Enslaved by the Alpha

Chapter Nine: Reunions

A loud c***k of thunder startled me awake with a sharp inhale, my eyes opening widely only to be met with a gloomy sky. Rain poured down, smacking me in the face mercilessly. I jolted upright, whipping my head around to take in my surroundings in confusion.

I was lying in the middle of the woods. Next to me, there was a torn, soaked, stained white t-shirt balled up in the grass. And instead of sticking around for answers to the million questions in my head, I threw on the translucent shirt and hoisted myself up.

A piece of wet folded paper fell to my feet following my action and I frowned, bending down to pick it up with furrowed brows.

Scar,

It's been a week. The King was preparing a plan to string you up and force them into an alliance, but Magnus and I broke you out and took you far away. I hope you wake before he goes looking and finds you.

Love, Annette

I scoffed in disbelief, staring down at the smudged, bleeding purple ink. This can't be happening.

My feet quickly began trudging forward and I crumbled up the note, tossing it behind me. The mud squelched beneath the grass between my toes and the downpour only worsened, decreasing my visibility by several yards. The sky was pitch black, not at all helping me see in the storm.

I shivered as a breeze blew through, yet continued onward. All I can do is keep moving. Unfortunately, my plan was immediately terminated at the sound of distant squishing paws and rapid panting, compelling me to stop in place and close my eyes to focus on which direction they were moving.

Where did they take me? I have no idea where I am!

A loud howl split through the night sky and I exhaled shakily, spinning in a circle with frantic eyes searching the darkness. Fear tickled my skin, forming goosebumps among my body.

I'm on wolf territory.

Why did they bring and leave me on wolf land?

Loud thudding swooshed by and I turned with a tearful whimper, stumbling backward. Horror consumed me and my full body shivered constantly from the cold, though my fear aided the shaking in my muscles.

Growls emitted from multiple directions and I began to hyperventilate, feeling my airways slowly close and implant panic within me. Another flash whisked by and I watched the bushes it ran into move, then out stepped a massive coconut-brown wolf. Its blue eyes seemed to glow alongside its exposed teeth that screamed anything but friendly.

The mammal took a step closer and an orangish-red wolf emerged from my left. Its eyes were such a dark brown they looked like empty black holes in its skull, and the sight terrorized me into turning around to run. But I slid in the mud to stop myself once a dirty blonde wolf walked out, glaring at me with its orange eyes.

I didn't hesitate to turn the opposite direction and dash into the darkness, clueless as to what kind of trap they were leading me into. And quite frankly, that was the last thing I was worried about.

Are they leading me to Alpha Aston? Is he searching for me? What will he do to me if he finds me?

Sick with anxiety, I looked back to see if they were following and twisted to face ahead after confirming they weren't.

My body was suddenly stricken from the front, completely stopping me in my tracks and nearly knocking me to the ground from the force.

I reeled back and gasped in terror, raising my adjusting gaze to meet a familiar pair of green eyes, yet an unforgettable wave of power—Alpha power—weakened my knees and my lips parted in disbelief. He stared down at me with a similar expression that conveyed the same feeling.

He transitioned...

His figure was outlined with a flash of lightening, defining his muscles by shadowing the creases around them. Water glistened over his bare torso, trickling down, soaking into his light-blue jeans. They hugged his toned thighs and the bulge between, loosening into wrinkles from his knees down.

"You're an Alpha now," I breathed and snapped my gaze back to his, swallowing the lump in my throat upon realizing the sense of comfort and safety I felt with him was now replaced with skepticism and fear.

I didn't see him as the same man and it pained me to view him so differently. He's the first person outside of my family I've ever truly let in.

Why do I feel so hurt?

"But I still—"

I staggered back to avoid his hand and he quickly retracted it. Tears pooled in my eyes and a foreign pain clenched in my chest.

"Don't." My voice trembled. More pain filled me.

"Scarlett..." he pleaded, adding salt to the wound.

Frustration filled me because I wanted to trust him, but another part of me felt his aura and associated it with the years of suffering I endured from others.

I don't want to see him like that, but it's all I can see.

