chapter four

Pov Eleanor

I grabbed my cell phone and sent a message, begging for financial help to my only friend in the pack, Amber. With Emily and Johanna out of the house, I rummaged through every drawer in search of money to bribe the guards, desperately hoping to escape. I found only ten dollars in the drawer. Luckily, Amber quickly responded, asking us to meet at eight o'clock at her house.

I ran as fast as I could until I reached Amber's house. She greeted me hurriedly, holding a bag. Amber quickly led me inside to her room, where she closed the door firmly to make sure no one was listening. With a determined look, she handed me the bag, which contained a stunning gala dress and an elegant mask.

"What is this?" I asked, perplexed, as I opened the bag and examined its contents.

"The alpha king was hiring girls to serve as maids at the palace during the ball. The salary for one night is 2000 dollars, and you can use this opportunity to escape and start a new life," explained Amber as she helped me put on the dress.

I looked at myself in the mirror, feeling a mixture of hope and apprehension. It wasn't what I had envisioned for myself, but it was a chance to escape my current life.

"You just need to follow the rules and try not to get caught," Amber continued, adjusting the mask on my face. Her eyes conveyed determination as if she were sharing a crucial secret. "Don't dwell on the problems, Eleanor. You need to escape before things get worse. There's no future for you within this pack. Staying here will be a nightmare. But count on me for anything; I'm by your side, ready to help in any way I can," Amber said, her serious expression reflecting the seriousness of the situation. I swallowed hard, silently thanking Amber for her help. We hugged one last time before I set off for the palace.

As soon as I arrived at the location, I began working. I served the first table on my right, following the instructions diligently. Between one move and another, I avoided looking directly into the eyes of the guests, remembering the boss's words. Three hours had passed since I started working tirelessly, balancing trays and glasses with skill. Despite the fatigue that was beginning to set in my muscles, the feeling of gratification grew with each tip received. The dollar bills accumulated in my purse totaled an impressive $800. It was a relief to know that soon I could take the next step towards my liberation.

"Remember not to look into the guests' eyes; most of them are important people, alphas from other packs. If you offend anyone, apologize immediately and humble yourself, if necessary. The Alpha King doesn't want any kind of inconvenience. Now, serve that table at the end of the hall!" The head of the maids pointed to a table a little farther away from the others.

There were two men, dressed elegantly. One of them ran his eyes over my body, leaving me extremely embarrassed for a minute. I feared he might have recognized me. Quickly, I placed the glasses on the table and backed away, heading to the garden to get some air.

"Calm down, Eleanor. It's just two more hours of the party; you can do it!" I repeated to myself, trying to control my nerves as I returned to the hall.

The rest of the party was exhausting, but at the end of the night, I had a total of three thousand dollars and stayed in a separate area, which helped me to not encounter Asher and my stepsister. I put all the money in my purse; by my calculations, I had enough to escape and go to the human world. I left the palace in the early hours of the morning; there were few people on the street. In quick steps, I ran to the nearest station to catch the train.

I was near the ticket office when I felt my arm being pulled back. Someone put their hand over my mouth so I wouldn't scream, and then two more men appeared. One of them was inside a black car, while the other helped his partner hold me, preventing me from breaking free.

"Silence, you stupid girl!" The man shouted angrily, delivering a violent slap to my face. The blow left me dizzy, and before I could react, another man grabbed my arms and tied me up, forcing me into the car. At that hour in the early morning, there was no one nearby to save me.

"Who are you? Please, leave me alone!" My voice came out breathless, filled with fear and desperation. I struggled, but they were bigger and stronger, and I still hadn't managed to awaken my wolf. No matter how hard I tried to call her, I couldn't connect with her.

"Let me see your face, little girl!" The man ordered, squeezing my cheeks and forcing me to look at him. "Not so pretty, but she'll do. We can sell her for a lower price..." He shrugged, uninterested. "Look what we have here, three thousand dollars! Looks like we got lucky. What's a girl alone with that amount of money doing out so late at night?" He grinned, counting the hundred-dollar bills as if he had hit the jackpot.

"This money is mine!" I screamed desperately, trying to break free from them, but the second man gagged me to stop me from screaming and threw me into the trunk of the car, taking his place in the front seat.

"Now you're our property! We can do whatever we want with you!" Those were the last words I heard before everything around me went dark. I couldn't believe I was being kidnapped by ordinary men. If only I had my wolf with me, I would have been able to defeat them.

***

When I opened my eyes, we were in front of a huge mansion all closed and full of security guards, the men who kidnapped me were talking to another tall blond-haired man, he was a wolf and I could smell him from here, I tried to move and untie the knots that bound my wrists, but it was in vain, the more force I made the more the rope cut my skin, I was so concentrate on what I was doing that I didn't notice what they were saying.

"How much do you want for the girl?" The voice of the man who kidnapped me echoed, sending shivers down my spine.

"Five hundred dollars, that's what she's worth." The response was direct and without hesitation as if my life had such a low price.

"She's not worth all that..." The blond man examined me through the car window, sending a shiver down my spine as I shrunk in the seat, feeling more vulnerable than ever.

"She's just a human, I'm sure the businessman from the Mitchell Group will love to have fun with her." The words of the man who kidnapped me and his partner sounded like a terrible fate that was rapidly approaching.

"Two hundred dollars, that's the most I can pay for her! Take her inside the palace, the alpha is busy, take her to the other girls!" he ordered to his soldiers.

Two burly men dragged me out of the car with brutality, their rough hands pulling me away from the palace and leading me to an isolated area, where fear mingled with darkness. With a sudden movement, I was thrown into a dark room and the door was slammed shut, leaving me alone amidst the unknown. All I knew for sure was that I needed to find a way to escape, I was trying to untie the knot on my hands when I heard a female voice, the door opened and a lady who appeared to be around fifty years old appeared, with gray hair.

"Welcome!" she said placing some objects on the bed and smiling kindly.

"Where am I? What do these people want with me?" I stuttered with trembling lips, and hands sweating cold.

"Welcome to the king alpha's harem, you've become one of his women and are forbidden to leave the palace."