79: You’re not him anymore. II
**Bane pov**
The more he mocked me, the harder it became to ignore the voice. I had tried everything and nothing had worked. I had tried to shift, to pull and scream myself back in control and all to no avail.
He was awake now, fully and unmistakingly aware.
“He loved you, you know.”
My head jerked to the side so violently, my whole body moved with it, making the chains rattle again.
“You were his Alpha. His brother and closest thing to a family that coward had. And yet, there he was, still thinking about, still attempting something he knew was impossible - killing you.”
LIAR.
The word didn’t make it past my lips, but I knew he could still hear me think it.
“Coward,” he purred in Zion’s voice again.
Before I could answer, the barn around me shifted again and the monster was forcing another memory on me.
Clearly, the bastard was enjoying playing with me like I was his puppet and he was the grand master who got yo jerk on the strings hard enough to bruise.
I saw Kieran again. The memory felt too real to be just a memory - I could smell Kieran’s sweat and blood. I could see the hesitation and doubt in his wide eyes.
My breath got caught in my throat as I was forced to watch the memory all over again, but this time, I didn’t watch it as myself, I was forced into the monster’s perspective. I could feel only what he felt and honestly, it wasn’t much.
The entity felt detached and clinical. It viewed Kieran not as a friend or a traitor, but as another causality in his way towards what he thought was greatness.
“Ah,” the monster hummed to himself, “look at him - so brave, so fucking stupid.”
I watched how Kieran moved closer from the monster’s eyes, and heard his wild heart beat.
The monster’s voice sharpened as Kieran kept slowly stalking closer, unable to hear the creature. “He cried the night I finally took over. Do you remember that, Bane? I do. Oh, I remember it perfectly. The looks on your pack member faces were precious, but especially on this one. Remember how you stopped talking using your own voice and instead got mine? That was the day you stopped being Bane and became something greater.”
The chains rattled again, harder this time. I tried to twist them, but they didn’t budge and I realized that my body was weaker than it should be. My strength was being eaten away. By torturing me with these memories, the monster was sucking out my energy.
My heart beat faster as different thoughts invaded my mind. If I was too weak to hold on, he could take over for good and hurt someone again, or even worse, escape.
“Remember how hard this one fought for you? He told the others not to give up on you. Even when you clawed your way through Zion’s ribs like a feral thing, Kieran was still the one who prayed you’d come back.”
Kieran’s hand gripped the knife harder in the memory, a perfect moment for the monster to speak up again. “But he changed his mind, didn’t he? He thought about slitting your throat while you’re still restrained and can’t fight for your life. The fool believed it was mercy.”
“Stop,” I whispered, unable to take more. My throat was dry and my eyes full of unshed tears.
But the voice that no longer sounded like Zion, but more like me, only hissed, “you wanted him to do it. You wanted him to kill you.”
The monster laughed as Kieran raised the knife and went for the attack. But then, it finally happened - the built-up reality ruled by him finally faded and I watched the true events.
The blade nearly reached my skin when an invisible force hit him. The knife fell and Kieran dropped to his knees first before he collapsed into the ground.
Whoever had helped Kieran and dragged him away was nothing but a shadow in the memory, and honestly, I couldn’t focus on anything but the mark that appeared on Kieran’s chest - a wolf with two shadows.
I could see it better now, way better than I did when everything went down, and suddenly, the voice in my head paused. Caught off guard by that, I realized something important - even the monster didn’t know what that was and how it happened.
“That wasn’t me,” I heard the voice whisper, just barely, as if he was speaking to himself, not me. The sound was so quiet that I was sure - he didn’t want me to hear it, the same as he didn’t want me to catch on to the fear behind those words.
The chain across my chest jerked tighter as the monster retreated, just slightly. The next moment, when I opened my eyes, I could see the barn again, no memories or forced images.
I blinked a few times, looking around, and then, again, he started replaying the images. I groaned loudly, not wanting to see more of the same than I already did - the images already traumatized me and I feared to think what state Kieran was in now.
“You made him do it,” the voice whispered again.
“I didn’t,” I argued and shook my head, hating how hoarse and weak my voice sounded. “I didn’t ask him to-”
I couldn’t finish the sentence because the bloody asshole decided to cut me off with a snarl, “you let him die!” He sounded more amused than previously, all fear and surprise from just moments ago completely gone.
My heart nearly stopped in my chest. Was Kieran really dead? How was this bastard sure that Kieran couldn’t pull through? No, I refused to believe it, refused to allow him to seed more thoughts like that in my mind.
“I didn’t want this,” I whispered.
“Didn’t want what exactly, Bane? The guilt, responsibility, or the fact that someone else’s blood always ends up on your hands?” He laughed.
I gritted my teeth until my jaw started aching, but it didn’t help, another vision returned soon after.
Now, Kieran was stumbling toward me, knife shaking in his grip. I could remember the real moment how it happened, how he had said the words “I’m sorry” before he decided to lunge at me.
But the version I was forced to watch now was worse. The monster manipulated it into something different - this Kieran was laughing, telling me I deserved everything and more.
And worst of all, as I listened to his voice, I believed every word that left Kieran’s lips.
When he started ranting about how weak and pathetic I was, I had enough. It was true, in a sense, I did feel weak and pathetic because of whatever was inside me, but I couldn’t listen to more.
“You’re not real!” I snapped and the illusion Kieran stopped.
He stood facing me, his face twisted into an ugly smile as he said, “neither are you.”
Then, just as fast, the image shifted and instead of Kieran stood Zion. “Bane,” he said my name like it tasted like honey before he stepped closer. “ You’ve always been a danger to her.”
My eyes widened, I shook my head and managed to utter a weak, “no-”
The image of Zion cut me off. “You think locking yourself up is protection? You’re just buying time, right? But I wonder, what are you buying time for? For Aife to get over you and find someone better? Someone who isn’t tainted by the darkness like you are?”
“Shut up.” I growled at him.
“She’s already safer without you - you know that, Kala knows that, I know that. Even your own pack members know that. How does it feel to be stuck in here, chained like an animal, guarded by your own men who don’t know if they should pity you or burn this barn with you inside it, hmm?”
He laughed and while the face I was looking at was still my best friend, the voice that echoed against the barn walls sounded like Aife. “You’re not him anymore.”
I trashed against the chains so hard, I cut more flesh, felt my blood drip on my face. “Stop it!”
“You don’t belong to her, Bane, you belong to me.”
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