The Alpha I Chose

Chapter Six

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 always 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.

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.