Chapter 3 - Silas
The rage coursing through Silas’ veins could not be compared with anything he had ever felt. Violent images flashed through his mind.
What would have happened had he not been here? What would her buyer have done to her?
His fingers twitched, eager to tear all the shifters in this warehouse to pieces. The auctioneer. The handlers. The buyers who bid on her.
But he couldn't. Not here.
So Silas put a lid over his anger, despite his wolf's protest. Then he turned to the one thing that mattered. Getting Elle to safety.
“We must go,” he said.
Elle looked at him with those vengeful dark brown eyes, and Silas remembered all the cruel words he spoke to her. But there was no time to explain or even think about anything but pulling her out of this nightmare.
He reached for her arm. Elle jerked back.
“Don't touch me.”
The warehouse was getting empty. The buyers were moving towards different exits with the women they bought. The auctioneer was also getting ready to leave.
They only had a few minutes before someone would begin to ask questions.
“Elle, there is no time for this.”
“I am not leaving with you.”
Silas grunted, crouched, grabbed her waist, and threw her over his shoulders. Elle gasped and struck his back with her fists to no avail. “Put me down!” she screamed.
Silas did not reply or make any move to stop. He headed to the nearest exit. One of the handlers approached him. “Sir, you must—” he stopped talking when Silas bared his teeth. The handler flushed and walked away.
Silas walked out of the warehouse into the chilly night.
His truck remained where he had strategically left it in order to make a quick escape.
Elle continued to fight him, screaming, and it caught the eye of the few shifters who remained lingering around the parking lot.
He strolled towards the truck, opened the passenger door, and threw her in.
“Child locks,” Silas said, slamming her door shut. He then went around the car, got into the driver's seat, and switched on the engine.
Elle grabbed the door handle and frantically pulled it. “Let me out! Let me out right now!”
Silas pulled out of the parking lot, glancing in the rear-view mirror. He caught a glimpse of two of the shifters looking at him, phones already in hand. Fuck. They would report this. It was weird enough that he paid a fortune. Now he was basically fleeing.
His mission was compromised. Six months of work and planning—swept away in one moment.
He didn't care.
What he found important was the woman beside him who had haunted his dreams for eight years. His mate and her unmistakable scent filling the truck, making him grip the steering wheel even tighter, breathing through his mouth.
The city lights blurred past as he drove faster, pushing past the speed limit. Elle was no longer trying the door handle, but she sat as close to the window as possible.
“Where are you taking me?”
“Somewhere safe.”
“There's nothing safe about being in a car with you.”
The words cut deeper than they should have. Silas's hands tightened on the steering wheel.
Twenty minutes passed in tense silence. Silas took a side path that most people didn't know, glancing back at every turn, to be sure that no one had followed him from the warehouse. After he was sure, he drove into a deserted parking lot at the outskirts of the city.
He switched off the engine and grabbed Elle by her wrists, which were still tied. As expected, she flinched.
“I just want to remove the bindings.”
“Don't touch me.”
“Elle, I need to—”
“I said, don't touch me!” She turned to look at him, her face contorted in rage. “You sick bastard. You bought me as if I were some sort of thing.”
Understanding dawned on Silas. She thought he was one of the traffickers.
“Elle, no. You don't understand.”
“I understand perfectly. You're just like them. Just like all of them. I should have known. I should have guessed you would be able to do something like this.”
Silas felt the sting of the accusation, but he could not blame her. He had provided her with all the reasons to believe that he was the worst.
“I am not one of them,” he began to explain. “I have been following this business for a few months, and I have been trying to figure out who's running it. I was there to collect intelligence and not to purchase slaves.”
Elle scoffed bitterly. “You expect me to believe that? You spent one hundred thousand dollars on me!”
“Because I couldn’t leave you there!” He exploded, slamming his fist on the steering wheel. “Because the thought of someone purchasing you, touching you, or hurting you made me want to burn the warehouse to the ground.”
Elle went still. “What?”
Silas drew in a sharp breath and made himself speak more calmly. “I have been working on eliminating this trafficking ring. It's a long story. But I promise, you're safe now.”
He watched her face and saw different emotions. From confusion, suspicion, and, lastly, what seemed to be relief. Her shoulders sagged, and her breathing slowed.
“You were investigating.”
“Yes.”
“You are not...you were not there to purchase women.”
“No. Never.”
Elle shut her eyes, her hands shaking.
Guilt twisted in his chest. She had every reason to believe that he could be so cruel. Especially since he had dismissed her in the most inconsiderate manner and allowed his father to banish her without even trying to stop it.
“I'm sorry,” he said quietly. “I want you to know that I regret what happened all those years ago. And I'm sorry. For everything.”
Elle shook her head lightly, wiping her forehead. “Just take me home.”
“I will.”
“Good. Since I must go back to my apartment, to my life, to—”
“No.”
Elle's eyes narrowed. “What do you mean, no?”
“I mean, you are not returning to the human world. I'm not allowing it.”
