"You think she's really his mate?" A gruff voice muttered.
"I don't know. Maybe," someone replied.
"But she doesn't have a mark! Surely if she were mated to an alpha she'd be marked already."
"Well..." Even through the haze I was listening through, the second voice seemed defeated. I groaned and tried to roll over, whimpering as my shoulders spasmed with pain and my body stayed in place. "She's waking up!" I peeled back my lids quickly, on high alert now that I realized they were talking about me. I quickly realized two things. The first, I was standing upright, chained to a cold cement wall. My arms were stretched above my head and my wrists and ankles were securely clasped by cuffs attached to the wall. The second...
I was naked.
Completely and totally naked. It hurt to scream, but I did it anyway, trying to yank my hands free of their restraints to cover myself up. A chuckle come from the corner of the room and I stopped my struggling to look over and found two men sitting at a metal table, cards in their hands and money sitting in the middle of the table. The younger one was the one who spoke first. "It's no use, dollface, those cuffs are strong enough that even an alpha couldn't get out 'em." Both men snickered and I narrowed my eyes.
"Where am I? Who are you? What do you want?" The one who hadn't spoke stood up and set his cards down.
"Don't even think of looking at my cards," he warned with a point of his finger to the younger man. I recognized him as the man from earlier with the deep voice. "Now," he said, turning to face me. "Our alpha told us to get him as soon as you woke up, but," his eyes slide down my bare figure, making bile rise to my throat. A greedy look took over his eyes and he gave a terrifying smile. "Why don't we have some fun, first, eh? What do you think, Roge?" The other man, Roge, stood up and grinned, nodding slowly.
"Sounds good to me, Burt." Burt ran his thumb down the side of my torso.
"So soft," he murmured in a tremulous tone.
"Don't touch me," I warned, my heartbeat speeding up. Both men laughed loudly.
"Oh sweetheart," said "we can do whatever we want. Don't worry, we won't hurt you too much," he said in a happily.
"Speak for yourself," countered Burt, making them both start up with another laughing fit. Anger overtook me and I narrowed my eyes, spitting on a laughing Burt's face. Red filled his features as he snarled, moving his hand to slap me.
"Men!" Called a loud voice. Both froze in front of me and turned quickly to the door across the room. There stood a tall, red headed man with a bulky build. He stood up straight, feet apart, arms crossed as he glared at Burt and Roge. "Is there a problem here?"
"N-no, sir," said Roge, jumping as far away from me as he could. "We were just..." his eyes widened as he lost his voice.
"Just what?" He raised a red brow and tilted his head in a mocking sort of way, knowing full well that he'd just scared the crap out of the man. "Hm," he said calmly when Roge was still too frightened to answer. "Burt?" He turned to the man who'd gone stock still in front of me. I couldn't see his face, but by his rigid form, I'd have guessed he was scared as hell. "Care to tell me what the hell you were doing to the alpha's prisoner?" Burt lowered his head.
"She spit on me," he said plainly.
"As she should have, you jackass. You were supposed to come get me or the Alpha when she woke up and instead you...?" He left the sentence open, already knowing what it was they were going to do. Sighing, he pinched the bridge of his nose and closed his eyes. "I'll deal with you two later, for now I'm giving the both of you 3 seconds to get the hell out of my sight." Two audible gulps were heard before he called in a loud voice. "THREE!" Roge bucked it out of there before the word was even fully out of his mouth, and Burt followed behind at a slower pace. That is, until the red head boomed out, "TWO!" Burt was gone in a flash, stopping only at the door to glare at me.
A promise.
The man opened his eyes and they softened as he stared at me. At my face specifically. "I'm sorry about them. I wasn't the one who put them in charge," he said with raised hands. Surrender. "He removed a backpack that had been hanging on one shoulder. "I brought you some clothes." He set the bag down on the table and unzipped it, pulling out a pair of sweatpants and a thermal shirt. He looked up at me, hair falling in his eyes as he smiled slightly.
