16: He’s Selling Me

The coast was clear, at least that was what I told myself. I didn't hear any scuffling outside the door, which meant Dwight was maybe looking for me on another floor.

I still made up my mind to stay put for a while longer, just in case he was quietly waiting for me outside the door.

'It smells like death in here,' Kennedy pointed out. 'I don't think we're alone.'

She rose inside me.

I turned slowly to take a good look at my surroundings, and I had to place my hand over my nose. It smelt like sickness and pestilence in here.

My eyes adjusted to the darkness as I slowly moved away from the door.

I could sense the racing heartbeat now.

"Who's there?"

"Please, you shouldn't have come here."

I froze.

It was a young woman.

I hadn't noticed her when I'd rushed inside because the room was almost completely dark, with only a thin strip of moonlight slipping between the heavy curtains.

She sat curled up on a tiny bed with her bare feet tucked beneath her and her arms wrapped around her knees. Thin, whisky-blonde hair surrounded her even thinner face, and even from across the room, I could see the dried tear tracks running down her cheeks.

I slowly lowered my hand.

"Who are you?"

Instead of answering, she stared at my face.

More specifically, at the cheek Roland had slapped.

"He doesn't like women roaming around his mansion unattended," she whispered.

Something about the way she said it made the anger inside me settle into something colder.

"You mean Alpha Roland?"

Her eyes met mine.

She didn't answer.

She didn't have to.

I took one cautious step towards her. "Did he hurt you?"

A humourless little laugh escaped her. "You think I did this to myself?" she asked as she showed me her arms and legs, which were filled with cuts and bruises, both old and new. She must have been whipped with a silver blade coated with wolfsbane.

"Your Alpha did this to you?"

I knew Alastor was an evil bastard, but other than the time he broke my arm when we first met, he had never raised his hand to me. He found other ways of punishing me, like making sure to use me to the maximum in bed and fucking me in front of the pack.

But what I was seeing was awful. I could also smell the blood coming from between her thighs.

"Did the Alpha do that to you too?" I asked her. It was obvious she had been raped.

"No." She shook her head.

"Then who did this?"

"Look, please, you need to leave before my father finds you here."

"Your father?"

"Yes, Alpha Roland is my father."

I stopped.

Alpha Roland's daughter.

I looked at her properly this time, taking in the beautiful young woman hiding alone in a dark room while a party raged downstairs. She didn't look anything like the wolves I'd just left behind. There was no drunken smile on her face and no excitement about the violence happening beneath us.

She looked miserable.

Trapped.

For some reason, I knew that look.

I'd seen it in the mirror for thirteen years.

"What's your name?" I asked.

She hesitated.

Before she could answer, Dwight's voice echoed faintly from somewhere farther down the corridor.

"Luna Ava!"

The young woman's eyes widened, finally realizing who I was. "You need to go."

"I know."

"No." She quickly unfolded herself from the bed and stood. "I mean you need to get out of this pack."

My brows pulled together. "What?"

She stared at me for several seconds as though deciding whether she could trust me.

Then her eyes dropped to my swollen cheek again.

"My father isn't the kind of man you challenge and walk away from. I can hear him screaming, 'Find her!' through the pack link. I figure he means you."

"Well, neither is my husband."

Something changed in her expression.

Recognition, maybe.

Or understanding.

She looked towards the door before lowering her voice.

"So you're really Luna Ava-Rose Drexel."

I nodded.

"I heard what they're doing to your daughter."

My entire body stiffened. "How?"

"Everyone knows about the agreement."

Of course they did.

Apparently, I was the last fucking person invited to the meeting about my own child's future.

My jaw tightened. "It's not happening."

"I hope so. My brother is a vile and erratic wolf. You can't let him get his paws on your daughter. You must protect her at all costs."

The certainty in her voice surprised me.

I stared at her.

She stared back.

For several seconds, neither of us spoke.

Then her eyes filled with tears.

"I will fight for Rachel with my last breath."

"At least your daughter has someone willing to fight for her."

"What does that mean?"

She immediately looked away.

"Nothing."

"That didn't sound like nothing."

"It's none of your business."

"You're right."

I should have left it there.

Rachel was somewhere inside this mansion, Dwight was looking for me and Alastor would eventually come looking himself. I had enough problems to last several lifetimes, and whatever was happening to Alpha Roland's daughter had absolutely nothing to do with me.

So why wasn't I moving?

Kennedy had gone strangely quiet.

I studied the girl again, noticing the way she kept rubbing her palms against her arms even though the room wasn't cold.

"Why is your father doing this to you?"

Her head snapped towards me. "Because I said no to his plans for me."

For the briefest second, something resembling a smile touched her face.

Then it disappeared.

Another shout sounded somewhere in the mansion, and this time I heard my name mixed into it.

"Go, Luna Ava. I'll be fine."

I really needed to go, so I reached for the door, but I couldn't open it.

"Wait. Tell me what your father's plans are for you."

My hand stopped on the handle.

When I looked back, Roland's daughter was staring at me with an expression I knew far too well.

Fear.

Real fear.

The kind that lived in your bones.

"My father is sending me away," she whispered.

"Where?"

Her lips parted, but for several seconds, nothing came out.

Then she gulped. "The Fangtonia Kingdom," she let out. "He's selling me to the Vampire King."