Her only Alpha

dark places

Cora's POV

Suddenly the vehicle I am in stops dead in it's tracks. I hear the front doors opening and the weight of the vehicle shifts as the driver and passenger both get out. Their feet fall on the surface next to me, it sounds like crushed stone or gravel crunching under their shoes. I wonder where we are and fear the outcome all together. With a merciless yank on the rope binding my hands, I am dragged out of the back of the vehicle unexpectedly. I fall hard on my back and a sharp pain coarses through me, I gasps as I lose my breath. If only I could scream for help, but the gag they put in my mouth only allows muffled moans to escape.

Think Cora! Think! Gather more clues for your escape! I concentrate on what I can feel around me, maybe it will help me escape later, or atleast send me in the right direction.

The grass beneath me is cold and damp, but also short and soft, as if maintained as a lawn in a suburb. I am not given much time to take things in as I am dragged over the lawn, around a corner... I hear a squeaking hinge and a loud bang as something heavy falls...

Perhaps a wooden door that was swung open? It sounds old and unkept. As soon as the noise passes I find myself being dragged head first, down cold hard steps. I scream against the gag as the excruciating pain of my hip shattering on the concrete overpowers my senses.

I'm going to die here... I cry to myself as my captor slings me forward to roll against a coarse hard wall. Curling into a ball I cry hysterically. I hear a man's laughter, he was finding pleasure in my suffering. It was the same voice I heard in the vehicle next to me. My body throbs in pain, I cannot decide which part of me hurts more, my back or my hip.

"Not so tough now are you, little mutt." he taunts me as he pulls the bag off of my head and I find myself blinded by the overpowering brightness of the flickering fluorescent lights in the room. Blinking repeatedly, my eyes start to focus on the bare concrete walls around me, there are no windows in sight, only the stairs I was dragged down, a few open shelves with crates stored on them and against the opposite wall, plants were being nurtured under a UV light that had the most beautiful purple flowers.

I must be in some basement or cellar. The figure in front of me comes into focus... he is tall with big biceps, his hair is ash blonde and styled into a mullet. He is wearing blue jeans, trucker boots and a white vest giving him a dangerous yet creepy appearance. He pulls out a cigarette from his pocket along with a lighter as he takes a moment to smoke while more footsteps are coming down the stairs. Nobody speaks a word. The only sound in the room is from my shuffling backwards into the corner. As if that's gonna help me... I think to myself.

We are a total of 5 people in the room... the oily trucker dude who dragged me here, and myself included. In front of me was also a beautiful red haired woman wearing a black fitted jersey and black tight fitting pants with matching high heelded boots, she could have been a model in her younger years, she certainly looked the part but being somewhere in her 40's I doubt she had an active modeling career. The man standing by her side is tall and looks like he could have been in the army with his strong build, shaved hair and cargo pants. He has an emotionless expression as he stares at me while another man writes something on his clipboard.

"Are we ready?" the clipboard man asks the trucker dude.

"Yes sir"

"Go ahead, hook her up then" he says as trucker dude steps closer, cigarette still hanging from his mouth, and lowers a pully above my head I didnt know was there. He grabs my hands and hooks the rope over the pully and hoists me to my feet. Kicking and wriggling in protest I fail to free myself. I am so scared, my heart beats faster than ever and I feel like I am going to be sick.

"What is your name?" Army man asks, pulling the gag out of my mouth.

"C... C... Cora, H... Holmes. Y... you are m... making a mistake. I h... have done n... nothing wrong!?" I plead as tears stream down my face and I sobb hysterically.

The man with the clipboard writes something down while I speak.

"Who are your parents!" he demands again.

"I am an orphan..." I didn't exactly lie, although my parents were still very much alive, they made it abundantly clear that I was dead to them. The man in the corner takes more notes...

"Who is your pack Alpha?!"

I couldn't answer, recalling Connor's words... The hunters, they are in Cold Spring. They heard about the incident... S**T!!

Suddenly I feel a sharp pain in my ribs as he punches me.

"Speak when you are spoken to!!" he shouts, but I cannot speak so he punches me again, and again leaving me gasping for breath and coughing up blood.

"Answer me b***h! Who is your Alpha?!" he shouts. I look up at him, my coughing passed, my hair hanging in my face and sticking to my damp and sweated forehead.

"Tell me now or you will regret it!" he says looking at me with so much hate I can almost taste it. In one single reflex I manage to spit straight into his eye. A mixture of blood and spit sliding to his cheek. I wasn't going to jeopardize anyone else's safety, especially not Adrian's. Even though he was wrong in his treatment of me, I knew he was good deep down.

