Chapter 3

"She's already waking up," I hear a male voice next to me, "we must give her something to keep her unconscious."

Have a shooting pain in my temple and my mouth is dry. Eyes are still closed. I feel scared. I don't quite remember how I got here or where I am or who these people are.

"We can't give her more drugs, what she took was enough to put a horse to sleep," says a girl, "but she drank it all like water, she has too much resistance to liquor or to liquor plus drugs, in any case."

"What did you expect of her, Astrid?" Another girl says, whose voice I recognize, "her liver must process what they put on her, alcohol, drugs, whatever. Anyone would love a liver like that,” she scoffs.

"Told you I found her," the man says again. Now I'm sure who he is. Velkan.

"Realized the moment I saw her, darling," says the other girl, "she's just like her, I have no doubt."

Beginning to remember. These are Kayra's friends, and they drugged me. Velkan is involved, too, what's more, he came to Richard's house for me. That going to the club was just a kidnapping trap.

God, what a mess am I in!

"Where am I?" Say out loud, trying to free myself from the arms that surround me, but they squeeze me a lot more.

"Easy, darling," the girl speaks again, "we'll soon get to a place for you to rest."

"Let me go!" Yell, "Who really are you?"

Start kicking and punching like crazy, even though I feel like I'm moving in slow motion. I'm still dizzy and my head wants to explode. Hands take my wrists and immobilize me.

"Easy, Bianca, I'm Velkan," he says to me, while he takes my wrists and immobilizes them, but I manage to get a kick right at him, "ouch!" He complains and takes my legs and catches them so that I don't kick him again, "we will arrive soon, be calm, we won’t hurt you."

"Let go of me!" Yell at them, but they ignore me. It seems that I can yell, kick and hit them, that is not going to do me any good.

"How long until we get there?" Kayra snaps, who is in the passenger seat.

"They're bloody traitors!" Tell them both, "how could they do this to me!"

How long has it been since these bastards kidnapped me?

Surely Richard must be worried about me, although I think he must be much more disappointed that I betrayed his trust of me.

How will Matt and Meg be.

What are these guys thinking of doing to me?

I don't think they want me for a ransom, I don't even have parents, much less relatives with money.

Heart beats a thousand an hour.

Heard there are people who kidnap folks to do all kinds of things, some of them have their kidneys and hearts removed and sold to rich people.

They take me to a place to cut and pack my organs, then sell me in parts. Try to get out of Velkan's hands again, but he tightens his grip on him.

"Easy, little sister, I promise you that we will not hurt you, do you believe me?"

Of course, I don't believe you!

If they weren't going to hurt me, why did they drug my drink to take me away by force.

But Velkan is stronger than me and fighting him will only hurt me more, so I open my hands in surrender and nod. Little by little he lets go of me and I put my hands down and settle into my seat.

"Where are you taking me?" Ask him more calmly and he looks at me doubtfully.

"Home, your real home, Bianca," he answers me calmly, but his head goes to the driver's rear-view mirror, as if seeking approval. When he nods his head, Velkan continues, “by the way, that's not your real name. Your name is Alanna."

"Yeah right, and my parents are super powerful millionaires and they kidnapped me at birth," I scoff.

"Something like that," he answers me, and I look directly at his face to see how he laughs, but it's not like that. His eyes show a total sincerity, "your father is a kind of king, if we can call him that, they took you away at birth, but It was not a kidnapping, not at the beginning."

"What happened?" Keep making fun of it, I can barely hear it without cracking up, if it wasn't for, I'm crammed into a minivan with a bunch of people, "did my caretaker lose me and I ended up in the child protection system or what?"

"Not exactly," he replies, "actually your caretaker became your kidnapper and disappeared you into the child protection system so that we couldn't find you."

"What?" I blurt out, "now it turns out that good Richard is a kidnapper, who has kept me away from my real family since I was born," I laugh, "well, Velkan, if you have something against Richard, you don't have to take it out on me," I claim, "it shows that you don't know what it is to not have parents, Velkan. In my world, a man like him who cares about you, puts food in front of you, and watches over your future is appreciated. You stay with him because others might treat you badly or abuse you."

"Don't talk about me like you would know me, Bianca," he huffs, and I think I have said something that hurt him "You talk because you've had a roof and food, but you don't know anything about the streets. So don't try to tell me how my life has been,” he snaps, but he instinctively looks ahead.

"Warning you, Velkan," says the driver, who happens to be Kieran. I feel like my heart is falling apart, just thinking he's involved in all this kidnapping trash "I'm not going to warn you again."

"I'm sorry, my alpha," Velkan apologizes, and I look at him when he mentions the word "alpha", like he's some kind of king. Velkan looks at me again, "I have nothing against him, I assure you," he responds more calmly, but I know that his words are pure lies," he seems to be a good man, but it seems that he is only a facade, that he has other plans."

"Do you think my father is lying?" Kieran says.

"No, my alpha," Velkan replies, "it's just that I was living with him for four months and I never saw signs of betrayal, but I think we can talk about it later, if you allow me."

