Chapter 4
Amalia’s POV
I cried myself to sleep, thinking what exactly Erik had in store for me. Would my fate be death or a lifetime of complete and utter misery? I instantly thought of my father. When he died. I was sixteen and alone. I couldn't keep up with the payments so I had to sell my father's beloved cabin and I've been town hopping ever since. I'll see him soon I thought, and mother. I woke up to the sound of the boot opening. It was broad daylight and it hurt my eyes slightly. There stood Erik.
'Breakfast.' He said coldly, handing over a McDonalds bag and a cup of coffee. My stomach grumbled and I wasted no time in devouring the food and draining the coffee cup. Erik looked at me the whole time in awe.
'Never seen a girl eat.' I snapped.
'No. But not at the rate of a starved pig.' He smirked. I shot him a sour look while he took my rubbish and tossed it into a nearby bin. On further inspection, I realised we were in a car park.
'Don't even think about running off. I'll catch you. I always will.' He said sharpely.
'What do you want from me?' I whined, tears ready to leek out.
'That's a conversation for another time. For now, I need you to follow my instructions.' He said. 'Nate and I have a very important meeting and before you ask. Yeah they know about our situation so you can expect zero help from them. You will sit quietly in the living room with the people while we have our meeting upstairs. You will not be rude. You will not run away. And most importantly you will not embarrass me at the house. Is that understood?' He snarled, his eyes darkening.
'Very.' I said sarcastically, but hiding the fear that shot up my back.
‘Oh and change out of that uniform.’ He said, chucking my backpack at me. How the hell did he get this?
‘Obviously I cleared your room of all your belongings. Can’t have you disappearing into thin air, now that would look suspicious.’ He said, reading my mind.
I felt the little hope in me that maybe Sawyer or somebody from work would report me missing, die. I sighed and was ready to get changed when I saw that Erik hadn’t moved.
‘Em, can I have some privacy please?’ I asked sternly.
He appeared to think seriously about it.
‘No.’ He said coldly.
‘Excuse me? I’m not getting changed in front of you.’
‘Clock is ticking. Your testing my patience. Change now or I will do it for you.’ He tapped his wristwatch, furiously.
Agreeing with the former choice, I began to unbutton my pink shirt, revealing my beige bra. I swallowed back the fearful whimper as his eyes roved over my chest and stomach. Hastily, I pulled over a blank tank top and a brown jumper before slipping off my skirt and pulling on jeans. I was ready to stuff the uniform in the bag when Erik snatched it out of my hands, and after placing it in a black bin bag, chucked it into the trash.
He helped pull me out of the boot and kept a death grip on my hand, as we walked through a park and towards a house where Nate was waiting at the porch.
'Ready?' He asked. I rolled my eyes while Erik simply nodded. Nathan knocked on the door and in a few seconds, the door opened, revealing a small Native American woman.
'Good day. You must be Alpha Nathan and Beta Erik, and who is this young blood here?' She beamed, looking me up and down.
'This is my future mate, Amalia.' Erik answered. I frowned Alpha...Beta...Mate...What kind of slang were these people speaking?
'Oh I see. Well please come in, we have coffee and cookies on the table. Harry is waiting upstairs in his office for you both.' She pointed up the stairs.
'Can you watch Amalia for me. This is all very new to her and I don't want her to run away again.' Erik said, giving me a glare.
'I understand. We won't let her out of our sight.' The woman nodded. Erik let go of my hand, and with one final glower towards me, strided up the stairs after Nate.
'Well then. Forgive me. I haven't introduced myself. I'm Susannah. I'm Luna of the pack. My husband Harry is Alpha. We pride ourselves on being the oldest by blood in the entire country.'
I was instantly confused by her words, but decided to pretend that I knew exactly what she was talking about. Then I would maybe find out more about Erik's intentions for me.
'Now here is the others girls. This is Tabitha. Mary, my sister. And Yolanda.' She pointed to the three woman who all waved at me. We all sat down.
'Help yourself.' She gestured to the cup of steaming coffee and plate of sweet smelling cookies.
'Don't mind if I do, thanks.' I grabbed one and nibbled on a choc chip cookie.
'So how is it that you know Nathan and Jake.' I asked, casually.
