"You... you thought my whole family was dead?" I stammered. "Am I supposed to be dead?" I looked around.
"Every time my instincts tell me not to listen to you, I still do and this is what I get," Maddie mumbled under her breath, causing me to send a glare in her direction. She was pouting in her seat like a child.
"But that's impossible," Damian mumbled to himself, ignoring me.
"Not possible? I'm sitting right here," I said while glancing out the room. There was only one exit door, and it was far from my seat.
"Michael," Damian said. "Do they know she's alive?"
"I don't know," he replied. "That's why I bought her here."
"W-who are they?" I asked. I was hell-bent on getting out here, but somehow I couldn't shut up. Asking questions was what got me in this situation.
"Hey! You will speak when spoken to. Have some respect for our Alpha!" one of the men stated grimly.
"What?" I asked with a raised brow. "What the hell is an 'alpha'?" One of the men in the room facepalmed themselves and others shook their heads in amusement.
"She doesn't know. All the better," Damian said flatly with a relieved look on his face. "Take her to a room to stay; I have a busy day, so we'll discuss this tomorrow."
"Room to stay?" My jaw dropped. "I demand you take me home now!" I protested. "Clearly this is a misunderstanding. Just forget what I asked earlier," I pleaded to Michael.
"We're just trying to protect you," he responded. He opened the door. "It'd all make sense eventually. Just trust me." He pointed to a dimly lit hallway. I squinted.
"I barely know you."
"There's a first time for everything," he said with a shrug.
We were led to a room with two beds. There was a flat screen TV mounted on the wall and a bathroom to the left. I turned to face Maddie. She hadn't said much and I was concerned.
"Are you okay?" I asked her softly.
"I'm fine," she said and propped herself on the bed. "I just can't see this ending well." I walked across the room to the window and stared outside. I hadn't realized that it was the late afternoon; a bright yellow sun lit up the sky and clouds with pink and orange tones above the tall trees. It was beautiful but I had to get out of here.
I looked around and saw a long metal rod that was placed just above the window curtain. I stood on my toes and reached for it, only touching it with my fingertips, causing it to fall with a loud clang. I froze, wondering if someone would come barging through the door any second.
No one came so I proceeded. I struck the window several times until I was breathless. I stood there furious that it didn't even sustain a crack. Even when Maddie came to help, the window didn't budge. I guess we were so preoccupied, we didn't hear the door creak open.
"What are you doing?" a voice said behind me. We both turned around to see Damian watching us with a raised eyebrow.
"What does it look like I'm doing?" I asked sarcastically and turned around to continue hitting the window. Maddie, however, looked like she wanted to bolt. I just wanted to go home.
"You can't go home. It's not safe for you out there," he said as though he read my mind.
"How would you know? Your men kidnapped me." I hit the window again.
You'll understand soon enough," he mumbled as he walked out of the room.
"What's that supposed to mean?" I asked but got no reply as the door slammed in my face.
"Ashley, I think we should just cooperate and see what happens." She walked towards the bed and sat down.
"I can't. This is making me anxious."
"Stop worrying," Maddie said. "They won't kill us."
***
I woke up to the lovely aroma of freshly brewed coffee and snuggled deeper into the bed waiting for Maddie to come bounding up the stairs and pull me out. It then occurred to me that I wasn't home. I bolted from the bed and observed my surroundings, also examining my body to make sure I was actually still alive. I looked to my side only to find an empty spot. Oh God, I thought. They'd already taken her. Suddenly I heard loud laughter coming from downstairs and out curiosity, I crawled out of the bed and walked towards the door.
They killed her and they were laughing about it?
As I opened it, I took in the scent of the various meals that was probably being served right now. Smelling it more made my belly grumble loudly. I carefully went down the stairs, peeking around the wall and gazing into the well-furnished kitchen. The counters were covered with a shiny black granite surface as the cupboards and drawers were bare vanished wood. Everything seemed alive as morning light flooded into the room giving it an almost magical glow.
My gaze turned to the people occupying the room. They hadn't noticed my presence as I observed them. Maddie was sitting around the island giggling hysterically as she pecked her breakfast which was a plate of scrambled eggs and fried bacon, the typical breakfast. There were some males that were sitting around with her as they watched her laugh with amused expressions on their face. I had no idea what she was laughing at and I didn't want to know either.
"You're up already," a voice said behind me, making me leap in surprise. My heart was beating rapidly as I turned around to give the person behind me a scowl. "I'm sorry," Damian said smiling slightly.
"It's okay," I said taking deep breaths to calm myself down. Good to know he was one of those that just loved to pop out of nowhere. I hated these kinds... you never saw them coming.
"I'm going to let you have breakfast and later I would like to see you in my office. We have some stuff to discuss."
"Oh, I'm not hungry, we can go now," I said quickly, too curious to feel my stomach practically begging for food. Maybe after we discussed the stuff, he'd let me go.
"Okay?" he said raising an eyebrow in suspicion. "Come this way."
He began walking down a broad hall that was adjacent to the staircase I had just come from. There were a series of doors but we passed them all and all of a sudden I was beginning to regret not having breakfast first. I was sure he could have heard the noises it was making.
Finally, we stopped at a door that he opened which led to a wide room. It looked like an office with antiques everywhere giving it a historical mode and it smelled clean. I know that was odd, but I like to smell things. There were two men sitting at the guest chairs near the desk, chatting away. They were smaller than Damian but oddly they looked alike. One was blonde and the other had dark brown hair and soft brown eyes... like Damian.
As soon as we entered the room, they stopped their chatter and smiled at Damian and then looked at me in curiosity.
"Well well well... Who's the young lady?" the blonde said grinning away. Damian rolled his eyes and motioned for me to sit.
"Ashley, these are my two younger brothers, Daniel," he said pointing to the dark-haired one, "And Aiden," he said pointing to the blonde. Now that he mentioned it, the resemblance seemed even closer.
"Uh, hi," I said nervously, not meeting their stares. "So what did you want to discuss?"
"Oh yes. How much do you know about your mother?" He asked it so casually as if he had no idea what happened to her. Did he?
"She died a few months ago," I said quietly, deeply I was still grieving.
"Yes... we know what else?" I quickly raised my head in their direction with wide eyes.
"You... you know?" I asked narrowing my eyes. These people shouldn't know anything about my mother nor should they know anything about me. What had I gotten myself into when I went into that morgue? I should have listened to Maddie when she told me to give it a rest. Maybe right now I would have been on a vacation with her somewhere in Hawaii drinking some expensive fruit punch or getting a tan at the beach. 'Curiosity killed the cat', and that cat was starting to look like me.
"You may not believe me Ashley, but I knew your mother way before you were born and just like you, I'm looking for answers. So can you please cooperate?"
"How can I trust you? You basically had your men take me and my friend against our will and as far as I'm concerned, that's kidnapping."
Damian let out a huge sigh and rubbed his temples. He looked tired and it seemed I was making it worse but I really didn't care. He stayed silent for a while, studying me. I stared at him too, waiting for him to blink. I wasn't giving in that easily.
"I think we should just tell her everything," Daniel said. Aiden nodded in agreement but Damian shook his head no.
"I'm not sure how she would take it."
"If you're doing drugs, feel free to tell me. If you let me go, I promise I won't tell anyone." I really didn't care, to be honest. I just wanted my freedom back. Damian looked like he was about to explode.
"We're not shipping dru...."
"ALPHA!" a man shouted as he ran into the room.
"What is it," Damian asked concern deep in his voice.
"We have unexpected visitors."
***
C'mon people... talk to me!
Taja D'amore.