Alpha Noah ✔️

Chapter Twenty Nine

Word Count: 1767

~Abella

A soft click by my ear wakes me.

For a moment, all I see is darkness. I try sit up, but my arms don't respond. My wrists, which dangle above my shoulders, are shrouded in a cool, hard metal, which as I startle fully awake, the yanks of protest don't free me. Chains clang together, a signal of my capture, even if I'm still too groggy to determine where I am, or who has tied me down.

I'm in a bed. One of Noah's guest beds, I'm lying here tied down, in the middle of the night, with my attacker somewhere in this room, their identity completely unknown to me. Their footsteps cease, as the bed suddenly sinks.

Now is my time to react.

My mouth opens to scream, but a hand slams down to cover it, muffling my protests. Thrashing and kicking, I lash out toward my attacker, wherever they may be. Panic streaks through my veins, as desperately fight for my life, trying to figure out who would want to take my life. No one comes to life, but at least it's not Cian...there are no sparks as this man holds me down.

"Please, I haven't done anything wrong," I mumble through his fingers, hoping one will slip into my mouth so I can bite it. His body is suddenly on top of mine, not too heavy, as he pins me down by my legs, ensuring that I can't go anywhere.

He leans down, right by my ear, his breath hot and sharp. "Scream, and you die. You're safer being quiet, as you are never going to escape until I want you to."

Chills. They consume me.

This is Stace, holding me down, atop me like I'm some kind of victim awaiting...I don't even want to think about that. My clothes are still intact, but his intentions are unknown. Slowly he takes his hand from my mouth, and I don't scream, adhering to his warning. Stace has killed me before, and I doubt he would hesitate in finishing me off for good.

"Why? Why me?" I whisper, as I feel him move down my body. As my eyes adjust to the light, I can see the outline of his body, bigger than I remember. He's a man, a large man, who I have no hope of escaping until he's done with me.

I wish I could brush the tear from my cheek. It's a moment of weakness.

"You are to be marked," he tells me gruffly. The accent entwined in his voice is like none other, coming from a land I hope I never am a part of.

"No, you can't mark me!" I yelp, struggling against his touch, but he holds my hips down firmly, leaving me no choice but to submit to him for a moment to conserve my energy. I will wait until he releases me from these shackles before I make my next move. For now, I hope he will have mercy on me, and won't brand me.

Stace isn't my mate. I don't know who he is, but this I can be sure of. If he marks me, it could kill me. It's completely possible for my body to reject his mark, especially as he is not my mate, which is surely his plan. Maybe he will plant it on Cian, saying it was his mark that killed me.

The he could easily get away with it.

"I already have a mate who is yet to mark me. Please, he's immortal, he will come for you and he will kill you," I plead with him, hoping I can convince him out of fear.

Instead, he ignores me completely, placing his hands on my knees, before slowly, painfully dragging his hands up my thighs until they delve under my night dress. I bite my lip, holding in a scream I want to let out so desperately. He is going to defile me, do horrible things to me in the dead of the night, with no one here to save me.

"This isn't the mark you think it is, Abella. Soon you will be mine," he breathes, hiking my dress up completely over my hips, before he delves his head between my legs. What mark does he think he's leaving? A mark of a mate would be to claim...