She's Human but Alpha Wants Her Back.

Chapter Fourteen

Rea’s POV

The men in the hallway were all brutal-looking, flanking the hallway with spears and bows—a silent reminder of the dangers involved in escaping or even trying to steal anything.

There was hardly any corner or post in the grand mansion that brutes were not on standby.

Fear curled tight in my stomach, being hauled along in a vicinity where literally everyone watched me like prey that should be devoured at once.

It bothered me that the garden was not yet in view. I hadn’t even found an area in the mansion where such a plant—the wolfsbane—was, although I hadn’t walked past most parts of the building, but I planned to do that. Now that I had seen how heavily guarded the mansion was by wolves—not just any kind of wolves, but feral, brutal forces with cold, haunting, merciless eyes—no different from their Alphas.

The stairs stretched to a shiny manor, where chefs stood along the dinner area. They couldn't hide it, their eyes flared wide with obvious disdain and disgust, knowing who I was. They were she-wolves because it was clear that humans were not allowed or welcomed into the mansion. They glared at me but bowed anyway when they saw their Alpha. They all looked confused seen their Alpha had brought a human for breakfast. And I wasn’t exempted from the confusion. I didn’t even know how the Alpha’s mind worked, or maybe it had just been two days since I came. But getting me locked up in chains only to get me out the next day and have me freshen up and do things unclad in front of him, only to order me to get dressed in such clothes and be hauled out for breakfast—not with the gentle warmth of a gentleman, but forcefully and faster than my little feet—that was confusing.

The women bowed anyway the moment they spotted their Alpha but threw me the coldest glare at every flicker of their eyes.

“Sit,” he said, moving onto the head seat at the long dining table, and I scrambled for a seat just next to him. I drew a seat closer and sat right next to him, even though I hadn’t intended to. But my mind wasn’t working at that point; it was consumed by uncertainty and what awaited me next.

These thoughts dissolved the moment his gravelly tone cut in.

“I hadn’t given you permission to sit there.” He looked up from his meal, his hard stare boring straight into my soul.

“Right.” I whipped, scurrying up immediately. Would I have to choose another seat that would be better, or was he going to tell me a better place to sit? These were the questions that thummed in my head. I stood behind the chairs for a while while he was locked on his food, tucking intensively in like he hadn’t come here with anyone else.

Then slowly and uncertainly, I moved to a seat at the far end. That wasn’t good enough because we were almost opposite each other, and a wrong flicker of the head could make our eyes meet amd that was something I never needed. As I sat, one of his chefs—a she-wolf—reluctantly slammed a plate on the table, dumping some bacon, avocado toast, and orange juice in front of me. However, my hunger had already been smothered by worry, still, I ate anyway since I didn’t know what came next or if I was going to be able to get the next meal.

The room held its silence except for the soft clink of cutlery that echoed through the place.

My eyes darted fleetingly towards Alpha Damien, who was absorbed in the food he was eating, and every part of me recoiled at buying this chance to plead with him once more about why I had come. I was lucky after all not to have been killed or held captive for long. I had the opportunity to shower in his personal suite and even eat with him at the same table—even though I had to sit extremely far away from him. These were things I counted as lucky, and I bore that in mind.

“Finish up, Rea.” Alpha Damien looked up from his food with a gaze stripped of any kind of warmth you could think of, as he paused deliberately, still clutching his cutlery tightly on his plate.

I felt a shiver run down my spine at the sound of his voice. Only then did I realize that I had almost forgotten the food in front of me.

What does he care if I ate or not? Or was he hurrying somewhere… with me?

No, the food wasn’t poisoned! I rebuked the thought. But everything that had been happening in the last twenty-four hours had been nothing short of confusing—one minute it was bad, the next minute it was easing up like nothing happened.

“You know, Rea,” Alpha Damien said, his voice cold as steel without even glancing up from the meal. "You can't just stare at it all day.”

My head whipped towards him with urgency as I listened, but my mind was a storm of emotions, a jumble I couldn’t seem to escape.

I nodded nervously and picked up a strip of bacon, chewing deliberately—more for show than appetite.

He looked up from the meal slowly, locking onto me with an intense gaze. “Remember.” He took a bite from his fork casually, his teeth scraping lightly on it. “There’s more to come that could kill you faster than I would.”

I felt my stomach knot tightly at the sound of that and went right back to losing my appetite again.

“So save yourself the stress. Have fun when you can.” He finished up reluctantly, taking a little sip of the coffee beside him, then straightened to his feet to leave.

“Wait!” I called back, unable to spend even a second here with these wolves who had feral eyes.

“Finish up, Rea. I’d be waiting.” he said, on his way out. His voice raising higher than it ever had “Always watching.”

I looked around the room fretfully and saw that the women were gone, as well as the men in the hallway earlier. I was now alone with food I had no interest in eating.

Alpha Damien and his ilk had just left me alone in the dining room, affording so much reprieve from the fear that gripped my heart and made me do everything on edge. Now I had a little time to myself to think. It felt overwhelmingly relieving, and I forced down my breakfast in one go.

I imagined my parents—how worried Dad, Mum, and Riley must be—and the thought made my chest tighten. I paused momentarily as a heavy sigh of sadness slipped from my lips. I had just had breakfast, but maybe Dad, Mum, and Riley hadn’t. They weren’t sure of my situation here in the wolves’ pack, and I was pretty sure they’d be worried, and that would definitely spill over into everything else.

I found myself drowning in guilt, thoughts of what I should have done differently echoing through my head—loud and unforgiving.

I was sent to the pack to get a solution for Dad, but here I was, landing my ass on one unnecessary task after another.

Tears burned my cheeks on their way down.

This was no longer a soft task. Since Alpha Damien was tough and impenetrable, my actions would have to be deliberate, strategic, and even fake—if I had to.

Just as I was drowning in a brief moment of sad, aching thoughts, a deep guttural voice from afar interrupted abruptly, causing me to flinch in fear where I sat. The voices of men groaning in pain followed, prompting me to skitter frantically.

The voices reached me only as echoes. I got up from my seat and peered through the window.

My eyes widened in horror as they took in the sight before me. Immediately, I lunged towards the door. Luckily, there was no one there to stop me.

I pushed the door open and tiptoed toward the tortured, pleading sounds, desperate to find out what was going on, keeping out of sight so no one saw me, my pulse hammering in my ears.

The moment I stepped behind the mansion, my heart raced. The space before me was empty—no guards, not even slaves—just an empty space and distant cries echoing through it. Then another struck me… this might be my chance to find a garden, get wolfsbane, and maybe...escape the pack.