Rescued and Ruined

Chapter 11 - Raeni

My arm stops with the spoon halfway to my lips, the surprisingly delicious gruel no longer appetizing. I dart my eyes up to Icarr before dropping the spoon back into the bowl.

The tiny white table, lopsided from being unbolted from the floor, blends into the white room so well it looks like my legs disappear into thin air. The cold floor under my feet assures me they're still attached to my body.

"Raeni?"

"No."

Tense silence follows my declaration. I stare at the splatters of food on the table and grit my teeth. They haven't even given me twenty-four hours to come to terms with what's happened, and yet she expects me to willingly visit the alpha who pinned me to the bed and would have claimed me had his soldier friend not shot him with a tranquilizer?

Despite the beta's unchanging expression, my hackles rise as I imagine her sighing in frustration and shaking her head in disappointment.

"He's restrained. He won't be able to hurt you."

My abdomen clenches, unwanted wetness seeping into my gown and puddling between myself and the chair. A vicious little voice in my head growls, demanding to see the brute made helpless. To see such a mighty alpha forced into such a lowly situation.

"When?"

"Whenever you're ready."

Gnawing on the inside of my mouth while I survey the tiny white room, I decide to listen to the brave and slightly crazed part of me. Maybe if I see him so emasculated, my hormones will settle. Maybe the irrational animal in my soul will recognize how unworthy the asshole is and give me a break.

A sliver of color pulls my gaze to the frame between rooms. A fractured piece of mirror reflects my hair and eyes back to me, the pale flesh surrounding them almost as stark as the room around me, except for the dark purple splotch on my cheek from an evil palm.

I will not remain a victim. The woman staring back at me is not the same naïve young adult who left home without so much as a snack for provisions.

"I don't want to be alone with him."

The newly awakened voice inside my head calls me a liar as my soul longs for a union with the monster plaguing my every thought.

"You won't be. I'll stay with you the entire time."

I can't stop my eyebrow from lifting before turning to look at the female standing in the doorway. With no drugs to filter the chaos swirling within me and the attack still so fresh in my mind, I lack my normal tact—my words blurt from my wayward mouth.

"And? If he breaks free, you won't be able to stop him. You aren't strong enough."

My fingers fiddle with the hem of my sleeve as I stare at her, their need to stroke and please belittling my combative words. I ignore them and curl my toes against the frigid floor, fighting the urge to wiggle in my seat and stimulate my desperate womanhood.

"Would you like another alpha to attend the meeting? The option brings its own complications, but if it will help you face him again, then I'll call in his team leader."

I tilt my chin and scrunch my brows together as I think it over.

"Is his team leader the one who shot him?"

"Yes."

"Then yes. I want his team leader there. With another dart, just like the other one."

Icarr fails to hide the delighted surprise flashing through her at my words, but she tucks it into the sparkle of her irises and dons a gentle smile.