Chapter - 1

Ivy's POV

"What the actual-" 

I knew something was wrong as soon as I stepped into the house after attending my father's funeral, but nothing could prepare me for the sight in front of me.

Our living room looked like it had been hit with a tornado in the time that I was gone.

The torn sofa cushions were all lying on the floor, the glass table was smashed to pieces on the floor along with the centre piece and table lamps. The tapestry over the couch was torn into, covering the carpeted floor with soft white feathers, so much so that the carpet was hardly visible.

Before I could swear some more, the sound of something crashing met my ears, freezing me in place.

Whoever did this was still here.

The sane part of my brain told me to run as far away as I could from this place but I never claimed to be a logical person anyway.

So, I picked up the nearest object I could, which just so happened to be the broken stand of the side lamp and quietly began to tip toe my way towards my father's laboratory where the sounds were coming from.

In hindsight, I should probably have picked up a knife from the kitchen before attacking the thieves but one look at the burglars, and I quickly realised a knife wouldn't have been much help either.

One, I didn't know how to use a knife and two, the sheer size of the monsters who were busy poking and prodding around in my father's lab looked like they ate kids for breakfast so something as simple as a knife couldn't hurt them. Or at least that's what I thought.

As soon as I stepped into what was once my father's sanctuary, broken glass crunched underneath my foot making two heads snap towards me at once.

"Who the hell are you?" Guy number one asked, his dark eyes zeroing in on the sorry excuse of a weapon in my hand.

Despite the situation I was in, I had the strangest urge to laugh. 

A bloody thief who had broken into my house was asking me who I was. 

With a snarl, guy number one began to run towards me like a bull. 

I stared at him wide eyed for a moment before my brain prompted me to run.

With a scream that would've put an opera singer to shame, I turned around and ran.

Just as I made my way out of the room, ready to bolt up the stairs to my room, a burning pain shot up my scalp as my captor pulled me back by my hair.

"Who the fuck are you?" My captor snarled at me.

I clawed at his hands to get them away from me but it was all to no avail.

He didn't even flinch. 

"Who the hell are you? This is my house, dammit!" I shouted at him, still trying to get him to loosen his hold.

Suddenly, he let me go.

And embarrassingly enough, I fell face first onto the floor.

"Stop wasting time, Pete, we need to get out from here," the second guy suggested, coming into the room while I lay on the floor.

"We can't leave without getting some proof against Jonathan Emerson, Jace, you know that. The Alpha will have our heads if we do," Pete said to his companion, the two chatting away as if I wasn't even there.

Wait, Jonathan Emerson was my father.

What proof were they talking about?

"What proof? And who's this Alpha guy? Did he send you here?" I babbled out. 

I winced when two pairs of eyes turned to me almost instantly.

Stupid, stupid, Ivy. I mentally chastised myself. Why did I have to speak and draw attention to myself?

"Shut up!" Pete snarled at me again. "Who the fuck are you anyway?"

"I'm Ivy Emerson."

"Emerson. Jonathan Emerson's daughter?"

"Yes," I realised it was the wrong thing to say when their eyes sparkled with interest.

Not a moment later, Jace pulled me up by my arm before pinning both my hands behind me.

Instantly, I began to struggle against his hold but he was too strong. 

Pete pulled out a syringe loaded with a liquid and pushed it into my arm.

"What is that?" I asked, fearing for my life. 

Was that poison?

Are they going to kill me?

Thoughts swirled in my head before turning into a big jumbled mess, so much so that I couldn't decipher one from another.

My limbs felt heavy too. And why was it suddenly so hot? 

I moved forward to turn the air conditioning on but my vision blurred, the ground swaying underneath my feet.

"Bad, bad ground," I murmured, willing for it to stay still. 

And then, everything went black.

***

When I came to, the first thing I noticed was that I was cold. In fact, I was freezing. 

I brought my hands around myself, trying to warm up. I looked around, blinking as my eyes adjusted to the dim lighting in the place I was in. 

I was sitting on a cold metal bench which was suspended mid air with two metallic chains. 

