AUTHOR'S POV
Finding Diana opened to many speculations, questions, and duties. The Grayback pack had their hands full from then, scattered into different directions. Lucas and Cory accompanied Sebastian and the Luna. Austin escorted Stanley and the Barlowes. David and Allen secured the islet. Roman and his pack stayed close to Diana. The Black Creek Alpha didn't care for anything else but their Luna. No one trusted each other's clans. No one let their guards down.
Before Diana could make a decision choosing which hand to reach, she have collapsed from exhaustion. Sebastian caught her right away, pushing Roman. From then, he have not let her go. Diana, who drifted to and fro her consciousness, was cradled by Sebastian into the boat. He carried her with impossible care, with one arm beneath her knees, and the other supporting her frail back. Her head rested limply against Sebastian's shoulder. She never stirred from then. And, never opened her eyes. Wrapped in the emergency heated blanket secured in the boat, she was kept warm as the boat sail back to the Devlin's mansion. Unbothered, Sebastian didn't mind Roman's piercing gazes that seemed like would've peeled him alive.
Scott watched the boat drift farther across the black water, processing what just happened. He wanted to trade everything in exchange to Sebastian's place. He wrestled with the wolf in him to remain composed. Pacing inside him, restless and frantic. Demanding he cross the distance and tear Diana from his brother's arms and hold her himself. His fingers curled until his nails dug crescents into his palms. He glued his boots on the dock, as his muscles quiver from the great effort. The farther the boat go, it felt like slowly pulling a knife off his chest.
A twist of jealousy poured over him. Sebastian found her. Roman breathed life into into her delicate mouth. Every thought poisoned him. Where was he in the middle of all of it? While he resented her, guilt settled over his shoulders like wet iron. He wanted to go after her. He nearly did. Hence, duty chained his feet. With Damon still missing. Priscilla lay dead. And the Nagual could still be nearby. Duty and instinct tore him from opposite directions until breathing itself became labor, and all he could do is send Lucas and Cory to his Luna.
Scott let the boats disappear into the darkness, feeling as though something inside him had been carried away with it. While everyone missed Scott's close attention to Diana, Lily saw all of it. She saw every stolen glance. The longer gaze when Roman kissed Diana. Every hesitation. Every second he lingered before finally turning away. She realized the Luna never stopped being his, that it threatened her future. Lily looked over the other boat carrying Diana, as she orchestrate her plans to make sure she becomes the Luna of the Grayback Clan.
Scott, together with David and Allen, descended into the bunker. He wanted to finish as quick as possible. As he race down the stairs, it's no longer how his memories remembered it. Everything looked clinical, uncanny to Alva Woodsworth's laboratory. With his swift strides, he can't afford to stop and examine the new walls, the steel floors and the security systems. Going in, the more he realized this place is built by someone who have no mercy.
"Find Damon", an order made David and Allen and other servants spread out. On their guard, they secured the bunker, looked for Damon and stood by in case he comes. Scott followed the smell of stench beyond the corridor. His footsteps slowed at the entrance of the room with advanced protective measure. Without meaning to, he imagined Diana being there. Every gulp in his throat became painful. She was helpless, hands and ankles strapped with the leather cuffs on the steel bed bolted on the floor. Her blood was collected without revolt. Her cries spoke, when her pleads was refused to be heard. Unable to run. Unable to fight.
This...
This gave definition on her being so frightened at anyone's sight. The way she flinched. They way the tears in her eyes refused to fall. A wave of nausea rolled through him. He hated himself. He hated that he had to fight his possessive instincts. He hated himself for letting her walk away. He hated for closing his mind, hearing only his angered thoughts. He hated for trusting the wrong people, and not Kate. That Diana would never have ended here.... if only.
She was just here, all along.
Scott's jaw trembled when he sees the glass enclosure in the next room. A prison, despite looked homely, gave no peace. He looked closely on the glass, and saw not his reflection but his Luna. No one came to her screams. No one wiped her tears. No one was there, not even him. Raged surged through him, punching the glass, cracking at his strong force of anger. Whoever build this, whoever helped... whether it is the Nagual or a Devlin, the wolf in Scott would tear them apart. On the side, Scott noticed Reina staring into the glass prison.
"He's been there since he came in, and locked himself inside", bemoaned Reina, eyes forward down the glass prison.
Scott circled round the glass enclosure, and found Damon huddling on the floor by the shadow of the bed. "Hey, bro", Scott called, hunkering. Damon trembled at the sound of Scott's voice. His knees were drawn tightly to his chest, lowering his head. "Damon, it's me", he said, looking at his trembling brother, rattling violently against the floor.
"Damon?"
Slowly, Damon lifted his head. Scott caught his breath. Those eyes his brother has belongs to someone who had seen hell, and knew he deserved it. "I... I did bad things, Scott", he trembled, hands over his shoulders.
Scott frowned. "It's not you. You know that".
"No!", a sob escaped him. "I'm sorry.. I'm sorry... I'm sorry", Damon's voice cracked.
"I'm sorry".
Again.
And again.
As though repeating it enough times could somehow undo what had happened. Scott stepped closer to the glass. "Damon, look at me", his brother obeyed. The sight nearly broke him. This wasn't the brother who picks fight. Not the confident one to handle the business either. He has been fastest cub in their clan. This is no longer the carefree sibling who appears at every dinner and party. "You can talk to me, right? Just open the door".
