Chapter 3

The moment our eyes met, something inside me snapped. Those pitch-black eyes, locked onto me like I belonged to him. I panicked. I tried getting up again, my body fueled by fear, but I forgot I was trapped between the two massive men still holding me down.

Then it hit me. I was naked.

Lying there, completely exposed, surrounded by four men.

I should have been used to this. I had lived years like this. But something about this moment made my skin crawl. This wasn’t like before. This felt wrong. More wrong. More… sacred.

A growl echoed through the trees, low and thunderous. It wasn’t feral. It was protective. Furious.

I looked up, and it was him. The giant. The one with the dark eyes and a body that looked carved from stone. He was staring directly at us. No, not us. At me.

I whimpered, my body trembling as tears poured down my face. Loud sobs spilled from my throat before I could stop them. And I fought. Hard. Kicking and struggling until, by some miracle, the guys actually let me go. I scrambled backward, crawling with the little strength I had left.

The doctor suddenly stepped forward, his voice quick and nervous.

“Alpha, they were helping me care for her. We didn’t know she was your mate.”

The forest seemed to still at that word. Mate.

“Nobody touches my mate’s body.” The Alpha’s voice cracked through the air like lightning.

I froze. Then I completely broke down.

My sobs shook my body. In all the years I spent trapped in that cabin, I hadn’t cried like this. Maybe it was because I had just gotten my freedom, only to feel it ripped away again. Or maybe it was the pain in my leg, which had started bleeding even more. Or maybe, even worse, it was the way I still wanted to run to him. To throw myself into his arms like I belonged there.

“Sorry, Alpha,” the other men said together, heads bowed.

I looked up just in time to see him walking toward me with the shirt. My whole body tensed. I screamed and tried to push myself off the ground, but I didn’t get far.

Two strong arms wrapped around my waist before I could get away.

“Where are you going, princess?” he asked, his breath hot against my neck. His voice was low, but it carried weight. Power.

A shiver rushed through me.

He spun me around and slipped the oversized shirt over my head. I clawed at him, kicked, squirmed like my life depended on it. He didn’t flinch. With terrifying ease, he lifted me into his arms, holding me bridal style like I weighed nothing.

I wish I could say I wasn’t resisting, but I was.

I fought him. I shoved against his chest. I kicked weakly. None of it mattered. He was a mountain of a man, towering over six feet tall with muscles that looked like they’d been built in a war. And me? I was barely over five feet, bones peeking through skin, legs trembling from malnutrition, blood dripping down my thigh.

I realized then just how broken I was. Just how powerless.

Once they took me back, I would have no way of escaping. No way of surviving.

“Stop that, princess,” he said again, softer this time. “Tell me your name.”

I froze, but I didn’t speak. I just stared at him, hollow and silent.

His jaw clenched, frustration flashing in his eyes. I could see the temper creeping in, but I had no way to explain myself. I wasn’t trying to be difficult.

I just didn’t speak.

I hadn’t said a word since the year after I was taken. My voice had been beaten into silence. Every time I tried to beg, scream, plead, it only made things worse. So one day, I just stopped. And I never started again.

“What is your name?” he asked again, this time louder.

“She hasn’t said a word,” the brunette said. “Not since we found her. I don’t know if she speaks.”

The Alpha’s eyes didn’t leave mine. “Dave, head back to the house. Borrow some of Hazel’s clothes. We’re going there now.”

So the brunette’s name was Dave.

“Yes, Alpha,” he said before vanishing into the trees.

The man holding me looked down again, trying to soften his expression. “Princess, can you please tell me your name?”

I turned my head away, refusing to look at him. I didn’t trust him. I didn’t trust any of them. He could be just like the others. Just another monster in a prettier disguise. I would not speak. I would not beg.

I scanned the forest around us, searching for any escape. But I already knew the truth. I wasn’t getting away. Not from four full-grown wolves. Not in the state I was in.

The hopelessness hit me hard, and I started crying again, quiet at first, then harder.

He was still staring at me when I looked up, but something had changed.

His eyes weren’t black anymore. They were soft now, filled with sorrow. Regret. Maybe even guilt.

I tried to focus on his face, but everything around me was starting to spin again. The pain was growing, and my body was too weak. My vision swam, and my limbs went numb.

If he hadn’t been holding me, I would’ve fallen.

He noticed.

Without a word, he started walking. Then running. Fast. Trees blurred around us as he carried me in his arms like I weighed nothing at all.

And right as the darkness began to pull me under, I heard his voice again, shouting orders into the wind.

Then everything went black.