Not My Alpha (Completed)

Chapter Twenty-Three - The Alpha

The soft grunts came from beside me once again, and I whipped my gaze around to find a barely conscious Samuel tied to the tree next to me. When I saw the ropes binding him, my own position made sense. Like him, my hands were tied behind my back, behind the large tree. I wasn't able to move or bend my elbows no matter how I tried maneuvering myself and It seemed Samuel was in the same boat. 

I watched carefully the next few minutes as Samuel got his bearings. His eyes fluttered before they flew open wide, hastily scanning his surroundings. He saw the people in front of us first. The view of the crowd with their backs to us sent him into a frenzy as he viciously pulled forward, oblivious to the ropes binding him to a tree. When he felt the restraints holding him back, he whipped his gaze to fight against them. As he did, he caught my eye. His body immediately stilled as he scanned me once over, then again just to be sure. I offered him a small smile, though smiling wasn't exactly what I wanted to be doing in this situation.

"Are you hurt?" He softly whispered.

My gaze darted forward, watching the group in front of us. They hadn't seemed to hear Samuel, so I attempted to match his whispering. My voice barely came out, but when it did, it was hoarse and unrecognizable. "No. Are you?"

He let out a long sigh, eyeing the ropes behind my back. "What happened?"

"I don't know. I just woke up," I sighed. He watched me through tired eyes and I bit my lip, taking in his tattered state. I didn't fail to notice how he ignored my previous question, but it wasn't hard to decipher why. Memories of his thrashing limbs reflected in my mind and I closed my eyes, trying to hold back a flinch. Finally, I breathed out, "What did they do to you?" 

Samuel kept my gaze, but he fidgeted with his ropes. "I'm not sure. It felt like silver, though."

I broke eye contact and looked at my feet, trying to find a worthy distraction. I knew I was supposed to be angry with Samuel, but I couldn't focus on that. In this moment, he wasn't who I was fighting against. It was the humans, my own people, that I now had to escape.

"Have they said anything?" Samuel suddenly prodded. I didn't have to look up to know he was staring down the group in front of us. 

"Margaret was really upset and was going off about something. I couldn't really make out the words. Kade was too, but he didn't say anything."

"Margaret? Kade?"

I looked up at his confused face for a moment before my eyes darted back down. "The woman next to Damaria and the man with the medical supplies."

Samuel took a deep breath through his nose. "He's the one you smelled like," he said lowly. "It was his jacket."

"Yep," I replied without emotion. He looked at me pointedly and though I didn't want to talk about it, I reluctantly elaborated. "They're the ones who helped me out of town."

He didn't say anything to me for a long time. I could feel his eyes on me, but again, I couldn't bring myself to focus on him. I had to come up with another plan. I knew Samuel's pack was bound to be out there somewhere, probably watching us right now. If that were true, they'd free us. The minute they did, I'd run. Hopefully, they would all be too occupied with Damaria's group to notice my absence or come after me. It was a long shot, but it was the only option I could see.  

"Samantha, listen to me," Samuel eventually stated. I kept my gaze down. "Riley is going to be here soon and I don't know what's going to happen after that. I need you to stay by my side no matter what. Okay?"

"I thought he told you what was going to happen?" I countered, ignoring his request. 

"He did. That doesn't mean he's going to stick to the plan."