Chapter 2: Helpless

I'm unable to suppress a smile. I have absolutely no idea what was going on, but anything that upsets my father and his plans can only be something good. 

"I'll be right back," my father growls. He looks furious, and he's doing a poor job of trying to rein it in. "You can proceed with the ceremony."

"Nope! We need to borrow Alpha Jack for a moment, too. Right this way," the man says, calling off the growling wolves surrounding him. "Don't worry, no one is getting hurt!"

Alpha Jack looks just as confused as everyone as he follows my father down the aisle and disappears down the flowered hallway, flanked by his own men. 

Some eyes wander toward me as if hoping for an explanation. I catch Joan staring at me in disbelief, and I shrugged at her.

This was definitely not my doing. Not this time.

My stepmother somehow manages to calm people down and music begins to play again.

"We will resume shortly!" I hear her cry out, as she speaks to some of my father's many guests.

Someone brings me a chair, and I sit on it, trying to hold back laughter.

My stepmother makes her way toward me, clearly upset. "Stop it. At least pretend you're not enjoying this."

"But I am!" I say a little too loudly.

"What have you done, Helena?"

"I didn't do anything!" I cry out, as I feel her cold fingers digging into my neck.

Suddenly the doors open again and my grim-looking father and an equally furious Alpha Jack appear, followed by the strange men.

"There's... um... there's been a change of plans," my father says. "Helena is marrying Maximilian."

The room explodes in murmurs, whispers, and cries. They're all so phony. I'm sure they're enjoying the drama. 

And who the hell is Maximilian?

In response to my question, a man with the coldest blue-green eyes I've ever seen steps in from behind my father. His long dark hair is tied into a neat bun, and his perfectly tailored black suit is slightly too tight on his muscles.

Slowly, the realization creeps up on me.

This is Maximilian Thorn.

The Pack Alliance's enemy number one.

The violent, ruthless gangster who kills people, burns up trucks, and continuously upends my father and the Alliance's business deals.

"I didn't say I was going to marry her," Maximilian says in a low voice, barely audible from the other side of the room.

My father's eyes widen. "What...?"

"I said I never mentioned a wedding..."

With that, he fixes his eyes on me from across the aisle, startling me so much that I almost fall off the chair.

"Helena, is it? Come." It takes me a few seconds to realize he's talking to me. 

Normally, I wouldn't have objected to running away with a handsome stranger, especially if it would upset my father.

And to be fair, I had prayed for divine intervention to step in and stop this wedding from happening.

But it's one thing to be sold off into a loveless marriage of convenience to an old man I had at least seen before, and another to be whisked away by a known criminal.

"I'm not going anywhere with you," I blurt out, the rage inside me building up.

I'm sick and tired of being treated like a commodity, and this is the last straw.

"Helena... It is done," my father says. The veins on his forehead look like they're about to pop. "Please. This was just a big misunderstanding."

He seems more concerned with appealing to the whispering guests than convincing me to go with this man.

Because he knows I have no choice. 

I could run away, go to the police (their pockets are lined with my father's money), threaten to kill myself (and attempt to do it), burn down rooms and scale buildings, but nothing I could possibly do will matter. 

This is life as a werewolf in the Pack Alliance, where women are accessories and currency.

How I envy humans and their simple, easy ways.

Maximilian slowly makes his way down the aisle. Everyone who stood in his way steps aside to let him pass.

I'm still on the chair, my hands digging into its sides as I seethe.

Once again, I'm being dragged into my father's many deals and treaties.

Once again I'm helpless against his whims.

Maximilian extends his index finger towards my chin and lifts my head to face him.

"I wasn't asking," he says in a deep voice that makes me shudder. "Stand."

"No," I reply after a short pause, staring back into his cold eyes.

I should be terrified of him. The stories of all the things his pack had done precede him. They were almost like the bogeymen stories told to children so they would behave.

Don't mess with Shadowmist pack... or else.

"I'm not going to tell you again," Maximilian growls. 

