1. 1. A day in the life of…

*TW: mention of assault and ensuing damage*

Gemma

Gemma Anne Foster groaned in protest at the sound of the alarm going off on the bedside table.  For a full second she contemplated ignoring it and going back to sleep like the abductee she was supposed to be.  It was unfair to kidnap her and then make her work!

But she changed her mind when the grimace made her face ache uncomfortably, the last gift she received for assuming that she was a normal prisoner.  It was a gift from the alpha’s son, the vindictive man – wolf – he sent whenever she did not do something to his expectations.  Yesterday had been the first time she had rebelled outright.

Of course, that was not to say that she did not get away with certain little rebellions.  She just had to be smarter about it.  The irony is that the only time she actually saw another living being in her own quarters, was when the alpha’s son came to visit.  She did not like his visits, at all.

Realizing she had to get ready, she quickly jumped from the bed and winced at the jolt of pain that shot through her face and shoulder before she rushed to the bathroom.  Turning on the shower, she stripped down and glanced at her face in the mirror.  She still looked pretty bad, but the swelling on half of her face had gone down.  The blood that had turned her eye on that side to something out of a horror movie was something else.  The bruise on her opposite shoulder from where she had hit the wall still looked ghastly, though.

That had been one slap from the alpha’s son.  Yep, he was pretty strong, especially against a human female that had not expected him to put quite so much power behind the slap, since they had abducted her to fix their pack.  She had known they were stronger than her, but she had not known exactly how much stronger until the slap had delivered her halfway across the room and into a wall.

Yep, she applied to a job that would solve all her financial and boss problems, or so she’d thought when applying.  When she showed up at the interview, she was briefed on her duties and then promptly locked into this little apartment.  She had had the awakening of her life that afternoon when she had attempted to climb out of her window and had stared at a man morphing into a wolf the size of a pony.

She had decided that taking on the wolf was not in her best interest, so she’d quietly climbed back inside, while the creature stared at her and closed the window.  Gemma had then proceeded to have an emotional breakdown at the realization that the horror creatures she’d thought were created for movies, was in fact, true.  That was a week ago.

In the great scheme of things she was better off than most prisoners.  She was allowed free reign of this apartment, she had some comfortable clothes, she got food regularly and her laundry was done and returned by the time she stepped out of her office in the evening.  All she had to do to earn it all was save the pack.

Gemma quickly stepped into the shower and started her morning routine.  By the time she was done and dressed, she found her cooked breakfast on her desk, along with a list of e-mails from her captor/boss.

Strangely enough, they actually paid her a salary, but the alpha’s son had informed her that it was to cover their tracks.  It showed her bank account as being active, so she would not be considered a missing person, simply a runaway adult.  She couldn’t complain about the salary, it was a good one and she made a point of moving it all into an account they could not reach to withdraw the money again if they chose to.

Gemma was not about to tell them that they were wasting their time in trying to cover their tracks; there was no one to report her as a missing person.  Both her parents had died and she’d gone into survival mode after their death, simply trying to get through her business and finance degree because they had gone through so much trouble to pay for it.  When she had finished her degree, she had been at a loss of what to do to survive now.

So she took the next logical step, and started applying for jobs.  Maybe one day she would try to live again and not just exist.  Guess the joke was on her…

Gemma looked through her mails while she ate breakfast and started on the next list of expenses.  Apparently, she was needed to save this pack from bankruptcy by saving them money and creating business plans for different income streams.  She guessed they would let her go when she’d achieved their goal.

At least, she hoped they would.

She made a point of doing some physical exercises while she was working on the business plans.  She had not given up on escaping just yet, but she needed to be fit and strong if she wanted to do that.  While she was considering business plans, she would alternate between, sit-ups, push-ups, lunges and stretches to keep her body as ready to run as she could.

It would seem that they were watching her and had kindly delivered her a treadmill and some small weights to work with.  She was starting to feel like a rat in their lab, knowing that she was being watched.

She had tried to find the cameras, but it appeared that they were kind enough to give her some privacy by only putting it in her office.  Her room and bathroom seemed to be clean, but then, she could be wrong.  She would know once she started making her preparations for escape.

Gemma had already delivered one business plan that would offer work for the pack members and bring the first stream of income.  What they didn’t know was that her tiny revenge was that the person they thought were assisting them with the startup and registrations was her.  She had set up the contracts in such a way that she would have deciding shares in all the companies until they agreed to terms, which would be her little life insurance policy.

And she had set up a will that if she were to die all that she owned would be transferred to the nonprofits that assisted with human trafficking survivors.  If she were to die, so would their pack.  She had got into contact with a lawyer for just that reason, she even had him agree that if she didn’t check in with her password twice a week, he should consider her dead and start with proceedings, if she missed the second check-in.

Gemma rolled her eyes when she saw the mail from Luna to her, her husband the alpha included in the recipients.

