A Visit To Remember...Forever

A chit-chat filled with giggles later, the gate rattled again, and a cell guard flung it wide open. A cook strolls in, in a uniform of blue and white, and a white apron with the Pack's symbol stamped on it. She was average height and she was chubby. Her hair is brown and neatly packed in a ponytail.

She had a tray filled with two plates of Cauliflower gnocchi with bruschetta sauce and sausage.

It was River’s favourite. It couldn't be a coincidence that her favourite meal was on their main meal course, right?

The cook had two different bowls of the meal - one was full to its brim and the other was barely two scoops of spoon. She slid the plate with the bigger portion to River and passed the other one to Aubrey.

Aubrey and River shared a confused look.

“Excuse me, I think you made a mistake with the serving. Mine is a larger portion than hers."

River pointed it out, and the cook regarded River with contempt. 

“No. Nobody made a mistake. This is what I was instructed to serve you, and it is what you will get henceforth.” The cook's tone is cold and harsh.

River’s frown deepened as she watched the cook stride out. The cell guard appeared a second after she exited the cell and locked it.

River and Aubrey didn't speak about it when they began munching on their meals. At some point, River even offered to share some of her portion with Aubrey, but Aubrey refused.

The meal was mouthwatering as usual. River munched hungrily on the sausage and sucked happily on the Bruschetta sauce.

What if they had spiked this with poison? River thought as she munched on the meal.

It was way too good and expensive to be for a prisoner.

Several minutes later, Aubrey and River went back to their chit-chat. 

River felt good speaking to Aubrey.

She is so pleasant and sweet. And, she loved River’s silly joke, laughing loudly at it even when River thought she wouldn't.

"I heard the pond is so deep in your Pack that it drowned two workers?"

Aubrey's voice was a whisper, her brows furrowed in concentration. 

River had only heard the rumours. She never believed them. 

"I'm not sure. I don't believe them. They were werewolves, and I'm sure they were not weak werewolves like us. They could still have lived after getting drowned."

River supplied.

"But I heard people don't swim there anymore."

"Yes. Only low-ranked wolves like us can't swim."

River said.

"There are a lot of disadvantages to low-ranked wolves. But, I heard the jacuzzi is even better. They said it's shaped with the Pack's name. Is that true?"

River stiffened at Aubrey's inquiry. She had, in fact, visited the Jacuzzi before the night Alpha Caden invited her. The night he took her innocence and the night before he rejected and humiliated her.

"River?" Aubrey's voice jerked River back to her senses, and she realized she had responded to Aubrey's question. As she was just about to respond, a cell guard appeared again and unlocked the gate, flinging it open.

This time, he grabbed Aubrey and suddenly hurled her to her feet. 

River frowned.

"What is happening?"

The cell guard doesn't respond, and even Aubrey is too weak and dumbfounded to protest as the cell guard drags her out. 

River jerks to her feet, watching in horror as the cell guard locks the gate and ignores her. 

As the cell guard turned to leave with Aubrey in his grip, River managed to grab his biceps, holding him back desperately.

"Please, tell me where she is going?"

She asked, her voice breaking. 

"Let go of me before I lay my hands on you." The cell guard threatened, but River was not moved. She tightened her grip around his muscular biceps.

"I won't until you tell me where you are taking her to."

The cell guard raised his hand briefly, ready to strike River across the bar, but a voice stopped him. His fellow cell guard. A man, also in a cell guard uniform, a little taller than the other guy, stepped into view.

"You know the rules, Reaper. Do not touch her, or else you want the wrath of the Alpha." The guy spoke in a gruff tone to his friend. The guy lowered his hand, threw a hot glare at River, and stormed off with Aubrey. 

River didn't bother to stop him this time. She just watched in tears as he stormed away with her new friend.

Was that it? The end of a healing, developing friendship? Would she go through this journey all alone? Will she bear the pain of getting sold all by herself?

River walked back into the cell and threw herself against the wall, punching into it angrily. Her knuckles bled, and she felt the pain, but no pain could compare to the one she felt at that moment. In her heart. Her only friend is gone.

The padlock of the cell's gate unlocking got her attention, and she quickly got up, thinking they had returned Aubrey but, it was only the tall cell guard that had prevented her from getting hit earlier. He slips in and drops a warm blanket on the bed.