'Well they are the leaders of the most powerful pack in the whole country, so of course we know them. Not by numbers of course. The largest pack is down in Texas. But they are without a doubt the most skilled fighters.' Mary gushed.
'I always hoped that I'd find a mate in that pack. All the she-wolves do. Every summer, hundreds of she-wolves go up there in hopes that they will find their mate. Many do not, but their have been exceptions.' Tabitha dreamed.
Wait, she-wolves. No it can't be.
'You are so lucky Amalia. Really lucky. Erik could have picked anyone. He had a whole bunch of she-wolves begging for him to claim them. But like a gentleman he waited and he waited and now he is doing it the old-fashioned way.' Tabitha said.
'Yeah, I overheard Harry talking to Nathan on the phone. Apparently he decided to do the old ritual because he couldn't bear the thought of claiming someone elses mate.' Susannah nodded.
'Oh what a sweetheart' smiled Mary.
No it can’t be. Werewolves? That’s impossible.
Werewolves? Half-man, half-wolf hybrids just running around the woods. And to think I was sharing a car with two of them.
'Amalia, are you okay?' Susannah smiled, touching my arm. I tensed up slightly and she looked at me, looking concerned.
'Nothing. It's just... I guess I'm a little scared of not being accepted.' I lied. What exactly would happen to me? Am I going to be some supernatural creatures sex slave, or am I dinner?
'Don't be silly. You're the Beta's mate.' Tabitha laughed. Mate? Soon enough I heard footsteps coming down the stairs. Erik was just behind Nathan and who I assumed was Harry. He stared at me for a long time before saying.
'How much did they tell you?'
'What do you mean? Wait she doesn't know does she?' Susannah gasped, looking worriedly at Tabitha and Mary, then me.
I should be scared but I'm not. I'm angry. That I've been kept in the dark this long. And literally too. I've been in a damn boot all this time.
'Yes Erik, they told me everything.' I said calmly.
'Let me guess, you think we're monsters.' He laughed sarcastically.
'Well you did kidnap me. What the hell am I suppossed to think? That you spend time petting bunny rabbits and chasing butterflies in the woods.' I spat, angrily.
'Don't you dare talk to me like that.' Jake barked.
'And don't you dare kidnap me. Throw me into the boot of the car. And let me find out all of this from other people. You'd think since you were my kidnapper you would so kindly fill me in.'
'I don't have to do anything for you. You're mine. You do as I say.' He roared.
I snorted in angry and was ready to retort when I was interrupted.
'Right shall we get going?' Nathan pipped up.
'Of course.' I spun around towards Susannah. 'Thank you for your hospitality and... clearing a few things up for me. Nice meeting you three as well.' Susannah grabbed me into a hug and whispered in my ear 'Good luck.' I stormed past Erik and out the front door, behind Nathan. I waited for Erik to open the boot and gesture me to get in. Instead, I opened the back door and slide in. I saw Nathan smirk slightly in the mirror as the boot door came down with a bang and Erik stormed into the driver’s seat, slamming the door behind him.
'Glad your finger wasn't in that, or that would hurt.' I smiled. Erik turned around and glared towards me.
'What was one of the rules?' He asked darkly.
'Don't run away and something or other.'
'Do not embarrass me. Which you just did by the way.' He snarled. I rolled my eyes. 'Do not make a sound... or try and run away.' He finished and started the car.
Erik’s POV
That little bitch, how could she humiliate me and disrepect me infront of Alpha Harry and his wife. I would teach her a lesson. If she thinks she can get away with that. She has another thing coming to her. It looks bad in our society when a werewolf's mate does not submit and acts like that, espiecially in the prescence of others. I didn't think getting a mate would be this hard. I've waited my whole life and now I have to resort to kidnapping a snappy, ungrateful little cow. I gritted my teeth. There is no way, I'm waiting till we get home. If do it now, the process will begin, and she won't be able to reject me so easily.
'Let's go stay at a motel.' I stated.
'Nah, let's keep driving. It's my turn in three hours and then you can have a sleep.'
'Nathan. Motel.' I said. Nathan mouthed no at me, understanding what I was meaning. I looked into the rear-view mirror and saw Amalia sleeping like an angel.
'It's time.'