Chapter 76

Nicks POV

"What the hell are you doing with a cell?" My voice came out loud and accusing, which made Dylan completely cringe in fear. I hated seeing how scared she was, it was so unlike her.

"Please, don't say anything... Please. Just destroy it, or get rid of it somehow. Please I'm begging you." More and more tears dropped from her eyes as she looked at me. I shook my head and quickly placed the old phone in my pocket and held my hands out to give her a hug, only she cowered away from me. "Don't... Don't touch me. He'll know."

She really was a far cry from the girl who left, kicking and screaming as she was dragged away. I never thought I'd see the day she would give up.

"Ok, ok... I won't touch you, but please, don't let the king win Dylan." I could see it in his graces eyes this morning and even yesterday when he brought her back, he had won. All he seemed to want was her compliance, I just didn't expect he'd ever actually get it. "You, you need to fight him."

She shook her head rapidly, and took a step back away from me. Her entire body trembled as she glanced over my shoulder at her old bedroom door, making sure she wasn’t being listened too, then her sight zoomed back at me.

"There is no fighting him, Nick. There's no winning against him. I... I can't loose anyone else, and I can't take any more pain..." her voice was so quiet that even I felt the desperation she did, we really had to get her out of here, we had to get her away from him. "I just can't."

"I know..." I couldn't take it anymore, and so despite knowing the consequences if I was caught, I walked up to her and scooped her into my arms, we had done much more that hug in the past, but Dylan tensed so much that I was scared at just how petrified of king Josh she was. “Dylan, please, just talk to me... I'm here... I’m here for you and I always will be.”

Her head shook and she cried still almost inaudibly but much much harder than before. She pushed my body away from her and roughly wiped her eyes on the back of her wrist, before looking around her room.

"You are not here for me, Nick. You are at the pack house, or at school, or somewhere the lycans reside, and you are there with the alphas daughter." Why on earth was she whispering? It was difficult to make her words out as she spoke through her tears and sniffles, but her voice was so quiet that I seriously had to strain myself just to make out what she was saying exactly. “I love you, I do, but I am an afterthought in your mind, your family and your mate will always come first, and that’s fine, but you need to realize that your loyalties have changed, because I can’t keep accepting your worry sometimes and your expectations at other times.” Was I really that flaky. “I’m trying so hard to be there for you, but it’s exhausting when I have so much going on as it is. You want me to fight and argue with everything I have, but you don’t understand that I have nothing left.” She scrunched her face up and winced at her own words. “I really have nothing left.”

It was as if her own words had hit her so hard that she got knocked down, she instantly fell to her knees in pure sorrow, her hands clutched her chest as she sobbed looking around her old room.

“You have Freddie! You need to stay strong for him.” She shook her head and looked at me, her eyes were bloodshot and a constant frown rested on her usually vibrant features.

“He’s better off without me. If it wasn’t for your dad then…” she shook her head, too pained to say what was on the tip of her tongue. I didn’t blame her at all, if I had lost my dad the same way that she lost her mom. I think I’d most likely give up too. “Please, just go and destroy that. The king can’t find out how rebellious I really was.”

“But you can get through to people, you have a way of…”

“I don’t have a way of doing anything… not anymore. Just go…” I sighed, leaving her to cry in her room. She truly was broken, the king had finally managed to do the one thing that no one thought was possible.

I made my way downstairs, only to find Adrian searching through some draws in the kitchen. He looked around the house and scoffed hollowly after hearing my entrance.

“I had no idea the human houses were so… limited.” He turned to me and sighed, glancing at the stairs I had just came down. “He’s really damaged her spirits this time, hasn’t he?” I simply nodded my head and took a deep breath to try and stop myself from crying. We had to get her out, and we had to get her out soon. “Do you think she will bounce back?”

I really wasn’t sure this time. I’d seen her getting beaten, bruised and bloodied, and that was before the king had found her, but she never really changed after everything. She barely batted her eyes, and the punishments certainly never stopped her attitude.

“I really don’t know.” Even I could hear her sobbing from upstairs, so only god knows how loud it must have been to Adrian. “There is some news though.” I quickly took the phone out of my pocket and held it up to the now completely shocked alpha to be. “We don’t have to wait until Monday to get things moving.”

“How in the world did you get a hold of that?” He asked before taking it from me and stashing it in his own pocket. Even I was still shocked that Dylan had it, and I didn’t have a clue as to how she got it.

“Dylan had it, I have no idea how long she’s had it for, or where she got it from, but I do know she used it for…” Adrian smiled and nodded his head cutting my words off bed they left my mouth and looking at the stairs again.

“No wonder my dad was always so worried about her, she ran a fucking smuggling ring, right under his nose.” I didn’t know if she ran it, but she was definitely a big part of it, even I didn’t realize how involved she was, I wonder if Tina ever knew.

“Were the high ranks really that concerned about her?” My brother in law laughed and nodded his head quickly.

“Everyone knows that executions aren’t given lightly right?” I nodded my head knowing an execution was only carried out in extreme circumstances, in case the convict turns out to be someones mate. “Well, my dad, his beta and the school’s principal were seriously talking about one for Dylan, trust me, they were more than worried, she had them on edge.” It was so strange seeing the wonderment in his eyes as he spoke about my friend, it was also really interesting to find out more and more things about her. I wasn’t aware of how much she actually kept to herself, she was stronger than I ever gave her credit for. “I used to absolutely love it when she’d stand up to them, she was the only one ballsy enough to do anything, and she would always end up more stubborn, despite what punishment was given.”

That was true, no matter what was thrown at her, she always got back up, she always fought back harder. So the fact that she was upstairs now, the fact that I had left her on the floor, and the fact that she begged for death, really was a testament to what the king had put her through.

“You make it sound as if you loved her!” Again he chuckled and nodded his head. This was getting strange, really strange.

“I did in a way. In fact a lot of us used to do more than just admire her, Monroe walked straight to her when his 17th birthday came, hoping that she would be his, but it turned out to be one of her best friends. The same goes for me, I practically charged down the line of students hoping I’d feel the bond with her, but my sister followed me, and instead found you.” Oh my god!

I knew a lot of the humans liked Dylan, I mean who wouldn’t, she was smart, funny, strong, and didn’t care about anything but the oppression of our kind, and fought it every chance she got… but to discover that the wolves wanted her too, that was the biggest eye opener. If only she knew the impact she had on people. She would never be doubting herself like this.

“Don’t tell her any of this though, she would just get even cockier.” He chuckled again but it held nothing. He knew she had been damaged, the question was wether she was beyond repair. “We’re going to get her out, Nick! She’s the one person who has to get out. I’ll make damn sure she does.”

For the first time ever, I had no doubts whatsoever that Dylan was much more important than anyone realized. I had no doubts that she was special, Adrian was right. She needed to get to the rebellion!