Sapphire hesitantly entered the Black Hole Café and Diner through the back door. Her things were in her lock, as she expected. They were the only things she was interested in. Taking them from the locker, she filled up the bag she used as a purse. It was an old backpack she’d found, so it fits everything nicely. She changed into her street clothes and tossed her waitress uniform into the locker. She wouldn’t need it again. There was blood on it she didn’t realize was there. Gods. What people must think of her, running around with blood-stained bikers and wearing the same blood. It made her a little sick to her stomach.
Sapphire looked at her paycheck to make sure it was correct. Thank heavens it was. As she stepped from the back room into the hallway that led to the dining area and the back door, she noticed Hank, the cook, standing there watching. He didn’t approach, though. Sapphire expected him to be mean and nasty, but he surprised her by saying, “Everything is there. Go on, little wolf. Go find a new home. You deserve it. Don’t look back.”
Sapphire was getting emotional again. Today was all too much for her. The numbness she felt earlier was wearing off. So, as she choked up, Sapphire nodded to the burly man at the end of the hall, turned away from him and ran out the door, not looking back. She couldn’t deal with the confusion she felt over his words, not matching his past deeds.
She burst out into the afternoon sunlight and rushed to the bikes. Magnus looked her up and down. “Did you get everything you wanted?”
“Thank you. Yes. If you drop me off at the bus terminal, I’ll no longer be your problem, and I’ll be able to get on my way a day early.” Sapphire climbed onto the back of his bike again as he nodded. She missed the look of disapproval that passed over her head between the two bikers.
“Let’s go home.” That was how Magnus responded to Sapphire’s request, and she figured he spoke to Hayden and not to her. It wasn’t until they breezed right by the bus terminal on the way out of town that she realized he didn’t stop to let her off the bike.
“Hey, that was the bus terminal. You’re supposed to drop me off there.” Sapphire yelled into the side of his helmet. She was sure he must be confused and not realized it. After all, he was new to the town.
“Never said I did that. In fact, I said you weren’t taking the bus.” He yelled back at her over his shoulder. That’s when the sinking feeling hit. She was on the back of a motorcycle, going who knows where with wolves she knew nothing about. The worst part is she knew no one would come looking for her. These wolves could do anything with her, and there was no one to stop them.
This hit Sapphire hard. Her fight-or-flight response kicked in and all she wanted to do was run away now. There was no way she would win a fight with these two. They’re seasoned fighters with a resolve that lets them do what they had to. Look what they did to Cliff. Hayden didn’t even get his hands dirty; it’d only been Magnus. That meant if he wanted to, he could tear her apart and no one would care what happened to the pieces.
“Please, I don’t want to be a burden or any type of trouble. I’ll be on my way, and you won’t ever need to see me again.” She wanted to make him see how reasonable she was and that she wouldn’t be a problem or burden of any sort.
“You aren’t a burden. We’re almost back into our territory, then we’ll talk.” In town was neutral territory. Any wolf could go there and expect to be safe from any unrest between the packs.
There were only two packs in the area now. Sapphire’s pack harassed all the other packs into leaving. Which is how Magnus’ pack owned the old Johannesson territory. Magnus’ pack were the upstart rebels of the area. They came here knowing full well that there’d be unrest between the packs. They came looking for a fight.
The gates they pulled up to were large. Magnus’ hands snatched hers where they clung to his waist and kept them there. She couldn’t get off the bike even if she struggled. His hands were like vices on her wrists.
A couple of guards came out of the gate, and they spoke in a language Sapphire wasn’t familiar with. Both guards kept looking from Magnus to her and back again. She was so confused. Sapphire couldn’t make out what was happening.
Magnus waited for his men to step forward and spoke in their native Scots tongue. “We’re back. This is Sapphire Kilburn. She doesn’t speak our tongue, so anything she doesn’t need to know we won’t speak in English. She’s a flight risk. If anyone comes looking for her. You know nothing about her. She’s the niece of Alpha Kilburn, but he’s got no use for her. The non-aggression treaty is a bust, so watch yourselves. He probably won’t come looking for her except to abuse her. She’s ours now, but she doesn’t know it yet.”
Beyond a few nods, and a raised eyebrow. The guards said nothing.
“If she comes to the gate, she’s not allowed to leave. She will only leave with me. Is that understood?” Again, with the nods. “Great, there will be a meeting later and this is the information that will be told to the others. So, there’s no need for either of you to attend. Make sure you note this in the logs and everyone else is aware of it.”
With that, the guards stepped back, and the bikes pulled through the gates into the pack territory of the Twilight Wolves. What did she get herself into?
