4.

“Have the other two ladies ride with the rest of the guards,” Turk commanded the man standing before a black sleek car. Because of my love for motorcycles, I knew a few cars, and this one, despite my situation, I recognized it. A Mercedes Benz EQSr. “I will ride with her,” he added, leaning close to sniff my neck, despite his large arm draped lazily on my shoulder.

“Yes, Alpha,” the man answered, bowing a little, then led the other two ladies Turk had bought before me to a white jeep behind the benz.

“When you get new ones, you know how to contact me. I need more of them, especially like her.” This time, he was addressing Romero.

“I will, Alpha. Thanks for keeping me in business.”

So he knew who Turk was. What if Romero is also a wolf? Does the parliament know about this?

Then Turk pulled me towards the benz, breaking through my thoughts, and pushed me inside before he joined me, his large frame making the car feel so small. My eyes scanned the interior of the car as I took it in. I noticed the driver, and the other man that sat in the passenger’s seat. I stared out the side window as we passed buildings and trees. All I did was stare.

I knew I was functioning on autopilot. Knew the fear sitting deep within every single one of my nerves were frayed. Too consuming that I was worried making a single sound or move would make things explode.

“Heard anything back from Bello?” I heard Turk ask as he rolled the sleeve of his shirt.

“No, Alpha. But he’s supposed to be back tonight.”

Turk sighed, and from the shuffling around, I could tell he was leaning back now. “Keep a close eye on him. I still don’t trust him, especially since I haven’t heard back from Lamido yet regarding his daughter. I don’t have time to waste, if I don’t hear back from him by Monday, I am choosing someone else.”

Abbati must already know I was missing, after all, it's been close to a day already. But what response was he supposed to give Turk? Didn’t he already agree to marry me off to him?

“I am sure he will respond to you. Maybe he is doing last minute preparations before he sends her off.”

Send me off? What was he talking about? There were still a few days before the wedding so why would I be sent off?

Turk made a sound at the back of throat before pulling me into his arms. The unexpected touch, plus the fear already eating at me made me jerk away, pushing away as though that would save me from him.

He simply stared at me, mouth set into a firm line, his eyes cold and calculating. Then suddenly he smiled, and the action made the hair on my skin raise.

“If I don’t hear back from Lamido tomorrow, I think I have found myself a luna, Blade. A perfect luna if I may say.”

“You did?” the man, no, Blade asked, turning in his seat to look at us.

Turk smiled again, and this time, when he pulled me to his body, I had no chance to break free, because both arms now circled my waist in a tight grip, my face flush against his chest.

“I did,” he answered, rubbing his nose against mine, the smile still intact.

I squirmed, trying to break free of his hold, but that seemed impossible when he gripped my jaw in a firm hold.

“You want to break free? Why? Is my touch not good enough for you?”

I said nothing as I continued struggling. Then he let go, and I pushed myself to the edge, tucking into the corner by the door. But that was a mistake. One of the numerous mistakes I kept making recently, because Turk cornered me there, his large frame hovering over me as he closed the distance between us.

“You wanna play?” his breath fanned my face, his body pressed against mine in every angle. I could feel my body trembling again. I was having heart palpitations, my breath coming out in rapid bursts, feeling like I wasn’t getting enough air, my vision getting blurry with each passing second, even if I still held the tears back, because even I was tired of crying. “You want to play a game of cat and mouse? Well, too bad for you. I am not a cat, little one. I am a wolf, and when I capture, I devour without second thoughts. Just like I plan to do with you.” and then his body fully crushed mine, my face pressed against the window as he inched closer, his face buried in the crook of my neck as he kissed, licked, and nipped. As though he had found his favorite dessert.

Or maybe I was, and that was all I’d probably ever be to him.

“Even for a human, you look so…frail. So weak. Perfect for all the ideas I have in mind. Although, I do like the touch of defiance you have. Fear and defiance, a perfect combination for a not so patient man like me. I am going to make you mine, in every way you could imagine and then some,” he panted, removing the tie holding my dress in place, and once again, I was bare before him, his fingers trailing touches all over my body, dancing across my skin, touching places no man ever had before. Places he wasn’t supposed to touch because I wasn’t his in any sense!

Yet, somehow, I held his gaze when he looked up, his fingers tracing the valley between my chest. I didn’t know where I got the strength to stare back, or where the guts to grit my teeth at him came. But all that simply made him chuckle, tucking my hair behind my ears.

“Oh, little one, you are so full of surprises.”

“My…my…name is… Sasha,” I spoke for the first time since I was captured without being asked to.

This time around, he laughed loudly, bending to lick my birthmark.

“You think I don’t know that? I like your name, and the way it tastes on my tongue,” he swiped his tongue on my right eye. “But I OWN YOU NOW, and I want to call you little one, because it fits you better. No one needs to hear your name anymore but me,” another lick on the left eye, trailing open-mouthed kisses all over my face.

It was disgusting. An experience I never had and one I didn’t expect to have in a car with a man I never liked. A ruthless man like Alpha Turk.

So when his open-mouthed kisses trailed down my collarbone down to my chest, I flipped. I pushed him with all of my might, even if that wasn’t going to set me free of his clutches.

Then as stupid as I was, I spit in his face.

I don’t know why I did that. Don’t know what possessed me, but I did. And I knew the consequences would be dire. But ever since he finalized his payment for me, I had this urge to at least try to fight, rather than wait for him to decide what my fate would be. At least now, if he decides to kill me, I’d die with my dignity intact.

“HOW DARE YOU?!” He thundered angrily, and I swear, I saw his eyes change color, and the temperature in the car got extremely cold.

And before I could comprehend the next moments, two resounding slaps greeted either sides of my face, knocking the air completely out of me, and the third hitting me square on the jaw, blood instantly dripping onto my bare body, my dress hanging on the sides.

The car came to a stop, and it took me a moment to realise that we had arrived at the pack.

Turk pulled his door open and stepped out, growling, his body taut with rage.

“Lock her up in the dungeons below. No food no water until I say otherwise!”

Despite my efforts, I still made it to Tumbale, the largest out of the five packs in the northern region. Only not as their luna like I was supposed to, but as a slave. One with numbered days.