2: TAKEN

Rain’s pov

He marched towards me, crouched down, coming face to face before me as he pulled down his hood, and my stomach tightened with dread. The rumours about him were always about his cruelty and the agony he'd caused but none ever warned or prepared me for how beautiful the devil looked like.

His face looked like it had been sculpted after the word perfection. The detailed outline of his jawline, and that provocative stare he wore like a garment was alluring.

My heart skipped a beat as I stared at him. How can a devil be this beautiful?

Kane had long dark hair which flowed down his shoulders, hazel small eyes that pierce through mine, burning into the pit of my stomach as he took a long look at me.

“What is your name?” He whispered gently almost like he wasn't all the brutality he had been made up to be.

I didn't answer.

“Her name is Rain. She's the princess or was the princess,” Alec answered for me still standing next to us.

“I see,” Kane said, looking intrigued. “Rain. Did your mother give you that name?” he reached a hand to my chin and I pulled back in disgust. Like I'd ever let him touch me.

How could he even mention my mother? I felt unbridled rage stir inside me. “Don't you dare touch me, you swine!” I yelled, “You killed my family!” I enunciated.

He didn't look fazed. His eyes darted to their corpses, his expression stoic as his gaze returned to mine. “Sorry about that,” he said all too casually without a hint of remorse on his face. What a fucking psychopath!

I clenched my jaw tightly. “You monster!” I growled.

He cocked his head a little, and then shrugged. “I mean, we did give them a chance to surrender but your father was too stubborn you see,” he grinned, showing his perfect dentition, and a dimple.

Enraged, I hacked my throat, and spat on him. “Devil!” I yelled.

Alec unsheathed his sword and I felt the tip graze the skin of my neck slightly before Kane knocked the sword away with another smile, wiping the saliva on his face with a smirk.

His expression quickly hardened and then he grabbed my neck tightly, choking me as he pulled my face closer. “Never…do that again, my little fire,” he half-gowled, and I saw his eyes flickered from hazel to utter pitch black, and then back to hazel.

I shivered. The rumors were true. He really was a black eyed devil. My breath was caught in my throat, and he released me, getting to his feet. He turned to Alec with a pleasant smile that made my stomach curl. “We will be bringing her along with us.”

My heart skipped a beat. What? I jerked my gaze to my parents' corpses on the ground. I wanted to die with them. I should die with them. That was the only way we would be together. There was no way I was going to leave the walls of this castle and abandon them here.

I wasn't going anywhere. No matter what. They would have to drag my corpse out if they wanted to take me.

Kane smiled, talking to Alec. “I like her. Put her in the carriage,” he said, staring down at me like I was nothing more than an entertainer, a joke.

He walked away from me, and Alec grabbed me, pulling me up. I came face to face with him, he had quite the look on his face as his gaze fixed on me. His eyes were blue as the sea, and calm but that wasn't like any of what he had displayed so far.

“Well, it's your lucky day. Looks like you're coming with us, Princess,” he dragged me by the hand but I pulled back. I wasn't going anywhere with them, not without my parents.

“I’m not going anywhere,” I insisted, standing my ground.

He rolled his eyes, a small smile crossing his lips. “Is that so?”

I stood firm, glaring at him. “You will have to kill me before I move an inch from here.”

Alec smiled as he stepped closer, and then suddenly he picked me off the ground, and threw me over his shoulder.

“Put me down!” I yelled, kicking and screaming my lungs out as he headed out of the palace. “No!” I yelled, slamming my fisted palm against the brick that was his back, tears spilling out of my eyes as I watched my parents lifeless body on the ground.

“Please,” I cried, “Let me die with them, please,” I sobbed hard, but Alec didn't budge one bit as he carried me out and threw me into the carriage.

“NO!!” I screamed, trying to get out but he pushed me down.

My eyes fixed on the palace, tears running down my cheeks as the carriage moved, and every second that passed I was straying further and further from my home, and my family. I cried hard as I thought about my parents, looking into the far distance as my home vanished from view.

It was all gone. My parents were dead, the pack was gone. I cried myself sore, curled up in the carriage for what felt like an eternity.

Night had fallen by the time the carriage finally stopped, and two guards dragged me out, leading my empty shell of a body to a cage where I was thrown and locked away.

Inside the cell were a couple of other people, I could hardly make out in the dark, and I didn't care to. I just crawled into a corner and sat there, weeping over everything I had lost in a day—My entire life.

