Betrayed By Love

Chapter Ten

"Ugh, my head feels like it's about to split open any second. This sharp throb is intense. What happened?" Blinding lights forced my eyes back shut. "Damn! Why is it so bright?"

Trying to lift my body causes my head to throb even more, but I ignore it, forcing myself up and my eyes open. After about a minute, my eyes adjusted to the bright light. Confusion racked my brain even more as I took in my surroundings. A cold, concrete room, filled with barred jail cells, each one containing only a small light and a bucket. Panic tore through, realizing I was in danger. I wanted to scream, but who the heck was going to hear me? Let alone save me. But how? How did I end up here? The last thing I remember was watching movies with Lexi? I don't get it? Wait? Where's Lexi?" Looking around, I was completely alone. The only person down here.

"How did I go from spending time with Lexi to a—"

Bloody, and unconscious Annie was lying on the floor.

The memory caused my heart to drop. Slowly, I remembered the whole night. Someone came up behind me, knocking me out after I saw Annie. But, where are they? Where is the whole Grey family? Are they okay? Why was Annie in that state at The Grey's Home? I don't understand it. And why am I the only one down here?

Unsure of what I should do, and terrified of the type of person that could be holding me captive, I shoved myself into the furthest corner away from the chained and padlocked bars. Hoping, somehow, someway, everything will work itself out, and I'll be out of here and safe.

Or better yet, I'm still in the room with Lexi, sleeping, having a horrible nightmare. Soon, I'll wake up and feel that sweet feeling of relief. No. This whole weekend has been a nightmare. All of it. I'll wake up at my family's home, and nothing will have happened. All a nightmare. Because Aaron would never hurt me. Especially not like that. And I'm not locked in a dungeon all alone. Only castles and ancient buildings like that had dungeons. So, this all has to be a crazy nightmare. Right?

"Mira? Time to wake up."

Opening my eyes, I realized I had fallen back asleep, and the only thing that was a dream was my wish. oh.

"Good, seems he didn't cause any long-term damage."

Looking up, I didn't know how to react. I'd never been at a loss like I am now. Never would I have thought they were my captors. The people I looked at were like my parents.

"Mr and Mrs Grey? What's going on?"

She stared at me with a weird look in her eyes, before she sighed, sitting in a chair close to me.

"We really didn't plan to do it like this. Well—" She looked over at Mr. Grey "Give us a minute while I explain everything to her. Go contact the buyers, let them know things may be going ahead of schedule." My eyes darted towards Mr. Grey to see if he was actually going to leave. For some reason, being left with her felt more dangerous than being left with him. Hoping some part of him cared for me like he said, I stared at him with pleading eyes, hoping he'd stay, to no avail. He simply dodged my eyes, and left. My eyes drifted back towards Mrs. Grey. She was silently sitting there observing me.

"We weren't always like this."

Her words confused me, but I stayed silent, wanting to know what she meant.

"At first, we came by money honestly. We had our companies. We were good to our pack, protected them, cared for them, enjoyed the good moments, and helped each other during the bad moments. The world was peaceful, we were peaceful.." She looked me in the eyes, and I could see her pain. But it was replaced with anger moments later as she continued speaking.

"Those. Those self-centered bastards only cared about themselves! They were warned that if they completed their union, they would cause a war! Did they care? No! They didn't care that they sent countless wolves to their deaths, destroying hundreds of families. Sent the werewolf population, the very beings they weren't meant to protect, straight to war, all in the name of their love. A war against new creatures we couldn't fathom." She half laughed as she wiped her tears, looking at me with so much anger.

"I don't get it? What do you mean? werewolves don't exist, are you okay, Addy?"

"Oh, darling, yes, they do. The very people you spend all your time with are those creatures."

"I don't believe you."

All she did was smile, as she looked off into the distance. A few minutes later, deep growls sounded as the door opened. Looking over at Addy, she just kept smiling as she moved to open up the gate to my cell more.

"This should be proof enough, so we can get on with my story."

Fear racked my body, as the giant brown wolf slowly walked towards me, keeping his eyes directly on me.

Instinctively pushing my back against the wall, trying to keep distance between this massive predator and me.

"p–please don't do this Addy I'm beg– "

"Stop it. He isn't going to touch you. Just shut up and watch." She sneered, as her eyes went back to the wolf with a look of pride?

Against my better judgment, I looked back towards the wolf. He stood a few feet away from me before he stopped, and I heard a bunch of crazy noises. One right after another, making me nauseous, closing my eyes, taking a few breaths to get myself under control. I slowly opened my eyes to find the wolf gone, and Jax stood in its place.

"Wh–what? This can't be. Werewolves don't exist." They laughed at my dismay. Jax instantly changed back to the giant brown wolf. Verifying that the sickly noise was snapping bones.

"Yes, we do. Now let's get on with it. I'm a bit impatient. She sat back down, as the wolf, no Jax, left the room.

"Now, where was I? Ah, yes those selfish royals killing their kind so they can stay together. You know, before the war, werewolves lived here alone. This whole world belonged to us. We didn't have to worry about blood suckers, or hunters. We didn't know they existed before. Our lives truly were peaceful. The rift opened a passageway allowing so many different species to enter our kingdom. So much happened in the blink of an eye that all-out chaos broke loose. The war started.

We managed to push back after being surprised and overwhelmed. We mostly got control of our realm back. But, nothing was the same. Everything was destroyed, our way of life, our income, all gone. We still had pack members we had to care for. We needed to figure something out. We didn't have time to mourn losses. That's when a human man approached us. It's the first we've heard of humans. We almost killed him until he brought up a way to bring income in, and save what was left of our pack. He did some research on an injured wolf he found, realizing we had the ability to heal ourselves, he came up with our business. Trafficking wolves, and their organs. Humans either buy weakened wolves to keep as their pets, or we capture, kill, and harvest their organs for humans to transplant into themselves. We were bringing money in, thriving again. We had funerals for the members we lost, and looked towards the future again. That is, until I got a bit ambitious, causing the royal family to find out about our business. They were against it, and tried to stop us. I lost my brother when they invaded my lands! My only family was gone! In return, we decided to take their only child." Staring up at Mrs. Grey, I realized I never knew them. They were crazy, sick people.

"But, of course, they somehow found out about our plans. They put their baby into hiding. The location secret even to them. Such love, right? Giving their baby up so she can live a full life away from the evil Grey Family." A crazy smile slowly appeared as she stared me in the eyes.

"It didn't take long to find the quiet little town, holding the happy little Flynn family. She really did love you before she met me."

My heart rate increased at her words. "You mean?.."

"Yes, Mira. I'm the reason you don't know your real parents. I'm the reason your adopted parents hate you. And I'll be the reason you die alone."