CLAIMED - Fated to Two-Chapter 46: Damian at the United Alliance Prison
Morning comes smoothly. I’m surprised I managed to sleep well after what happened yesterday.
I take a shower and get dressed.
At the parking area, Beta Samuel and Eric are waiting. We speed past the Frostveil border, a convoy of cars following us. Beta Samuel has secured border-entry permits, allowing us to pass through other pack territories without question.
After more than an hour, we arrive at the United Alliance Prison.
While they remain in the parking area, an officer escorts me to the visitor’s room. Inside, two chairs sit separated by a floor-to-ceiling glass wall. I take my seat. Moments later, Damian appears on the other side, wrists cuffed, two officers standing behind him.
To my surprise, he looks at me without fury or hatred. There’s only pain and longing. He smiles, a tear slipping down his cheek, which he quickly dries with the sleeve of his prison uniform.
"How have you been?" he asks.
"Amazing, now that you and your father are out of my way," I reply without remorse.
His smile falters, but he nods - a gesture that shows he understands where my hatred is coming from.
To add salt to the wound, I continue, "We found Alpha Torrin. You failed to kill him, and now he’s back with me, with the pack."
Suddenly,...
Damian bursts into tears, sobs escaping him as his body trembles. But it’s not the reaction of someone furious or disappointed. It’s more like... relief.
"Thank goodness," he murmurs repeatedly.
No matter how hard I try to detect even the slightest falseness in his reaction, I can’t. He looks genuinely relieved. But why?
When his emotions finally settle, he speaks again. "I was praying to the Moon Goddess not to let Torrin die. I ordered the search for him not to make sure he was dead, but to save him from my father if ever he was still alive."
"Liar!" I hiss, my fists clenching.
"Of course you won’t believe me after everything you went through because of me," he says. "If he’s found alive, I planned to send him far away, somewhere he’d never be seen again. I know it was desperate and wicked, but I wanted you all to myself. You don’t know how I was dying inside to see him be killed but at the same time hope he didn’t die. I was just really good at hiding my emotions most of the time."
Anger continues to surge through me. He knows he’ll never get out of this place with the mounting evidence against him. That’s why he’s trying to appease my hatred towards him, probably hoping I’ll forgive him and help him escape. But it won’t work!
"I’m sorry," he adds. "Please tell Torrin the same. I regret everything deeply. I want you two to be happy now."
"Oh, we’re very happy. Just like we were before you and your father ruined us," I reply coldly, pushing Andrea’s image out of my mind.
I stand, glaring at him. "There’s nothing else I wanna say. I just came here to see how much you’re suffering, and I’m satisfied to confirm that."
I leave the visiting room, Damian still staring at me, his shoulders slumped, eyes filled with pain and sadness.
My calm demeanor cracks. Instead of meeting the warden, I head back to the parking area where Eric and the others are waiting, desperate for fresh air.
"Are you okay? Did Damian do something to you?" Eric asks, his brow furrowed with concern.
I shake my head. "No. I’m just angry at his lies."
I tell them everything Damian said.
But then,...
One of the Gammas speaks up. "Actually, some of the traitors we arrested said the same thing. We just didn’t pay much attention to them. They said Damian ordered them to search for Torrin. If he was dead, give him a proper burial. If he was alive, treat him and send him somewhere safe. He specifically demanded not to tell anyone, especially you and Atticus about this secret mission."
Shock ripples through the rest of us.
But regardless of whether Damian still has any morality left in him or it’s just a bluff, he still needs to pay with his life for using the multi-eyed seer’s elixir to ruin Alpha Torrin.
Once I steady myself, I sneak back inside through the rear entrance, where the warden is already waiting.
Her face is impassive, her movements calm and precise as she discreetly hands me a neatly folded prisoner’s uniform with keys tucked inside.
I hurry to the women’s restroom, change quickly, and hand her my clothes and bag for safekeeping.
