Bearly alive

4

Stella

I've never been the brightest bulb in the room, though the numerous blows to the head I've had since childhood and lack of proper nutrition might have something to do with that. Anyway, while I'm not intelligent in the traditional sense, I do like to think of myself as having some smarts. Otherwise I would have been dead by now, yet I survived for eighteen years. To be completely honest, the hope that when I finally meet my mate my life will change for the better is what kept me going a lot of the times when I felt ready to throw in the towel. There is only so much abuse a child, and then a young person can take. But somehow, I’ve pushed through it, made myself as invisible as possible and I survived. So imagine my shock when I finally felt my mate only for something worse than being mated to future Alpha Benjamin to happen. And no, I don’t mean the fact that he’s supposedly been sent to kidnap me. What I feel is the worst thing that can happen, which is for your mate to have no clue who you are.

From what I gathered, my mate is some sort of assassin on a job, said job being me. Did that scare me? Of course it did, but not as much as realising the car has passed us by and I have not given Margo the note like Alpha Benjamin told me to. Now this, this puts the fear of the almighty Goddess in me like nothing else, assassin mate or not.

It took my bruised brain a long time to process what was happening. The fact that I’d failed miserably in doing what Alpha Benjamin ordered and therefore, horrible punishments await for me, the fact that I’d been kidnapped, and most importantly that my attacker is not meant to deliver me to Benjamin after all. That last part wasn't so bad. Maybe adrenaline was still cursing through his veins, or better yet, that sedative, and it impaired him from sensing me as his mate. Yeah, that must be it.

After I saw us walking further and further away from the Thunderbolt pack, although confused, I couldn’t help but allow myself to feel a little relieved too. My content wolf kind of took over, taking advantage of the lack of energy I had to keep myself in control. When I found myself lifted into my mate’s arms I completely gave into the best feeling I’ve ever had. It felt like home. True, he was less than thrilled for my lack of stamina and having to carry me, but he did it nonetheless. Not to mention I haven’t taken a single kick, punch or even shove since we met. Of course, he pulled my hair, rather roughly, but after all I’ve been through, it felt rather pleasant having his fingers entangled in my hair, like a tease. Goddess, my mind is going to some places more than inappropriate for the situation I am in.

I didn’t even remember what feeling safe and happy felt like. Yet this is how I imagined it being, as I felt in my mate’s arms. Pure freaking bliss. I would smile and purr like a cat if that wouldn't be totally inappropriate for a woman that's just been kidnapped.

Sure, I realise how I may be romanticising this whole thing, and a small part of me thinks it may be my way of dealing with the trauma of being taken, but even if my abductor doesn't seem to realise what we are to each other, or even if he’s brilliant at hiding it and ignoring the pull, I deserve to at least dream about this day turning out to be the first day of the rest of my happy life. I don’t even know when I succumbed to my tiredness and fell asleep, but I must have been out for a long time. And let me tell you, it has been the best sleep of my life, hands down.

Unfortunately, waking up equals to the bubble bursting and the fairytale I constructed in my mind to evaporate instantly. The slap of reality stings harder and harder, much like what that man’s last words were. Because I’m almost certain the man who took me, my mate, has brought me to a human establishment and proceeded to kill one of them. Considering this offence is punishable by death by the Council of beasts, it makes me wonder exactly who my captor is, and worse, who is the person he’s taking me to.

But I’ll cross that bridge when I'll get to it. Right now I’m tempted to let my wolf sway me into getting into our mate’s good graces, maybe figure out if he knows what I am to him. Of course, him going and killing an innocent human is a tough pill to swallow, but maybe he had a reason? Oh Goddess, please let him have a reason. A good reason.

Of course, there is still that one other option, which I don't want to bring up just now, mostly because my wolf insists on keeping quiet, but what if he took the wrong girl? Surely, once he tries to deliver me to whoever it is that gave the order for the k********g, everyone will see he has the wrong girl. I mean, I can only imagine that for someone to have you kidnapped, one must be someone important. And someone important, I am definitely not. Fingers crossed that my mate's employer won't have me killed, but what did I say about that bridge? It's not crossing time yet.