prologue
I could hear the sound of my heart beating fast, hammering against my ribcage as I tried to drag air into my tired lungs. My chest pulled back and forth, like I was going to be in some cardiac arrest any seconds from now.
I don't remember ever running this much since my entire eighteen years and even when I used to train with Joe to enhance my running skills, I'd never felt this out of breath before. Because this was different. I was half paralyzed by fear of what was after me, what I was hearing howling far behind me, what I'd had to do tonight to be out here this moment.
I stuck my head out carefully from behind the tree, the bright moon gleaming across my face. The night was cold and this god-damned woods was worse. I could hear my own breathing and it was loud. It was only a matter of time before the beast found me. He has marked me and he knew my scent. Only a matter of......
Shit! I saw the glowing red eyes as it watched me from the distance. My breathing paces intensified. No, no, no, I cannot go back.
Quickly, I stepped back from the tree and turned around to run, but everything seemed to happen so fast and the next thing I knew I was slamming into a rock hard surface and falling down on my butt.
I've lost. After everything. After all the sacrifices.
I winced in pain as I looked up to find the large beastly body hovering over me, it's groan deafening me.
In front of me stood the man I was running from, in his most angry form, in his wolf form.
I could see the pure hate in his eyes, the anger in his posture. I knew he wanted to do one thing right this moment: kill me. But that would mean him crossing his deal with my father.
I started dragging myself back and backing into the trees, the sticks and thorns on the floor pricking my palms but that was my least worry. My bigger fear was what this man would do to me for my actions.
He growls even harder, his paws transforming into human feet before he completely shifted back into his human form, naked.
"Kanen.... I'm... I'm sorry..." I stammered.
"You humiliated me in front of all those people today" he spat out, closing the distance between us. There was nowhere to go. And this had been the last straw for me.
I started crying because that was all that's left. I could never leave this heartless monster, I could never outrun him.
"You dare try to run away from me?!!" He yelled, the intensity of his voice causing me to shake unintendedly. "I warned you Rose, I f*****g warned you!" He roared like a mad man. I knew I've pushed him this far and now I have to accept the consequences.
He goes down to my level in a squat and leaned closer to my face, a long smirk forming on his lips as he whispered "now you have to pay for it."
I started to shake my head but before I could let a word out, he was picking me up and throwing me over his shoulders.
"No! No!" I kicked and fought him but he easily overpowered me. "No please!" I screamed "help! Help, please!"
I knew I was just screaming, nobody was going to come out here in the middle of the night to help me. Nobody knew the kind of monster kanen was behind all those good man attitude he shows the rest of the world.
I kicked and turned on his shoulders but he held on tight.
Seconds passed and I started zoning out, my head hurting from all the screams. I started having blured vision. The next thing I knew was that he was entering some room in a house and shutting the door close.
And then he was tossing me carelessly on top of a table, bright lights blinding my eyes from above. I couldn't see anything and have completely lost my ability to scream.
I just laid there, somewhat paralyzed from the fear of what my supposed mate was about to do to me. I felt a tear slide down the corners of my eyes before I saw him hovering over me, the anger in his eyes intensified.
"I told you Rose, I told you the consequences of your actions if you tried to run away one more time" he growled over my face, veins popping up all around his neck.
I was too weak to say another word and just watched him pick out a syringe and bring it to my arm. He prickled my skin and injected whatever that was into my blood streams.
"You are going to wish you never knew me." Was the last words I heard faintly from him before I started feeling myself losing consciousness. The last thing I remembered was him lifting me from the table and the sound of chains clanking from all around the room. Then I felt a weight around my wrists as he handcuffed me to something above, followed by the sounds of chains all around me.
That's when I knew exactly what he just did to me. He has sedated me, and hung me off his chains. He was trying to kill me slowly.
He was going to kill me.
"Enjoy the rest of your days here, love." Were the last very distant words I heard of his voice.
Everything went all foggy and it seemed to drag on for hours before I finally went unconscious. Whatever he injected me with was putting me in and out of consciousness at every particular minutes. This was torture. He didn't sedate me, he gave me something else. Something much more painful. And I had all the time in the world to think about my actions, to think about how my biggest fantasies growing up as a child had turned into a nightmare to haunt me for the rest of my life.