I was automatically wary, though his smile didn't really give off warning signs. I simply figured that if someone was involved in my kidnapping, then they were automatically not to be trusted. "You won't attack me if I let you loose, will you?" He chuckled softly and through the clothes over his shoulder. Walking towards me slowly, he reached into his pocket. I flinched away when he reached for me. "Shh," he said in a quiet voice. "It's okay. I'm not gonna hurt you." For some reason, I believed him. His brown eyes showed nothing but sincerity as he nodded. "That's it."
Slowly, I calmed down and was able to keep myself from flinching as he lowered himself, keeping his eyes averted as he went so he wouldn't see anything. Though I knew he'd seen everything, I still appreciated the gesture. He quickly used the key he had to open the locks and free my feet. He then grabbed the sweats and held them out for me to step into. He slid them up, careful not to touch my skin and I shivered, suddenly aware of how utterly freezing it was in the small room. He latched the locks again and stood up. Reaching above me, he undid the cuffs on my wrists. Quickly I brought my arms down to cover my bare chest.
"Why couldn't I just dress myself?" I murmured, looking away from him as I took the shirt he offered in my hands. He turned his back to me and shrugged. Quickly, I slipped the thermal over my head, wincing when my shoulder throbbed again, then rubbed my sore wrists.
"I couldn't exactly let you go completely. Wouldn't want you trying to run away, now would we?" I narrowed my eyes and huffed as I glared at his wide back. His shoulder slumped forward and he sighed. "Done?"
"Yes," I said quickly. He turned and the guilt I found in his eyes startled me.
"I'm sorry, Miss. Truly, I am." I swallowed and nodded. I sniffed as tears filled my eyes. "So, um, the alpha will be here soon. He'll want to speak to you. Until then... I won't put the handcuffs back on." I gave him a small smile, my wrists and shoulders thanking him. Sliding down the wall, I sighed and rolled my shoulders. My hands were numb from the blood suddenly rushing to them after being up for who knows how long. Speaking of...
"How long have I been here?" I was almost scared to ask, but his calm shrug reassured me a bit.
"Only overnight." He stood and moved to grab a chair, scraping it across the floor to sit in front of me. I stared up at him and bit the inside of my cheeks, water filling my eyes.
"Why am I here?" I whispered, my voice breaking. Through all of what happened since I'd woken up, the question had only just come to me, and it broke my heart. My father must have been worried sick. Parker was probably out of his mind. "What does your alpha want from me?"
He stared at me with an expression I couldn't quite identify. Emotions were flitting across his features too quickly for me to catch up. Sorrow. Hurt. Betrayal. Anger. Guilt. Maybe some more sorrow. "He-"
"Will tell you that when I feel like it," said a voice from the doorway. Shooting up quickly, I eyed the man who leaned against the door frame casually. His arms and ankles were crossed in a relaxed sort of way and he had a way about him that said he was very sure of himself. Not to mention the air of enough arrogance and egotism to choke a blue whale. "Matthew, grab yourself another chair," he demanded rudely, not even blinking.
Without hesitation, the only man who'd been kind to me today, Matthew, stood from his chair and went to get another for himself. Grabbing the chair Matthew had been sitting in, he turned it around and straddled it, resting his arms on the back and flashing me a cocky smile. "Miss Heart," he said in a chirpy tone. "I must say, I'm surprised to see you in such a state. I believe I specifically ordered for you to be chained up at the arms and legs," he laughed loudly as if it was the funniest thing. He turned to his beta, "Or am I wrong, Matthew?"
"No, Alpha," he replied, lowering his head. "Sorry, Alpha, I'll lock up her arms right away." He hurried to pass the man so he could do just that, but neither of us were prepared for the alpha to stand quickly, turn and punch him in the nose. There was an audible crack and blood spurted from Matthew's nose. Drops of the warm liquid hit the skin of my face and neck, and a scream erupted from my mouth. Matthew stumbled back, holding his hand to his nose, trying to stop the blood flow.
