CHAPTER 003

It’s been three days since I last saw the Alpha.

After threatening to make an example of me, he simply stared at me like I was a piece of meat, then left.

He hadn’t come back since. 

They kept me chained and starved, only offering me water twice a day.

At first, I held on, refusing to break. But my body has limits. Exhaustion had now settled deep into my bones. I could hear people moving around me, but I was too weak to open my eyes.

I now understood why my father despised their kind. They are cruel and Inhumane.

If they want me dead, they should have just killed me instead of keeping me locked up like an animal.

At some point, I started dreaming of Logan and my father bursting through the doors to rescue me. But then I wake up, and the cold, unyielding chains remind me that I am still captured.

"Help her sit up," I hear a familiar voice command.

I feel hands grabbing me and lifting me until my back presses against the rough wall. My muscles protest, and my head lolls forward from sheer exhaustion.

"That will be all. Leave us."

I blink rapidly, trying to clear my vision and see him, the Alpha.

He crouches in front of me and holds out a bottle filled with a murky liquid. "Here. Drink this."

I shake my head weakly. "What is it?" I ask, my throat raw from dehydration.

"Do you want it or not?" he snaps, irritation lacing his voice.

My hands tremble as I reach for the bottle. I struggle with the cap before finally twisting it off and taking a sip, only to spit it out immediately.

"Ew! What the hell is that?" I grimace, rubbing my tongue with the back of my hand.

The Alpha watches me, unimpressed. Then, without warning, he snatches the bottle from my grip and hurls it across the room.

"That was going to help you feel better. But I see you’re a diva," he snarls.

I lift my head slightly, forcing myself to meet his piercing blue eyes.

"What do you want with me?" I ask, my voice barely above a whisper. "Are you going to kill me?"

He doesn’t answer. Instead, he just stares. Silently and calculating.

I feel a chill run down my spine before he finally speaks, his voice dangerously low.

"What I have planned for you… is beyond anything you can imagine, Ingrid."

He leans back slightly, his expression unreadable.

"Your family has been a pain in my ass for years," he continues, his voice edged with anger. "Do you have any idea how many of my people you’ve slaughtered?" he asks, his fingers curling into fists.

"Do you have any idea how many families you people destroyed?"

He pushes off the wall and begins pacing the room, his frustration crackling like static in the air.

I swallow the lump in my throat, my body trembling.

"But I haven’t killed anyone," I whisper.

He stops in his track and turns in my direction.

In two strides, he towers over me, and his hand wraps around my throat, yanking me forward.

"Yet," he growls, his grip tightening. "You haven’t killed one of us yet."

Pain starts blooming in my neck as his claws dig into my skin, and just as suddenly, he releases me.

I gasp, coughing, sucking in air as I clutch my burning throat.

"You’ve made a mistake capturing me," I manage to say between breaths. "Now you’ve given my people even more reason to wipe out the rest of you."

A flicker of something flashes in his eyes, and then his irises bleed into a deep, glowing red.

His hands twitch, and I watch in horror as his nails lengthen into deadly claws.

"Let them come," he growls, his voice shifting into something inhuman. "I will kill every last one of them."

The room trembles with the sheer force of his rage, and my stomach drops, sending chills all over my body.

He takes one last look at me, his eyes still burning red, then turns sharply and storms out, slamming the door behind him leaving me alone.

"Fuck! That was terrifying. I think to myself.

I had never seen a werewolf shift before, and that was something else entirely.

My chest rises and falls in quick, uneven breaths as I scan the dimly lit room. I need to get out of here. Sitting around, waiting to be tortured or killed, isn’t an option.

My father would be so disappointed.

All those years of training—for what? If I give up now, I might as well be dead.

My gaze lands on the shattered bottle across the floor.

The weird drink.

The Alpha said it was supposed to help me feel better. It will be worth a shot if it can restore even a fraction of my strength.

I drag myself across the cold floor, my limbs shaking from exhaustion.  I reach for the bottle, pick up the largest remaining shard, and pour the liquid into my mouth. The bitter taste makes me gag, but I force it down.

It burns all the way to my stomach. I wait to feel something, but nothing happens.

Minutes pass, and then suddenly, I feel a spark of energy.

It spreads through my limbs like wildfire, waking every aching muscle, every broken part of me. I breathe in deeply, my body growing stronger by the second. He was right. Whatever that was—it works like magic.

I push myself onto my feet and steady myself against the wall. My fingers tremble as I reach into my tangled hair and carefully pull out a small bobby pin.

"Thank you, Logan," I whisper with a smirk.

He always made me practice breaking locks until my fingers bled. His annoying lessons will finally pay off.

I crouch, jamming the pin into the lock binding my wrists. I twist, wriggle, and adjust until I hear a click.

The chains clatter to the floor, echoing in the room, and I exhale sharply.

I tiptoe towards the door, and I press my ear against it. It's quiet.

I slowly crack the door open and peek into the dim hallway. Two men are seated near the entrance, their heads slumped forward. They look like they are deep in sleep.

I slip out, careful not to make a sound, and creep toward another door at the end of the hall. The handle easily turns under my grip, and I realize it is not locked.

“Idiots,” I whisper to myself, a smile tugging my lips.

I take a look outside and scan the darkened clearing. There are no guards and no movement.

This is it. I run.

The cool night air whips against my face as I push forward, my feet barely touching the ground. I don’t know how far I will get, and I don’t care. I just run. The only thing that matters is putting as much distance between me and that place as possible.

After what feels like forever, I hear the sound of moving cars from a distance.

That must be the highway. I push harder, forcing myself to keep going despite my legs wanting to give out. The distant glow of headlights flickers through the trees, and relief crashes over me.

“Almost there, Ingrid,” I whisper to myself.

Just as I am about to take the final step into the highway, I slam into something. Something big.

I slowly lift my head, and I see red, glowy eyes staring down at me, followed by a deep, evil laugh.

“Did you think it would be easy to get away from me? Now I'll have to kill you." the voice hisses.before I can make a move, a clawed hand grips my hand, and sharp fangs sink deep into my skin.

A scream rips through my throat and everything goes dark once again.