Chapter 3: Chosen One

— Leia Steele —

When I woke up, every muscle in my body was aching and I could barely move an inch without wincing in pain. 

Last night, after seeing what I saw firsthand, I overworked myself again. It’s what I do when I need to get my mind off of things. It’s the only thing I can do because it was not like the slaves were allowed to shift and roam around the forest. 

We were imprisoned here and whether we like it or not, all that we could really do is work, work, and more work.

I heard whispers and shuddery breaths around me, and I tried my best to push me up on the bed. 

Well, the thin blanket that separates me from the cold hard floor, to be more specific.

“I really thought we were going to die…” A girl said with a shaking voice, her eyes bloodshot as if she hadn’t gotten a wink of sleep, and I rubbed my eyes to wake me even more. 

It was Jessica, the youngest of the June sisters. 

I looked around and noticed all three sisters were huddled together while telling the other girls of what they had experienced that night. Times like these are the only perks of having a tiny and cramped room at the bottom of the Shadow Claws mansion. 

At the top was all glamor, but here, in the basement, it was all damp, dirt, and darkness. We’ve learned to somehow get used to it and because of how narrow and confined it was, it kind of makes us feel safe, though we all know that that in itself is a delusion; a lie we tell ourselves to feel better.

We tell ourselves many lies.

“Did he really just let you go? The Dark Alpha has never let anyone go. They… they always never come back…” Another one of the girls commented, shaking her head in disbelief as her thin dark curls fell on her face.

I don’t know who she is. Sometimes it was even hard to distinguish one from the other since we all mostly looked alike – pale, stick thin, and somewhat lifeless. 

“If he didn’t, then how do you think we’re here right now? I have no idea exactly why he allowed us to leave his room, but whatever it is, we’re grateful for it and we know that we will never dare to do anything that would anger our Dark Alpha ever again. He… he was… terrifying…” Jemma exclaimed and the sisters hugged each other tightly as they began to cry heavily. 

One could only imagine what they went through, but in my case, I knew exactly what happened, and describing the Dark Alpha as terrifying was definitely an understatement.

He… he was… like staring at darkness itself.

“Hey.” 

“Oh my goddess, you almost gave me a heart attack,” I said with my hand on my chest and when I turned it, it was a familiar young face.

Katja was younger than me by two years and it was clear by how much more petite she was, but her size was not a determinant of the growing optimism in her.

“Wolves don’t get heart attacks,” she exclaimed as if I didn’t know that.

I let out a deep sigh before replying with a lower volume. “Are we even still considered as wolves if we haven’t felt them in months?” 

Katja’s expression hardened as she took my words with more offense than I expected her to. Katja was always the more positive one between us, and that was surprising since she had already been here even before I arrived. 

She herself had lost track of how long she’d been here, but each day she hoped that her mate or any one of her family would find her, and I guess that’s what makes her different from the rest of us because whilst all of us were abandoned by the ones we thought loved us, she was taken away at such a young age from ones that actually cared about her. 

Or at least that was her story. I believe her, yes, but I also would not be surprised if it turns out that many of it were just made up because like I said, we all lie to ourselves to feel better in this hellhole.

Katja shook her head before forcing herself to smile widely and giving me a soft pat on the shoulder. “Of course we are. They can’t take that away from us. Our wolves are in there somewhere and they’ll come out again… one day,” she said through gritted teeth.

I wasn’t convinced by her words, but I merely nodded so as not to argue about it any longer.

“We need to fight back.” 

Both Katja and I turned our heads to whom the statement came from. 

Jane June, the middle one of the June sisters, and the only reason I remember her the most is because other than the fact that I had arrived here at the same time with her and her sisters, she also had the fiercest look amongst everyone. 

Still full of fire, full of hope that there was a chance she could get out of here. 

Last night, she was the only one that stayed quiet, but I remembered the burning look in her eyes. She wanted to hurt the Dark Alpha, but in the end, she couldn’t do it. 

Seeing her now, she was determined to fight again. 

A part of me thinks it’s brave, but a bigger part of me thinks it’s absolute stupidity. 

“And then what? Get killed right on the spot? You’ve gone mental, Jane.” One of the girls, older, probably had been here longer too, replied with a shaking head and the other girls around her nodded their heads in dismay.

“They’re going to kill us either way! Would you rather be picked off one by one without a chance?!” Jane raised her voice, making her sisters shush her immediately or else the guards would come and punish us for making too much noise in the wee hours of the morning.

We only had very little time to ourselves until we would be called to go about our daily tasks again, and I don’t know about them, but between my aching body and headache, I would really like to have a few more minutes of not doing anything.

“If we die then we die. Going out to fight without a wolf is suicide either way. Anybody who tries that is out of their goddamn minds. I can’t know exactly what you and your sisters went through, but I would rather you not feed our minds with absurd ideas. Just keep your head down low and go to work and maybe… maybe in the future we can get out of here and make a better life for ourselves.” 

After the lady said that, the other girls looked at each other and nodded their heads in agreement.

Nobody wanted to die, but nobody wanted to fight for their lives either.

This is the horrifying reality we had to live with everyday.

Suddenly, we hear the sound of chains being dragged on the floor and each one of us fled in panic.

“Fuck, they’re coming! They’re coming! It’s time!” 

Why were they coming here?! They only go when they take a girl and they only get one at least once a week or every other week! It’s too early!

But then it hit me… Because the Dark Alpha let the June sisters go last night, he technically did not get a girl. 

Fuck. He was going to pick one of us again. 

Katja was trembling as I tried my best to keep us hidden behind one of the rundown cabinets where most of the girls also huddled. The others all tried to find other spots to make ourselves less visible, but in the end, none of it really helped. 

One way or another, they were going to take us whether we hid or not.

“Oh god, am I going to die? Am I going to die?! Are they going to pick me and kill me?!” Katja had started to break down and no matter how hard I tried to calm her down, she wouldn’t stop, her tears never ending and her breathing heavy.

“Katja, you’re okay. You’re fine. They won’t pick you and one day your mate will find you and we can get out of here. He’ll find you, Katja, and he’ll save you.” I told her as I gently rubbed her shoulders up and down.

Just then, we heard the loud slamming of our door and three bulky men came in. One of them held the long silver chains, designed to keep us from trying anything to escape, not that we even had the strength to do so.

The other two looked around our dark and compressed room with a determination to pick the next victim.

My heart was beating impossibly fast and loud in my chest.

“Please… Don’t let them take me…” Katja whispered in tears as I held her tightly, trying to calm her down. 

“They won’t, I swear. You’ll be fi–”

But I could not finish my words because before I could, one of the men had pointed his finger right where we were hiding and oh goddess, my heart dropped.

Both fear and guilt drowned me as I couldn’t figure out if he was pointing at me or at Katja, and wondering to myself which one of us I would have preferred to be chosen. 

Distraught and despair followed when the man moved forward and it had become clear as to who was the chosen one.

“You,” he said with a deep and terrifying tone. 

“You’re coming with us.”