Trapped in the Den of Alphas

Chapter 6

Eden's POV

I stand by the sink as the pipes reluctantly splutter to life. A small burst of water explodes from the faucet, followed by a steady trickle. I desperately cup my hands underneath, waiting for them to collect just enough liquid to bring it to my lips. I drink it down without a thought, the overwhelming thirst taking over any worries I might have had about its cleanliness. Thankfully, it tastes fresh enough, and my shoulders drop in relief as I press my wet hands against my face.

It’s been a few hours since I woke to see the sunlight beaming in the window. Unfortunately, my failed escapades with the curtain pole last night have left me with little shade against the heat that circulates the suffocating room.

I turn the tap off and wonder if this is all part of their plan. Maybe none of them wants to be the one to kill me, so they have left it up to nature to decide my fate instead. Be it starving to death or boiling alive in this unbearable heat.

I look down over the muddy rags that were once my gown. The thin material is torn in random places, and the bodice is barely holding together. Still, with no other options, it will have to do.

Just then, I hear a key grind inside the lock on the door, and I waste zero time rushing back into the room to see what’s going on. It’s the same blond guy from yesterday. The one who was ordered to put me here. I might have heard his name is Zeke, but I can’t be sure. “What’s going on? I need to speak with your leader immediately to negotiate my release,” I say, charging toward him.

“Don’t come any closer,” he snaps back harshly, stopping me in my tracks.

I watch as he lays a tray on the floor before rising to his feet again.

“So you are going to feed me, but you won’t let me speak to the one in charge?” I snarl.

“Yes. That’s right,” he answers without missing a beat, reaching for the door handle to close it again.

I grit my teeth and fold my arms across my chest as I walk over to the tray on the floor, eyeing it suspiciously from above. It looks like some sort of fried eggs with slices of bread on the side. The stubborn part of me wants to ignore the food completely; however, my hungry stomach won’t allow it. I pick up the food tray in defeat, bringing it to the bed to devour it like a wild animal.

***

The hours pass by at great length. The day turned to night and then back to day all over again. Still, there’s been nothing. No disturbance in the forest and no contact with any of the other wolf-men. The blond one, Zeke, has periodically brought food, leaving it at the door while he ignores my incessant badgering.

Although it’s only been a short while, the isolation is already beginning to take its toll on me mentally, and all I have left now to pass the time are my dark thoughts. There’s no worse thing for an elf than to be kept from nature. Spending so long without contact with it makes my body feel weak and powerless.

As the door opens, and what I assume to be lunch appears, I decide that enough is enough. I stand up from the bed and wait for the blond man to show his face before I launch into my speech. “Zeke? It’s Zeke, isn’t it? That’s your name.” He doesn’t bother to answer me. “You know, I’d rather you just f*****g kill me than leave me here in this room to rot!” I grit out as he places the tray on the floor once again.

“Hmm,” he mumbles, standing back up to take in my pitiful state.

“Why don’t you tell your almighty leader that from me, huh? Tell him he might as well kill me now!” I add, taking a determined step forward. “Or is he too chicken-s**t to do the deed himself?!”

The man’s eyebrows rise as he takes in my serious demeanor. “I’ll be sure to pass along your message,” he says with a slight hint of amusement, gripping the old tray in one hand and pulling the door closed.

Rage bubbles up inside me, and before I know it, my temper spikes. I rush forward to grab the tray and toss it against the wall, where it clatters against the wooden dresser before finally settling on the floor.

It’s then that it hits me. If they won’t talk to me, then I’ll make it damn impossible for the bastards to ignore my presence here any longer. It’s childish tactics, I know, but it’s the only idea I have right now.

I pick up the tray again and beat it against the door repeatedly, using my anger to fuel my tired body. I then couple the loud bangs with screams that could pierce the ears of an elf five miles away. “LET ME OUTTTTT!”

My onslaught of high-pitched sound is relentless. I take only small breaks to sip water from the faucet before going again even louder. Once the tray has served its purpose, I grab hold of the heavy wooden curtain pole and batter it against the walls, shaking them enough to cause dust to descend from the cracks in the ceiling. “COME ON, YOU COWARDS!” I taunt them loudly, my voice now hoarse but nowhere near done. “LET ME OUT!!”

My endless tirade is beginning to wear me out, but I won’t give in now. Not when I’ve come this far. Suddenly, I hear voices outside, and I rush to the window to see a couple of the wolf-men I recognize from the other night have made their way outside. One is shouting and swearing angrily, while another is holding onto his ear with one hand and massaging his forehead with the other.

I did read once before that wolves have heightened senses, hearing included.

The first grin I have smiled since I got here spreads across my face, and I step back from the window to continue my one-woman band of all things so f*****g irritating, annoying and loud that they cannot possibly be ignored.

A few minutes later, the key clatters against the lock, and the door opens to afford me a soundbite of what’s happening in the hallway.

“SOMEONE SHUT HER THE f**k UP!”

“I SWEAR I’LL CHOKE HER MYSELF IF SHE KEEPS—”

Zeke closes the door behind him and folds his arms across his chest as he stands there with a look of annoyance on his face. “I think you made your point. Are you quite finished?” he asks sternly as if dealing with a naughty child.

“That depends. Will you take me to your leader?”

“No—”

The word barely leaves his lips, and I’m already banging the legs of the wooden chair off the creaky floorboards again.

“For f**k sake, wait a damn minute,” he growls, closing the door to leave me alone once again.