In front of me were metallic bars which glinted in the faint moonlight coming in from the small lone window atop my head.

It was night already?

How long had I been out for?

Slowly, I got up and made my way towards the metallic bars.

No, not metal, I realised upon closer inspection. They were made of silver.

What the hell?

Where had those people brought me?

"Hello? Is anyone here?" I called out.

I waited a few moments for some kind of a response. When none came, I sighed to myself, seeing my breath fog in front me. The least they could've done was kept me warm.

I hate cold.

Just as I turned around to walk back towards the metallic bench, various pairs of footsteps echoed outside making me whip around to face the bars at once. 

I waited with baited breath for the people to make an appearance.

And they did.

There were four men, including the two guys from earlier who had kidnapped me. 

Suddenly, a citric scent invaded my senses and my eyes zeroed in on the tallest and bulkiest one of them all, somehow knowing almost instantly that he was the one the scent was coming from.

Weirdly enough, the scent seemed to calm me down. I felt light, like all the tension had been lifted from my shoulders and I could finally breathe freely now. 

I couldn't make out the man's features clearly since he was too far and the lighting was much too dim. Though what I knew without a doubt was that whatever I was feeling was because of him.

I pulled my gaze away from the mysterious man and towards one of my kidnappers from back home who opened the gate to the side and stepped inside. 

The others followed behind him and I could finally see their faces clearly.

My gaze swayed to the face of the man with the citric scent on it's own accord. 

And, sweet Jesus, what a face it was.

Standing before me was a Brad Pitt look alike, only much more tall, handsome and built like a hulk. His hair was the darkest shade of black I'd ever seen, some strands falling into his eyes. And his eyes, Good Lord, his grey eyes reminded me of the clouds on a stormy day, the kind that both scared you and made you want to get lost in at the same time. The aquiline nose he sported complimented his high cheekbones and sharp jawline perfectly. His tailored to perfection three piece suit did nothing to hide his spartan shoulders and hulking frame. 

He stared back at me just as intently, his gaze reminding me of a predator ready to spring at it's prey any moment. 

I should've been scared shitless of the dangerous aura radiating off of the grey eyed man standing in front of me.

But all his presence did was made me feel safe, safer than I had felt in a long time.

"Is this the girl?" He asked, his voice deep, directing his question at one of my kidnappers. I couldn't quite remember his name but I did remember that he was the one who had injected me with something which had caused me to loose consciousness soon after.

It was when he literally stuttered out a 'yes' in response that I realized he was practically trembling in fear. 

Good. Serves him right.

The grey eyed man nodded once in reply, moving forward so he was standing directly in front of me.

I gulped but didn't move otherwise.

"What's your name, love?" He asked.

Love. Suddenly, my throat felt drier than the Sahara. I licked my lips, noticing as his penetrating grey eyes followed the motion, darkening ever so slightly. "Ivy Emerson," I replied. 

"Ivy," he repeated, my name rolling off of his tongue smoothly.

"Come, let's get you out of here Ivy," he said before turning around. 

He half turned towards me again when I didn't follow behind him immediately.

"Do you want to stay here, Ivy?" He asked, raising a brow at me.

I vehemently shook my head before hurrying after him. 

The others watched the scene unfold silently. 

I briefly wondered if I was walking out of a frying pan and into fire. I mean what if whoever this man was turned out to be even more dangerous than the ones who had brought me here in the first place?

But the way I felt in his presence told me otherwise. I decided to trust my gut to guide me through the mess I'd somehow landed in. 

Suddenly, the man stopped, and naturally, I ran right into his back because I was too lost in my thoughts to pay attention to anything around me and had practically zero reflexes.

"Sorry," I squeaked out a reply before stepping back hurriedly. 

The man said nothing to me, only turning slightly to face the other man who had come in with him. 

"Ryan, take care of these two," he said and the temperature of the room seemed to drop at least ten degrees thanks to his cold tone. I shivered.

Then, as if he hadn't just told his companion to kill two people, he walked out of the room without looking back.

I hurried after him immediately, hoping that I wasn't making one of the biggest mistakes of my life by trusting my gut.