"Pretty thing like you…" he purred deeply, making my eyelids heavy even as I tried to fight them, to get my arms free and break their noses. "Yeah, I bet you'd be real useful to have around."
I batted uselessly at him as the purr worked through me, far more powerful than any I'd felt before. It loosened the knot in my chest, uncurled my fists, and made me slump instead of struggle.
"Knock her out, Mads," he told the woman.
Terror helped me fight the haze of growls and purrs; I jammed my elbow back into the alpha's stomach, kicked her leg.
She grunted, but the sound became a growl. She let go of me only to curl her fingers into a fist, spin me, and punch me in the head.
Blackness exploded quicker than a gunshot.
2
Luna
Iwas torn out of unconsciousness by a growl. A vile combination of scents stuffed up my nose, coating my tongue as I wrenched off the mattress—and choked on a vicious cough when leather cinched around my throat.
"Wakey, wakey."
My eyes flew open, first landing on a handsome, blond-haired male alpha and then skittering to the dark, grimy bedroom. Fear made me sicker with every detail I noticed: peeling, once-cream wallpaper, tattered curtains covering a small window, stains on the ceiling, an empty light fitting hanging above the bed, and the alpha crawling onto the mattress.
He had an attractive, symmetrical face, his skin golden and smooth and his eyes a beautiful baby blue—and when he smiled, he might have been one of the most handsome people I'd everseen. But he was rotten inside; I sensed it even before memory slammed back into my bruised head.
The chase, the park, the two alphas, and the bitch who'd punched me in the head.
They wanted to know where Astrid was. I'd rather die than give up my sister.
I tried to move again and choked as something tightened around my throat. Panicking, I flung my hands up, grasping at the leather band around my neck, fingertips tracing the cold chain attached at the back.
"Leave that alone," the alpha growled, and my hands snapped down to the cheap material of the plain grey bed sheets.
No, I hissed at my hands, lifting them to resume scratching at the leather band choking me, desperately trying toget it off, to gasp down air.
"If you stop pulling on it, you'll be able to breathe," the alpha drawled, as if I was stupid.
Warm hands knocked mine aside. My skin crawled at the contact, the prickling sensation travelling to the rest of my body. I remembered his name just as Anatoly shoved me down on the bed with a hand spread on my chest.
I twisted on instinct, kicking out at him as he crawled closer, covering me, the desperate reality of my situation making me shake all over.
"There," he murmured, smiling a perfect smile. "Now you can breathe. Be a good beta and don't fight, and I won't have to hurt you."
I tried to scramble away, but rough hands gripped my hips and pressed me to the creaky mattress.
"Well, nottoobadly anyway. You might still be able to walk away." He laughed as if it was a good joke, confirming all the tainted cruelty my instincts warned of. "Now be a good beta and lie back."
I was too scared to speak, but I shook my head—and realised I had my hands free. Without hesitation, I whipped them up and boxed his ears in a mindless panic of blows. I wished I'd taken more than four self-defence lessons; I wished I'd trained to become a damn jiu jitsu master.
My hits did nothing except enrage Anatoly. He let out a terrifying growl that rattled my ribs, and I cowered away from him, my hindbrain screaming I was going to die.
He and the woman, Mads, might have growled at the same time in the park, intensifying the effect on me, but it was clear this man held most of the power. And I'd just enraged him, ensuring he was going to take that anger out on my body.
"Please," I breathed, shaking hard as death entered his blue eyes—no, something worse than death I realised as he ripped the scratchy covers away and began tearing at my clothes, ignoring my weak struggles. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry—"
"You will be," he grunted, his blinding smile long gone as he wrenched at my jeans. I grabbed the waistband, refusing to let him remove them. "I could have killed you; any other alpha would have. What's the point of a beta girl? You can't take a knot like an omega, your purr's weak as shit, and you don't produce slick."
I shook my head, wishing I could block out the words. But he was too close, his voice too forceful and loud, and the only other sound was my ragged breathing and the rasp of denim as we fought over my jeans.
"You're luckyIsee some value in you," the alpha went on, yanking until my fingers slipped off the fabric, allowing him to tug my jeans down my kicking legs. "I'm not like those other alphas; if you give me what I want, I'll take good care of you."