Chapter four

CHAPTER FOUR

I forced my legs closed, infuriating the leader, and he gave me a sharp blow to my face, forcing blood out of my mouth.

“Turn her over,” he said to his men, who were holding me as the others watched and let out excited howls. As one of his men placed his hands on my waist, meaning to turn me over, a giant wolf pounced on him, tearing him up viciously and attacking another one. Before I could blink, the men holding me were all dead, and my saviour—the giant black wolf—stood beside me, panting, ready to take on anyone who dared touch me.

“If I were you, I would let the girl go,” a deep, cold voice spoke from behind me. “If you are willing to rape her, I mean, if she is so undignified that you are able to rape her, I guess she is not worth more than your lives.”

I turned to see a shirtless, brown-complexioned man standing behind me. His well-defined abs and muscles were very visible despite the fact that the only source of light was the moon and the frequent thunderbolts, and he was giving off strong alpha aura.

“Trust me, this is not over,” the pack leader said, disappearing into the darkness with his men.

I tried to look at the man and thank him, but my vision got blurry and I passed out.

I woke up to find myself on a cranky bed in a small, fitted room with unpainted walls. The only object apart from the bed in the room was an old, tall mirror. I got up from the bed, still feeling weak and pain all over my body. I saw myself in the mirror and, for the first time, noticed the white flowing gown I was wearing. Where the hell was I?

It was just then that the events of last night came rushing back to me, right up to the moment where I passed out naked. So if I was in an inn or a room right now, it was probably in the alpha’s room somewhere in the alpha’s pack—the alpha that saved me.

I sank back into the bed as tears welled up in my eyes as I recollected the events of last night.

Many thoughts raced through my mind—my sister’s betrayal, my parents’ betrayal, my near-death and rape experience, and the last thing on my mind was how the alpha was physically separated from his wolf, so the wolf could attack his enemies while he played dog owner. I felt the tears flow down freely. I could not process how my entire life went south in less than seventy-two hours. And deep down, I was worried about what my fate would be wherever I was.

I summoned up courage to open the door and found the room was one of many in a seemingly large house. By one side of the house, I saw a muscular, heavily bearded man guarding the door.

“Oh, you’re up? I’ll go tell them,” he said, shutting the door in my face, and from inside the room I heard the locks snap. He must have locked me in.

Great, my brain screamed. This seemed very prison-like.

I went back to the bed and stared at myself in the mirror—the bruise on my mouth, the burnt smell of my skin, my legs aching from running all night. They all reminded me of last night, and I was about to fall back into my pit of sorrows when the locks on the doors snapped again, and despite the fact that I was far from the door, I still heard it and suddenly it all came back to me. I had turned for the first time last night.

The door opened, revealing the burly guard accompanied by some ladies, all dressed in black overalls. They were around five in number. They walked into the room carrying some boxes.

“We are the pack healers. We were sent by the alpha,” the one who seemed to be the leader said.

“I am Chelsea,” I said, extending my hand.

“Cira,” she said, giving me a firm handshake. The rest gave her a queer look, like she had just committed a sacrilege. She opened one of the boxes and produced some red herbs.

“It’s called red ribbon. We were told you were attacked. This will help ease the pain,” she said, handing me the herbs, which the moment I put into my mouth seemed to melt and turn into oil.

“I get that some people—if not most—usually experience trauma after near-death experiences. Well, lucky for you, we have a catch here. That sort of thing goes away, but you need to be physically peak physically, so we’ll work till you get well,” she said.

“You are going to take her to the meeting? That’s a privilege reserved for pack members only,” one of them, a blonde, said.

“She is one of us now,” Cira replied.

“Oh, are you the alpha now? Because he didn’t say so,” the blonde fired back.

“That’s not what you said when I defied the alpha’s orders to make you one of us, lifting you from your totally miserable life—just because I pitied you because you were being bullied. Now you dare bully someone else?” Cira asked.

The blonde was just about to respond when a middle-aged man came into the room. His dressing told me he was one of the pack elders.

“The alpha wants to see the girl,” he said, and my heart stopped.

“Oopsies. Seems like the golden girl is in trouble,” the blonde said, giving me an evil smirk.