Gemma

I don’t appreciate having my spending fund reduced by a third!  What I use the funds for is important for pack morale.  The money in my account is absolutely essential to our needs!

I suggest you correct your error as a matter of urgency.  I will be forgiving for this mistake for the moment.  If this is not corrected by the morning, I shall have to request that my son pay you another visit.

Regards

Luna Suzanne

With a huff of annoyance at the conceited woman, Gemma decided to word her e-mail professionally.  Well, professionally for them, at least.  She’d noticed that few of the pack members had studied past senior year in high school, and even fewer had reached that far.  It would seem they did not pride themselves much on intelligence and outsourced it by using brute force to kidnap the skills they needed.

She snorted at the thought of a few more intelligent humans being held in different areas of the pack house to save the stupid wolves.  Yes, she called them stupid because she was allowed to be angry at them for bullying her like this.

Dear Luna

I regret to inform you that the cut in your allowance was absolutely necessary; all the branches of the pack had had to suffer this temporary reduction in their allowance.

Attached I have added your card statement for the last month to show that the allowance was simply reduced enough to remove the excess expenditure at the shoe and handbag stores.  This shows that the amount reduced was needed to add the funds to the food budget for the pack, which has left some of the pack members without one meal per day.

It would appear that the financial hardships you are currently facing in your monthly expenditure are a necessary evil to assist with feeding those that serve to protect and serve the pack grounds.

Underfed warriors and omegas are a liability to pack safety and health concerns.  The amount reduced on your monthly expenditure also assisted with much needed medical supplies for the hospital.

If you were to assist with a way to supply the needed funds to the expenses necessary for the wellbeing of the pack, I would gladly return your funds to full benefits once more.

Regards

Gemma Anne Foster

She made a point of also adding the alpha and future alpha to the mail recipients to be sure that she would not be able to give them some sob story and have her attacked because she could not buy five overpriced handbags for the month.

The next mail was from the alpha and she wasn’t pleased with the turn of events.  But then, she didn’t really have a choice in the matter.

Gemma

Find attached the list of packs and their contact details as well as my schedule for the week.  I need you to contact the River Bend pack and make an appointment with Alpha Gregory for one morning this week, tell him it’s with regards to an alliance.

Then I need you to contact Alpha Winston from Mountain View pack and make an appointment with him for Wednesday afternoon to discuss cooperation with them for the build of the bar you planned.  I want the bar to be on the border between River Bend and Mountain View.  We can get more money and keep wolves protected with our bar serving only wolves.

Regards

Alpha Jeremy

Gemma rolled her eyes; apparently she was now his secretary, too.  Guess he could add to her work load when he was literally holding her hostage.  And she would have to stick with his weird “title” to keep herself from being attacked again.  What kind of title was that anyway? 

She set to work on sending a well worded mail to both packs and then worked through the financial sheets of the Den Mother.  At first she wasn’t sure what a den mother did until she read through the supplies; it was basically a daycare.  It was like they decided to use words usually used with regards to wolves; alpha, den, pack…

Once she had worked through that and found ways to maximize their needs with the minimum money for the time being, she sent that through and then set to work on the second business plan she had going.

While she was thinking on how to make it work, she started a fast walk on the treadmill.  Usually she would push to a run, but her face and shoulder still hurt.  She was nearly finished with her new distance goal, when she was suddenly grabbed from behind.

Gemma screamed in surprise and fear as she was lifted off the treadmill and then suddenly placed with her back against the wall, staring into the Alpha’s son’s face that was much too close to hers for comfort.

She flinched into the wall, expecting another attack like the day before, but nothing came, instead, when she slowly opened her eyes, she found him inspecting her face and eye and then looking at her opposite shoulder that was visible through the neck of the too large T-shirt she had been supplied with.

He ran a gentle finger over the dark bruise of her shoulder and she flinched away again, only to find herself stumbling into his other arm that was holding her captive against the wall.

“You really are easily breakable...”  He mused thoughtfully, then he looked at her eye and looked almost sorry.  “You know, if you’re a good girl and you do what we need, I could protect you.  You could become my little play mate while you’re here.”  He almost growled as he pushed his face into the crook of her neck and took a deep noisy breath.

Gemma whimpered in fear, despite her intent to be strong.  These large wolves were intimidating as hell and they definitely had the strength to hurt her.

“Think about it, baby.  I could make you feel so good...”  He growled suddenly and then he was gone.

She sank down to the ground where she had been caged, her legs unable to hold her up anymore.  She didn’t want any of these animals to touch her at all.  She’d be happy if she could just get away from them completely.  She couldn’t help the silent tears that trailed down her cheeks despite telling herself that she had cried enough about what these stupid wolves did to her.

She just wanted to be free.

Author's Note:  Hey, this is my first attempt on this platform, please bear with me while I learn the ropes.  I should be able to update once a week if all goes well, but do bear in mind that I also work full time and I'm a mom.  Life happens and tends to throw a few curve balls, but I will try my best to update weekly.