The Alpha I Chose

Chapter 6

Meadow

I groan, reaching up and grabbing my throbbing head with both hands. I knew I was going to have a headache today after the force behind Garbage Garrett’s punch, but this is ridiculous.

Knowing I’m going to have to get up soon to try to figure out the right makeup combination to cover up the bruise he left, I roll over and snuggle into my bed to try to get a final few minutes of comfort. I reach for my pillow but can’t find it.

Feeling around the bed again, I reach the edge of the mattress and confusion hits. I sleep starfish style smack in the middle of a king size bed. There’s no way I should be touching the edge. I run my hand over the scratchy linen… wait a second.

My sheets are soft and fluffy. These are not soft and fluffy.

My eyes snap open, suddenly remembering the sound of breaking glass and five burly strangers. I sit bolt upright and glance around, panicking slightly. A smidge of light peeks through a tiny window with bars on it, just enough that I’m not sitting in pitch blackness. The room is small and bare with a dirt floor and old stone walls.

Yep.

I’m in a dungeon. Fantastic.

I shake my head, rubbing my eyes and trying to remember what exactly happened. Five strange men… I tried to run but they caught me… Something pricked me in the neck… Oh! I asked for my quilt!

I squint in the dim lighting and lo and behold my quilt is folded up at the foot of the mattress. Sighing with relief, I reach down and grab it, wrapping it around myself for comfort. Thankfully my kidnappers were considerate.

Clover? I reach out to my wolf but am met with silence.

Sighing, I lay back down. At least my so-called mate won’t be banging on my door demanding an heir this morning.

I close my eyes, deciding to worry about my predicament later, and quickly fall back to sleep.

~ ~ ~

“Is she alive?”

I feel someone’s hand on my face before my eyelid is peeled open.

Rude.

I smack at the hand and mumble.

“Go away. More sleep.”

I try to pull my quilt back up over my head but it’s snatched away from me.

Oh absolutely not.

My eyes snap open and I sit up angrily, staring at a giant of a man with scruffy dark hair. A scar creases his stubbled skin from his left eye all the way down his cheek. Dark brown eyes glare at me and my precious quilt hangs from his fist.

“Give me back my quilt,” I demand.

The grumpy giant raises an eyebrow and scowls at me.

I scowl back.

“Where did you get this thing?” he demands, his voice low and rumbly, reminding me of a summer thunderstorm.

“I made it, thank you very much. Now give it back!” I stand up on the bed, intending to tower over him in an attempt at intimidation.

It’s then that I realize that my bed is actually just a mattress on the floor and he’s probably a foot taller than me. I also realize it’s not easy to stand on a mattress in a pencil skirt.

“Can I have some different clothes?” I blurt out without thinking.

“Excuse me?” the man says, the two warriors behind him trying to stifle their laughter. “Are you completely incapable of reading a situation?”

“No,” I snap back. “I’ve been kidnapped. I’m locked in a dungeon with a sucky bed, you have my quilt and won’t give it back and these stupid clothes are extremely uncomfortable. If I’m going to be imprisoned, or killed even, I would like to at least suffer comfortably.”

The two warriors have their heads down now and are visibly shaking with silent laughter.

“Do you even know why you’ve been kidnapped?” Grumpy asks me. I roll my eyes.

“Obviously not, or I’d be trying to explain exactly why you have the wrong girl.”

“Are you or are you not the fated mate of Alpha Garrett Blackwood?”

Well crud. I stare at him for a moment before I burst out laughing.

The grumpy man can’t hide the look of shock that comes over his face, but he quickly covers it up with another scowl.

“Do you find this amusing?” he snaps, taking a step towards me and leaning forward so his face is just inches from mine.

“A little bit,” I answer honestly, refusing to back away from him. “You seriously kidnapped me because of Garbage Garrett?”

He straightens, blinking at me in confusion. I take advantage of his stunned silence to yank my quilt from his hand and retreat to the corner of my mattress and plop down, covering my bare legs with it.

“You call your mate Garbage Garrett?” he asks in disbelief.

“Not to his face!” I gasp. “I may be irritating but I don’t have a death wish.”

He stares at me a bit longer, clearly unsure what to say next.

“If there are no further questions, I’d like to go back to being unconscious now.” I wave my hand at the two men behind him who are flat out smiling at me. “Whatever your goons stabbed into my neck has me exhausted and apparently made my wolf pass out.”

“Good,” he growls at me as he turns to leave, “I can’t have you using her to try to escape.”

Is he for real right now?

“Are you going to try to impregnate me?” I ask bluntly.

The man stops and spins around staring at me as if I’ve grown a second head.

“Impregnate you? For the love of the Goddess, no!” he practically shouts. The warriors lose their battle and both of them burst out laughing. “Why the hell would you think that?”

I shrug, my eyes never leaving his dark brown ones.

“If you’re not going to try to force me to have your pups, then I already like it better here.” I state.

His eyes widen but he remains silent.

“Next time you come back, bring me some sweatpants or something please. And maybe some chocolate.” I scoot myself down on the mattress and roll over with my back to him, pulling my quilt up to my chin.

After a few moments of silence I hear his footsteps retreat and the door slam shut behind him.