Sleeping with the enemy Alpha

CHAPTER 2

ARIA

I open my eyes, roll over and find myself staring at a dark night sky filled with millions of tiny twinkling stars. Thunder rumbles in the distance.

I am sitting in a field of low cut grass that stretches as far as the eye could see.

I sit up, trying to recall where I am and how I got here. I rub my aching head and remember... nothing.

Panic flares in my chest. My heart races.

Who am I? What is happening?

I clutch my hair, rock back and forth.

Remember... I had to remember.

There is a dim memory of something. A woman's blurry face.

Laughter. The words of a spell? A voice echoing in my head saying, "You will obey. You will serve..."

But even those memories are fading like a dream.

"HEY YOU!"

I gasp, whirl around. A large group of people are coming. Some of them are walking. Others are on horses or in carriages.

They all carry weapons. Staining most of their clothes is what I can swear is fresh blood. I try to run.

A man with a bushy, matted beard grabs and forces me down.

"Who in blazes are you?" he growls, the tip of a bloody knife pointed at my throat.

Shivering, I shake my head and tell the truth. I don't know.

The others, watching, start to murmur.

Another man walks up to us. He has a long, grey beard and seems to be in charge. The others move aside for him. Holding up a lamp, he grabs my chin, turns it to the light.

A startled look crosses his face for an instant, then he says, "Bring her along. We'll question her later. The Alpha is waiting."

I am pushed into a rectangular cage attached to two horses. It smells like sweat, dirt and fear.

I am shut in.

My chest tightens as we begin to move. My instincts tell me I am in danger.

I am terrified, but the fear is buried somewhere under my confusion. Why can't I remember who I am?

I notice most of the crowd walk to catch up so they can peer into the carriage. Then they fall back and whisper among themselves. I can hear some of them talking, asking questions.

"Who is she?"

"How did she get here?"

"Maybe she's a spy?"

A man barks out a laugh and says, "If she is a spy, she will die tonight."

I grip the bars tighter.

We pass through a dark forest, past endless trees. As the clouds part and the silver moon rises in the sky, the horses jerk to a stop.

We are in front of massive iron gates with a snake twined around a wolf's head carved into it. The snake's eyes are made with some kind of red, glittering stone, and seems to glare at me.

Beyond the gates, heavily armed men patrol. They look even more frightening than the ones who captured me.

The grey bearded man in front comes down from his horse and shouts something at the guards.

The gates open. We keep moving. We have not gone far when I hear a bone-chilling scream.

I cringe against the cage, heart pounding in my throat.

"Another one," I hear a man sneer.

I look up. There is a silent crowd gathered in front of a large house. Cringing on the steps of the house is a bloodied man with blood, sweat and tears running down his face. He is shaking, begging, crying.

Standing beside him, with his back to the crowd is a broad shouldered, very tall man with a lean, muscled body. His long hair in one braid flows down his back. Even from a distance, I sense raw, terrifying power radiating from him.

Over the man's increasingly loud cries, the tall man says, "You sided with the enemy."

His voice is deep, like a low rumble of thunder.

The man at his feet shakes his head.

"I didn't know my brother was one of them," he cries. "I just found out yesterday. I- I would have said something. I was going to. I swear it. But- but he is my twin. Our parents are dead and- and-"

"And so you wanted to protect your brother," the tall man interrupts. "In doing so you betrayed your pack." He pauses. His voice becomes colder. "Therefore I, Jax Knight, Alpha of Darkwood hereby sentence you to die." He pauses again. "Be grateful I'm giving you a quick, clean death."

The condemned man begins begging again but Jax has already turned away. With guards flanking him, he moves so quickly I do not get to see his face.

My stomach twists violently as two guards step forward. As they seize the condemned man and drag him away, the crowd begins to disperse.

I was in hell. Death was normal here. A man was going to die just for protecting his brother.

What would the Alpha, this Jax, do to me if he concluded I was a spy? I needed to get out of here. Somehow.

A large hand closes over my wrist. I am dragged out of the cage by a guard and find myself face to face with the bearded man from earlier.

"What do we do with her, Beta Alistair?" the guard asks him.

Without a word, he inclines his head. The guard and I follow him inside the house to what I assume is his quarters.

I am shoved inside. Behind me, the door swings shut.

My knees hit the floor at once.

"My lord," I say, not sure how to address him.

A long silence follows. I peek at the Beta through the curtain of my tangled hair and find him sitting on a chair, his legs spread, watching me. There is a look in his eyes I do not like.

All at once, I realize I am wearing just the scraps of a dress, showing too much skin. I instinctively fold my arms over my chest .

"You're one of them, aren't you?" he says. "Didn't know Theron was due to send a fresh batch of girls so soon. This ploy, faking memory loss and letting us find you half naked, it is all to capture the Alpha's attention, isn't it?"

When I do not answer, he nods to the bed.

"Go stand there where I can see you better," he says, his hand drifting towards his groin.

My heart pounds.

Slowly, I stand, but just as I reach the bed, the door bangs open. A girl with beautiful long blonde hair rushes in, panting. Someone dressed all in black who I don't see clearly waits just outside the door.

"Father," she says breathlessly. "Your man has been caught. We have to-,"

She sees me, stops abruptly. Her eyes widen. They are blue, the colour of the sky on a summer's day. She has full pouty lips and a curvy figure.

Something ugly flashes across her face and I know instinctively that this girl, who I am just meeting for the first time, hates me.

"Kara," the Beta says and her head swivels in his direction. "What happened?"

She blinks. Her brow furrows.

"It's terrible," she says, her voice breaking. She starts to say something else, glances at me, stops. She grabs at his arm. "I'll show you-"

As they leave the room together, she is whispering something I cannot hear. I stand there, heart hammering in my chest, wondering what will happen to me next while a part of me wonders what the Beta's daughter was so upset about.

I take a step away from the bed and freeze. Just outside the door a woman, dressed in black and bent over with age is staring at me, her eyes all white and blind, almost bulging out of their sockets.

"You!" she says in a loud whisper. "It is you!"

"W-what?" I stutter.

The old woman shuffles forward, hobbling on her walking stick. Before I can move, she grabs my hand. One gnarled finger traces my palm.

The instant she touches me, something strange happens.

I get the odd sensation that my mind is being read like the pages of a book. Emotions and memories flash by so fast I cannot remember them. I gasp for breath.

The woman suddenly jerks away. She goes white as a sheet. Her lips tremble.

"Wh-what is it?" I stammer looking around, my heart pounding in my throat.

"She- she sent you here," the old woman says.

I blink. "She? Who? What are you-"

"But she has no idea what you are else she wouldn't dare."

I gape at her, my mind in a whirl. What in the goddess's name is going on?

As I take a step forward, the old woman stumbles back.

"Listen to me, girl," she whispers, her head thrust forward. "You must leave this place at once before you-"

She stops, bites her still trembling lip. For one terrible moment, it looks as though she is fighting with herself.

Then she rushes out as fast as her legs can carry her, leaving me frozen where I stand, a nameless dread coiling around my chest.