I focused on the surrounding scents. The strange feel of being jostled, but not thrown about. I was cradled by someone and his smell calmed everything inside me. I could even feel a tug of my wolf trying to answer the call of whatever this scent was.
Still, we were too tired.
I was jostled again and moved and laid down. Goddess, if this was the end just let it be.
I had nowhere to go. I couldn’t go home to a ruined pack, or rather a pack where I was sold away.
Longing in my heart had kept me awake for years. I believed someday my prince would come. Someday my mate would come save me. One that not only wanted me, but would avenge me. Instead? Instead, I was here.
* * *
“She didn’t tell me her name. She just said there were others. What others?”
The world slowly came into focus, or rather the conversations around me. New scents filled my nose and then there was the familiar. The voice was familiar.
Panic wanted to make its root inside me again. The scents of all the cleaning supplies made me put the brakes on the crazy.
Different or not, I didn’t want to move. Not yet. I couldn’t let them know I was awake. Not until I could get up and run if I needed to. My senses were dulled, and I realized my wolf was still better than normal, anyway.
Using the surrounding clues I knew I wasn’t with the pack I’d been serving. They were so angry about the contracts. The last few weeks I’d heard the yelling over the contracts and the fact they would all come to an end at some point. I’d been the first. How were the girls left behind?
What had happened? I couldn’t put the pieces together, not yet. I did what was needed to make sure my pack had stayed safe even if it felt wrong. My father had sold me for safety and it was my duty. I still held on that my father wasn’t the asshole and it was my step-mother.
It didn’t really matter. They never came for me. They never tried to free me. I’d been handed over without so much as a goodbye in the night.
I should be free today. Free to run with my wolf, even if I’d never have a pack.
I shifted, and my body protested. What had happened? I should have been allowed to become a rogue and left to fend for myself. That had sounded so much nicer, to only have to worry about myself.
I’d messed up somehow even if I’d always been careful to never leave their lands and look where it had left me. Running from a new captor.
I sniffed the air again. The room smelled clean. I was definitely not back at my old prison. I wasn’t in that cage either.
I tried to feel around for my wolf, but she still seemed to be quiet. Maybe that was why they didn’t care if I’d been kidnapped? I was a useless shifter, never having been given the freedom to shift, my wolf was always weak. I doubted that was the issue really. They probably didn’t care if I’d run away or been kidnapped because I wasn’t theirs anymore.
I wasn’t theirs. Maybe, I didn’t need to be reminded of how I couldn’t shift or now how I was still too weak to even be useful as a human. Every day I prayed my wolf would heal and help me escape. And today? I was at least not in shackles and nor was I theirs anymore.
The voices pulled me back to the moment.
“We found a small group of rogues. They had the same signatures as what we’ve been seeing on the borders. Organized.”
The first male voice reminded me of the one at the bar and the second? I didn’t recognize him.
“Since when do they organize? The last rogue uprising was years ago. We’ve allowed them to live in the neutral zones, there should be no need to do whatever is happening. They can hold jobs, what more can we offer?”
No, this didn’t seem at all like the old pack I’d served. Letting rouges live? It had been the biggest reason any of the contracted girls had stayed. That and the fear of our packs being decimated. Small packs were at a disadvantage. Even challenging the alphas of the bigger packs didn’t always end up well. The world was fucked up. We’d been told time and time again it was kill or be killed.
I blinked a few times against the blinding lights.
“I don’t think this is something packs can fix. There’s still a stigma.”
Listening to their conversation, I was certain these were not the males that had taken me, thank the goddess. The conversation was too logical and methodical and maybe just, political.
What did it matter if they knew I was awake.
I lifted my hand to shield my eyes.
“You’re awake?”