Rejecting the Alpha

The world smelled wrong and unfamiliar. I opened my eyes to find everything was spinning around me. The last thing I could remember was going to bed alone like I usually did when Vander was away and falling asleep, although it was a lot harder when he was not with me. Nothing had been out of the ordinary.

But as I woke to hazy confusion, I found I was lying somewhere dark and unfamiliar. I couldn’t move properly or call for help, because I was bound and gagged in the back of a vehicle, ropes connecting my hands together in front of me and my legs together so I couldn’t walk.

I understood that someone was taking me somewhere, because I could feel the movement as the vehicle sped down the road. Panic, terrifyingly familiar like the night of the attack on Glenhaven, bubbled up inside of my stomach. Where was I? Had Alpha Gavriel found me? Please, no.

I first tried to call for Vander through our bond and then for Alpha Timothy and the pack, but it was like my links had been blocked by a locked door, I could not hear or feel either of them. The bonds were still intact, but limp and unresponsive. I probably wasn’t in range to call for help anyway, but the normal link would have at least been a comfort to me.

I tried to summon the strength of my wolf, but she was quiet and still, and I could not shift as if she had been disconnected from my soul. The emptiness was terrifying.

My heart pounded in my ears as the desperation of my situation became more and more apparent. I didn't want to go back there, not to that cold monster who had forced me to do whatever he wanted me to do without caring what I wanted. I was Vander's now, and the alpha had no right to me, even if his mark had remained unfading on my neck even after Vander had marked me.

Strange as it was, I bore two marks, and neither claim seemed willing to give way to the other. Had the one I fled somehow been able to find me through it? Found me, and stole me away from the one who I had chosen?

But when had my choices ever mattered to the Stonemason alpha? The sound of the vehicle hummed as if in answer, chanting never, never, never at me.

Past my panic, I tried to come up with a plan. I had escaped before, I could do it again, and this time I had somewhere to go. But did I? He had found me at Lightwood, so it would be the first place he would check if I escaped again.

But Vander was there, and I had to get back to him. Maybe Vander and I could flee together, somewhere else in the world, somewhere where my first mate could never, ever find us.

First I had to escape, though. I could see just a pinprick of light at the corner of the door at the back, so I knew the sun must be up. How long had I been gone? Was it only hours, or had I slept through days? I had no way of gauging.

If I could get myself loose, I could slam against the back doors and maybe break myself out. The first step was to regain my mobility. I started wiggling my hands and ankles to try to gain more movement. The ropes were quite tight, and I picked at the knots on my wrist with my teeth.

I didn't get very far in my attempt before the vehicle slowed. I tried to look helpless as the door opened, flooding light into the interior of the delivery van. My ploy wasn't too hard since I was nearly defenceless, tied up as I was and unable to access help.

The man who came in was completely unfamiliar. My sense of smell had been diminished along with my other abilities, but I did not need heightened werewolf senses to identify he was a rogue and not a member of Stonemason. But why would a rogue be bringing me to Alpha Gavriel? Was I being taken somewhere else? I tried to speak, but my questions came out as incoherent mumbles, and he acted as if he could not even hear my attempts through the gag.

A second rogue thug joined the first, this one a bit shorter and less heavyset, and I watched them nervously as they walked into the back and hoisted me up, one holding me under my arms, the other at my ankles. I squirmed but they ignored my futile attempts to resist.

There was not much to see as they carried me out, just an overgrown yard surrounded by trees, with a shabby house and a few old sheds out behind it. It looked exactly like the place in a movie that someone might be carried off to by a serial killer, and I struggled harder, again with no success.

In spite of my best efforts, I ended up deposited on a musty smelling old couch. I was increasingly certain that my abduction had nothing to do with Alpha Gavriel, because as angry as he may have been with me, backwoods decrepit didn’t really seem his style. This seemed more like a place he would mercilessly burn as a threat to Stonemason than a place he would ever have his abducted mate brought to by rogue minions.

Still, this wasn’t a random attack, because Lightwood was too well defended for some criminal to just stumble through the territory by accident. This had to have been planned.

I tried to think of anyone else who might have a motive to kidnap a random werewolf. I quickly ruled out the possibility of either the hunters or a shadowy human organization because the place was a clear hovel, and if these rogues were trying to destabilize Lightwood there were dozens of more worthwhile targets than the delta's mate.

As unlikely as it seemed, could Vander have somehow made an enemy through his business? From what I had learned, Jack was far more involved in the day to day matters of it all, but he hadn’t found his mate yet, so maybe I was the weak link in their partnership?

My questions were not destined to be answered yet. As the hours stretched, the active panic slowly faded into a constant buzz of simmering fear. The two rogues guarded me carefully and rarely left me alone so I could not even properly work at the knots because they would see me trying. Unfortunately—and also maybe fortunately, because the alternative also scared me—these rogues seemed to have their sanity and cunning intact.

Finally, as evening fell, they ungagged me and provided me with water. I managed to get the cup up to my mouth awkwardly with my bound hands. Once my throat was less dry, I asked, my voice raspy, "Where am I?"

They ignored me. They were incredibly silent, as if they could neither hear me nor talk themselves.

"Please, I just want to know what you want from me. Please?"

Still no response. They gave me a bowl of some thin soup, which I drank before they replaced the gag. As evening wound into night, they injected me with something in my arm, and I fell quickly back into unconsciousness.

I didn't wake up again until what I guessed was midday the next day judging by the muted sunlight from the windows. My time consisted of the same ordeal as the previous day. They allowed me to drink and fed me a bit, but other than humiliating bathroom breaks I sat in the chair where they had placed me and tried to think of a plan that could get me out. So far, I had seen no openings, and they would still give me no answers, only speaking when they were well out of earshot.

After long hours, the silence and sounds of the forest was broken by an engine. Both my rogue guards were within sight, so I understood it had to be someone else. My throat tightened with that knowledge, because whoever it may be was an unknown in a dangerous situation.

My ears strained to hear anything else after the engine faded. The door cracked, and swung open with a protesting squeal.

And my eyes were caught by two deep, horribly familiar dark blue eyes.