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 was that enormous room for her, but the bathroom was only for her use.
She struggled to accept this. Clearly, she was a prisoner, but such fancy accommodations. It made little sense to her. So, she figured if her bathroom came with hot water and no line to wait in. She’d make sure of it. Sapphire was hesitant to sure the items in the bathroom, so she took out the few things she brought with her and stepped into a steamy shower. For the first time in her memory, she could take her time with no one banging on the door or shutting off the hot water.
When she got out of the bathroom, dressed in her clothes again, she tried the door. Even so, the door’s lock was locked. Going to the window, it was a no-go on opening it. But the view. She’d never stayed in a room with such a beautiful view. Trees and flowers as far as the eye could see. Pups playing among them, people just walking and talking to each other. She could even see a couple of men sparing in the distance.
As she watched, the people came closer and closer to the packhouse. Even the sparing men stopped and came toward the packhouse. Soon enough, it left no one outside. Did they all come to this meeting? Magnus ordered? If her uncle ordered something like that, everyone ran to get there on time or else. No one wanted to explore them or else.
Ivory locked her in a closet once before one of these meetings, and she’d been late. Her uncle strapped her before everyone as an example. Ivory got away with being late for everything, and no one dared to say a word about it.
Would she get in trouble for not being there? No, of course not. She wasn’t a pack member. But was she a slave of the pack? Nothing made sense to her. She needed answers and she couldn’t get them locked up here in this room.
* * *
Sarah Ann found Magnus in his office, poring over several reports. Nothing new for this man. He had more surfaces than a set of gamer dice. “When are you going to tell me what to do with the girl, oh great alpha?”
“Funny Sarah dear. That girl, as you call her, is my future mate. I need you to gain her trust and help her adjust, because I’m desperately trying not to kill her abusive and neglectful uncle. Or end up in a pack war with them.”
“I’ll need a little more information than that to go on. What am I working with?”
“A wolf who’s sweet, honest, and abused at every turn is my suspicion. If I understand, she’s paying for her parents’ audacity to walk away from the abuse and take her with them. Now her cousin uses every opportunity to shove this down her throat by forcing Sapphire to do every chore and dirty job no one else will. That’s after she works at the Black Hole Café all day. She’s been sleeping in a pantry closet among the dry goods to boot.”
“So, you’re saying this meek mouse needs to find the wolf inside? Great, and how did you get her away from this uncle? Inquiring minds want to know.”
“I took her from there. After I dropped the self-proclaimed future alpha in front of that whiny, spoilt cousin. Then I walk into her uncle’s office, still covered in that wolf’s blood, and refuse to sign the non-aggression treaty. I may have let slip that the wolf I dropped planned to take over by the end of the week. It appears that someone failed to tell Alpha Kilburn about his retirement at the end of the week.”
“Well, you are making a statement as soon as you enter this region. Is that injured wolf still alive?”
“That’s unclear. Now please have her get ready for the meeting in an hour. I’d really appreciate it. I’d like to present her to the pack that’s here.”
“Don’t worry, you’ll be getting the bills for this one. The poor unfortunate dear. This won’t be easy on her. If Alpha Kilburn comes after her, it’s going to be hard for her. The pack may not let her stay, or they will make her life miserable until she’s forced out.” Sarah Ann warned Magnus of all the possibilities.
“That’s their Luna, so they either adjust or leave. You know the rules. I didn’t create the traditions of a wolf pack. But I will enforce them.”
“You could make a mistake…” Sarah Ann didn’t get to finish what she was saying when Magnus cut her off.
“I know she’s my mate. They either support me or leave. That’s how packs work. My mate will be their Luna, and we both know fate doesn’t make mistakes.” Magnus growled in response to Sarah Ann’s words. His every instinct screamed to him from the time he’d walked into the Black Hole Café and saw her smiling face. This was the woman who’d bare his pups and stand beside him for the rest of his life. She’s battered and broken like him. Which made him feel they suited each other perfectly. “Just make sure any bills end up on my desk. There’s no budget. Just get her whatever she needs and make it the best.”
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
Sarah Ann returned to Sapphire’s room in time to see Sapphire scramble self-consciously from the bed. “Dear, you’ve just had a terrible shock. Relax, don’t overdo it if you don’t have to.” “Oh, I’m good. Um… What’s going on?” “That’s the point. Everything’s quiet. Tonight, another convoy of pack members will be here and lots of getting reacquainted will happen, and it’ll be good times.” “What am I supposed to do?” “Dear, you just need to be your sweet self and get to know everyone. Let them know you.” Sarah Ann’s heart almost broke at the lost
Hayden watched for a bit as Magnus prepped to work on one cycle that just came into the shop. It was just the groundwork to prepare for the more artistic work. It was a full restore and customization detail. “We need to make sure everyone is on board, with Sapphire being my mate and Luna. I don’t want any decent in my pack. I don’t want that pack’s reputation damaging hers. She’s been through enough without needing to deal with anymore shade or backstabbing.” “I’ll try to stop it if I see any of it go down. But unless it happens, I don’t see us being able to avoid these problems. Sarah Ann’s always got an answer for things like this.”