14. Raine
14
Raine
I’m dragged back by the scruff of my neck and dropped in front of Daniel’s doorstep, my body hurting from how hard Ryin was biting into me to keep me still.
“Get up,” he demands the second he shifts.
I shift too, my arms and legs feeling like Jell-O while I try to stand. I’m terrified over what’s about to happen. What’s Daniel going to think of me sneaking out of Andromeda like this? He’s going to want to know why I was wandering out after curfew.
I doubt either Ryin or Lelana saw me coming back from the humans’ town. But they’re going to want to know why I was so close to it in the first place.
I’m shoved forward between the double doors leading into Daniel’s estate. The air in here is so oppressive that it’s making it hard to breathe—or maybe that’s just my terror clenching my throat tightly.
Both shifters take me through the foyer and down to Daniel’s office where, to my surprise, he’s already awake and waiting for me.
My entire body shakes at seeing him, his eyes narrowing at me the second he spots me.
“Leave us,” he tells both shifters, who are crowding near me. Inside me, my wolf lets out a vicious growl. She may want to stand up and protect me all she wants, but no matter what, we’re powerless to our alpha.
I hate that I want to beg the other two not to leave me here alone with him, though I doubt they’d even listen to me in the first place. In fact, I’m sure they’d revel in my begging.
“Sir, there’s something you need to know,” Lelana says. “She was dropping this off when we spotted her.”
My heart absolutely sinks into my stomach the moment my package from the mailbox is set down on Daniel’s desk.
No.
No, no, no.
The entire room grows fuzzy, my head swimming.
Daniel glares down at the package before saying, “Leave” once more.
I swallow thickly as they both turn and head out, shutting the door to the office behind them. Daniel’s alpha energy is more oppressive here than when I first walked into his estate. So much so, that I actively have to fight myself not to drop to my knees before him and grovel.
“I’m going to give you one chance to tell me why you were out past curfew.” His voice is calm and quiet. It scares the shit out of me.
It takes me a few tries to get the words out, but I finally manage to say, “I-I was…s-sending a package…”
“To?”
Instantly, my mouth clamps shut.
Just punish me, I want to beg. Punish me and get it over with.
My eyes drop down to the carpet in submission. I’ll do whatever I can to seem as nonthreatening as possible. Maybe he’ll take mercy on me and toss the package without bothering to look at it. Maybe he’ll let me go with a simple lashing.
I can handle that.
Anything but him opening up the package.
“Kneel.”
My knees buckle instantly.
I fall to the floor at his feet, bowing my head until my hair is a curtain around my face. My eyes squeeze shut, waiting for the blow to the head from his shoe or something else within reach. All I hear though, is him ripping into the package.
“Please,” I whisper.
“What is this?” he asks, though not really to me, more to himself.
I peek between the strands of my hair to see he has my letter to Aiden in one hand, slightly crumpled, and in the other is the pregnancy test.
His eyes widen when he realizes what it is and then he flips it over to read the result. “You whore…so this is what you were doing while you were supposed to be gathering intel for me.”
I don’t have time to react before he tosses the letter on the ground and then grabs me by the hair, yanking me up from the floor. Pain radiates along my scalp, making me wince.
“You think spreading your legs is going to be what saves you? No male is going to want a used-up slut like you.”
His words sting enough to make my eyes water.
Aiden will be different. He’s not going to think of me like that. He wants to be with me, he said so himself.
“I should’ve sold you off as a breeder a long time ago,” Daniel goes on, “since you want to spread your legs for any male that comes your way. Hell, I should be renting you out right now to any alpha who wants a piece of you.”
“Please.” Tears fall from my eyes. “Don’t.”
He throws me to the ground. “Who’s the father? Do you even know? Or were you too busy fucking the entirety of the Pollis pack?”
I sob into the plush carpet under me. “I’m sorry.”
“You’re sorry?” He laughs. “Sorry enough to sneak out and send this package to your lover. Did you really think I wouldn’t be keeping tabs on you after you failed me?”
The news shocks me.
Almost five weeks and he’s been keeping tabs on me? That’s so ridiculous that I wouldn’t believe it if it wasn’t coming directly out of the horse’s mouth.
Why bother? What could he possibly have suspected me of doing?
I’ve only gotten lucky so far by passing Delilah my notes to send to Aiden in my stead, but tonight I got too greedy. I let her get me too excited and went out to send the letter myself, instead of waiting for her to bring it into town a few days from now.
The potential to finally be free of this place had been too great to ignore my impulses.
Daniel kicks me hard in the side, causing me to let out a whimper and a gasp.
I crumble onto the carpet, holding my hand protectively over my stomach.
“Let’s see what this letter says, shall we?”
He bends and plucks it off the ground again. It’s hard to see him through my blurry vision, but I watch as his eyes dart across the page, reading each line and then slowing as he gets to the bottom, where I address Aiden by name.
His hand clenches around the paper, creasing it dramatically. “You… fucked him?” He lets out an incredulous laugh.
My entire body shakes at his tone.
I’ve never heard Daniel sound like this. Did I break him?
He never would’ve considered the possibility of me doing something like this before. Hell, I’ve always followed whatever ridiculous rule or scheme he’s had for me. Getting pregnant with the child of Aiden, the alpha who he’s been banking on taking down, is on a whole other level than he was expecting.
His arm lowers slowly to his side as he turns to stare at me in complete surprise.
“You fucked him,” he whispers.
“I’m sorry,” is all I can think to say in response.
I don’t move when he grabs me again, this time hauling me up by my arm and dragging me to a bookshelf behind his large desk. He pulls a book toward him, activating the secret room hidden behind it.
My stomach instantly sinks, knowing exactly where this is going.
“No!” I tug at his hold on me, digging my feet into the carpet. “No! Don’t!”
He ignores me and drags me farther, barely affected at all with his alpha strength. My wolf roars and scratches at the inside of my mind, daring me to let her out to finish off the problem that’s been plaguing us since we were young.
Inside the secret room, there is a barely visible trapdoor hidden partially by another carpet. Daniel crumples up the letter in his hand and tosses it before leaning down to grab at the latch and pull it up, opening the trapdoor.
The stairs down into it are barely visible in the poor lighting.
“Daniel, please! I’m sorry! I’m sorry!” Tears are falling freely down my face at this point.
And still, he ignores me.
He drags me down into the cellar as I kick and scream at him to let me go. His grip on my arm hurts so bad that I know he’s going to leave his handprints behind after he lets go. There are several holding cells down here, most of them dusty and unused, except for the last one at the very end.
That one, I’m familiar with all too well.
“Please,” I sob. “I-I’ll get rid of it.”
“It’s too late for that,” he says, unlocking the door. “You’ve done the damage. It can’t be undone.”
“Daniel, I swear it meant nothing,” I lie. “I promise.”
He throws me into the cell, yanking the door shut behind me. The grinding of the locking mechanism causes me to flinch.
“The next time I see you,” he says, walking back to the stairs, “you’ll be someone else’s problem.”
I scream at him as he slams the door shut, plunging me into complete darkness.