Chapter Two — The Hollow
1099 Words
The first woman I saw inside the Hollow was crying.
Nobody appeared particularly concerned.
A waiter caught her elbow and guided her toward a door beside the bar. She resisted briefly before his fingers tightened around her arm.
Something about the exchange made my stomach turn.
“Mia.”
She was examining the room, apparently impressed by the crystal chandeliers and expensive furnishings.
“It’s nicer than I expected.”
“We’re leaving.”
She followed my gaze just as the woman disappeared behind the door.
Her smile faded.
“Okay.”
We turned toward the entrance.
A blond man stepped into our path.
“Leaving already?”
“We’ve changed our minds.”
“About the tonic?”
Mia’s fingers tightened around mine.
I hadn’t mentioned the tonic.
Neither had she.
“Who told you why we’re here?”
His smile remained pleasant.
“We make it our business to understand our customers.”
“Then you’ll understand we’re no longer interested.”
He stepped aside.
For one foolish second, I thought it was that simple.
Then Mia screamed.
A man seized her from behind, locking an arm across her chest. Another grabbed my shoulder and slammed me against a table.
“Let her go!”
The blond man sighed.
“Please don’t make a scene. We have a rather important guest upstairs tonight.”
Mia struggled desperately.
“Elena!”
I grabbed a bottle from the table and smashed it against the edge.
The guard holding me recoiled.
I swept the remaining glasses onto the floor.
“Fire!” I screamed.
Someone near the entrance shouted. Chairs scraped against marble as customers surged toward the doors.
The man holding Mia loosened his grip.
She sank her teeth into his wrist.
“Run!” I shouted.
She stumbled toward me instead.
“I’m not leaving you!”
“Mia, please!”
Another guard appeared behind her.
I shoved her toward the entrance.
“GO!”
Her eyes filled with tears.
For one terrible moment, I thought she would refuse.
Then she ran.
I watched her disappear between the fleeing customers before someone caught my hair and dragged me backward.
Something struck my temple.
Darkness swallowed everything.
When I woke, my cheek was pressed against cold metal.
Bars surrounded me.
My wrists were bound, my shoes and belongings gone. Every movement sent pain through my skull.
There were six cages in the room.
Four were occupied.
A young man sat opposite me, one sleeve pinned above his elbow. An older woman stared silently at the floor. Beside me, a girl hugged her knees against her chest.
“Did they bring another woman down here?” I asked. “Dark hair. Green coat.”
Nobody answered.
“Please. Her name is Mia.”
The young man finally looked up.
“If she got out, pray she stays out.”
I closed my eyes.
She had escaped.
Whatever happened next, at least she was safe.
Footsteps approached.
The blond man appeared with two guards.
“You caused quite a disruption.”
“I’ll try to be more considerate next time I’m kidnapped.”
His smile disappeared.
One guard unlocked my cage.
I scrambled backward.
“Where are you taking me?”
“Somewhere you can make yourself useful.”
They dragged me into a concrete corridor. The distant music continued upstairs, horribly ordinary considering what was happening beneath it.
The blond man leaned closer, scenting me.
Then he stopped.
“Well. That’s unexpected.”
The guard frowned.
“What?”
“She has no Wolf.”
They exchanged a look.
I hated it.
“Completely wolfless,” he murmured. “Someone might pay exceptionally well for that.”
My blood ran cold.
At the end of the corridor, a velvet curtain concealed a brightly illuminated stage.
Beyond it sat an audience.
Men and women dressed in expensive clothes watched as another prisoner was escorted away.
Suddenly, everything made sense.
The potion had never been the product.
We were.
The desperate. The unwanted. The people nobody powerful would come looking for.
The blond man pushed me onto the stage.
“Our next offering is a rather unusual acquisition.”
I searched the room for exits.
Two guards near the curtain. Three beside the service door. A staircase leading to an upper balcony.
“Twenty-five. Healthy. Unmated.”
Someone called out a number.
Another offered more.
“And completely wolfless.”
The bidding intensified.
I wanted to be sick.
These people were discussing my life as casually as they might discuss the price of a bottle of wine.
A heavyset man approached the stage.
“I’ll take her.”
He climbed the steps and reached for my arm.
I recoiled.
“Don’t touch me.”
He laughed.
“Feisty little thing.”
My fingers brushed the hairpin still securing my hair.
They had taken everything else.
Not that.
I worked it loose as he stepped closer.
His hand closed around my arm.
I drove the pin into his hand.
He screamed.
I twisted free, slipping past him as he collided with the nearest guard.
“STOP HER!”
I ran.
Someone caught my dress. Fabric tore at my shoulder, but I kept moving.
Barefoot, terrified and running on whatever strength remained, I reached the staircase.
“Not upstairs!” the blond man shouted. “Keep her away from the Alpha’s room!”
An Alpha.
Perhaps someone with enough authority to stop this.
Or someone powerful enough to be involved.
Neither possibility mattered if they caught me.
The first door was locked.
So was the second.
The third opened beneath my hand.
I stumbled inside and slammed it shut.
A man stood near the window, reading a document.
He was tall, broad-shouldered and dressed in black. His dark hair fell slightly across his forehead, and a faint scar interrupted one eyebrow.
He looked up.
His eyes travelled over my torn dress, bruised wrists and bloodstained face.
Not with surprise.
With irritation.
“Who are you?”
Before I could answer, someone hammered against the door.
“Alpha Thorne! Our apologies. One of our acquisitions has escaped.”
My heart stopped.
Alpha Caelum Thorne.
The Council candidate whose campaign I had been following for months.
One of the most powerful men in Greyhaven.
I had spent seven years trying to get the attention of someone with his influence.
Now I stood before him, barefoot and bleeding, with men outside waiting to sell me.
“Please,” I whispered.
His expression remained cold.
And I realised I might have escaped one monster only to find another.
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