Four

FAITH

“Treason! I should kill you right now!” Ryan ordered the guards as I shook my head back and forth, wanting to lift my hands in surrender, but was unable to pull free from the guard behind me.

“Ryan! Please! Please don’t leave me!” Sable cried as guards surrounded me, her bloody hands grabbing at his shirt.

Ryan glanced between us before returning to me and grabbing her hands. “I’m not going anywhere, Sable, baby. Guards! Arrest her!”

“I didn’t touch her! She did it!” I insisted but was silenced by a fist connecting with my face, sending me to my stomach on the concrete. 

“You expect me to believe that she would try to hurt our baby?” Ryan hissed with anger and disbelief. “How stupid do you think I am?”

I was faintly aware of the sound of chains dragging across the patio over the panicked shouting for the pack doctor and Sable’s sobbing. 

I knew the chains were for me, but I couldn’t move to fight them off. 

My head was spinning so fast I thought I would be sick. I had never been without my wolf before, let alone taken a hit without her. 

The darkness closing in was making it hard to focus. I could only see small flashes of the world around me as my body threatened to give in to the pain. 

I felt them lift my body and saw the floor moving beneath me, turning from tile to dirt as my legs dragged behind me. I watched as we approached the rusted metal door that led to stairs but couldn’t remember going down them. 

The sight of an unfamiliar bed flashed before me next, small and thin, but I was dropped to the floor instead and released a cry of pain. 

The last thing I remembered was hearing the metal door slam closed and the clicking of a lock until I was awoken by a dark chuckle. 

My body was stiff and sore, my ankles and wrists were burning from the silver chains, and I was terrified that if I moved, more flesh would be stripped from my limbs.

“I didn’t… do it,” I groaned, gasping between the words as I tried to force my eyes open. 

It took a moment, but eventually, I could open them, though my right didn’t open as far as my left, and from the throbbing there, I knew I couldn’t expect my wolf to have returned to fix me. 

“You’re awake.” The man said, and I glanced up at the Alpha I had been promised to. The sight of him was jarring, and I noticed he was still wearing his suit, though he had removed his jacket.

“She did it to herself.” The words came out slurred as I tried to stand, and I hissed when the chains moved, and my flesh began to sizzle. 

Alpha Cain clenched his large hand into a fist before releasing it. “Do not speak without permission. I do not like to repeat myself, and I am not a forgiving man. You either need to follow my rules or suffer the consequences.”  

My eyes moved slowly from his scarred knuckles to his face as I realized that he had been the one to knock me out so I could be chained. The smirk on his face was teasing, as if he wanted me to act out again so he could strike once more.

If I had my wolf, I wouldn’t have gone down so easily, but without her, I was no better than a human. 

I needed him to leave so I could try to find a way out of here. If they forced me to mate with him, he would torture me.

“You will learn your place with me, White Wolf, or you will suffer.” Alpha Cain snarled down at me. 

“I will never mate with you,” I whispered before gasping as he grabbed my jaw, his fingertips digging in painfully, making me cry out.

“I did not give you permission to speak.” He warned, and I nodded in agreement, glancing down in submission. “Good girl.” 

The words made my stomach roll, and bile rose in my throat. 

“It would be such a shame to have such a pretty little white wolf go to waste. So, I will give you the option: you can either come with me and live by my rules or stay here to face trial with the pack who turned their backs on you.” I watched as he licked his lips, eager to hear me give in.

I knew better than to think he was actually giving me a choice.

He already knew that I didn't have a say in the matter. He just wanted me to tell him that I could go with him. He was testing me, wanting me to submit and choose to go with him.

“I will never go with you willingly.” I spat, and he threw his head back with a laugh from deep in his belly. 

The dark look in his eyes once he composed himself made me step back, but the enjoyment on his face from seeing the effect he had on me only made him look all the more sinister. My gaze flickered to the cell door behind him, but it was closed and, presumably, locked.

“Who said anything about you being willing?” He lifted one eyebrow in challenge, and I swallowed hard as his gaze moved down my body slowly. 

There were guards outside the dungeon, but I doubted they would stop an Alpha from taking what he came here for. 

My chains rattled as I stepped back, bumping into the cot behind me, and my breathing became faster before it was suddenly cut off with his hand grabbing my throat.

“Ah!” I hissed as his claw sliced at the skin of my neck, nicking the spot where Ryan’s mark had once been. The cut stung, and I tried to struggle away from him, but his grip was too tight. 

“Don’t mind me, just checking on my investment.” He said, pulling me into his body roughly and running his tongue over my collarbone, cleaning the hot blood from my skin. 

He hummed in pleasure, letting his head fall back, and I froze, too terrified by what he had just done. “So powerful, indeed. Your Alpha is a fool to trade you. He thinks you’re so weak, but I know the truth, and soon, your power will be mine.”

“I would rather die than let you take my magic.” I hissed, turning my head to glare at him.

“If that’s what you really want, I can make that happen, but I will enjoy having you bend to my will first. It would be a waste not to play with my new toy while I can. I’ll see you at the altar.”