My hands flew to my mouth and tears blurred my vision. The alpha scoffed and wiped the blood off of his hand on Matthew's shirt. "I'll deal with you later," he warned. "Don't disobey me like that again." Turning back to me, he smiled. "Now, let's get back on tr-"
"You're a monster," I stated. His face turned hostile and he tilted his head.
"What did you just call me?" There was never a time that I wanted to hurt someone more than I wanted to hurt this man.
"You heard me! What is wrong with you?!" I could feel my face heating up, a tell tale sign that I was about to start sobbing, which attested to how angry I was. "Are you crazy or are you just stupid?" Matthew dropped his hands and shook his head at me quickly, wide eyed. Don't, he mouthed, but it was too late.
My body spun and hit the wall from the sheer force of the blow he gave. A pain filled gasp left my lips as I slid down the wall and I blinked hard as my vision blurred.
"You little bitch," he growled out, grabbing my hair and yanking my up off the floor. "I'll teach you to disrespect me like that!" He moved his fist back again, delivering another blow, this time to my stomach. I doubled over, only to be yanked back up by my hair. My eyes burned with the need to cry, but I refused to give him the satisfaction.
Clenching my jaw, I stared at him, letting him know I wasn't going to back down. This man could not beat me into submission. He gave a taunting smile and chuckled. "Oh, so you're a stubborn one. Let's see how tough you are after this, huh?" He snarled and threw me against the floor. My head bounced against the concrete and spots filled my vision. I turned to see him fishing a little glass jar out of his pocket. It was clear and had some sort of clear liquid and bits of violet something floating around inside.
"Alpha," Matthew said slowly, holding his hands out in front of him and walking slowly towards us.
"Shut up!" Barked the alpha as he looked down at me with a glaze over his dark eyes. Matthew's mouth snapped shut and he looked at me apologetically. I quickly tried to scoot away but was stopped by the chains yanking at my feet. "Let's see how much your punk mate wants you after this."
The alpha removed the cork on the bottle and raised it above me. My mind was rearing, thinking up of every name of every acid I knew of that he could be trying to pour on me and I whimpered. Slowly, he tipped it over and the liquid came pouring out.
I screamed out in protest as the liquid hit my skin, closing my eyes tightly and cringing. I waited and waited but the pain never came. Opening my eyes, I looked down at my wet shirt and ran my hand on my neck and face where the skin was wet, too. Pulling back my hand, I stared at it in confusion. My brows furrowed and I brought my hand to my nose and sniffed. "Water?"
Looking up I found two slack-jawed faces watching me in what looked like a mix of confusion and... was that fear? "W-what was that?" I stuttered out quietly.
The alpha couldn't seem to find his words, but Matthew had less trouble. "T-that... that was..." My breathing picked up as I watched him warily.
"That was... what?" Matthew took a deep breath and opened his mouth, but before he could speak, he was interrupted.
"How is this possible?" The alpha growled out. "You're not even... in pain. Or even remotely itchy!" I stared up at him with wide eyes. "It didn't effect you at all! How. Is. This. Possible!?" I sat up slowly and wrapped my arms around my soaked torso.
"Please tell me what that stuff was... What was it supposed to do?" I was probably very, literally morbidly curious. He tightened his jaw and glowered down at me, but now matter how hard the gaze he had, he couldn't hide the bewilderment his eyes held as he bore his eyes down on me.
"That stuff should have burned your skin to a crisp. With the amount I dumped on you, you should be writhing on the floor in so much pain you would be begging us to kill you!" His voice was tight as he waved his hands out at his sides.
My eyes flicked over to Matthew as he watched the scene with a look I couldn't recognize. I felt a bit like a science experiment being examined on a metal slab. The alpha grunted, bringing my attention back to him as he sank down onto his haunches.
"That stuff was a werewolf’s greatest weakness. That stuff," he said bitterly, "was wolfsbane."