Chapter 10: Escape Plan.

Iris' POV

I ran out of the room with my heart beating drums of fear in my head. "He's an Alpha," I repeated. The words choked the breath out of my lungs. Ludovic appeared so human to be a werewolf, let alone an Alpha.

What did they say about looks again? Deceptive.

"How in the name of the holy supernaturals did he make a friend out of Amber?" I reasoned. They were so cool together last night. Like a mother werewolf and her were-cub_

"Oh my God. Amber is a_" I closed my eyes shut to discard the thought. "It can't be. The premises is out of bound to non-humans."

From the warm reception Amber gave Ludovic yesterday, it was clear they'd come from way back. They must be werewolves assassins who have been contracted by Gustav to kidnap me and bring me back to him. Hell, if I returned with them.

It is either my thesis about them was wrong, or I was fucking right; but there's only one way to find out.

I saw a string mop slanted against the wall beside the stairs, and reached for it. I pressed my right foot against the sliver head of the mop and detached the handle from the metal frame holding it firmly to the head.

I knew nothing about close combat or self defense. All my life, I'd lived in fear of the outside world, and in the sneaky shadows of abuse, but not anymore. This time, I swore to fight to the teeth, and fight I shall.

I clenched my fist around each ends of the handle till my knuckles glowed white. It was good I wore Ludovic's clothes as a survival mechanism. I knew it'd come in handy.

I took the stairs that led to an empty palour that looked familiar to me. It was the motel; Amber's motel. The mild rays of the sun seeped into the palour from the large sash windows locked firmly. It perched its golden ray on the round tables and tucked chairs beside the windows.

The palour was clear of a single sign of life, as it was still early in the morning. It was then I remembered what happened the previous night. I had fainted into the arms of Ludovic while we were dancing. The memory of the dance glowed brightly from the inside of my head.

I wished I could have a reply of last night. The hot sex too.

I heard a growling snore from behind a door close to the large horizontal liquor bottle shelf. It sounded like a tired female's snore. It was Amber's. The motherfucking werewolf. The instinctive urge to attack her with the mop stick burned my knees red, but I thought against it. It wouldn't take her half a snore to snap my tiny neck.

That was the most foolish urge I've ever had.

I winded to the door that displayed a 'CLOSED' signed on a small rectangular plastic slip dangling from behind it on a thin strip of cotton rope. Goodbye to Amber and Ludovic, the werewolf assassins. Gustav was going to shit in his pants when he found out that a little girl like me slipped out unnoticed from the hands of a troubled Alpha, and his snoring beta colleague.

Beta? Could Amber be a Beta? I didn't care anymore. My freedom was just a turn of the door knob away from me.

I pulled the door open to feel the freshness of the morning breeze brush past me, but I came to a halt at the fearsome sight that greeted me, the mop handle falling freely out of my hand.

Drogo.

Bullocks!

***

"Wakey, wakey!" A familiar voice woke me from my coerced slumber. A familiar baritone that gives me goosebumps at the mere thought of it.

Gustav.

I jolted awake on my knees with my heart running miles. The bright light in the midst of the room blinded my vision, which forced me to look away sharply. It was something close to the lighting used in theatre rooms. The room was small and dark with no window, reminding me of the torture rooms I see in the movies.

Beside me on my right was a metal table which presented a fearful display of weapons of different shapes and sizes.

Now, I'm fucking dead.

"How did you find me?" I groaned. I tried to move, but my hands were chained to metal stumps attached to far ends of the concrete wall. No amount of strain would break them loose, so I remained still and awaited my torture in snatches. I haven't turned yet, and even if I had, I didn't stand a chance against a proud Alpha like Gustav.

"I'm Gustav." There was an undertone of self glorification that accompanied his reply that irked the cold hell out of me.

"What do you want with me?" I gnashed, pulling the chains vehemently.

"Easy, dog. I'm not gonna bite" He turned to pick up a double edged dagger that lay on a spread of black cloth. "But if you want to be entertaining, I'll indulge you."

He brandished the dagger in the bright light and brought his face down, inches away from mine. He threw me a mocking laughter that made me want to spit into his beautiful face, but I held back and swallowed instead.

"Do what you want. I'm tired of running." I bowed.

If this is death. Let it come.

"Not so fast bunny." He dropped the dagger noisily on the table, sending echoes around the room and cold chills down my spine.

Am I in a dungeon at the basement of his mansion? Judging by the lack of windows in the dark room, it seemed my assumption was true.

"What do you want?" I repeated between gritted teeth.

"Unlock your wolf!"

I let out a laughter that could mean 'stop-fooling-around'. "Unlock my wolf? You think I've not tried doing that even before I met you? Jesus, Gustav! I don't even know if I was lied to that I have a fucking wolf." I spat.

The 'fucking' was not apparently necessary. I added it to play tough for my own good... or detriment.

"Your wolf is caged."

"What?"

"You heard me." He sat on the edge of the metal table, with one of his legs swinging languidly.

"But... But how is that possible?" I was puzzle at the incredible revelation. I slanted my head forward to settle my eyes on my stomach, waiting to see if a movement from it would prove Gustav right, but nothing out of the ordinary happened.

"Explaining shit isn't my kinda thing, but I'll try." He straightened his back and tore his gaze away from me. "You see, when a werewolf who hasn't turned goes through a very traumatizing experience can't be shaken off so easily, the trauma builds a partition between the werewolf and the wolf inside him. The partition separates him from his wolf, which invariably leads to him binding his wolf within a mental cage." He got up from the table and slipped his hands into his black corduroy pants.

"You mean_" I essayed to speak, but he cut me off.

"Yes, Iris. Yes." He nodded and brought his face down to glare at me again. "And we are going to unlock the beast inside you together."

"Wait, what do you mean 'together'?" I asked, unsure of the remedy he was proposing.

"We're gonna have to make love to each other." He wetted his lower lip, and grinned monstrously at me.

"What?!"