Chapter 0005

When I woke up I was feeling groggy and dazed. I didn’t know where I was, but it was an unfamiliar place. I had a weird taste in my mouth and a ringing in my ears. I tried to sit up, but my eyes were all blurry and my face was really starting to hurt. I heard some muffled voice trying to talk to me from pretty close. But I couldn’t make anything out just yet.

I blinked a few times and tried to look around and get my senses back when I realized that I was in the dungeon. I was in one of the cells and Ryker was sitting outside the cell trying to talk to me. He couldn’t come too close to me because the bars were made of silver.

“What…what happened?” I asked, barely able to think.

“Dad injected you with wolfsbane.” Ryker says. And I felt really sick to the stomach. I thought I was going to throw up and I needed to lay down again.

I was looking around but things were still blurry. I couldn’t see properly but I did notice a bunch of men standing along the other wall of the dungeon. They were warriors, obviously there to watch me. To make sure that I didn’t try to escape. Or make sure that Ryker didn’t try to break me out.

“How are you feeling?” Ryker asked, his voice laced with concern.

“It hurts. Everywhere.” I say.

“It’s the wolfsbane. It’s stopping you from healing as fast as you normally would. Once the wolfsbane wears off then your face will be back to normal.” Ryker explained. But I was feeling sore in places that didn’t make any sense. I looked down, between my legs and there was blood on my shorts. And that’s when I felt my heart beat start to accelerate and I started having trouble breathing. I didn’t know what the hell happened to me while I was unconscious. But I didn't like the looks of this.

“Ryker.” I said, almost panicking while I said it. And I looked over at him when he didn’t say anything. He was still sitting on the ground and his head was hanging down while his knees were up and his arms were resting on his knees.

“Ryker.” I said again. And he looked up at me with tears in his eyes. He didn’t have to say what he was thinking, I already knew. Sorrow and hatred towards himself for not being able to protect me.

“I’m really sorry, Summer. For everything.” He told me, trying to control himself.

“What happened?” I asked. And he looked really hesitant to tell me, but I had a right to know what they did to me. I had every right to know what happened but he didn’t want to be the one to tell me.

“Just after you were put down here in the cell. James wanted some time alone with you. Dad told him that he could have as much time as he wanted. Dad let James do that to you. I tried to stop them, I really did.” He repeated, while the tears were rolling down his face. And I laid back down on the bed, unable to look Ryker in the face. Not because I blamed him, because I was embarrassed and ashamed. I should have known that they were capable of something like this.

“It’s not your fault Ryker. I know that you wouldn’t hurt us on purpose. You’ve always protected me.” I say. But when I said ‘us’, the memory started flooding back into my mind of my mother. My mother dying on the living room floor and my father not even caring. She was dead and that brought tears to my eyes.

“He killed her. He killed our mom.” I said, looking back at Ryker. And he looked back at me. Seeing the tears in my eyes, he got as close to the bars as he possibly could.

“I wish I could give you a hug right now, baby sister. I really do.” Ryker said. Trying to control his tears. He knew that the guards were going to report back to dad and he hated cry babies. But I don’t care right now. My mom was gone and then I remembered her whispering that name to me. Nicole Everstone. A name that I had never heard before, but she has the same last name as us. How is that possible?

I finally climb off of that filthy cot and I awkwardly sit down right next to the bars so that Ryker and I could be as close as possible to each other. I was still crying over mom and he was trying to control his emotions. Trying to be strong for me. Classic Ryker.

“How long have I been here? Did James leave?” I asked.

“Summer. You’ve only been out of it for a couple of hours. The wedding is still going ahead.” Ryker said, having to break even more bad news to me. What else could that evil creep do to me? He already got what he wanted from me, now he was going to keep me prisoner in his pack as well.

We can’t mind link because of the wolfsbane in my system, so Ryker got as close to the bars as possible and I did the same thing. So the guards couldn’t hear us.

“Alpha Ethan had been trying to call you all day today. I heard your phone going off in your room a little earlier. So I went in and answered it. I told him everything. The fight, mom, the wedding, everything.” Ryker whispered.

“Ethan’s pack is too far away. He’ll never make it here in time. Not that he’d want me anymore anyway. Not after what James did.” I say.

“Summer. He is desperate. He doesn’t want his Luna being married off to someone else. Especially not to James. You have to believe that he will find a way.” Ryker insisted. Trying to give me hope. But what they did was unforgivable. And they had to pay, no matter what. And I had to be the one to do it . Even if Ethan didn’t get here in time, I knew that James was never going to touch me again. Not if I had anything to do with it. He’d be dead before the night was out.

“I stopped believing in people a long time ago, Ryker. The only person I have ever been able to count on is you. I just need to rest for now. What did you get from that bastard for fighting him earlier?” I asked, referring to him challenging dad.

“I already got my punishment for that. Don’t worry about it. It’s forgotten about.” Ryker says. But I highly doubted that.

I then heard two women walking down the hall towards my cell and the guard opened the cell door for them and they walked inside with a wedding dress.

“You’ve been asked to wear this veil. James says that it’s best because of the way your face looks right now. And he has asked that there not be a kiss at the end of the ceremony.” One of the women said, very stern looking. I had never seen her before. I believed that they belonged to James’ pack. Not ours.

“I’m not surprised. He’s just as shallow as dad.” I scoffed. And they made me stand up, which was still an effort for me. I was hurting all over and the wolfsbane in my system wasn’t doing me any favours.

They made me undress and Ryker turned his back while they did that and he forced the warriors to do the same. He didn’t want them looking at me naked. And the woman slipped the plain white wedding gown over my head with a mermaid tail and thin spaghetti straps with diamante detailing around the neckline.

They had to hold the bottom of my dress up so it didn’t get dirty from the floor and they led me out of the cell and Ryker helped me get up the stairs.

There were people waiting to do my hair and makeup, which I thought was completely pointless because that veil looked pretty thick. No one would be able to see through it. But dad insisted.

When the music started dad took me to the backdoors and I could see thousands of people outside. Not only our pack, but some of James’ pack was here as well.

“Where is she?” I asked.

“Who?”Dad asked, not even looking at me.

“Mom. What did you do with her?” I asked.

“That’s none of your concern.” He says. The doors then opened and he started walking me down the aisle, but I was still a little unsteady on my feet. Especially in high heels. And then he handed me over to James who put his arm around my waist and held on to my hand.

Just him touching me made my skin crawl.

It was a pretty quick ceremony and the officiant finally got to the end after I had stood there, unmoving and unemotional the entire time, almost like I was numb or something.

“Do you, Alpha James, take this woman to be your lawful wedded wife?”

“Yes.” James smiled at me and then back at the officiant. And then he turned to me. But I put my head down in shame.

“And do you, Summer Everstone, take Alpha James to be your lawfully wedded husband?” And suddenly, hearing something in the woods right in front of me, I realized that I was the only one that could hear it. So I raised my head and looked straight ahead.

“No.” I said, loud and clear. And there was murmuring and whispering everywhere. My father hurried to my side and he grabbed a hold of my arm really tightly growling in my face. But I just smiled at him.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” He spat in my face.

“Waiting for my mate.” I replied, to which he had no response. I knew that my father was furious, I could see his eyes changing colour as he fought with his wolf. He raised his hand to slap me one more time when suddenly people started noticing the wine in their glasses rippling and the tables and chairs started shaking, forcing a lot of people to their feet as they were looking around. And then a wall of wolves came running through the tree line of the forest, with Ethan in the lead.