"You can’t act right now," she instructs quietly. "At quarter to nine, all prisoners return to their cells. At exactly nine, the common-area lights go out. That’s your window. You have two keys: yours and Damian Chandler’s cells. He’s a high-profile inmate, so security is tighter around him. If you’re caught, it’s on you alone. Don’t drag me. I have toddlers at home who depend on me."
I nod, determination settling deep within me. "Understood."
"Most of the prisoners here aren’t handcuffed, especially if the crimes committed or allegedly committed are minor. You can move freely around the common areas. Just be mindful of the CCTVs placed in every corner. I’ll do my best to delete the footage where your face is clearly captured," the warden explains as she escorts me into the massive, humid dining hall.
Damian is seated calmly at a corner table, all by himself. He still wears handcuffs, with two police officers standing behind him. He hasn’t touched his food, though his glass of water is empty.
Then,...
A group of smug inmates approaches him, surrounding his table.
"How does it feel to fall to the bottom of society, Alpha?" one sneers. "Oops! I forgot, you were never really considered an Alpha by most of your packmates."
They burst into loud guffaws, but Damian remains unbothered, not even sparing them a glance.
Until,...
One of them adds, grinning maliciously, "I heard your fated mate visited you today. I saw her on the news before. She looks f.ucking hot. I wonder how she tastes in bed."
Damian snaps. Even the officers guarding him can’t stop him from lunging and wrestling the two inmates to the ground. He knocks them unconscious without needing to wolf out. The remaining inmates wolf out and bare their canines at him. But when Damian steps toward them, they retreat like cowards.
However,...
The two officers he shoved aside earlier beat him relentlessly with their batons until he collapses onto the floor, blood spilling from his mouth. Damian doesn’t dodge or fight back. He simply lies there, motionless, waiting for the brutality to end.
Pity creeps into my chest, but I force it down, reminding myself that he deserves every ounce of this.
Damian isn’t given any medical treatment. Instead, he’s dragged roughly to his feet. A bucket and a mop are shoved into his hands.
"You’re gonna clean, boy!" one officer hisses.
Limping and groaning in pain, Damian forces himself to mop the floor, while also wiping away the blood that continues to trickle from his lips from time to time.
All throughout the day, I never take my eyes off Damian. Luckily, his gaze never drifts in my direction. It stays fixed on the floor, as though he’s too ashamed to face anyone.
When night falls, the prisoners are ordered back into their cells.
I sit on the stiff, uncomfortable bed for fifteen agonizing minutes, my body itching to get out soon.
Finally, the lights go out. Moonlight filters through the narrow windows of each cell lining the corridor, which serves as my only source of light.
I move as silently as possible, careful not to draw attention and careful to avoid the CCTVs mounted along the walls.
When I reach Damian’s cell, surprise and relief wash over me. The wardens guarding it are fast asleep. 𝘧𝓇ℯ𝑒𝓌𝑒𝑏𝓃𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭.𝒸ℴ𝓂
When I unlock the cell, another surprise awaits me: Damian is calmly sitting upright, as if he’s been expecting me.
"I saw Eric and a female warden drug those guards outside. So I figured out you didn’t come here just to watch me suffer, but to make sure I die," he says.
My heart races as I pull the silver dagger from my boot and point it straight at him. "Consider this my help to you. If you stay alive, you’ll rot in here for the rest of your life while your name is dragged through the dirt everywhere. But if you die, you’ll be free from all of it. If I were you, I wouldn’t fight back. I’d just accept my death."
A sharp, shocked gasp escapes me when Damian reaches out and grabs the blade of the silver dagger, ignoring the pain as he turns its tip toward his own chest, right over his heart.
"If killing me will free you from all the pain and hatred I caused you, then I’ll let you. I want your freedom more than my own life. Living without you is worse than death itself," he says.
My grip tightens around the hilt as I slowly push forward.
Damian closes his eyes, his body relaxes as he waits for the blade to pierce him.
I don’t need to stab his heart. I only need to wound him. Once silver pierces his flesh, even slightly, he’ll die.
This is it! Damian dies! And the real Torrin comes back!
