“What do you dream about?” he asks.A voice pulls me out of a deep sleep that it feels like I’ve been trapped in forever. I try to move, but I’m reminded that I’m in a cage. I’m in a nightmare. There’s no moving. No escape.“Or maybe it was a nightmare,” he chuckles. “Considering everything that’s happened to you lately, I’m sure it was a nightmare. “So, what are your nightmares about? Am I in them? Do I haunt you even when you close your eyes? I hope I do. If I don’t yet, I will soon.”It’s him. It’s the Alpha who led the charge that slaughtered my pack. He watches me like he’s trying to figure me out. Probably so he can figure out the best way to break me.I’ll never let him break me. I can’t imagine living while the rest of my pack is dead, but I will. I’ll stay strong so I can get revenge for them.“You know, you’re the only survivor of that fight,” he says.I try not to react outwardly, but I flinch and he notices. It makes him happy to see my weakness. It makes my stoma
“Wake up,” a voice purrs. “I want you to see your new home. I want you to see everything I can offer you.”I wake, but I keep my eyes closed. I don’t want to see any of this. I recognize that voice as the person I hate most.Besides, a cage is not a home. I don’t want to think about living here forever. If this is my destiny, I hope it ends soon.“Come on, Sasha,” he says. “If you open your eyes, maybe we can have a proper introduction.”Proper introduction. I realize then that I don’t even know his name yet. It’d be nice to know the name of the man who will feel the wrath of my vengeance. So, I open my eyes. “That’s better,” the Alpha says. “My name is Tobias. Welcome to my home. Welcome to our home.”His home is nicer than I imagined a rouge’s home to be. It’s a decent sized hut with ornate furniture, a den like area for his wolf form to sleep in, and a big bed for the human form. Bits of gold are gathered around like a bird, alongside rich bursts of color.“What do you thi
“Isn’t this better?” Tobias asks, as he leads me away from Kara. “We’re bonding how we should be.”I don’t want to leave her. Though there’s nothing I can do while I’m trapped like this, at least if she’s in my sight, I know she’s not being harmed. Once I can’t see her, I don’t know what’s happening to her.“It’s nicer to spend time together when you’re not fighting me,” Tobias continues. “This is how it should be. We should be one. We should get along. That’s how we’ll lead most effectively.”I don’t want to lead with him though. I don’t want to be near him. I just want to be away from this nightmare.“You’re right,” I say. “It’s much better if we approach this together. I was silly trying to fight you, especially after seeing what you’re capable of.”“And there’s no need for you to want to get away either,” Tobias says, his mood brightening considerably. “Why would you want to? I’m the Alpha. I’m a strong Alpha too. Every woman wants to be with me. You should feel lucky.”“I do
“You can’t kill Kara,” I whisper. “Oh really?” his eyebrows arch. “I can and I will.“It hurts me to think you might only be agreeing to marry me because you want to save Kara. I feel like she could get between us anyway. She hates me. I don’t want her saying awful things about me to you, putting negative ideas in your head. I don’t want to risk the two of you plotting against me.”Tobias shakes his head and I want to rip it right off his neck. He can’t kill Kara. I won’t let him.“There’s no saving her” he says. “She has to die. It’s for the best. It’ll save our marriage.”“Lying to me isn’t a great way to start our marriage,” I remind him. “If you really want to be married to me, if you really want me as your mate, you shouldn’t lie to me. You should show me I can trust you.”“You can trust me,” Tobias says. “You can trust me to always do what’s right for you. What’s right for us. Killing Kara is what’s right for us.”“It’ll only hurt me,” I argue.“Pain is how you grow stro
“You look gorgeous,” Tobias says, as he walks into his hut.My hands shake as I do the buttons. I can’t believe this nightmare is my life. I can’t believe I’m about to go through with this.I have to though. I have to for Kara. I have to for my pack.If I get close enough to Tobias, I can get my revenge. If I cause enough of a distraction, Kara can flee.Yet as I look at myself in the mirror, I’m not sure I can go through with this.“You’re shaking,” he says. That’s the only reason why he’s in here. So, he can see how much this is all bothering me.He takes my hand in his big, warm hands. Mine are so small while tucked into his. He could crush my fingers if he wanted to.“I’m excited,” I say, still trying to lean heavily on the lie. “This is all a lot. It’s a lot so quickly too. So, I’m nervous and excited.”“As you should be,” Tobias says. “I’m glad to see you’re finally warming up to the idea. You’ll settle soon enough.”And I am. I’m warming up to the idea that I’ll hav
“We’ll have a whole family of pups,” Tobias continues.And in that moment, I realize that I have no way of knowing for sure that this key will work. I hope it will, of course. I need it to work. I’ve never used it before though. I’ve never used magic at all before. And it’s not like I can test it out first.This is my only hope. It’s the only chance I have at getting out of this.So, I ignore Tobias and I focus on getting the key into the lock. “I’ll train the males, while you teach our girls to be as submissive as you will be,” Tobias continues. The hope and desperation give me the kind of strength I know I’ll need if the chains unlock and…They do.I feel the chains release.I almost cry as they fall to the floor of the canoe.Tobias stops talking.“You don’t want to do anything stupid,” he says in a low, deep, slow manner. “If you try to escape, I will kill you, Sasha. I won’t even hesitate.“I want you as my mate forever. We’re married. You shouldn’t try to kill your
After everything, I want to just sit and stay here for a bit. I’m exhausted, completely used up. Now I have a moment to myself, it all hits me.I almost died. I married someone I hate. Then, I killed him. My pack is gone, slaughtered. And I don’t have anywhere to go.That’s the worst part. The fact that my pack is slaughtered and I’m alone without a home to go back to.What am I supposed to do now? My only goal before was to get away from Tobias and get my revenge. I’ve done both of those things, and I hope Kara has escaped by now too. So, what’s my purpose?“To get yourself away from here,” I mumble to myself. “That’s your purpose, of course. They’re going to come after you.”As silly as it sounds, talking to myself helps. Especially because it’s true. I’m not in the clear yet. I’m not safe yet.Tobias’ pack is going hunt me down once they realize Tobias and I aren’t coming back.I have some time, since we were both supposed to be on the island to mate. They’ll expect us to
“Okay,” I say.“Okay what?” he asks, with a smile that I suspect says that he knows exactly what I’m talking about.“Okay,” I repeat. My smile matches his. “If you’re really serious about this, I’d like to go with you back to your pack.“I really don’t have anywhere else to go. And I appreciate your help. As I really think about it, I don’t know what I’d do otherwise.”“I’m glad I can help,” he says. Since the moment I saw you sitting there alone I…”He shakes his head. “That doesn’t matter. You must be starving though. I’ll give you some food while we walk. The quicker we get back, the better.”He hands me some food from his pack which is much more filling than the berries I was trying to fill up on. After everything, I am starving. But soon my hunger abates. “What are you doing out here by yourself?” I ask. “You have a pack still. Why aren’t you with them?”“I’m trying to find my best friend, Caden,” Zach explains. “He’s been gone for days and we aren’t sure if he ran off or