“Excuse me?”
“Those traffickers saw you. They know your face. They will track you down should I leave you to go back to your life. They will kidnap you, and I may not be able to rescue you next time.”
“Then I'll be careful. I'll move.”
“They're shifters, Elle. They will follow you no matter where you are.
“That's my problem, not yours.”
“The hell it's not.” His wolf stirred within him. “You're not going back there. You're coming with me.”
“Like hell I am.”
Silas restarted the engine. Elle's eyes widened.
“What are you doing?”
“Taking you somewhere safe.”
“Silas, I swear to God, turn this car around—”
“I'm not turning around. You are going to pack territory with me, and you are going to marry me.”
Complete and total silence filled the car for about thirty seconds. Then Elle exploded.
“Are you out of your mind?” She grabbed the door handle again, pulling it. “You cannot just make me marry you!
“I can, and I am.”
“This is insane! This is—let me out! Let me out right now!”
Silas pulled back onto the road, going north into the pack territory. Elle kicked the dashboard, then screamed, pounded her window, did all she could to make him stop.
“It is in your own best interest,” Silas said.
His wolf would never be appeased until she was bonded to him. Until she was in his pack, under pack law, and untouchable.
“Oh, fuck off. I want my freedom!”
“You'll be safe with me. With the pack.”
“The same pack that banished me? The pack that hates humans? You're taking me back there?”
“Things have changed.”
“Nothing's changed! You still are the same domineering jackass you always were!”
Elle screamed for another ten minutes. Silas never tried to stop her. He figured she needed to.
And then she slowly fell silent.
Silas glanced at the passenger's seat, and his chest tightened. Elle had stopped fighting. She sat rigidly against the passenger seat, her eyes staring into nothing.
He'd seen this before. In victims of trauma. The point where they no longer had the strength left to fight, so they retreated somewhere deep inside, where the pain couldn't reach.
A wave of guilt crashed over him. He was doing this to her. It was he who was inflicting such pain and trauma.
But his wolf growled that it had to be. It was important that she was safe, regardless of what she felt now. She would understand later on.
Silas was not sure he believed that.
They spent twenty minutes driving without saying anything. Silas avoided using highways where he could be seen. He continued driving until they got closer to the pack lands.
Then his nostrils twitched.
“Fuck,” he cursed under his breath. Rogues. Lone wolves who are usually dangerous and unpredictable. And they were close.
If he took another route, it would add an extra hour to their journey. An extra hour, leaving Elle vulnerable, where they could be spotted by the traffickers.
No. He'd continue and get rid of them.
Silas pressed the accelerator. He had seen the rogues five miles from pack territory.
Three rogue wolves appeared in the middle of the road, their yellow eyes gleaming, staring at Elle—they were either fascinated by her or hungry. He'd bet good money on the latter.
Silas stopped the truck. “Stay here,” he ordered.
“What's happening?”
“Rogues. I'll handle it.”
He jumped out of the truck, and the wolves made their way towards him. Silas took a deep breath and allowed his wolf to rise to the surface. Then, in his Alpha voice, he commanded, “Leave.”
The wolves hesitated. But one of them, the biggest, took a step forward.
Silas growled. He didn't have the time or patience for this. Elle was in the truck, weak and frightened, and these rogues were in his path.
The largest wolf lunged.
Silas shifted partially and caught the wolf with his enhanced strength and speed, slamming it into the ground. The other two hesitated, then fled into the forest.
The wolf pinned below him whimpered and yielded. Silas reluctantly set him free and watched him limp after the other two.
He shifted fully back into human and went back to the truck.
Elle looked at him with wide eyes. “If you weren't here, they would have attacked me, right?”
“Yes.”
Silas saw the moment she understood how helpless she was in this world, how numerous the threats were, and how she could do nothing about them or flee.
He hated using her fear against her or manipulating her. But his wolf was more than
content, because it viewed what happened as necessary. It made Elle realize she wasn't safe. That she needed him.
“We must continue to move.” Silas put the gear in motion, making their way to the pack with neither of them saying a word.
As they reached the border, the air changed slightly, and Elle stiffened. “I can't believe you're really doing this.”
“I'm sorry.”
“No, you're not. You're not sorry at all.”
She was right. Silas felt guilty about the burden he was placing on her. But he wasn't sorry. Not when it was a question of her safety. Not when it involved bonding her to him so she couldn't escape.
He steered through the dark streets of the packland, going into the town, towards the building where mates got bonded. Where Elle would belong to him in all the ways that counted.
The stone structure was now visible. It was ancient and immovable.
Silas switched off the engine and parked the car.
“Don't do this, please,” Elle pleaded, her voice breaking. “Please, Silas. Don't take this choice from me.”
The agony in her sliced through him like a knife. But Silas had made up his mind. His wolf basically decided on his behalf as soon as he had seen her on that stage.
“I am sorry. But I have to.”
He got out of the truck and went around to her side, knowing that this was the beginning of something that would change everything between them forever.