3. Thirty- five

My feet were going numb. I tried to wiggle my toes to feel something, but I couldn't feel my legs at all. For hours, I had been strapped to this chair and the only time I had been allowed to walk was when I was roughly manhandled and asked to "take a piss", in those exact words. 

Except for that, I had been forced to remain in the exact position for hours and my body was starting to ache and cramp in places that never ached or even some muscles I never knew existed. 

I had nothing better to do than think about the parts of my body that were in pain. The room I had been kept in was empty for now and I was thankful for it. As grateful as I was for Addison's company, she was one of the people who were keeping me captive here. 

I tried to shift under the thick rope binding me, hoping that it would loosen a little and make breathing and reduce the numbing feeling in my body. The door creaked open behind me and I instantly stopped struggling, determined to not show any restlessness in front of my captors. 

Every muscle in my body tensed as I noticed that two people had entered the room. I waited with bated breath for the two people to come in front of me, the anticipation of knowing who these wolves were was slowly going to kill me. The footfalls of these rogues were heavy and I knew that I was going to come face to face with two men. 

Aaron came into my view first. He had a sickly-sweet smile on his face which created an uneasy churning in my stomach. That wicked expression certainly didn't mean good things to me. 

A huge man of 6'5" entered my vision and my gut clenched in nervousness and fear when I looked at him. He looked menacing up so closely and looked gigantic to me as I was sitting and he was standing. His arms and legs were burly and packed with muscle. He had a huge gash on the left side of his face and a swirling tattoo on his right shoulder. The man made me extremely nervous and all thoughts of acting fearless flew from my head. 

"I told you I'd be seeing you soon," Aaron said and bent toward me and gave me a mocking smile. "We know exactly who you are." 

Who I was? What did that mean? I looked from one man to the other. Both of them looked triumphant like they had dug up a hold and found a gold mine instead. I waited for either of them to enlighten me and the huge man took a step towards me. I shrunk against the church reflectively, not caring about how scared I looked. 

The bigger man was the leader of the rogues because he had this aura of authority around him, which made people want to bow down to him. I had experienced this aura when I was around Harper. This fearful man had an authoritative air about him, like he was born into it. 

He didn't need to bend over me to intimidate me, his big size was doing a magnificent job of that. He cast an annoyed look at Aaron. "You take too much time, brother. She's not some prey you have to tease before biting roughly in the jugular." 

Aaron laughed while the man remained blank-faced. Without missing a beat, he picked a lock of my hair and examined it in his hands. "The white alpha has conducted his alpha ceremony without his rightful luna." My stomach lurched in fear at his words, they knew that Harper's mate wasn't Natalie. 

"How lucky are we, Aaron, that the true mate and Luna of the white alpha landed right in our arms." Sweat beaded on my stomach and I fought to keep my expression careless, not intending to give any information to these two. 

My eyes flew to look at Aaron, looking for any confirmation if what his brother was saying was true. I mean, did they know that I was Harper's mate? Did they know that they had unwittingly caught Harper's mate? Aaron just smirked at me and nodded to my silent question. Of course, they knew. Of course, it had to happen. These two brothers were the leaders of this unconventional rogue "pack" while their sweet little sister was tagging along. 

I felt big hands grasp my shoulders from behind and my whole body tensed in response. "You don't need to speak to give us any confirmation. The moment your heartbeat sped up, we knew our information was correct and we had luckily hit the lottery." Aaron's brother whispered in my ear and I closed my eyes as his breath against my ear made my whole body shiver in uneasiness. 

The man laughed in response and the heavy sound boomed against the walls of the room. Aaron chuckled and the man patted his huge hand on top of my head. "We'll see each other very soon," Aaron said and both he and his brother walked out of the room, leaving me feeling rattled to the bone. 

***

Before those two brothers had come in, I was relatively calm since my kidnapped, forcing myself to keep a calm exterior and keep all my wits about myself. But now, I was feeling the kind of panic I had never felt before. It was humbling and if I had been standing on my own two feet, I would have felt quite dizzy from all the adrenaline coursing through my blood. 

