The Beast's Possession

**Bane

pov**

After the conversation, I took a nap, feeling too weak to move and withstand the pain that kept coursing through my body. Just like the king promised, when I woke up, the chains were gone and I didn't see the sickening white walls anymore. Instead of that depressing room, I was moved to a regular guest room. Some of the doctors sat around me, in case the madman inside me went off and possessed my body. Thankfully, that didn't happen, so I was allowed to join the others in the dining room for some light snacks.

Although I didn't feel hungry, I still forced myself to eat something, fully aware that my body would collapse if I didn't force something nutritious down my throat.

One after another, men and women from this pack left the dining room with their empty plates in hand. I could feel the hostility against me, but didn't pay much attention to it. If a person with a reputation as strained as mine decided to visit my pack, I wouldn't be any kinder to them either.

When the last people were only the Alpha, the king and myself, we got to talking.

"Bane," the Alpha started. "We are not close, nor friends, but believe me when I say I care for your well-being and the state you are in right now. My pack needs some time to adjust to your presence and warm up to you, but when you get to know my people, you learn they are very open minded and kind people. By the time you will be ready to leave this place, they will learn to love and respect you."

I knew his words were meant to reassure me but all they did was shock me. I felt how my eyes widened in disbelief as I stared at the man. What did he mean with 'by the time you will be ready to leave'? I was ready to leave now. Shaking my head, I cleared my throat and tried to ground myself. The last thing we all needed was an anger outburst from me. That would lead us to another disaster and possibly, might work like a switch for the madman to go off.

"As much as I appreciate the kindness you are showing me and the medical assistance you two provide, I need to make a few things clear with you guys. The most important one would be that I need to leave. Soon. Not whenever I'm ready but as soon as possible. I have someone waiting for me."

At first, while I spoke, both of them were listening to me, but as soon as I implied that I had to return, the king raised his hand to stop me.

"Bane, listen to yourself. I get that you might be excited about this new relationship, we are happy for you, but it's too soon to leave now. No woman is worth risking one's health, especially in a state you have found yourself, topped with enemies as powerful as yours. All we are trying to tell you is that we care and want what's best for you."

The laugh that escaped me was bitter, honestly - unintentional. I wasn't laughing at their attempts to protect me and my sanity or health, rather I was laughing in disbelief. I really did appreciate the concern, but they had no idea how much going home meant for me.

While these two might have known healthy relationships and love their entire life, this was my first time truly enjoying being loved by someone. Despite my faults and wrongdoings, Aife loved me. She loved me like no one ever did and could. "She's worth it, my friend. So worth it, it hurts. You have no idea." Was all I said.

It seemed that I didn't have to find more words to convince them both. The Alpha and the king offered me warm smiles, although a little forced, they were genuine.

"We still worry," the king insisted. "How about you give them a call? You're pretty far from your territory, so mind-link most likely won't work. However, if you call them and your Beta might assure you that everything is alright, you can stay for a few more days and get the rest you need. If something has happened while you're away, I will change the schedule of visiting packs and accompany you there." He offered.

This should have been a no-brainer, but I was rather hesitant to accept the offer. There was no greater way to attract attention than traveling with the king himself. Didn't he mention my powerful enemies just a moment ago? How did it make sense to him?

Pushing my worries aside, I chose to agree to one thing. "I will give Zion a call and decide what could be the best course of action from here. But, for that, I will need to borrow a phone since I don't have mine anymore." "Imagine the wealthy, powerful Council stealing a phone from an Alpha. What are they, beggars?" The king laughed as he stood up and reached into his pocket to pull out his phone.

We all shared a moment of awkward laugh as I took his phone and thanked him. Both men left the dining room to give me some more privacy as I made the call.

Usually, Zion had his phone close by, but not today. For some reason, it took me five times to finally reach the annoying asshole.

"What the fuck do you want from me? I won't buy underwear from online wholesalers, I've made that mistake once and my best friend gave me plenty of shit for an entire lifetime. For the last damn time - I'm not interested in buying a truckload of rainbow boxers. It was a joke, for fuck's sake! One time joke, not one truck joke you sick fuck!" Zion screamed at the top of his lungs.

Before he managed to end the call, I laughed. "So sensitive."

Silence. All I heard was silence and I actually had to check the phone to ensure we still were on a call. "Zion? Did you die on me? Or are you disappointed in the lack of underwear I could offer you?"

"Oh, fuck you, Bane. Why are you calling me from a strange number? Where's your phone? And where the hell have you been? I've left a few messages and you haven't answered any," he groaned, clearly frustrated.

I frowned as I listened to Zion starting to pace the room he was in. Usually, he was pretty easy going, but during this call, my best friend sounded like he was on the edge of something.

"Well, long story short, I'm fucked up. Pretty bad. I'm calling you from the king's phone to find out what is going on at home and decide if I should stay here to heal a little or head straight back to you guys. My own phone is somewhere in the cells or territory of the High Council. Very fucked up over here, as you might suspect already." I gave him a quick run-down to test the waters.

Whatever was going on with me didn't matter. I wanted to know what was happening back home and see if Zion was able to ensure the pack was secure and safe. It wasn't that I didn't trust him.. It was that I didn't in a way. Now that I had Aife, I worried about everything I could.

"Yeah, sounds like you went through hell of an adventure. And without me. Wow, how dare you. Freaking prick, not a friend, that's what you are, Bane!" Zion ranted, his voice growing louder with every word that escaped him.

The more he spoke, the more he gave out. Zion wasn't very skillful when it came to keeping secrets, that was a whole fact. When he started avoiding questions and accusing me of something I didn't do - I knew he was hiding something. "What happened? Don't lie." I growled, slowly rising to my feet, ready to leave this place even if I had to kill the entire pack to get out of here and back to Aife.

I swear, if anyone dared to hurt her, there was hell that would follow and I would deliver the said hell fucking personally. On a damned silver platter, if needed.

"You'll freak out, but a lot happened. There's a fucking rat, someone's giving out information to outside sources. As soon as you left the territory, shit hit the fan," Zion admitted.

I knew about the rat already, existence of this one fucker was more than a simple fact already. The words that followed after were what really worried me.

"Killian came here with witches. One of the witches sent in a cat to check if Aife is real for whatever reason. Didn't get the information yet. Cat kind of knocked Aife out with some powder. Don't freak out yet, the same cat helped save Aife later and she's my mate too. Yeah, turns out we can have mates after all. Aife is good. My mate isn't. A witch got in here and tried to attack me, Kala jumped in front of me and basically saved my life. I ripped off the arms of the witch. Shit hit the fan, Bane, I don't know what to do anymore."