"The hard way it is..." I hear him mutter and suddenly feel a sharp burn in my thigh.

"Aaaaaa!!!" I scream and yank at my constraints. Looking down I see blood gushing out of a massive cut on my thigh where he stabbed me.

"I am going to ask you once more..." he continues as a threat.

"GO TO HELL!!" I shout. This time two sharp pains in my abdomen. I grow quiet, feeling weak... my eyes roll down to see blood running down my shirt.

"Useless mutt..." he mutters.

"Let her down, she's of no use to us!" he says to trucker. I fall to the floor in an instant, unable to lift my head. An intense burning and sizzling sound comes from my cheek, as he extinguishes his cigarette against me, but I am too weak to react in more than a moan. The four of them leave me on the cold floor, a pool of blood surrounding me as I feel my limbs go cold.

Moments later I hear a familiar voice whispering in my ear...

"Cora! Oh no, Cora! Can you hear me?!" she nudges my shoulder.

"I need to get you out of here!" she continues...

"Anna?" I croak as I will my eyes to open by a fraction.

"Quickly! Put this around yourself..." she holds out a black fleece blanket for me to take.

"I... can't..."

"I know you are weak, but you HAVE to, and you have to do it NOW!" she says with urgency as I try to get to my knees with her help.

"They don't know I am here, we have to hurry before they see I'm not in the house..." she carries on.

"Are... you...?" I ask managing to whisper only those two words.

"No... my family are, but I'm not..." she avoids eye contact when answering.

"Come! My car is around the back!" I get up slowly as she supports me. My one hand clutching my abdomen while the blanket she gave me remains wrapped around my shoulders. We slowly hobble towards her car, a black Toyota Prius. How come I had never seen her car before?

She helps me slowly into the front seat, plastic covering the upholstery in preparation for the mess she would find me in.

"I am sorry, I can't go far, they will see I had left soon..."

"Ok..." I whisper back

"Here... I will leave you just off the dirt road between the trees. I will come back when everyone has gone to sleep, promise!" she says before running around to the passanger side to help me out, guiding me to the spot behind the trees. Helping me to lie down gently, she places the plastics that protected her upholstery under a stump and throws her jacket over me, destroying any evidence that I was with her.

"Thank you" I say sincerely before she disappears into the night. I feel my body go cold as everything goes black around me.

Adrian's POV

"Why would they take her this far out?" I ask Shay sitting next to me in our black SUV.

"I cannot answer that, my only suspicion is that their headquarters are there..." he answers

"We are only 20min from New York" Connor says from the back.

We were driving along a small back road that clearly doesn't get used often. We stop ever few minutes to check the tracks and make sure we are still on the right path. I feel myself grow more and more anxious with every mile that passes. What if we are too late. I cannot bare to think of losing her.

"Can we drive faster?!" I ask, crashing my palm to the dashboard.

"Alpha, what if we miss something in haste?" Shay answers calm and collected.

I stare out at the road in front of us, the headlights making the passing trees look ominous as we drive along a rugged path.

"WAIT!" I demand and Shay brings the SUV to a skidding stop.

"I sense something... let me get out and inspect..."

"Let me come with you!" Shay says more than asks.

Opening the door I smell a familiar scent, my mate's scent. I feel she is close but her scent is faint. My heart aches as I take in her scent once more, following the direction its coming from. Just a few feet ahead of us in the dirt, I pick up her scent were it is strongest.

"It's... her blood!" I roar in pain. What have they done to my sweet little Luna!

I follow the droplets, fearing what I might find but not sparing a moment in getting to her. Behind the trees off the road I see a black blanket and a jacket draped over it. They killed her? I automatically guess, seeing her lifeless body covered, after following her blood trail.

"NOOOOOOOOO!!" my wolf howls as I rush to her side. Scooping her limp little body into my arms I find her covered in blood. Stab wounds to her thigh and abdomen, bruises all over her face, a burn on her cheek and marks on her wrists.

"I'm sorry my Lord, they must have tortured her for information..." Shay says softly over my shoulder. Putting a hand on me to show support.

As I press my face into her neck I hear something...

"She is still alive!" I say in suprise.

"I can hear her heart... faint, but it's still beating!" I rise to me feet and run to our vehicle, Shay and Connor following.

"To the pack doctors... NOW!" I order, clutching my Cora to my chest, soaking my shirt in her blood.

She remains silent and limp and I become more and more panicked.

"The pack doctor will help her." Shay assures me, I had never seen him drive to fast before. We fly down the narrow dirt road, over bumps and through potholes, as I hold the love of my life close, steadying her against the jarring movements.

"I swear to you my love... I will do everything in my power to avenge you, and treat you like the queen you are, always"