Chapter 10
SELENE
Istopped screaming a while ago because it was pointless with the gag my captor stuck in my mouth.
He tied another piece of fabric around my head once I was gagged to make sure it wouldn’t fall out, and then he bound my hands behind my back so I couldn’t rip it off.
After howling into the fabric for a few minutes, I realized nothing was coming out, and he was simply laughing at me as he carried me over his shoulder.
“Fiery omega,” he croons. “It will be my pleasure to quell that in you.”
But he will never put out my fire, not as long as he stands between me and Harry. It doesn’t matter what he does to me—I will never give up trying to return to him.
When we reach the house deep in the woods, though, the truth of what lies ahead of me becomes clearer. I am a prisoner again, helpless again, trapped again. No matter how I flail, my captor simply chuckles and holds me tighter. He is big and strong as an ox. An alpha, through and through.
Father was right about this, at least. I wasn’t safe, even with Harry. Not while I am what I am and these monsters are on the prowl.
I try again to kick my legs, but the man holds them firmly in his arm. There’s nothing I can do with my hands bound, either. I am helpless in the face of what he plans to do.
The alpha unlocks his door, steps inside the house, and locks it again behind him. It smells strange in here, musky and woody, something that should appeal to me—but it isn’t Harry’s smell, and so it disgusts me.
“Do you like it?” asks my captor, spinning me around. “Your new home. Once I’ve knotted you, you’ll be mine. And by then, you’ll know it, just like I do now.”
I would much rather vomit down his back, especially after the spinning.
While I sag against him, he continues deeper into the house. I can’t see where we’re headed, but I feel when he stops and hear when he yanks a door handle open.
Where are we going? Where is he taking me?
We descend down steps as I flail my legs again, but the way the alpha doesn’t react, it’s as if I’m little more than an annoying fly to him. Once inside, he turns and closes the door behind him, locking that, too.
Then we descend into darkness. A scream leaves my mouth unbidden, but it gets lost in the gag.
No. No! Not another locked door. Anything, anything but a locked door.
The world turns darker, and the doorway is getting farther away from me the deeper we go. I’m going to die. I’m going to die here, in a pit under a house, in a room I can’t escape.
I thrash harder, and this time, my captor pauses and abruptly turns his body—slamming me into a wall. My scream of pain dissipates into the soggy cloth as my head collides with wood. The world spins, and I no longer have the sense about me to fight as he carries me down the stairs.
Then we reach flat ground, and I’m moving again. Suddenly the painful bite of his shoulder in my gut is gone, and instead, I’m being laid upon the cold, hard ground on my back.
My eyes fly wide open as the alpha grins over me. I’m in only my nightgown with nothing on underneath, and I’m acutely aware of that now as he reveals all of his teeth. His hands fly down to his waist, where he unbuckles his belt—or tries to, but his fingers aren’t cooperating.
“Calm down, Greld,” he mutters, like he’s talking to himself. “You don’t want to rip her in half.”
Fear blazes through me again. I know now what he plans to do.
While he’s occupied with his belt, I fight through the maddening panic and think. His head is bent. If I jam my knee up at just the right angle…
Closing one eye, I focus on him and aim. I get one chance, and I’d better not mess it up.
I bend my knee fast and fling it upward, straight into his face.
The bone collides with his nose, and the alpha—Greld—lets out a howl of agony.
It hurt me, too, with as much force as I put behind it, but I’m not as fragile as I once was.
Greld leans back and covers his face as blood pours from his nostrils.
While he’s occupied, I pull up both knees as far toward my face as they can go, aim my feet, and…
I kick. As hard as I kicked the door in Father’s house, I kick Greld, striking him in the chest and belly. He roars again, crashing backward, and even though my arms are pinned behind me, I try to get to my feet.
“OMEGA!” he shrieks, rising to his feet.
Blood trails down his face and body, and his eyes are glowing with an inhuman light.
He mutters threats, but it’s garbled by his injured face as he stalks toward me.
Now his buckle is loose, so he rips off the button in his effort to get his pants off. Underneath is a monster.
It’s thick, thick and red, and something white spills from the tip. Down lower is a shaft, and then where it meets the curls at his groin…
There’s a lump. He reaches down and strokes it, even though blood is running down his hand. I scream into the cloth in my mouth, and know that it’s over.
I’ve run out of chances.
HAROLD
The entire house shakes as a loud howl rips through the air. It’s muffled, as if by a door, but I can hear it, nonetheless.
I’ve been searching the house for any sign of Selene, but nothing yet. That sound, though, was coming from below.
