Chapter 0003

Bella’s POV

Consciousness returned to me and I stirred awake. My eyes opened to a bedroom –a very large bedroom.

I searched around the semi-lit room and my mouth opened in awe. When the rogues got me trapped, I knew I was going to die, but I never thought this sort of luxury was in death too.

The bed I was in, felt like a million feathers attached specifically to support my body and give me the comfort I needed.

A large glass window stood across from me and I knew the view would be even more beautiful during the day. With the soft light coming from somewhere in the building, I could make out the large swimming pool.

The only source of light in the large room was coming from a lamp on the bedside table. The lampstand was made of gold and the light it sent off felt soothing on the skin.

The entire décor seemed like one, found in the largest of hotels in the city.

“Where am I?” I mumbled to myself as I sat upright trying to get a proper view of the whole place.

When people got kidnapped, they woke up in cramped and dirty places. Yet I had woken up in a paradise. How did I get here?

The light from the golden lamp didn’t illuminate the entire room and I had to squint my eyes to make out the rest of the furniture.

The dressing table sat by my right and beside it, the light of the lamp couldn’t reach. I wanted to move on to brighter places, but a bitter feeling filled my guts.

Someone was watching me.

I looked around more closely, and when I did see it, my searching eyes increased in size. There was indeed someone sitting in the shadows of the dressing table.

My heart skipped in fear and the first thing that came to my head was to flee. I jumped to my feet and made for the door with a start but as I tried pulling it open but it refused to bulge. It was locked.

“No!” I whimpered as my doom crawled over me.

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you.” His deep voice resonated in the room and I felt my thumping heart sink to my knees.

I knew that voice.

Every member of my pack was made to listen to that voice for years now. We were told to run whenever we heard it for death was better off for whoever met the bearer of this voice.

I turned around slowly as a part of me prayed it wasn’t whom I thought it was. He was still in the shadows but as I turned, he got up and started walking toward the light.

My knees went weak as I confirmed my worst fear. It was indeed the bearer of the voice –my father had described him as a mistake while Liam called him the devil’s son.

I was standing in the presence of the evil Alpha Darius of the Darhker Pack.

I started hyperventilating as my brain refused to accept what my eyes were telling it. How did I go from getting captured by rogues to this?

My breathing started coming in gasps and my vision became dwindled. An intense aura of fear crawled through my bones as I saw the monster take another step toward me.

Death they say was inevitable, but no one truly prepared for it. Mine was coming right at me and my body failed me. I collapsed.

This time, I was certain I would wake up in the actual land of the dead but as my eyes stirred open for a second time that night, I found myself in the same magnificent room as before.

My heart started racing again as panic and fear flowed back into my veins. Certainly, this was worse than death.

But as I searched around for the monster I saw the last time, I found that save from me, the room was empty. There was no Darius or rogue.

I held my heart as a long sigh escaped my lips in relief, “It was only a dream-” the words hadn’t completely left my mouth when a sharp knock startled me back to my state of fear.

Before I could sit up again, the door opened, and rather than find the monster I was expecting, a young woman stepped into the room with a bag in her hand.

“Hello ma’am, I am Shana and I will be your handmaiden,” she announced with a small curtsey. Her ponytail swayed to the floor and I couldn’t help but follow its movements.

“You are who?” I asked as confusion laced itself around my brain.

She straightened herself and smiled. “Shana. I am Shana.”

I furrowed my brows as I tried to take in her words and watch her movement consecutively. She placed the bag in her handson the edge of the bed and started taking out several dresses from it.

My frown deepened as I wondered how all of them were able to fit into the bag in the first place.

“I need you to try each of these. We shall pick the best for tonight,” she said cheerfully.

“What are you talking about?” I asked as my heart refused to relax.

The anxiety and rush of fear were starting to mess with my sense of reasoning. I couldn’t tell between my imagination and reality anymore. This had to be a dream!

Shana stopped laying the dresses and looked at me. She flashed me another smile and said, “Alpha Darius demands for you to join him for dinner tonight. That’s why I am here.”

It felt like my internal organs were made of glass and a large sledgehammer fell on them the moment she mentioned his name.

I wasn’t dreaming! I had truly seen him. He was in this place somewhere and he was going to kill me –I thought as I started hyperventilating again. Yes, he would kill me!

That was all he was known for!

Shana ran to my side and held out a glass of water to me. I took it from her and gulped down the content slowly as I tried to ease out my panic.

“You need to relax, ma’am. I need you to glow tonight not have a panic attack!” Shana screeched as she patted my back while I drank from the glass.

I gave her back the glass and scooted away from her. I had to find a way to escape from here. If Alpha Darius wanted me to join him for dinner, then surely I was that dinner.

I was too young to die. I’d prefer trying my luck with the rogues than with him. What was I going to do now?

“I advise you to start getting ready now. We don’t want to keep him waiting,” Shana started saying as she made to take off my shirt.

I slapped her hands away at once and glared at her. “What are you doing?” I hissed out.

She moved away from me and said, “I am sorry ma’am for touching you without permission but you don’t understand… both our lives will be in danger if we don’t leave here in good time… please just pick up a dress and go to him…” Shana rambled on as she picked up a black dress from her pile.

Her brows were squeezed tight into a line and I could hear her fears but I didn’t care. She feared the same thing I did, death!

“That’s exactly my point. I don’t want to die either. I am not going anywhere!” I retorted.

Shana’s eyes widened in shock at my reply. She dropped theblack dress she had picked out and said, “Ma’am, please you need to change now!” Her tone was stern and commanding.

“Are you ordering me?” I snapped. “How dare you!?”

I didn’t care if I was here as a slave or a prisoner but I would not let a maid disrespect me.

Shana slapped a hand to her face. She took a deep breath and moved toward me once again.

She placed her hands together as if saying a prayer and blurted out as calmly as she could muster, “I am sorry. I know I shouldn’t have used that tone on you but I am just trying to help you out here. Please, I don’t know what he will do to you if I tell him you have refused to come down for dinner. Please, just change into the dress… any dress at all and come with me,” she pleaded.

Her pleas were like fuel to my defiance.

If Darius wanted to kill me, he should have the simple decency of coming to take me to the chopping board himself!

“I will not bulge from here!” I said with finality in my tone.

Shana dropped her hands and gave me a long stare in disbelief.

When she saw that I was really not going to change my mind, she let out a sigh and said, “I am sorry.” Then she walked out of the room.

I knew she was probably going to tell him all I have said and done, but I wasn’t scared. The earlier he killed me the better.

I folded my hands across my chest and waited for the devil to come to lay out my sentence.