The Beast's Possession
26: I hate you.

**Aife

pov**

In the last attempt to save my dignity, I looked into his eyes and snarled, "I hate you."

A satisfied grin spread across his lips as Bane zipped up his jeans and winked at me. "I know, reject, trust me, I know."

Once I managed to get back to my feet, I didn't walk, I ran to the room.

As soon as the door behind me closed, I locked it. Bane had told me I couldn't lock it, but the warnings he spat at me didn't matter anymore. I even moved furniture to block the door completely. Sweat covered my body, my hands shook, and my knees gave out from under me as I broke down in the middle of the room.

I had no idea how much time I spent laying down with my knees pulled to my chest and sobs escaping me, but when the slight gleam of sun broke through the curtain, I realized it had to be hours. Somehow, I managed to push my body off the floor and wobble to the bathroom.

His words echoed in my mind as I started the shower and stripped down.

If I had to choose between walking around and smelling like that monster's personal bitch or death, I chose to dig my own grave.

The moment I stepped inside the shower, I broke down again.

No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't remember one time I had cried even half as much as I cried ever since the beast brought me here.

When I felt like there were no more tears left to cry, I grabbed the loofah and started scrubbing my skin until it turned bright red. The more I scrubbed, the more it hurt, but I still didn't stop.

In fact, I felt more disgusted, so, when my mind screamed my efforts weren't enough, I gave in. I dropped the loofah and dug my nails into my skin, breaking it and drawing blood as I frantically tried to rid myself of the scent of the beast.

I destroyed every piece of skin I could reach. My neck, face, arms, breasts, legs, belly - everything I could think of. Every bit of me he had touched.

Soon enough, I started feeling light-headed and I had to support my body against the wall. I tried to stay upright, but it became more difficult, so I sank down and focused on ripping my skin off my body.

My vision turned blurry as I watched water wash away my blood and smiled at the view. Perhaps, unintentionally, I managed to free myself of his clutches.

A welcomed sense of peace washed over me as I closed my eyes and leaned my head against the tiled wall. My nails still dug in my flesh, but I was numb to the pain. Finally, I felt like I could rest. Like I could fall asleep without fearing the moment I woke up in the same hell all over again.

Bane didn't haunt my reality and dreams anymore.

I was so relaxed, even the distant shouting and pounding didn't disturb me. In fact, it turned into nothing but a meaningless background noise as I smiled at my misery and let go.

***

I was startled awake by a loud beeping sound. It annoyed me beyond explanation, and honestly, at first, I really tried to ignore it.

Unfortunately, my attempts turned out to be useless when I realized that I wasn't in the same place where I last remembered myself.

Blinking my eyes open, I tried to remember if I could recall the room. Had I finally died and ended up in some weird afterlife space? No, it didn't sound even relatively possible as the room appeared to be too real. My body ached and burned as I sat up in the massive bed.

As my eyes scanned the surroundings, I still couldn't recognize the place. But what caught my attention more than the gray walls around me were the blood-soaked bandages around my legs.

I was wearing a large T-shirt, which obviously wasn't mine.

My hands shook as I gripped the fabric and brought it to my nose to smell it. Just one whiff was enough to make my world come burning down in flames. The shirt reeked of Bane. Come to think of it, if I paid a little more attention to the room, I would notice sooner that everything around me had an intense smell of that scum.

As my heart started pounding against my ribcage and panic surged through me, the beeping sound became louder, more erratic, and the only thing I wanted was to rid myself of it.

I grabbed the IV and was about to rip it out of my arm, when the door to the room burst open and a man rushed in.

He was next to the bed in seconds. The man gripped my wrists and held them in one hand, as if he needed to restrain me. I was too tired to fight back, so I just stared at him.

When I noticed the massive, dark bruise around his left eye, I raised an eyebrow. Seeing my confusion, he just chuckled and shook his head while muttering, "the Alpha is very angry at you. It was a stupid thing you did back there. I get it, he must have pushed you to do it, so I won't blame you, but if anything happens to you - we are the ones who will see the consequences. The black eye is nothing compared to what he would do if you wouldn't have pulled through." It was a bit odd how amused the man sounded. Maybe every person around Bane was used to his sick antics, but I didn't find anything he did even remotely funny.

While I kept overthinking, the man slowly released my wrists and reached for a glass of water.

He held the glass as I took a sip and even pulled it away with a warning that I shouldn't hurry.

"Not that it matters, but my name is Trevor," he chuckled as he brought the glass to my lips again.

Following his words, I tried my best to drink slowly even though my throat felt as dry as ever. Once he pulled the glass away from my reach again, I sighed and dropped my gaze.

A part of me wanted to ask questions about where I was and why I was there. The other part laughed at the need as I already knew where I was and the most likely reason why.

Thankfully, Trevor had to be godsent - he didn't wait for me to speak up. "You hurt yourself pretty badly. If it weren't for the couple that were looking for a private room, I doubt anyone could help you. They caught on the smell of blood and brought that to Alpha's attention. The rest is pretty much a history."

His voice was gentle and calm. I almost thought that Trevor felt bad for me and everything I went through ever since I was taken here.

That was, until he decided to add more. "Listen, I know you won't like this, but I need to follow the protocol if I don't want to lose my job. Don't make me out to be the bad guy, please, I have a family to feed."

Sighing, Trevor stepped away from the bed and spun on his heel, about to head out. "I need to tell the Alpha you're awake," he muttered and left the room.

I wanted to scream at him, to beg him to give me another minute without that monster in my personal space, but even with tears that once again filled my eyes, I couldn't find my voice.