Sprinting down the stairs from where I’ve torn apart the two bedrooms, I search for the source of the sound. Then comes another one—a massive bellow of anguish.
It’s coming from down the hall, through the kitchen. My legs work before I command them, and inside the kitchen I see it. The door to the cellar. It’s shut, and when I run over to pull the door, it’s locked.
Selene’s fear is so close now that I can taste it. Her scent is everywhere, and I’m growing hotter and hotter as I drink in even more of it. My omega is here. She’s in danger. I have to get to her before this monster does.
But this time when I pull on the door, it’s far too heavy to open. It’s solid wood all the way through, with strong hinges and a sturdy lock.
Damn it. I’ve come this far. I’m so close, and I need to get to Selene.
Her panic fills me again. It’s acute this time, so near that it blinds me, and for a flash of a moment, I see him.
Greld. My boss, blood running down his face, his cock out.
My eyes fly open and I leap at the door, slamming into it with all the force in my body. It creaks, the hinges bending, but it doesn’t give.
“Selene!” I shout, imagining that horrendous creature using that thing. The fury in my heart burns brighter, and I hurl my shoulder into the door again. My body feels… strange. Bigger, perhaps. My muscles stronger. My bones harder.
When I hit the wood once more, the door snaps like a twig, sending splinters flying. A few bury themselves in my flesh, but I don’t feel a thing.
All I know is that I need to get to Selene.
With the door shredded, I leap over its corpse and down the narrow, steep steps. When I see Greld kneeling over Selene, I don’t think twice before I barrel into him with everything I have. We both go sprawling across the hard packed floor.
I glance up. There she is, in her nightgown, dirty and covered in blood that I’m almost certain isn’t hers. Good. She’s alive. She’s safe. And she’s mine.
Then something collides with my head, and I reel to one side. My whole world shifts as Greld clambers to his feet, and I barely get my hands under me before I hit the floor.
“Harry,” he growls, raising his fists. He’s panting and smeared with red, and I’m proud of Selene for however she inflicted these wounds.
I don’t acknowledge him by uttering his name.
Instead, as he lunges forward, I remain crouched, and grab his leg out from under him.
Greld stumbles to the ground with a thump, and I don’t hesitate in leaping up to my feet even though I’m still dizzy from the blow to the head.
My gaze turns to Selene, and she stares at me with huge, frightened eyes.
I want to tell her I’m all right. Everything will be fine. But before I can speak, Greld has thrown himself at my knees, knocking us both down.
But the pain I expect doesn’t come. I roll over and elbow him in the face, right in the eye socket, and he howls with misery. As fast as I can, I roll away, then get my feet underneath me again. Greld is too busy wailing with pain as I approach him where he lies on the floor.
Then, on pure instinct, I raise my foot and smash my boot down on his chest. He doubles over, so I do it again, crushing one of his hands.
It feels good, far too good, to get this revenge.
But then the heady scent of Selene turns sour, and fear of a new kind lances through me. My head whips to the side to find her reaching toward me with bound hands, her eyes laced with worry.
I run to her side immediately, Greld forgotten. I try to free her hands, but the ropes are difficult, so I grab the knife I carry at my hip and pull it out to saw through them. When her hands are released, I untie the cloth wrapped around her head, and she spits out the gag.
“Harry!” Selene cries out, throwing herself at me. I wrap her in my arms, squeezing her close, drinking in the glorious smell of her.
“I’m here,” I whisper to her. The longer I hold her, the more the heat of fury inside me twists and changes.
But I can’t let my guard down, either, so once I know she’s all in one piece, I turn my gaze back on Greld.
He’s trying to get up, so I gently lower Selene to the ground and rise to my full height once more.
He will pay for this.
“What are you going to do, Harry?” Selene says.
I don’t speak as I approach him. Greld raises an arm to fight me off, but I kick it away, sending him back to the floor.
“Harry…”
I almost can’t hear her. No, this man stole her. This man tried to hurt her. But I can feel the thread between us suddenly pull tight, and I stop in my tracks.
“I want to go home,” Selene whimpers, and the sound of her voice pulls me back to reality. “Take me home. Please.”
I turn once more to Greld, then grab the ropes that he used to tie up Selene. While he claws at me, I drag him across the floor toward a support beam, then strap him to it.
“The constable will find you,” I tell him. “Eventually.”
Then it’s time to attend to Selene. I lean down, scoop her up, and she wraps her arms around my neck to hang on as we head up the rickety steps. At the top, I step over the broken door, and we emerge from the darkness.