Three - Questions Without Answers

Althea's POV

When I woke up the next morning, the memories hit me all at once.

The accident. My car spinning out of control on wet pavement, tires screaming and the world tilting sideways.

Dark and endless rain pouring down so hard I could barely see.

That massive wolf that had appeared out of nowhere, standing in the middle of the road with eyes that glowed silver in my headlights.

And the man with silver eyes who had carried me here. Who had looked at me like I was something he despised.

Something he wanted to destroy.

I could still feel the ghost of his arms around me. Still smelt rain and earth and something wild that had clung to his skin.

My chest tightened just by remembering it.

Not with pain though.

I sat up slowly in the unfamiliar bed and looked around. Morning sunlight filtered through the window, illuminating wooden walls and simple furniture. The room smelled faintly of cedar and earthy and it reminded me of the forest outside.

It should have felt peaceful.

Instead it felt like a cage.

I swung my legs over the side of the bed and stood up, my body protesting. Everything ached. My head where I had hit it, my chest from the seatbelt and muscles I didn't even know I had.

But I was alive.

That was something at least.

I walked to the door and tried the handle, already knowing what I would find.

Locked.

I tried it again anyway, jiggling it harder like that would somehow make a difference. But the handle didn't budge.

My heart started beating faster like a rapid pound of rising panic.

I was trapped. Actually, truly trapped.

I crossed to the window next and tried to open it pushing up on the frame with both hands but it wouldn't move.

Locked or sealed or stuck, it didn't matter. Either way, I wasn't getting out.

I spent the rest of the morning testing every possible exit like a trapped animal. The window from different angles. The door from different positions. I even checked the walls for loose panels, running my hands along the wood looking for anything that might help.

There was nothing.

I moved on to searching the dresser. Maybe there would be something useful. A phone someone had forgotten.

Anything.

They saved my life, they wouldn’t lock me like this, would they?

But the drawers held exactly three things only. An oversized grey t-shirt, a pair of sweatpants that would be enormous on me and thick socks.

That was it.

I slammed the last drawer shut and immediately regretted it when the sound echoed too loudly.

What if someone heard? What if they thought I was trying to break something?

I pressed my hands flat against the dresser top and tried to get my breathing under control

.

This was insane. All of this was completely insane.

Twenty four hours ago I had been driving to a cabin for a quiet weekend. Now I was locked in a room by people I didn't know in a place I had never seen.

And no one knew where I was.

Mom would be worried by now. I should have informed her but I didn’t even know where my phone was.

My chest tightened again.

Would she call the police if I didn’t reach home at night today? Would they know where to start looking? My phone was probably still in the wrecked car, wherever that was now. Could they track it?

Would anyone ever find me?

Stop it, I told myself firmly. Panicking won't help.

But the fear kept building anyway, sitting heavy in my stomach like a stone.

By the time the sun started setting, outside in shades of orange and purple, I was pacing the room again. My thoughts wouldn't stop spinning.

Why did that man with silver eyes who carried me here? Why had he looked at me with so much hatred?

I hadn't done anything to him.

I pressed my hand against my chest, feeling my heartbeat just to reassure myself it was still steady. Still normal.

Physically, I was okay. The ache from the crash was fading to a dull soreness.

But emotionally? I was terrified.

A few minutes later, the lock clicked.

I spun toward the door with my heart jumping into my throat.

A woman stepped inside carrying a tray of food. She looked to be in her forties, with dark hair pulled back into a neat bun and kind brown eyes. She wore simple clothes. Jeans and a sweater and she moved with calm confidence.

The tray smelled like roasted chicken. My stomach growled despite everything

.

"You must be Althea." She said gently.

I frowned. "How do you know my name?"

"We found your driver's license when we brought you here last night." She set the tray down on the dresser.

"My name is Marla."

I studied her carefully. She seemed kind. Normal, even. The first normal thing I had seen since waking up here.

But there was something cautious in her expression. Like she was choosing her words very carefully.

"Where am I?" I asked.

"You're somewhere safe."

That answer only made my frustration spike. "I don't feel safe. I feel like a prisoner."

She didn't argue. Just gave a small sigh. "You should eat. You need your strength."

I stepped closer to her, desperate now.

"Please. Just tell me what's going on.

Why am I being kept here?"

For a moment I thought she might actually answer. Her eyes softened and she looked like she wanted to say something.

Instead she shook her head. "It's not my place to explain things. I'm sorry."

"Then whose place is it?" My voice came out sharper than I intended.

