Chapter 4
TWO CHOICES
NIA
Lyall isn’t in the mood to talk and I wish she would. I need the comfort and the reassurance. I need her to soothe me. Instead, she’s either silent or so riled that it’s impossible to hear anything other than her fury.
I need to hear something that doesn’t make this worse.
I need to get out of this goddamn room that holds me like I’m a fucking caged animal
I need to breathe. I need to collect myself and then I need to figure out what I’m going to do.
The walls are too strong to break through and every goddamn window is bolted shut. I’ve tried them all. Multiple times. There’s no give in them and I recognize the shatterproof glass. The bathroom vent is too small to do anything useful with and there’s not a chance I’m getting through the door.
I’m stuck in here until someone lets me out.
Until Luke or Cole let me out.
And it won’t be Cole’s decision.
The giant windows offer me a glimpse of a world I don’t know and while the view is beautiful, it isn’t kind.
I’m forced to stare at a panorama that offers me a taste of freedom, certain I won’t be allowed to taste it.
The mountains reach to the heavens but I can’t feel anything I’m seeing, forced to watch the wild being free as I’m held captive.
I’m allowed to look but I can’t touch and it’s a form of fucking torture.
I’ve never seen a sky as big as this one, and it reaches up and up and up.
Light floods through it during the day and at night the stars shine so bright that they’re dazzling.
The moon dances across her backdrop like a ballerina across a stage, and it leaves me in awe of the place I don’t want to be.
I don’t know where we are, but I’m certain this isn’t the Lightclaw pack.
Luke’s too young to be their Alpha and he doesn’t fit the description of a man with reddish hair and eyes that burn redder than hell.
He’s just as fearsome but he’s a different kind of dark.
The tall and muscular type whose shadows cut across his body and make him look even bigger. Even stronger. Even more dangerous.
He doesn't try to hide the tattoos on his arms because they mark his as an Alpha, and a powerful one. They're as imposing as his eyes, and their sapphire blue stares with an intensity that's hard to withstand, and made more dazzling by his dark brown hair.
This can't be the Lightclaw pack because the scenery outside isn’t familiar. It’s not safe. It’s not home. It’s not England anymore.
I loathe being trapped in here and every instinct in me tells me I belong out there.
Where I’m free to run and don’t have to worry about what anyone thinks of me.
Lyall would be happy there, and maybe she’d be content enough to come out.
We could even grow and find ourselves, in the way we’re supposed to come together.
But that isn’t going to happen.
Luke’s taunting me with the promise of something I’ll never have and it’s cruel. It’s a low blow and he’s trying to weaken my resolve. He’s trying to soften me up for whatever it is that he wants and the asshole has another thing coming if he thinks I’m going to fall for it. Or give in to it.
The man is a monster.
He’s a piece of shit and it didn’t take me more than a few seconds to realize just how despicable he is. It’s an insult to all the other men I’ve known to call him a man, and I knew from the second he didn’t even turn around that he was an asshole.
Luke’s too spiteful to even offer me a second of sympathy.
He’s selfish enough to ignore everything except whatever it is that holds his interest and he couldn’t even be bothered to check on me after he’s kidnapped me.
He made it damn clear he had more important matters to attend to and even his Beta looked apologetic as he brought me dinner.
My captor is a complete and utter cunt. A ruthless, calculating one too. One that’s fucking clever. He’s got a plan and it isn’t going to end well for me. Not at this rate.
He doesn’t want to use me as leverage against my father. Not unless he’s too stupid to taunt me with that fact and too slow to take advantage of seizing me. Luke isn’t either of those things, and it doesn’t make sense for him to bring me here if he’s trying to force my father to surrender.
It would be more effective to threaten me in front of my pack.
More visceral and the violence would feel worse.
Even if my father won’t relinquish his hold over the pack, they might decide that they won’t tolerate a leader who won’t protect his daughter.
It wouldn’t be the first time a pack has turned on their Alpha.
It would do Luke’s work for him and let him sweep to power without any of his wolves coming to harm.