"Are you trying to kill me now that I'm not a wounded animal? You caught me, it's fair now, isn't it?" I asked in a rushed, quavering voice. Fortunately, the downpour masked my flowing tears, making it difficult to detect my cries.

Regret overtook his features. "No, I'd never hurt you. I heard a vampire crossed into our territory and I thought King Valentino sent someone else to convince me to negotiate an alliance. He implied he had you, Red, you were the last person I expected to run into. I didn't want to believe it and spend days searching for you, then I started to."

He cupped the sides of my face and I sucked in a breath, squinting up at him through the harsh rain droplets. My hands raised to his forearms, preparing to push him away. "Draven..."

He felt like a heater against my icy skin and his face contorted with worry in the instant my palms connected with his arms.

"Can you trust me?" He asked.

My body shuddered in recognition of his words and stilled, my scrunched features softening at the memory.

He's still him.

He's still Draven.

As a response, I stepped closer and wrapped my arms around his torso. He draped his arms around my shivering frame and held me tightly, cupping the back of my head and clutching onto my waist like I were to disappear from out in front of him again.

"I'm relieved you're okay," he whispered, stroking the hair on the back of my head. I closed my eyes and gradually relaxed, balling a fist on the invisible shirt over his back.

Squishing in the mud stopped a reply from leaving my mouth and I whipped my head around, pulling my arms to my chest and pressing myself further into him. The coconut-brown wolf from earlier approached with the other two behind him, their mouths closed but their eyes locked on me.

A dark grey wolf joined them, eyes as bright as snow. Following him was another brown wolf, except the fur was a mix of different shades, resembling fall leaves, with eyes of galaxy-purple.

"This is her," Draven said as if he expected that to mean something to them. Much to my surprise, the coconut-brown wolf standing in the middle perked up in interest. The others kept their distance, seating themselves in a group off to the side.

He trotted closer and I tried to slip free from Draven's grasp, mumbling a string of jumbled words in a fit of overwhelming panic. He tightened his arms around me and shot the wolf a look, forcing his comrade to sit.

The wolf's body then began cracking, snapping in random places scattered across his body. I watched in horror. The wolf's fur sucked back into its pores and its limbs morphed into a human's. The entire process looked agonizing, but not one sound of pain was heard. Before I knew it, a nude man arose from the ground wearing nothing but a frown, his eyes narrowing at me.

"How do I put this nicely?" He thought aloud, shifting his bright blue eyes onto Draven. "I'm a little put off by the fact that you somehow failed to mention you're mated with a—pardon me—a bloodsucker!"

I glared.

Nothing enrages me more than being called that.

I shoved out of Draven's arms and charged at the man with a newly formed burst of confidence fueled by my anger. By the time he comprehended what happened, I had his back against the nearest tree.

Everyone's eyes were on us and he glowered, his face reddening out of embarrassment and rage. A sudden wave of dizziness consumed me at my outburst and I lost my balance, pulling my hands off of his shoulders to mask my vulnerability then stepping back. My blast of anger left once I regained control, and awkwardness followed when I remembered he's naked.

What the hell just happened?

I don't ever just explode like that.

"You don't know me," I snapped in an attempt to cut through the awkward tension, then returned to Draven. He extended his arms and brought me to his chest, shamelessly displaying everything he declared to me in private.

I buried my face in the crook of his wet, hot neck to hide from the downpour and the humiliation, clinging onto him, shivering from the explosion of ice that abruptly filled me. He pressed his lips to my temple and hugged me tight, rubbing his thumb up and down over my side soothingly.

"Let's get you out of the rain," he said, unraveling his arms and unexpectedly scooping me off my feet. I ripped my head back in panic, glancing over at the five other's who had their heads lowered in a bow.

I laid down on his collar and whimpered softly, quivering in his embrace. My skin was so cold I could no longer feel physical contact, only temperature. The chilled, rainy air around us now felt normal to my freezing body and his skin felt scorching.

"I don't feel okay," I slurred, wearily watching the trees pass by. My vision spun abnormally and my eyelids fluttered close to settle my anxious stomach.

Why do I feel like my life is draining so fast out of nowhere?