"This is all my fault... all my fault", Damon cried, putting his hands over his head.
"You didn't, Damon.", Reina snivelled, standing on the other side of the glass. "The Nagual took over your body. Just like how it did on Sebastian".
"It.. was real…" Damon looked at his hands. The hands that did all the horrible things his mind clearly knew. It wasn't just fragments. Not flashes of memories. Not even dreams. He knows everything. "It was real!!", he snapped with bared teeth, eyes bawling. "All of it!!".
"Oh Damon..", Reina covered her mouth with her hands. She had seen this before. The possession isn't as simple as losing consciousness. They experience every atrocity firsthand, making his guilt crushingly real. Just like Sebastian. She glanced at the room where Priscilla lays dead. Their family's salvation to go through the darkest days of their existence. Now that Damon drowns in his own mind, she tried to convince herself they are enough to pull Damon out from this misery without Priscilla. "We'll help you".
"I.. built this. I rowed everyday.", Damon's voice dropped in to a whisper. His eyes drifted to every piece outside the glass prison. "Mother told me so. It's for this family", he said with a sad smile, then he looked away from Scott. "I brought in Diana from her house... took her blood everyday."
"And none of those you truly wanted", Scott's brows pulled together, keeping his eyes on his brother. Damon kept looking away. The humiliation and the overbearing guilt cannot make him look straight at Scott.
"I felt every choice"
"I heard her beg"
"I heard her cry"
"I made her starve for a day or two"
"I felt mother's neck snap in my hands"
One by one, Damon unraveled the horror in that bunker. Every decision he made that imprisoned him in his own guilt. He curled once again, hugging his knees with his hands closed into a fist.
"It wasn't you", Reina shakes her head.
"It was me..", Damon swallowed hard, squeezing his eyes shut. "It was all me", he weeped.
"How to open the door?", Scott gazed at Reina, as his sister started to use her phone to figure out the security system on the glass prison.
"I did something bad, Scott…", Damon slowly lifted his eyes up, as if a thought have come across his mind. "I should be punished", his gaze drifted far away, with his audible breaths calming.
"Alpha", David stepped in the room, huffing. "We found Naga tracks all over".
Damon stared at David, with fear across his face. "I let them in, David... I let them in the islet. They swam with me while I row",
Scott sighed sharply, turning his gaze back at Damon. The cold air from the room doesn't even stop his sweat to come out of his forehead. "Let's talk Damon. Open the door".
Reina flinched at the soft chime that rang in her phone. She began to reach for the glass prison's screen. Damon jumped from the floor with his hand in the air. "No No no! Don't open the door Reina!!", he begged. Reina paused impulsively, shifting her gaze from Damon to Scott. Damon's panic exploded in an instantly, pacing in circles, scrambling backward, eyes wild. "Don't... open. Don't open...", pulling his hair in distress.
Scott's stomach dropped when he saw a red gas can beside the bed. Nothing else came across his mind. Only Damon. He nodded at Reina to get her fingers on that screen lock. Reina rushed to the keypads while Damon grabs the gas can and twists its cap open. "Damon no!", his command thundered through the bunker. The walls trembled but Damon didn't. He has already decided before he locked himself in that glass prison. "Stop!!", he drive his fist against the glass as the enclosure shuddered. Then, another.. and another until he earned a tiny spiderweb of crack. All that strength for just a single fracture. David smashes the other side too, trying to crack its thickness. But none of his efforts could damage the glass like Scott. "Reina!! Hurry up!!", Scott's knuckles bled, but he didn't feel the pain. "Damon put that down!!", his breathing became ragged, as he wasn't fast enough to break the glass.
Reina's fingers flew over the controls. She fought desperately with the electronic lock. Her hands shook keeping her focus, as every strike on that lock remained red. Damon lifted the container over his head. The gasoline cascaded over his hair, his face, his clothes. Pooling beneath his feet.
"Damon, don't you dare... Please!", Scott gritted his teeth. It was no longer a command, it's a plea. "You don't do this!! You hear me?", he pounded that glass harder and harder. Damon takes out Scott's lighter. The one engraved with a moon and a howling wolf. He smiled through the tears. " You absolute idiot!!", Scott screamed. "I'm here!! I'm fucking here!!", another punch came after another.
Dripping with gasoline, Damon turned to Scott. "Tell Diana I'm sorry", the lighter clicked. A tiny blue flame appeared and for one second, nobody moved. Damon released it over him. The fire touched the gasoline right before their eyes. David staggered backward. Reina continued to unlock the door. Scott didn't move, because Damon didn't. He welcomed the fire without screaming, without fighting, without running. He simply stood there accepting the flame as his punishment. Damon never looked away from Scott. Not even once.
David pulls Scott away. But the Alpha didn't let David's hands touch him. He roared, a sound that ripped through the bunker. He lifted his fist, and crashed into the glass... again and again. And finally, the cracks raced across the enclosure. He didn't stop even if his skin has tore away. He punched again, and again... because somewhere beneath the fire stood his little brother. And as long as Damon is standing there, he is not yet gone. Another punch landed on the glass. The thick wall gave in, but sadly, was too late. Far too late. Reina have opened the security system, and froze at the entryway looking at the flames. The fire have swallowed everything in that room that not even the fire extinguisher David found in the corner of the lab can handle.