I decide to do as he says. Timing the minute by counting the seconds in my head. Right on time, the door opens again, and I hold my breath in anticipation. If it’s him, their leader, then I’ll have to have my wits about me. I straighten myself upright and hold my head high. I then can’t hide the wave of disappointment that washes over me as I take in the appearance of the man who has entered the room. It’s not the leader at all. Nor is it the blond second-in-command, but it’s the one I know as Mateo. I take in his appearance for a few moments in silence. He is tall and tanned with brown eyes and has a mop of chocolate-colored curls that bounce around playfully on his head when he moves. Despite his pleasant appearance, I can’t look past the fact that he is the asshole wolf that brought me to this dump in the first place.

“YOU!” I snap angrily, moving around the chair to step toward him.

He holds his hands up in surrender, his brown, apologetic eyes flicking over me. “Cool it. I’m not here to hurt you.”

My eyebrows knit together in confusion. “What are you doing here then?” I ask scathingly.

He shrugs his shoulders. “Well. It seems that you are causing quite a nuisance, and I’m the only one who can be trusted not to choke you to death to shut you up.”

“So you are telling me that I should trust you? Is that some kind of joke?”

“Hey… I took a lot of heat for sticking up for you!”

“When?!”

“When you first got here!”

My mouth drops open in complete shock. “You are the one who brought me to this place! Should I be thanking you for it?!”

“But did I kill you, though?”

“No, but you did smash me over the head with a rock. A pretty big rock!”

He frowns a little before taking a deep breath. “I panicked…that’s on me.”

I examine him critically for a few moments. I can’t trust him, but I’m hardly in any position to burn my bridges with potential allies in this place.

“So you don’t want me dead?” I ask suspiciously.

He shakes his head from side to side, but I have to say he doesn’t look all too sure.

I fold my arms over my chest. “So what do you want?”

He walks further into the room. “It would be good if you would stop the noise—”

“Then take me to the one in charge.” I interrupt quickly.

A look of shock covers his face as he lets out a puff of air. “I wouldn’t be asking for that if I were you,” he says in warning, shaking his head.

“Why?”

“It would be better for you to stay out of Conall's way. Trust me.”

“Then no deal.” I shrug, laying my hands down on the chair, ready to go again.

“Look, woman! He’s not going to let you go, so there’s no point!”

“Maybe I can offer him some kind of deal? I don’t have much in the way of money, but—”

Mateo begins to laugh in disbelief, throwing his arms out. “You think he cares about money? Do you think any of us do?”

“Well, perhaps if you just tell him to come here, then I can at least suggest—”

“Yeah, right. I’ll just march into Conall’s room and tell him you want an audience with him.”

“Why the hell not? Why does everyone seem so afraid of him?!”

He doesn’t answer my question; instead, a look of defeat covers his face as he falls silent.

The atmosphere suddenly changes, and it becomes clear that there won’t be any compromise.

“I’m not getting out of here anytime soon, am I?”

“No, you’re not,” he answers honestly.

I lift my hand to my face to pinch the bridge of my nose before I turn away to look back out of the window.

“But you might have a chance of at least staying alive so long as you behave.”

I shake my head, not bothering to turn around.

“I’m not kidding. You need to keep your head down. Make yourself useful. Don’t try any funny business and most importantly of all....”

I turn around to look him in the eye.

“Keep out of Con’s way.”

I finally relent to the feeling of defeat that creeps up on me and walk over to the bed to take a seat. Mateo hangs around by the door, watching me. Neither of us uttering a word.

“What am I supposed to do?” I ask quietly, looking around the room. “I’ll go mad if I’m kept inside this tiny room day in, day out.”

He steps forward, grabbing the wooden chair, which he drags across the floorboards to sit in front of me.

“I might have a solution for you, but you’re probably not going to like it.”

I frown, and his facial expression softens. “Look, there was a meeting last night. It was suggested, by me, that your presence here might be useful. I volunteered you to do chores around the house.”

“So I’m to be a slave?”

“I told you you wouldn’t like it, but Con didn’t say that you couldn’t.”

“What did he say?”

“Not much, but then he never does.”

I nod my head in silent understanding.

“It would at least get you out of this room for a bit.”

I think it over while he clasps his hands together, watching me closely. “It’s a take it or leave it kinda situation.”

My eyes drift toward the door, and I nod in agreement.

“Good,” he answers, slapping his hands together before standing up. “Let’s get going then?”

“In this?” I ask, glancing down at my torn dress.

“Um, for now, yes, but I’ll see what I can do.”

“Wait!” I call out, the burning unanswered questions swirling around in the forefront of my mind, forcing their way out of my mouth one after the other. “What is this place? How did you all get here? The wolves…they died out after the war.”

He looks away shiftily and clears his throat. “As you can see…we didn’t.”

I shake my head in disbelief. “But there are so many of you; you’re all so young. Under forty years old, I would guess? I don’t understand how—”

“Can we just get a move on? Let’s go,” he interrupts, gesturing to the door.

I get up from the bed and follow him, but I don’t give up my line of questioning. “Where are all the women? Surely, if wolves survived the war, they would have produced males and females? Can I talk to one of the women?”

“There are no women. Only men,” he answers vaguely, with an air of awkwardness.

“No women? But how? And that’s another thing…why do all the men have such strong auras? I’ve read about wolves, and it’s usually only the leaders, the Alphas, that have—”

“You ask too many questions,” he interrupts for the last time, giving me a glare that causes me to drop the subject altogether.

If I’m going to be here for the long haul, I guess I’ll just have to figure out the answers on my own.