"Because no one will tell me anything and I'm locked in this room and I just want to go home."

"Try to rest, Althea." She said softly, already moving toward the door.

"Things will be clearer in the morning."

"Wait!"

But she was already leaving.

The door closed and the lock clicked.

I stared at it, my hands clenched into fists.

No explanations. No answers. Just another locked door.

I ate dinner slowly, barely tasting it even though it was good. My eyes stayed fixed on the window as evening settled over the clearing outside.

Lights appeared in different buildings. People gathered near a large hall in the center. Through the glass I could see them talking and laughing.

They looked completely normal.

Happy, even.

Which only made everything more confusing.

What kind of place was this?

I was still standing by the window when I heard voices outside my door. Like two men were arguing.

I moved closer immediately and pressed my ear against the wood.

"You can't keep her locked up like this." One man said. His voice sounded calm but frustrated. "She's human. She doesn't understand."

"I don't care what she understands."

My stomach dropped.

I didn't recognise that voice but something about it made my heart start pounding. It was cold and controlled.

"She's a security risk." The voice continued. "She stays until I decide otherwise."

"Xavier, be reasonable."

Xavier.

So that was his name.

The man with silver eyes. The one who had carried me through the rain. The one who had looked at me like he wanted me dead.

Even just hearing his name made something in my chest tighten. Not with fear or not just with fear. With some weird pull that didn't make any sense.

"I am being reasonable, Leo." Xavier's voice stayed perfectly level.

"If I weren't being reasonable, she would already be dead."

My blood turned to ice.

Dead.

‘If I weren't being reasonable, she would already be dead.’

He said it so casually anf so easily like killing me was just another option he was thinking of.

My hands started shaking against the door. My heart pounded so hard I could feel it in my throat.

This wasn't a hospital. This wasn't anywhere safe. This was some kind of compound in the middle of nowhere and the man in charge had just calmly discussed murdering me.

Who would even know if I vanished?

Mom would report me missing eventually but would police think to search this deep into private forest land?

Would they ever find my body?

"She's innocent." Leo insisted. "She had an accident. That's all. You can't punish her for stumbling onto our land."

"I can do whatever I want," Xavier replied. "She's my problem. I'll handle her my way."

The absolute certainty in his voice made my throat close up.

There was a beat of silence.

Then Leo spoke again, more carefully. "This isn't about her, is it? This is about Em…"

"Don't."

The word cracked through the hallway like a whip.

"Don't say her name."

I pressed closer to the door, my heart racing.

Em who? Who was Xavier so desperate not to talk about?

And what did that person have to do with me?

How could I possibly be connected to whoever this "Em" person was?

"Xavier." Leo tried again. His voice was gentle. "You can't keep doing this to yourself. And you can't take it out on her. She's your…"

"Shut the fuck up, Leo."

Footsteps moved away after that. Fast and angry.

I slowly stepped back from the door, my whole body trembling.

Dead. Security risk. Can't take it out on her.

Xavier wanted me dead.

And it was somehow connected to whoever "Em" was.

But I didn't understand how. I didn't understand any of this.

That night I barely slept.

Every small sound made me jump. Every creak of the house made me think someone was coming.

I kept expecting the door to burst open. Kept expecting Xavier to decide I wasn't worth the trouble after all. But nothing happened.

The compound eventually grew quiet. Lights went dark one by one and the moon rose high above the trees, filling my room with light.

And sometime during the darkest hours of the night, I heard it.

A long, bone chilling howl that made every hair on my body stand up.

Then another voice joined it.

And another.

Until the forest was full of them. Wild and haunting and way too close.

I sat up in bed. My heart was pounding.

These weren't normal wolves.

I knew that with absolute certainty even though I couldn't explain how.

They sounded too big and powerful. Like they were communicating with each other. Like they were surrounding the compound.

I thought about that massive wolf I had seen in the road. The one with silver eyes.

Were these the same kind? Were they connected to the people here somehow?

Was that insane to even think?

Everything about this place was insane.

I pulled the blanket tighter around myself and stared at the ceiling until the howling finally faded.

Even then, I couldn't sleep.

When I woke up the next morning, the door was unlocked. I stared at it for a long moment. My heart had already started pounding.

This had to be a trick.

But I stood anyway and walked toward it on shaking legs. The handle turned easily in my hand and the door swung open.

There were no guards outside and no one to stop me. For the first time since arriving here, I stepped into the hallway.