"Assure you that he will be judged in due course," Kieran responds more calmly, "for now, we will make our first stop, we are going to need a hot bath and rest," he announces the moment he stops the car. Behind it is another minivan where Derrick and Frans are traveling, who stop in the parking lot next door.

The two huge men flank me, Velkan and Kayra are behind me and in front are Astrid and Kieran. In order not to be his prisoner, they take care of me too well.

The place is in the middle of nowhere, it only has a gas station, a restaurant and the hotel, the rest is just forest. There is neither a house around nor an establishment.

If I die here and my body is buried, no one will ever know where it is.

We walk to the hotel entrance and Kieran talks to the clerk.

"Three rooms, please, two rooms for two people and a third for three," he says.

"Of course, sir," the clerk replies and searches his computer for the rooms he has available, I suppose. Start looking around the hotel reception. The place is very quiet, not to say that it is almost empty. Towards the left hand there is a door that connects the restaurant with tables and sections. To my right side is a long corridor that leads to the bedrooms.

After a while, the clerk gives Kieran cards who gives one to Astrid and one to Frans.

"Bring the suitcases please, Derrick, we'll wait for you in the rooms," he says to him and nods his head in reverence.

Is this guy some kind of king?

Frans is the first to open the door to his room, then Astrid opens the next door, which will be Kayra, her and me. Kieran is the last to open his door.

A little while later, Derrick shows up with three suitcases and I wonder when these people took my things and put them in a suitcase. It seems like it will take us a day or two to reach our destination, judging by the amount of clothing that is packed.

Astrid is the first to go to the bathroom.

“You and I are family, you know," Kayra tells me, which surprises me, "if you didn't realize it, we look a lot alike."

"Matty has just come out of a very high fever, he needs me," I reply, without making any comment to what she says because I don't believe anything, "little Meg was happy to have you as a sister, you know?"

Kayra is silent, staring at me. Then Astrid comes out of the bathroom and it's Kayra's turn to wash up.

"What?" Blurt out to Astrid when we are alone, "Are you also going to confess to me that you are my family?"

"No," she says sarcastically and a grimace on her face as if it were something she stuck to her shoe, "but now I'm the future ex-girlfriend of the next alpha, thanks to you."

"What does it mean that you are the future ex-girlfriend?" Tell her while I escape me a slight smile, "what he still can't make up his mind to leave you? What he already got the best of you, and you no longer serve her?" Scoff.

"It means that he just found his mate, but she still hasn't transformed," she tells me with a smug look, "she doesn't deserve that honor, she despises us, she thinks we are a joke."

"Transform into what?" I counterattack.

"Astrid, stop it!" Kayra yells as she comes out of the bathroom, "if Kieran finds out, he's not going to do very well."

The questioned is silent and it is my turn to use the bathroom. When I leave, we all go to the restaurant, where the others are already waiting for us.

"Good," says Kieran on the phone with his back to me, "we're going to need him, she's not making it easy for us ... you're right ... he must be present ... yes ... See you later," he closes the call and turns to look at me, then his eyes run over me from head to toe and his gaze strips me naked, but I ignore him. He calls the waiter and who brings us the menu that I deliberately ignore. After a while the waiter returns and takes everyone's order.

"What are you going to drink?" he asks me directly.

"Nothing," I answer, trying not to show my anger.

"She's going to have a hamburger," Kieran answers for me and I glare at him, "and she'll eat it all," he adds, challenging me to say otherwise.

"She has a name and she's a guy who does what she wants when she wants and if she doesn't feel like ordering a bloody hamburger, she won't, because no one tells her what to do or what to order and she's bloody pissed off about all this and she wants to go back to her house and send them all to hell," I yell at him and get up from the table "so you can take your hamburger and put it wherever you want."

Then Kieran gets up from the table and walks over to me, like he's examining me carefully and yes, he's bullying me, but I don't feel like letting him notice.

"You're going to eat the bloody hamburger because I say so," he says so close to my ear that I feel the anger coming out of him, "and I don't want another tantrum."

"Or what?" Dare him, "are you going to kill me?" Blurt out "I'm not part of your bloody cult and I won't do what you want when you snap your fingers. Tell Velkan or Kayra, they will obey you and will even do cartwheels in the air if you ask them. You are not my owner."

The waiter leaves immediately, seeing that the situation is so tense at our table.

"You'll see," he says to me and laughs at me, "you're brave enough to be such a small thing."

I don't answer him this time, instead I stay silent at my post, but if he thinks I'm going to eat the bloody hamburger he is very wrong. Not part of his cult, and I will not stop fighting to come back home.

When the food arrives, they all devour as if they were homeless, while my guts roar, but I refuse to eat. The last thing they gave me in this group knocked me out for who knows how long.

Everyone finishes eating and my hamburger remains the same.

"Add the bill to my room," Kieran says to the waiter when he removes the dishes, "and pack the hamburger to go," he adds. The waiter does what Kieran asked and brings a bag with my food inside.

We all get up from the table and head to the rooms, but Kieran stops us, when we get to my door.

"Change of plans, "he says, "Velkan, you will go to sleep the girls' room and Alanna will sleep in my room."