurting her physically and using his obvious power over her. She had no control, no say in her own fate. There had been a time when Bella thought Edward could never hurt her in any such way, yet here she was in this living hell. She spoke hopelessly. "I'm guessing since you haven't decided what you're going to do with me yet, that you can't see my future, right?" Bella didn't look her way, but simply laid her throbbing head against a designer pillow. There were no windows, no doors for her access, she was in a prison. Even if it was designed to look luxurious, it was nothing of the sort.
"You know none of this is up to me." Alice shrugged and sighed, staring briefly at the food brought for the human that she felt fondness for. "Even I don't get to make any decisions against Edward or Carlisle, for that matter. All you can do is try to survive."
"Why?" Bella argued as newfound strength brought her to sit up and turn her tortured features towards the flawless vampire. "At least I'd have some say in how I would die, rather than waiting for Edward or Carlisle to rule with an iron fist on my own life."
With that argument, the locked door opened to reveal the face of her once love. Edward stood there, looking tormented with both anger and extreme disappointment. It was the first time Bella had seen him since he had struck her. "Leave us." He ordered Alice, who gave Bella a lasting goodbye look before exiting the room and closing the door behind them.
Bella braced for the worst as Edward stood there, staring down at the floor in front of him, as if choosing his next words carefully. "I didn't want it to be this way, Bella." He made his way to her slowly and sat down on the bed where Alice had just been. Bella shifted uncomfortably, holding her arms carefully over her thrumming heart. "I'm sorry I was so angry with you. I felt as if I had lost everything in a blink of an eye. Never felt anything like that before, not ever."
Her face diverted and revealing only her flowing chestnut locks, Edward reached his hand out to gently touch them. Gently, he played with them, hoping the pace of her heart would slow down to a relaxing beat. "I'll never hurt you again, my lamb. Please believe me."
She looked at him then. "Then let me go home." Her eyes pleaded, broken and begging for mercy.
Edward sighed. "I can't do that." His hand ran completely through her hair and held her face in his direction. "Because you are mine. Forever."
Bella gulped down as her eyes sealed shut for uncountable seconds. She was trapped by this psychopath and now Alice's words were finally setting home. She had to survive this. She would survive this. Her eyes locked on his. "Forever is only the beginning." Her smile was false as she hugged him, wanting desperately to sob, but instead masked her emotions for her very life.
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