The house was enormous. Wooden floors stretched down a long corridor, polished to a shine that caught the morning sunlight pouring through tall windows. The walls were lined with paintings. They were beautiful like professional artwork.

But all of them were wolves.

Running through snow. Standing on cliffs. Watching from between trees with eyes that looked too intelligent to be just animals.

Bizarre. I made a face and continued to walk slowly down the hallway. It was like this entire place was obsessed with them.

A strange unease settled in my stomach.

I moved carefully down the hallway until I reached the staircase. My hand gripped the railing. It was carved with more wolves, of course and I descended slowly.

The first floor opened into a large living space filled with heavy wooden furniture and massive stone fireplaces. Thick rugs covered the floors. Bookshelves lined entire walls.

It should have felt welcoming. Instead it felt like a beautiful prison. It was too perfect and too carefully designed. Like a cage made to look comfortable.

Voices drifted from somewhere near the entrance hall.

I froze, pressing myself against the wall.

"...still in her room?"

"No. She's up. I saw her on the monitors."

Monitors?

My stomach dropped.

They had been watching me?

How long? Since I arrived? Had they watched me sleep? Watched me cry against the locked door? Watched me press my ear to the wood last night to eavesdrop on Xavier and Leo?

Heat flooded my face. Every private moment I had thought I had in that room, they had been watching all of it.

I felt violated and exposed.

"The Alpha wants her in his office at nine." One of the voices continued.

"You think he'll actually let her go?"

"Doubt it. You saw how he reacted when he scented her."

Scented?

I pressed closer to the wall, my heart racing. What did that even mean? Were they talking about smell? Like he could... smell me?

That didn't make sense. People didn't talk about scenting other people. That was something animals did.

I thought about the wolf paintings everywhere. The howling I had heard last night. That massive wolf in the road with silver eyes.

A chill ran down my spine.

What kind of place was this?

"Don't talk about that here." The first voice said sharply. Footsteps moved away. I stayed pressed against the wall. My mind was literally spinning.

Before I could decide what to do next, I heard footsteps behind me.

"Lost, little human?"

I spun around, my back hitting the wall.

A blond man stood there, maybe mid twenties, watching me with a sharp smile that didn't reach his eyes.

Something about him made my skin crawl immediately. The way he was looking at me like I was prey and he was deciding whether I was worth hunting.

I took an instinctive step back.

"I... I was just…"

"Exploring?" He asked lightly, stepping closer. "The Alpha doesn't like it when his guests wander."

The way he said guests made it clear I was anything but…

"I'm not a prisoner." I said, trying to sound braver than I felt.

His smile widened. "Aren't you?"

I opened my mouth to respond, but another voice cut through the hallway.

"Caleb. Back off."

The blonde man who I supposed was named Caleb immediately stepped aside. His smile faltered.

A tall man with dark hair stepped into view. His eyes were calmer than Caleb's. More reasonable. I recognised his voice immediately from last night.

Leo. The one who had argued with Xavier about keeping me locked up.

"Miss Althea." He said politely, giving me a small nod.

Caleb muttered something under his breath before disappearing down the hallway.

Leo turned his full attention to me. "The Alpha would like to see you."

My stomach tightened with immediate dread. "Where?"

"Second floor." He replied. "West wing. Last door on the right."

He paused, his expression softening slightly.

Then he added quietly, "And if I were you, I would not keep him waiting."

That was not reassuring.

I wanted to ask what would happen if I did keep him waiting. Wanted to ask why Xavier wanted to see me. Wanted to ask if Leo thought Xavier was actually going to kill me like he had threatened last night.

But Leo was already walking away.

I stood there for a moment, frozen.

I could run. Could try to find the door. Could bolt into the forest and take my chances.

But I had seen the guards. I saw how big this compound was. I wouldn't make it to the trees.

And even if I did, then what? I was in the middle of nowhere with no phone, no car and no idea which direction to go.

They would catch me within an hour.

And then Xavier would probably decide I was more trouble than I was worth.

My hands were shaking as I started climbing the stairs.

Every step felt heavier than the last.

My heart pounded harder with every floor I climbed.

Xavier wanted me dead. I had heard him say it. And now I was walking straight to him.

Because what choice did I have?

I reached the second floor. Found the west wing. I walked down the hallway past more wolf paintings until I stood in front of the last door on the right.

My hand shook as I raised it to knock.

Before my knuckles could touch the wood, his voice came from inside.

"Come in, human."

My breath caught.

How did he know I was there? I hadn't made a sound.

With trembling hands, I pushed the door open.

And stepped into the lion's office.