I forced my panic and restlessness to tamp down when the door to the room opened again. Quiet and soft footsteps echoed in the room and I knew that Addison had entered the room. I had no idea what to expect from her. Was she going to behave differently now that she knew that I could be a very good hostage against the white alpha, whom her brothers were intent on defeating? 

She again held a tray of food for me and my stomach rumbled in response at the sight and smell of it. She smiled gently at me and untied my arms so that I could eat. I hastily started eating while she resumed her usual position and sat down on the ground in front of me. "I see you have met both of my brothers now." 

My gaze snapped to hers but her face betrayed no emotion. I had no idea what she was thinking or what was her purpose for asking this question. I swallowed my food and nodded in agreement. "I did, yes." 

"Aaron and Braden are completely different men. It's hard to accept that they are brothers at first." Braden? That was the name of the guy who had instilled such deep fear and uneasiness in me. It sounded such a normal name, way too normal for such a brute. 

I agreed with Addison's judgment. Both Aaron and Braden were opposite in nature, stature, and looks. While Aaron was lean, Braden looked like he consumed steroids daily. While Aaron had a mischievous and shrewd nature, Braden was comparatively serious and assertive. While Aaron was dark-haired, Braden had a mop of blonde hair. They were as opposite as two people could be. It was hard to associate them as siblings. 

If one couldn't associate Aaron and Braden as brothers, one could hardly picture the sweet and gentle Addison as their sister. As much as I had seen her, which wasn't very much, she was so unlike them. 

It took me some time to have my food because Addison kept her eyes on me the whole time, it unnerved me and made me fidget in my seat. Well, as much as I could fidget in these circumstances. "You know, my brothers were very happy when they came back after visiting you earlier."

"Were they?" I asked, knowing full well that they were. They had discovered an important hostage in me, one who had the potential to damage the white alpha. I bet they were cheering for each other's long lives right now and sighing at their good fortunes. 

"What happened while they were here?" She asked me, no hint of malice or treachery in her countenance. None, at least, which I could detect. 

I instantly relaxed because she didn't know that I was Harper's mate and it made me feel slightly more confident about talking to her. I had no idea why those two brothers didn't confide in their sisters, but it somehow reduced my anxiety. 

I finished my food and put the tray on the floor. I looked up at Addison to notice that her eyes were glazed as if she was mind-linking someone. She abruptly stood up from the ground and without looking at me walked out of the room. 

I wondered what had suddenly happened to make her act so peculiarly. I didn't think long because the door to the room opened once again and Braden's heavy steps echoed in the room. I tensed as he came near me and gasped when I felt a blindfold cover my eyes. 

Panic set in when my vision was cut off and I noticed that he had torn off the bindings over my body in quite a hurry. What the hell was happening? As soon as I was free to get up, I started to thrash wildly in his arms, determined to not make it easy for him to manhandle me. 

He grabbed my upper arm and pulled me out of the room with a rough tug. I resisted and cried out but it was pretty futile because he had the foresight to bind my hands together and no training of mine could teach me how to overpower such an oversized werewolf.

A heavy barricaded door opened and I heard the sound of its rattling sharply in my ears. As soon as the door opened, a plethora of different sounds assaulted my senses. My eyes widened beneath my blindfold as I realized that these rogues were under attack and these sounds were a result of their battle and fighting. 

My breath quickened as I wondered who had attacked these rogues. Did Harper's pack attack them? Had he come to rescue me and put an end to this nasty rogue business once and for all? I thrashed wildly in Braden's arms and screamed as best as I could but the sound of the fighting was so loud, I doubt anyone had heard it. 

I was suddenly pushed in a direction and I landed on a car seat. I moved to get out, only to find that I was trapped between two rogues. They must have pushed me into a truck to take me somewhere safe and I struggled against my bindings, in a desperate attempt to get out.

I screamed and thrashed wildly as I noticed the hum of the engine which meant that the vehicle had started moving. I felt a prickling sensation on my neck and I turned around in a reflex to see the cause of it. I couldn't see anything because of the blindfold and my resistance was cut short when I felt a needle puncturing my neck. I gasped for air and drifted into unconsciousness.