The Beast's Possession

**Zion pov** Officially fucked. That was what I was now. And the entire pack followed right in my footsteps. All of us were officially fucked. Awfully so...

If Bane would get to hear what happened, he wouldn't hesitate to behead the entire pack.

My best friend might be claiming Aife as if she was nothing but his chosen Luna, but I knew she was more than that. This little, feisty girl had managed to steal the very heart of the beast while he didn't have any idea about it. Now, I had to come up with a way to quickly deal with the situation, ensure Aife was safe and Bane didn't get to hear even snippets of this mess.

First on my list was a conversation with the goddamn woman who somehow got past our defenses and broke into Aife's and Bane's bedroom. Honestly, I had to admit that I was surprised by her abilities to actually get this damn far. We hadn't had any intruders in our pack for ages so this one was truly surprising. Maybe I was mostly surprised and impressed because it had been so long since someone dared to step on Bane's territory. Even rogues avoided us as if we had plague.

Sucking in a deep breath to ground myself, I grabbed the handle, pushed it down and opened the door to the staircase that led straight down to the cells.

This was the one place in the building I hated more than the dirty bathrooms. The stench that hit me instantly made me gag and the poorly illuminated staircase always gave me the creeps.

I wasn't very fond of places like this, so let's say there was a reason why Bane always dealt with the prisoners or hung around the stupid cells.

"You can do this, Zion. It's no biggie, you're a big boy. Just go down there, confront the rotten teeth witch and leave. What's the worst that could happen?" I muttered under my breath as I started walking down, somewhat still attempting to hold my breath just to avoid breathing in the stench.

I bet that would be real impressive of me to face a witch and vomit all over my shoes while she watched. So damn manly, she would probably fall in love with me the moment she saw what I had for lunch.

My eyes started watering as the acidic stench of piss hit my nostrils. I had told Bane to come up with some way to ensure prisoners had at least a damn toilet, but no, the guy insisted leaving them rot there with buckets for the toilet was better. I guess it was in a sense if he wanted to torture everyone and embarrass them beyond means, but who was I to question the Alpha's ways, right?

Once I reached the bottom of the stairs, I was greeted by a bunch of guards who were busy playing cards. All of them sat around the small table as if nothing bothered them. These guys were my fucking heroes. How they got used to the stench and the sounds that came from those cells was beyond me.

"Where can I find her?" I asked the guys, scanning the rows of the dark cells, kind of hoping I could notice her somewhere close to the guards.

I really, really didn't want to walk down to the last cells and keep breathing in the stench. This was so darn unhygienic and gross, I kind of hoped someone could have chained this woman to a tree outside or some shit of that sort. "Third cell on the left. We think she's about to starve herself to death, been screaming a while, seems real scared of meeting the Alpha." One of the guards chuckled.

Giving them a sharp nod, I braced myself and walked to the cell. As soon as I stopped in front of it, I smiled at the woman who was cowering in the corner of the cell. Her cheeks were stained with ugly, red marks, so I knew she had been crying. Probably a lot.

Cleaning my throat, I crossed my arms in front of my chest and waited for her to look at me. Oddly enough, she didn't even look my way and clearly did her best to avoid making eye contact with me.

"Don't you want to get out of here, witch? You do realize it would be in your best interests to start talking, right? All I want is an explanation of what and why you did it. We can reach some sort of agreement and I could even think about keeping this a secret from Alpha Bane."

At the mention of his name, she tensed. I could barely see her, but I saw more tears escaping her eyes as she pulled her knees to her chest and hugged them.

Tilting my head to one side, I frowned. Wasn't the witch old? Why did she look like she couldn't be more than twenty-something years old? What kind of mindfuck was this?

"Will you speak or would you prefer it if Bane came here to discuss what you did? Unlike me, he is a man of few words, I'm sure you've heard as much," I made sure to sound annoyed, at the end of my rope.

I could, technically, try to build some weird friendship with the intruder to make her feel safer, but since I didn't intend to spend more time here than necessary, I didn't have time for that.

Taking another step closer to the bars, I tried to see more of her and in return, she tried to hide away from my gaze. Something about this woman was off and honestly, as much as I hated being here, I was dying to find out what she was trying to hide.

"Why are you hiding? I haven't done anything yet, I haven't threatened you or tried to enter the cell. For now, I'm being very civil to someone who just harmed my Luna. You should be grateful for the kindness I'm showing. Alpha Bane wouldn't have hesitated to torture you until you undid the damage and then, he would tortoure you some more before you died. You know, to make it more fun for himself and painful for you. Unlike Bane, I am a very forgiving man. Keep this in mind."

I spoke nothing but the truth. I had been my best friend's psycho sidekick, but for the most part, I was kinder and more understanding than Bane could ever be. He always opted for violence while I tried to gain answers first.

"A wolf and forgiving, you have to be kidding me," she chuckled, yet she didn't look my way.

"She has a voice, wow, I need to write this down somewhere so I never forget this victorious moment. She has a bloody voice. Who would have thought that was possible."

I wanted to see a reaction, so I decided that mockery could be a good idea. For most part, everyone got really freaking butt hurt if their egos were attacked like this.

But not her. She didn't appear offended. Instead, she laughed at my words and agreed, "yes, I think you should. Why don't you pull out your fluffy pink notebook and write it down this instant before you forget?" So fucking taken aback I was... So this was love?

Shaking my head, I quickly rid myself of the stupid thoughts. All this woman did was match my energy and I was already wagging my tail like a desperate bitch. God, I needed a fuck as soon as possible.

"If you weren't someone who attacked my Luna, I would like you. Great comeback," I chuckled.

"If you weren't a dirty fleabag, I would like you," she spat back, all amusement gone from her voice.

While I knew she wanted to offend me, I just laughed at her words. I had been called way worse, so her words didn't move me.

"Why did you do it?" I repeated the question just to see if she was willing to speak.

"Your kind doesn't deserve her. She is too good for fleabags. Someone had to show her that," the witch snarled at me, taking me completely off guard.

"What the-" I didn't get to finish as she shot to her feet and approached the cell bars. As soon as her gaze met mine, my stomach dropped and a massive lump formed in my throat. I felt like my heart had stopped as tears stung my eyes and I dropped to my knees in front of the cell. This couldn't be happening...