I leaned my head against the gate, my body trembling as I cried in silence, memories of my parents flashing through my mind. Suddenly, I heard movements beside me, then I felt a hand on my shoulder, patting me gently and turned immediately to see a girl sitting next to me.

“Let me guess,” she whispered, “You just lost your entire pack like the rest of us,” her voice cracked a little, and she squeezed my shoulder, “I've been there. We have all been there,” she said, “I'm sorry.”

The apology only made the grip rip through me aggressively, and I wailed, letting this strange girl hold me in her arms through it. She patted my back, “It's gonna be okay,” she muttered.

I woke up the next morning to my head on someone’s thighs, and immediately jerked up. “It's okay,” the girl whispered, and now that it was morning I could finally see her face.

Her hair was blonde but it looked almost black right now. In fact the only way I could tell they were blonde was because I could see the roots. She had huge green eyes, soft, and pretty.

“I'm Shayla,” she said, flashing me a smile, before darting her eyes to the others in the cage with us. “That is Maya, she got here about a month ago,” she pointed to a skinny girl, who looked almost dead in the eyes. “The one next to her is Willow, she's been here almost as long as I have, and then there is….” Shayla introduced me to everyone, telling me how long they have been here, and how their pack was defeated and they were taken as trophies.

“Why does he take us?” I asked as soon as she was done.

She cocked her head slightly, leaning closer. “Rumor has it that he is looking for someone special,” she said.

I cocked a brow. “Who?”

She shrugged, “We don't know, but it seems whoever he's looking for is a woman. Every week he brings in a new trophy—a new girl—” Shayla went silent as a guard appeared at the gate, looked at us and then walked away.

She sighed heavily.

“We are not allowed to talk to each other or be loud at all,” she told me, “The guards don't like it and they get mad when they hear us,” she continued, whispering, “He's not going to stop raiding packs, killing Alpha until he finds whatever he's looking for, and whatever that is, it can't be good.”

I swallowed hard. “How long have you been here?” I questioned, looking at her.

“Since I was seventeen.”

“And how old are you now?”

Shayla's eyes dimmed. “Twenty,” she answered, and I leaned back against the wall, hopelessly, wondering how things got this bad for me in less than twelve hours.

“You never told me your name,” Shayla mumbled after a minute.

“Rain,” I turned to her, tilting my head a little. “My name is Rain.”

She smiled, “That's a beautiful name.”

“Thanks,” I mouthed, glancing out the cage as a guard walked by, “So what's going to happen to me now? Am I just going to rot here with you guys?”

“Well, eventually. Yeah, but first the Alpha is gonna test you to see if you're the one he's looking for.”

My eyes widened in shock. “What? What do you mean test me? What kind of test? And why didn't you say that before?” I questioned, feeling agitated.

“Relax,” she turned her entire body to me, trying to calm me down. “It's not as bad as it sounds, and nobody has ever passed the test, you'll be back here before you know it.”

“What is the test?”

Shayla opened her mouth to speak, but before she could say anything three guards appeared, and the gate rattled as one of them opened it. A guard stepped in, “Where is the new girl?” He asked, looking around the cage, and I felt a shiver run down my spine.

Oh, no. I looked at Shayla, my heart racing aggressively.

“Where is the new girl?” The guard repeated sternly, and everyone's eyes landed on me. The guard frowned, “Didn't you hear me? Get your ass up now!” he screamed at me, and his voice echoed through my entire body.

“What is the test, Shayla?” I asked, turning to her, trembling.

She shook her head, lips pressed together in a thin line. She wouldn't speak.

The guard let out an exasperated breath. “Are you deaf! Get up!” He roared, and I scrambled to my feet, looking down at Shayla.

“Shayla.”

“Take her away,” he ordered the two guards with him and they approached me. I pressed my back into the wall almost like I could slip to the other side. The guards grabbed me by my arm, pulling me, and dragging me out of the cage while I struggled with them.

But it was pointless. Fighting was pointless but I couldn't help it.

“What is the test, Shayla?” I yelled at her, turning my head to look at her as they dragged me out of the cage.

It felt wrong to feel betrayed, but I did. There was nothing more important than being told about the test, and yet here I was being dragged away without any idea of what was coming.

I grabbed the gate tightly. “SHAYLA!” I screamed one last time and the guards pulled harder, the iron slipping from my grip as they took me away.