And Then She Was Gone

What's the problem?

Elizabeth did as Ryan said and picked up the laptop, moving her form from the main view of the screen so that both of the men could take in the empty room as she spun, sitting down after a slow full rotation.

"Good." Ryan said in satisfaction. "Now you can speak candidly. Why were you upset earlier?" his words succinctly getting to the point.

"Uh... I.." she hesitated in thought. She didn't want to go into the details of how devastated she was at having unprotected sex, especially not with Ryan and her Uncle. It was a level of uncomfortability that she didn't want to approach at any point her life. Deciding to skip the catalyst of her recent strong emotions, she decided to give them the result of that action. "He took my clothes... I think he threw them away." she said back, a small sting forming as she recalled the incident in the closet where she was eventually injected with a sedative.

Ryan and Dominick looked at each other, and then returned their eyes to the young woman with quizzical stares. Both thinking that there was more to it than what she was relaying to them.

"I see you're wearing clothes right now..." Ryan stated in a leading manner.

"They're not mine." she said back quickly. "He had someone pick them out for me, but they are not mine. I don't know where my clothes are." she said trying to make clear her thought process but only further confusing the men who watched her from the glowing screen.

"So... he bought you new clothes?" Uncle Dominick asked, still unclear on what could have been so devastating to cause her symptoms to appear.

"There is a whole closet full of clothes, but they are not mine." her tone was becoming more firm as a light frustration began to brew within her at how they were not grasping the concept of her distress. "Shoes, jewelry, handbags.. All of them are not mine. I want my clothes back."

"I'm not understanding Elizabeth." Uncle Dominick said showing that he was still lost. "He took your clothes away... providing you with new clothes, but you feel as if they are not yours?" his eyebrow arched as he looked at her, wishing his wife was here to explain the female brain and how it processed information.

"They were my clothes!" she said, her upset growing stronger as she almost began to spit out her words. "I picked them. They were my choice." she was beginning to feel almost as passionately as she had been during the incident, her words depicting to the men that the matter wasn't about clothes at all, but about her own sense of identity.

"Okay Elizabeth, calm down." Ryan said with a hand going up in the air in an attempt to placate her from afar. "Is there something else you're not telling us other than him buying you new clothes and discarding your old ones? Has he hit you?" the Alpha prodded along trying to find another reason for her upset.

"No. He hasn't hit me." she said, looking down to her fingers which were once again nervously fidgeting within her lap, frustration still brewing from their lack of understanding.

"Is he feeding you?" Dominick asked as a follow up.

"Yes.. he makes me eat." she said looking back at the screen as she recalled all the times Jason prodded and sometimes commanded her to take in sustenance. "He has a cook." she added, her mind recalling the high quality of the food he provided.

"Master Beta Jacob informed me that you both mated and that you are now marked." the Alpha said in a very direct manner. "Is this correct?"

Her face immediately assumed the color red from a deep seeded embarrassment, her eyes once again falling back to her lap where she gave a brief nod opting to not say anything as she had no words.

"And... you were willing?" he said very carefully as Dominick looked to the side of the screen finding the same uncomfortability Elizabeth was currently experiencing with the new topic.