"It will rain tonight." The cell guard whispered.

"Who sent this?" River demanded, tears-eyed.

Though the cell guard hesitated, he finally turned and said, "My Alpha."

River shuddered at this. The cook had given her a bigger portion of their meal earlier as well. The cell guard also said something like the Alpha had given an order not to touch her. He said it as if it was a specific order.

When River is left alone in the cell again. She pondered on the thought.

She had heard a lot of things about Alpha Ryker long before he walked into her life, and none of them were ever good. He was bad news, they said. She heard how the Alpha of Berseck Pack had threatened to kill him, and, in retaliation, he not only cut off his head, he killed all his Pack members as well. About 120 of them. Damien also told her about how his father often warned him off. His father had often told him how everyone quakes in fear at the sight of him during Alpha's meetings. He said they had all become sweaty and stammerers before him. He had other histories of murders and ruthlessness. 

River shivered when she recalled that her uncle had said he bought her with a mouth-watering amount. It wasn't what she was thinking, right?

River slept on the floor later that night and was only awoken by the clapping of thunder. The thunder persisted, and lighting followed after. 

Suddenly, River began to hear footsteps approaching her cell. The footsteps were unlike the cell guard's, they were calculated and calm. With River’s slightly sensitive hearing, the person was wearing a boot. 

The cell guards weren't wearing boots. 

River panicked, but she still stayed glued to her sleeping position, too scared to sit up.

The steps stopped before her cell, unlocked the bar with one snap with his hand, and strode in. Whoever the person was, they were strong because the padlock of that bar was too strong and thick to be opened with only one hand. 

Her eyes were shut close, but she felt the person hovering over her, watching her in the dark. 

The rain began with an angry pour.

River shivered when she felt a strong, cold hand run down her face, caressing it gently.

Then she forced her eyes open, and she was faced with a man who had often appeared in her nightmares after the death of her father and the destruction of her Pack. Back then, she had only seen him in the dark as his smirk widened while he watched his men massacre her father' Pack. And this time, it was in the dark as well.

Maybe he was drawn to the dark. Maybe the dark did well in hiding the beautiful face behind the monster that he was.

But, did it really? Because the person hovering over her had the most beautiful smile she had ever set her eyes on and the most perfect facial features.

River's breathing hitched in her throat, and she sat up, trembling. 

She was wrong. The darkness did not hide his beautiful face. Infact, the lightning of the thunder shone on his face had added to his beauty and made him breathtaking. 

Perfect shaped face, strong jawline, full lips, athletic, broad figure, a piercing gaze, and a beautiful smile. She really wished she could call him ugly and not stutter. She wished his looks matched his personality, but it did not.

He was hot. And, intimidating. His piercing gaze pinning her made her shudder in fear.

He looked like a model straight out of a magazine and a glassy skin with dots of freckles adorning the bridge of his nose. He was breathtaking, and if he had been a meal, River’s mouth would be watering to get a taste.

But, he wasn't. He was a monster. The man that had rendered her fatherless.

"Sorry, love. Am I intriguing your resting time?"

He smiled, and the lightning flickered into his gorgeous face, giving River a clearer version of him. 

Even his voice was so commanding, gruff, husky, and soothing.

"W-who a-are you?"

River feigned. The only thing she could do to remain safe. If this man discovered that she was a survivor of his massacre, he wouldn't waste a breath in killing her.

"I am—" He suddenly stopped himself, brushing a finger down her face, to her shoulder blade, down to her forearm, caressing all the bruises she had. River shivered at his touch and bit down on her lower lip. "Did your mates do this to you?" He asked with gritted teeth, his tone furious.

River nodded slowly, fighting to hide the fear in her eyes. Though it was in the dark, she feared he might see the fear in her eyes. She didn't want him to know that she was scared. She didn't want him to recognize her.

"Y-you shouldn't touch me like that. I'm not your mate."

River breathed, swallowing down a bile that had gathered in her throat.

Alpha Ryker holds her chin firmly between his thumb and index finger, forcing her gaze to meet his. His smirk widened as he regarded her softly.

"That's true. I'm not your mate. But, you are mine. And, I purchased you because I wanted to keep you. You'd be my slave from henceforth. It's such a shame that Tyler Bradley never spoke about such a beautiful daughter."