The Beast's Possession

pov**

**Bane And once again, Chris was right. As soon as we reached the pack border, we were greeted by Alpha Jordan and the king himself.

As soon as my gaze met that of the king, we both grinned and embraced each other in a tight hug while the rest of the men around us watched us as if we had lost our mind. I guess it should have been better to warn everyone that we weren't quite strangers to each other, but this was funnier anyway.

I knew many thought I had no idea what was fun or humor, but I did, in fact, have a sense of humor, it just wasn't so noticeable as in, let's say, Zion's case.

"Bane, how have you been? I haven't seen you in ages, you crazy fuck. Have you been trying to hide away from me? Who does that to his friends?" The king laughed, squeezing me until I couldn't take it anymore and a pained sound left me. He loosened his hold around me, but didn't pull away his hands, just in case I fell or something.

"What have you been up to? And why do you seem to be in pain all of a sudden? Don't tell me you got in trouble on your way here, we have plenty of that, don't we?" The cheerful tone of his voice was replaced by that of a worry. Shaking my head, I grinned at him. "Nothing much. And probably because I am in whole lot of fucking pain. If you paid attention to the stench that probably emanates from me at this point, you'd notice how damn pumped with silver I am." The king glanced at me and then at Chris, as if expecting the scared boy to answer the silent question.

Slapping my hand on his giant arm, I grabbed his attention. "The boy saved me. He has nothing to do with this nonsense. But that's exactly why I traveled here to see you. The people who did this to me are the people I needed to discuss with you."

"Who?" He growled, nostrils flaring in anger.

"The High Council." As soon as the words left me, they hung in the air above our heads and complete silence surrounded us. No one dared to speak a word or join the conversation, all everyone did was stare at me. "What the-" the king stopped himself before he could say more than he intended to.

While his words weren't quite sharp, his look was. He pinned me down, demanding answers with a gaze alone.

I looked at Chris and nodded. "You should take the Alpha and the rest of the men for a walk, if that's alright with the Alpha. This is a discussion for two, I would appreciate it if you guys could respect that. If the king decides there's something we can share, we will update you guys."

Although clearly reluctant, they all agreed and left a few minutes later. As soon as they did, I collapsed. Thankfully, the king reacted in time and caught me before I hit the ground.

"Bane, what the fuck is wrong with you? How bad is it? Damn it, how badly did they pump you up?" He hissed in a low tone.

"The silver," I coughed and instantly felt the metallic taste of blood in my mouth. "It's killing him, but he refuses to go down alone. If he dies, I will die too. He won't go down alone, not if he's heading straight to hell."

Ironic how much I had wanted to get rid of the demonic fuck living in my body and now that I finally had an actual chance to get to my goal, he refused to let go without a fight.

"Why did they do this? To you, of all Alphas." The king demanded.

For anyone else, his behavior might seem odd. Asking questions instead of providing medical assistance had to sound crazy, right? But it wasn't crazy at all. If there was a chance that I wouldn't make it through the night, worst case scenario - he had the information to prevent the High Council from committing similar crimes to others.

"They sent a Fogger to spy on me. I told my guards I will leave the territory to see you and basically snitch on them. I thought that's why. Apparently, there's more. The High Council has wanted me dead for a while and once a rat from my own pack let them know I left, they sent their men to get me. When I woke up, I was chained to the wall inside the cells. Chris got me out of there. If it weren't for that young man and his bravery, I would still be dangling from that wall, most likely dead with the amount of silver they forced in my blood."

Before he could utter a word in response, I heard heavy steps approaching us. "I called for my medics, they will help you. Tomorrow morning, you will wake up feeling like a brand new man. Listen to me, Bane, you will wake up, okay? You have no other choice so you better fight. While you're out, I will ask them to check if there is anything they could do about the alter ego too."

As grateful as I was for his help, there were more things that worried me, more important than my ability to survive and see another sunrise.

"I think they're after my Luna. Don't ask me why or other questions because I have no damn idea, but I'm sure they're after her. The notes the Fogger left all mentioned her. No one has dared to enter my territory before I claimed that woman. I need to keep her safe." I forced the words through gritted teeth and gripped his arm as an unbelievable wave of pain shot through my body.

It was so intense, like fire, it set off every muscle of my body, every nerve ending, even those I never thought existed. With each pulsation, with every wave, it burned brighter and more intense.

Never in my life had I felt pain this insane. I had walked through literal fire and never experienced anything even close to this. But now, the fire wasn't just surrounding me, the raging inferno was set off inside me, burning me from inside out, leaving no chance to escape the agonizing pain.

I was so out of it, I couldn't follow what men around me did. All I knew was that the king still held me and refused to let me go. At one point, I felt something wet slide down my cheek and the king instantly wiped it off. "Sorry, buddy, it hurts to see you in so much pain," he muttered and held me tighter, giving the medics little to no space to work.

The strength behind his hold didn't worry me anymore. I was in so much pain, I couldn't tell it apart anymore and after what felt like a whole eternity of torture, I felt my body shut down.

Panic surged through me as I fought the need to close my eyes. With the little strength I had in me, I squeezed my friend's arm and whispered, "keep her safe for me. Keep her safe."