CHAPTER FIVE
768 Words
The drive was silent.
But not the comfortable kind of silence. It was heavy and suffocating, pressing against my ribs until every breath felt stolen.
I sat pressed against the door, as far away from him as the cramped space would allow, my fingers wrapped tightly around the handle as though it were the only thing tethering me to my sanity.
More than once, I imagined throwing myself out of the car. But that was all it was just an imagination.
The moment I'd been hurled into this godforsaken vehicle, the doors had locked. Now I was trapped, with nothing but my own mind running wild, conjuring endless possibilities of what he had planned for me.
He hadn't killed me.
He'd had every opportunity, every reason, every right—by his own twisted laws to do it. Yet here I was, still breathing, still existing in the seat beside him like some prisoner he'd chosen to keep instead of execute.
But he hadn't let me go either.
He hadn't said a single word that might loosen the iron grip of terror wrapped around my chest.
So what exactly did he want from me?
Or was that the point?
Was he simply going to sit there and let my mind torture itself with endless fear and uncertainty over how this would all end?
Only a psychopath would choose something like that. Then again, he was no different from that. People like him believed that fear of the unknown was a far crueler punishment than a quick death or even allowing a prisoner to escape.
I'd heard stories about him.
Stories of how he'd once taken a captured enemy back to his pack and instead of killing him, he'd fed him. Clothed him. Given him a hot bath and a luxurious room with the softest bed imaginable.
The poor man had gone to sleep believing he'd somehow been spared. Only to wake the next morning in the middle of a deadly arena... surrounded by starving wolves ready to tear him apart within seconds.
That was the kind of man Supreme Alpha Darell Blackwood was.
The kind of man sitting right beside me.
A cold shiver raced down my spine as the memory of Liam's final moments forced its way into my mind. The way he had calmly slit his throat..
Don't think about it.
Don't think about it.
Just breathe.
I tried to listen to myself, but it wasn't working.
I didn't know when my gaze had drifted. Slowly, almost against my own will, my eyes slid sideways to the monster beside me.
He looked completely, utterly unbothered.
A tablet rested in one hand, its pale glow casting a soft light across the sharp angles of his face. He scrolled through it with the same detached composure he'd shown when he'd wiped Liam's blood from his fingers, as though none of it had meant anything at all.
And I wondered how could someone be this comfortable?
As if I were nothing more than an inconvenience.
As if I posed no threat whatsoever.
As if he wasn't worried that I might suddenly lunge at him and rip his throat out.
Then again, even if I wanted to try, I'd probably be torn apart before I could make a single move. Because in my current state, I could barely defend myself. Hell, I was surviving on little more than the air filling my lungs.
For some reason I couldn't understand why my gaze lingered on him longer than it should have.
And I hated noticing the loose strands of dark hair that had fallen across his forehead.
I hated the way the dim light traced the hard line of his jaw.
I hated that my eyes kept wandering over the sharp cut of his profile, the straight bridge of his nose, and the firm, unyielding set of his mouth.
His eyes, when they weren't glowing that terrifying alpha gold, were a deep, stormy shade, focused intently on the tablet in his hand. They carried an unsettling intensity, as though he could bend the words on the screen to his will through sheer force of concentration.
He was...
Undeniably handsome.
The realization left a bitter taste in my mouth and I quickly tore my gaze away, disgusted with myself.
Handsome or not.
Tempting or not.
He was still the same man who had slaughtered countless innocent people, all in the name of avenging a sister he probably hadn't even cared about.
No.
That was just an excuse.
A convenient justification to unleash his cruelty on my pack! He’s a monster in human form.
- Writer