"Go to hell," I answer, desperate to break eye contact with him. But I can't, not without looking away or standing and leaving, which would have meant I ceded to his command.

"As you wish," he says, unceremoniously grabbing me by the arm and slinging me onto his shoulder. 

Chaos erupts in the venue as I watch it all unfold upside down. No matter how much I punch and claw at this man, my efforts are like a butterfly hitting a solid tree. 

Maximilian's gait is casual and calm as I wriggle in his arms and around him, people run, throw punches, scream, or shudder in corners. 

A few seconds later, the cold air outside envelops me, and he turns towards some black cars parked out in the curved driveway.

He sets me down next to a sports car, and I immediately slap him. My hand collides with his cheek, making a loud smack. 

"Who the hell do you think you are?" I cry out, desperate to keep lashing out at him. 

I do not want to go with him, even if it means going back in there and marrying Alpha Jack.  

His head doesn't even budge even though I hit him with all my strength, and his cold eyes are still fixated on me.

Analyzing me. 

"Get in," he says, opening the door. 

Without waiting for me to respond, he pushes me inside and picks up my legs when I try to climb back out, slamming the door and jamming my dress into it. 

Now that I'm locked in here, I realize how helpless I am.

No one is coming to get me. 

Shadowmist pack isn't kidnapping me or taking me against the "law" of the Pack Alliance. This was what was supposed to happen according to whatever their agreement had been with my father.

The other man who had first barged into the venue opens the driver's seat door and enters the car, and Maximilian joins his side.

"That went well, didn't it?" the man says, starting the car and pulling out of the driveway. "Now we can..."

"Shut up," Maximilian says in a low voice. He looks out the window as if lost in thought, completely unperturbed by what had just happened. As if kidnapping girls on their wedding night is part of their daily routines. 

"You have to admit that we played it well..." the man continues. 

Maximilian slowly turns his head towards him. 

"Sorry. I'll shut my mouth," the man promptly says.

"Where are you taking me?" I blurt out, trying to sink as far back into the seat as I can. Not that that would stop them from grabbing me and silencing me for good if they want to.

They ignore me.

"Are you deaf? I asked you a question," I persist. 

Maximilian turns to face me.

"Are YOU deaf? I thought I said I needed silence."

"I don't give a shit about what you said. I want to know where you're taking me," I reply, as my hands began to shake. 

His eyes narrow, but he ignores me again and turns back to face the front. 

We speed out of the woods and near the highway, the driver taking no heed of the passing cars. One has to swerve and switch two lanes to avoid him.

"You're going back to the cabin. I'll take her somewhere safe," Maximilian says after a few seconds. 

"Yes, sir."  

Safe? Safe from whom? 

Before long we stop near the entrance of a dirt road that leads back into the forest, close to some neatly parked cars. They step out and start exchanging some words. Maximilian looks like he's about to punch the other guy. 

The man opens the door to my side, precisely the one that has held my dress hostage. Without hesitating, I start kicking, hitting him in the chest and shoulders. 

"Stop! For fuck's sake," the man cries out, as my feet keep pounding him. 

Too quickly for me to stop him, he grabs my legs and pulls me out of the car, making me land on the hard ground with a thud. 

"I'm beginning to regret this bargain we made." His hand is now around my neck, pulling my face down to the hard ground. "You better start behaving little girl, or you're not going to like it here, love. I'm really sorry we crashed your wedding, but there'll be no more kicking, screaming, or punching, ok?" 

No matter how hard I try to wiggle free from his grasp, his grip is too strong.

"Alexei! Release her," Maximilian growls from somewhere nearby. "We don't need damaged goods. Tie her up." 

The man I now know is Alexei releases his hold on my neck and I bite down on his finger, relishing the feeling of it crushing between my teeth.

"ARGGH!" he cries out, pulling his now bloody hand away. 

Before I'm able to move, I feel something hit the back of my head, slamming it onto the ground.

I catch a glimpse of Maximilian's cold blue eyes before the world around me goes dark.