Chapter 1
Nightmaresplaguedmydreams.
Monsters chased me through the house, their clawed hands reaching for me. I could feel their touch grazing my skin as I tried to escape. No matter what I did or how loud I screamed no one came to save me.
Once more—I was all alone.
Gasping, I sat up, sweat soaking my body as my chest heaved, trying to suck in all the air it could. As I looked around, the panic only grew as I didn’t recognize anything in the room. Everything about it was cold, harsh, and unwelcoming, the complete opposite of my room back home.
What happened? How did I get here? Why does my head feel like someone slammed it into a wall? Had my father found me?
I looked around wildly, shoving away the blankets and looking down at my clothes. They were the same leggings and sweater I’d put on after the guys left. Theguys! Rushing to the door I assumed led out of the room, I tried the handle. It was locked. Panic flooded my body as it threatened to pull me back to the days of being trapped in the basement.
“No,” I sobbed, slamming my hands on the door. “No, this can’t be happening again. Marius?! Spencer?! Bodhi?!” I screamed, beating my fists on the wooden door, praying someone would hear me and tell me what was going on. “Someone please, let me out!”
When that didn’t work, I hurried over to one of the other doors, flinging it open to find a bathroom. Spinning on my heel I moved to the next, a closet. There was one more I hadn’t tried, and I begged whoever might be listening that it would be a way out. Closing my eyes, I grasped the handle, but it didn’t move—it was locked.
“This can’t be happening again,” I wailed, sliding to the floor, banging my head against the door, praying it would be hard enough to knock me out.
I’d survived this once, but I knew there was no way I could do it again. Yes, this might be a nicer prison but that was exactly what it was, a jail cell for me to waste away in. Then, a horrifying thought struck me. Had my father told the person who was going to buy me where I was? I’m sure that man at the mall had told him what he’d seen and who I had been with. It wouldn’t take much work to find out where I was staying, and if a person could pay a million dollars for me, they had to be wealthy enough to send a goon squad after me.
Memories of them breaking into the house flashed through my mind. I’d been in my room reading when the sound of the door being kicked in had paralyzed me. My panic had frozen my ability to act fast enough, and I didn’t have a chance to hide before they grabbed me. Men in all black with angry faces snatched me out of my bed and tossed me over their shoulders. Lifting my sweater, I saw the bruise from where the man had elbowed me in the gut after I’d kicked him in the balls.
Unlike when my father tossed me in the basement, I wasn’t going to be a meek little victim. This time I was going to fight with everything I had. That blow had knocked the wind out of me, but I’d managed to grab hold of the front door’s frame in a last ditch effort to keep them from taking me. I wasn’t going to let them steal from me the chance at being truly happy and having the family I’d always wanted. Yet it wasn’t enough, because here I sat in a strange room, with no idea what lay beyond either door.
Tears rolled down my face and dropped onto my hands that were clenched in my sweater, as I tried to hold myself together. I couldn’t let them win, whoever it was that stole me from my new life. They would look for me. I knew in my heart they wouldn’t abandon me, so I had to be strong. Even as I told myself this, my tears came faster and a whine filled with all the heartache I felt poured out of my mouth.
Curling up in a ball, I wept, afraid that even with all the words I could tell myself, it wouldn’t be enough. Surviving those two years had nearly broken me, and I wasn’t sure I could do it again. Not after knowing what happiness and love looked like. It was too great a loss and my heart wasn’t nearly as strong as I thought it was. The men who were holding my heart together weren’t here to help me through this.
So, what now?
The first door I’d tried rattled as someone unlocked and pushed it open. A man dressed in a formal looking suit entered with a covered tray. He paused when he noticed the bed was empty and scanned the room. When his cold mud brown eyes met mine, his brows pinched together.
“What are you doing on the ground? That is no way for a lady to behave. Get up this instant,” he ordered.
I could tell he was a Beta, but his tone didn’t leave room for argument. Taking a moment to wipe my face with my sleeve and give a good sniffle, I stood right where I was.
“Goodness, you have the manners of an animal. It seems we will have lots of work to do in your education,” the man muttered as he walked over to a small table with a single chair. “I’ve brought you breakfast. Seeing the tranquilizer kept you asleep for quite some time, you must be famished.” He lifted the tray lid, and the smell of bacon and eggs filled the air.
My stomach growled but I remained where I was. “Where am I, and why did you take me from my home?”
The man turned to look at me with irritation evident on his face. “That wasn’t your home,thisis your home, and you’re right where you belong.”
“Nothing you're saying makes any sense,” I argued. “Those men broke into my pack’s home and took me from my bed. How can you tell me that wherever this place is,” I paused, waving my hands about, “is my home?”
“I see you have your father’s stubbornness. How delightful,” he muttered. “You will be told everything in proper time. Right now, you are going to sit, eat, and then bathe. I’ll have clothes laid out for you when you’re finished. Once you’ve accomplished that, I will go over your lesson schedule. I was informed you stopped going to school at age eight. Can you read and write?”
Shock and anger warred in my body.How did he know that about me? What kind of lessons is he talking about, and why does he think I am illiterate?
“I can read and write incredibly well. I planned on taking my GED when I was sixteen. Unfortunately, events happened making that impossible,” I explained, not willing to let this man think I’m a simpleton.
He walked to me, looked me up and down, then reached out a hand, making me jerk backward. His hand paused, then retreated. “Can I assume those events were the man claiming to be your father?”
“Exc… wha… my father… he wasn’t my father?” I stuttered, stumbling over my words as my mind reeled from the information this man just carelessly stated.
His lips pursed as he took a step back. “It seems I’ve spoken out of turn. My apologies, Miss Cambrie. Off to the bathroom with you. We have much to do, and dawdling won’t be tolerated.”
“Wait,” I blurted as he headed for the door. “What do I call you?”