It had been long abandoned, but someone—Trevor, she assumed—had placed a large bed in the center of the open room. She felt sick to her stomach just looking at it. There was no sign of any clothes she could put on to get home, but a cabinet revealed rope, tape and zip ties. Her stomach churned again. Was she the first woman he had brought here or were there others? The thought that other women might have been less fortunate than her only furthered her anger.
Taking the top sheet from the bed, she made herself a makeshift toga style dress and retrieved her cell phone from her purse. No signal. She sighed and walked back out of the cabin, making her way along the road they had come in on last night until she heard the sound of a text coming in. She lifted her phone and looked at it with relief. Where are you? the message read. She had signal!
Rather than responding, she hit the button to dial her mother’s phone. It rang only once and her mother answered, breathless.
“Autumn? Is that you? Autumn?” she said.
“It’s me, Mom.”
“Thank God. Where are you?”
“I don’t know. Some abandoned cabin down Newberry Road, near the lake.”
“Sounds like the place that belongs to Trevor’s grandfather. Are you alone?”
“Yes.”
“Are you safe?”
“I don’t know. I think so.”
“I’m on my way.”
“Thanks, Mom,” Autumn replied, and then, as an afterthought, she added, “I need you to bring me clean clothes, but don’t bring Dad.”
“I won’t. Why don’t you stay on the phone with me until I get there? I’ll put you on the speaker in the car and you can tell me what has happened while you wait.”
“Okay,” Autumn told her, relieved not to have to look at her while she told her what happened.
She fought back tears now that she was past the fear and the anger, but as she began to tell her mother what had happened with Trevor, she felt the anger growing again. By the time her mother arrived, Autumn was absolutely livid.
“I’m not going to marry someone like that, Mom,” she told her as she climbed into the car and began slipping on the clothes her mother handed her from the back seat.
“No, you aren’t,” her mother told her.
“I want to file charges against him,” she said.
“You know you can’t do that, Autumn. He’s the Alpha’s son. No one will touch him, and he’ll just make you look like a liar.”
“Do you think I’m a liar?”
“No, of course not. I just know how this clan works, baby.”
Autumn thought about it, looking out the window as they drove the rest of the way home. Her mother was right, which only made it more infuriating. The anger passed once again, replaced by a feeling of helplessness—a feeling that only grew stronger once her father spoke to her.
“You are going to marry him. Stop being a drama queen,” Autumn’s father said.
“Drama Queen? Are you fucking kidding me, Dad? He tried to rape me!”
“You are his betrothed. He’s not the first Alpha to expect sex prior to marriage,” he told her flatly.
Autumn looked at him, astounded. She glanced toward her mother, who hung her head, but said nothing. She was a good woman, but she was, first and foremost, subservient to her husband, even when it came to her daughter’s best interest.
“I am going to bed. I had to sleep in the woods last night to avoid a rapist, and I’m exhausted,” Autumn barked, stomping off to her room.
But there was no sleep. Instead, she considered her options. Then, she decided. Climbing out of bed, she went to shower and changed into a clean pair of jeans, sneakers, and a sweater. She dragged out the large duffle bag that had once been her father’s when he was in the army and began packing clothes and what things she could carry that were important to her. Once she was done, she waited until she heard her parents go to bed and snuck back downstairs.
Pulling the keys to her brother’s motorcycle from the peg on the kitchen wall, she began making her way toward the garage. He was away at college and would be angry that she took it, but desperate times called for desperate measures. Strapping her bag onto the back, she opened the large door on one side rather than rolling up the front door and waking her parents. She was halfway out it when the door from the kitchen opened and light flooded the place.
“What are you doing?” her mother asked, stepping through the kitchen doorway into the garage.
“Leaving.”
Her mother nodded, tears falling down her face. She stepped across the garage and put her hand in her pocket, pulling out a wad of bills and putting them into Autumn’s hand.
“This will help. I wish it were more, but it’s all I have saved. Where will you go?”