Maybe he’s already taken control of the pack, but it wouldn’t make sense for us to be here. He’d need to secure his status. He’d be cementing his position in our territory and making sure that there’s no one left to challenge him, instead of leaving his new domain unprotected.
He’s after something else.
He’s got to be. It’s the only thing that makes sense.
My stomach knots itself, certain there’s only one other reason why an Alpha’s daughter is taken.
It’s outlawed by The Council but that hasn’t made a difference.
The Alphas who sit on it are meant to protect everyone beneath them, but they rarely do anything but serve their own interest. The Council was meant to govern werewolves, but it barely governs itself when it isn't following the instructions of the High Lords who rule over us.
The Council doesn’t have the inclination to do anything about matters like this, especially when their children might be the ones breaking the law and forced to face the consequences.
There’s never even been a trial for this offense, and if there were then everyone’s quite sure The Council’s teeth aren’t sharp enough to do any real damage anyway.
Not unless the High Lords or Elites Guards get involved, and I can't see them being interested in anything to do with one she-wolf who can't even shift being taken from her pack.
The cold and bitter truth is that I’m alone, trapped somewhere I don’t know, without any recourse even if I could escape the prison cell Luke’s holding me in.
Admittedly, it’s a very pretty cell. Comfortable too. The bathroom’s filled with every goddamn product I could want and some I don’t even know what to do with. The bed is so damn relaxing that I even managed to get some sleep.
And the view is stunning. Even if it reminds me of everything I’ve lost and all the things I’ll never have again.
I close my eyes as the first rays of the dawn warm my face.
I reach for my pack and I can’t feel them.
I can’t sense them. They’re too far away, lost in the distance that separates us.
I’ve got no idea what happened after I lost consciousness and they could be in disarray.
Dozens of them could be injured and maybe more of them didn’t make it.
It’s impossible to know and it’s eating away at me, gnawing at my insides as the guilt and self-loathing claw through me.
I assume the women and children were at least spared the worst of the fighting, secured in the basement until it was over.
They might not have been spared the aftermath though, and the violence of men is often worse after an attack than during it.
I’ve got no frame of reference, no way to tell what happened. The only thing I know is that Luke is heartless and brutal, and he’s the kind of Alpha that doesn’t give a shit about anything other than getting what he wants.
My eyes open and squint at the sun as it peaks over the mountaintops.
The pinky gold light is dazzling and I gasp, letting its beauty steal my breath.
It’s a moment of tranquility among the carnage I’m caught up in.
It’s the calm at the center of the storm raging around me and I intend to relish every moment of peace that I can.
Before that cunt walks through that door again.
The locks begin to move and their click heralds someone’s arrival.
It could be Cole, bringing food. But it’s early and I’d be surprised.
In fact, I’d be floored if it was anyone other than Luke.
He’s here to gloat and ramp up the pressure.
He’s here because he thinks I’ll either be exhausted after a night without sleep or caught off guard when he wakes me up.
The asshole thinks this is the time when I’m at my weakest and he’s got another thing coming.
I hear the door creak open and I ignore it.
The floor creeks as someone transfers their weight, and it’s a deliberate act designed to test my response. I could do something, I could give him the reaction that he wants. Instead, I stay stationary, admiring the glow of the sunrise as it washes out the darkness of the night.
My nostrils catch his scent and I’m sure it’s him. There’s smoke and cedarwood, the smell of fresh-cut grass and summer meadows. It’s earthy, deep and fresh. It’s wild and unworried, a warning that I’m in the presence of an Alpha who isn’t to be trifled with.
One who’s darkness isn’t at all appealing and does not catch my attention.
I’m not interested in his muscles or the things he thinks he can do with them.
I’m definitely not intrigued by the way his dark brown hair glistens as it catches the light but is so close to being black that it’s impossible to tell why it’s still brown.
And I do not like the way he forces me to control myself when he walks into the room as if his sheer damn presence has some kind of effect on me all by itself.
He growls under his breath and I ignore the fuck out of him.
“Nia?”