Sapphire was in a panic. He wasn’t letting her leave. “Why are you doing this? What are your plans for me? My uncle won’t pay to get me back. He’ll be glad to get rid of me.” “That’s fine. I don’t need his money and I don’t want to give you back.” Sapphire couldn’t understand what he meant. Did he mean he was keeping her? For what if not leverage? What other use did he have for her? That’s when her mind went to places, she didn’t want to explore. No, no, she wouldn’t be anyone else’s slave again. She must get out of here. The bikes pulled up to their packhouse, and they took the bags and such strapped to them off before someone took them to the storage garage.
Sapphire couldn’t believe they’d locked her in. She was their prisoner, and no one would care or notice. She wanted to cry. From bad to worse, why couldn’t she catch a break? Why did Magnus bring her here in the first place? What did they want from her? She couldn’t tell. Now she finally got around to looking at the surrounding space. She’d expected a small room that she probably would need to share with others and fight for space. But as she explored, there was no sign of anyone else living in this room or have lived ever lived in this room. The closet was empty except for the bag she placed on the dresser. In the bathroom, every bottle and tube she found was brand new. They even wrapped the toothbrush and hairbrush in plastic. The garbage cans were empty too. Sapphire got the impression that not only
Sapphire jumped when a polite knock sounded at her door. “Come in…?” She didn’t remember anyone ever politely knocking at her door in all her life. It was as foreign as the room. She didn’t know what to do with all the space. She’d just thrown her bags into the bottom of the closet and left them there. In case she needed to run fast. Sarah Ann came in with an arm full of things. “I’m back. I have clean sheets and a change of clothes. I hope I have the sizing correct. They came from the stockpile out by the kitchen door. You know how the young are. Go out for an impromptu run and forget to bring their clothes with them. Anyway, once we have your sizing down, we’ll see what we can order for you.”
Sapphire followed Sarah Ann, who dropped the tray off in another woman’s arms before showing her down a hall and to a large room. “This is the dining room. We eat most of our meals here and some of our informal meetings are here. Formal meetings and celebrations are in the entertainment room or ballroom. I refuse to call it the ballroom, as we don’t hold any balls. Now there’s Alpha Magnus. I’ll leave you with him and then get a couple of things done quickly before the meeting. You’ll probably see me at the back of the room. Good luck dear.” Sarah Ann walked her to Alpha Magnus’ side and then left her there with a wave. She could feel everyone’s eyes on her and she was sure there were several people whispering about her. Magnus’ attention quickly shifted from what he was do
Hayden barely caught his new Luna as she collapsed. He held her as he looked to Magnus for direction. Several people cried out as they watched her collapse. “I think this was all a little too sudden for her Alpha.” Magnus came over and took her limp form from Hayden. “It shouldn’t surprise me. The man raised her completely inappropriately. That changes now. I’ll take her back to her room and we can let her rest there. Then we can finish this meeting.” Magnus left the room, carrying his mate to her room. The pack talked behind him, but he didn’t listen to it. He’d deal with it once he had her safely tucked away in her bed. Sarah Ann can monitor her while he finished the meeting. Sarah Ann was ever on top of
“Hayden, before everyone leaves. Please make arrangements for an enforcer meeting later. I’d like to go to the security protocol with them. Also, write up something reminding everyone how to react when they are in town. I’d like to avoid as much conflict as possible. Also, when do we expect the next group to roll in?” Magnus went into business mode now and began instructing Hayden of their next steps on rolling into town and endearing the locals to them.“Yeah, sure. I will gather you want the groups coming in to get the memo too, so we don’t have any problems with them?” Magnus nodded as they moved from the dining room and upstairs to his apartment.“Yes, please. There are notes on the next steps to our plans on my desk with the reports you left there for me. If you put those into action, I believe that today’s been a rather good day. Now I want to get cleaned up properly. I smell like that cowardly wolf.” Ma
Sapphire found herself in the dank basement of the packhouse. Someone locked her in again and they’d taken the lightbulbs to make her suffer. They all knew she hated the dark. She could hear the movement of something or someone moving around. Now she anticipated where the person or creature was. The closer they came, the sooner it would hurt her. Sapphire jumped every time she heard the tiniest scuffle. Desperate not to give herself away, she bit her lip to prevent herself from making a noise. Tears streamed down her cheeks, stopping them was beyond her control. Now she crouched there as still as a deer in headlights. Listening in the dark, trying to track whatever prowled around down there with her. She could feel the cold cracked concrete under her bare feet and work-worn hands. Sapphire could taste her own blood from where one of her teeth bit a little too deeply into her lip. She desperately tried not
Sarah Ann quietly closed the door to Sapphire’s apartment behind her and she looked sternly at her Alpha. “Sarah, what was that? What happened in there?” Magnus couldn’t reconcile what he saw. “Alpha, you, yourself, said she’d experienced such poor treatment for so long. But I can’t understand what she saw in her dreams until I talk to her. Your pacing out here is scaring her more. So, you need to go do something productive and get your mind off her. All you’re doing is scaring her out of her wits.” “She lied to me about her dreams. Why would she do that? Who does that?” Magnus couldn’t keep the disbelief