Contractually Yours, Alpha

CHAPTER 4— Awake

CHAPTER 4

Rowena’s POV

Dark. Stuffy. Choking. That was all I could think of when my back slammed hard against the stone walls of the dungeon. My head thrummed in pain for minutes, and I squeezed my eyes shut in resonance with it. Lupa whined in a very low tone, and I could tell she’s just as weakened as I was.

“How did I get here?” I wondered aloud. Images of my parents in a pool of blood flashed before my eyes, and it only made the ringing in my head worse. I needed to get out of here. My fear was slowly turning into rage.

“Hey! Let me out! I’m innocent!” I yelled, but the damp air remained still, the cold stones doing the honors of reverberating my cry into an echo. My ears didn’t twitch; I didn’t pick up the sound of a whisper or the shuffling of feet. I was all alone.

I was trying to channel my anger, let it course through my veins, but my bruises were triumphant. Lupa whined again, telling it was futile to do what I was thinking. I had to think! I had to figure something out somehow. A part of me began to blame myself for crossing paths with the injured Alpha. I was in my own dilemma. My journey. My mission. I thought of a thousand ‘had I known, but that wasn’t going to get me out of this dungeon.

I couldn’t tell exactly where I was, but it definitely was within the Alpha’s pack. Even if I did make it out of here, I’d be caught before making it to a reasonable distance. I crashed back onto the floor, tears trickling down my face. I’ve never been this helpless, and now that I have a taste of it, it was very bitter. My mind wandered to what my parents would have done if this had happened when they were alive. The whole pack would have been raided down to nothing.

No.

I wouldn’t even find myself in this dilemma if they were still alive.

But no, that can’t happen now. Not when their lives were brutally taken by the same people I have loved and trusted wholly. I thought about what Liam, Aaliyah and Luca must be concocting now that their guards — my father’s guards — would report back to them about their futile efforts in trying to apprehend me.

I tightened my grasp on the iron bars of the dungeon’s entrance, my knuckles bleached white. My claws protruded but were quick to retract. Was I going insane? What was I supposed to do with that? Tear my way through the metal barricade?

I could feel myself growing weaker, and my vision becoming more obscured. I mustered every strength left in me and began to pound on the barricade. What came out of me was less than a whisper, but it was the last thing I remembered saying before I blacked out.

“Get … me … out of here …”

Ryker’s POV

My eyes flickered open, and my sight was blessed with the morning sky. The moon goddess had danced throughout the night and left her trails in the entanglements of orange, yellow and indigo. The sun was far high into the sky, radiant and brilliant as ever. I picked up the smell of dandelions, and I knew I was in Sarcritta’s Field — a reserved landscape for the royals to camp out, host ceremonies and have a good time. I tried getting up, but a hand held me back.

“You’re injured, please, stay down,” it was a strange face. I remembered seeing her somewhere, but it was hard to tell where.

“I’m perfectly fine,” I protested, swatting her hands off my chest. She had a weird smile on, and I wondered what servant of mine would have the audacity to look me in the eye. Her smile suddenly vanished, and when I looked down at her hands, her claws were out, silver lined and shiny. The sun was now blocked off by a canopy of trees, and my back felt rough against the smell of earth and leaves. Her face transmogrified into that of Elly’s, and horror coursed through me.

“Of course,” she said, raising her claws in a powerful swing, “you are fine.”

I woke up with a jolt, one so powerful it sent the maid by my bed flying across the room. My vision was blurry for a second, but when I focused again, I could make out the voice of my Beta. My best friend.

Bradford.

“Take her out and see she’s attended to,” he motioned to someone I couldn’t crane my head to see. Bradford had a look on his face when his figure hovered above me, but I could smell his worry. I was slowly recovering, and it was thanks to the mysterious girl who I remembered was talking to me before I blacked out.

I blacked out. It was only then I began accounting for the events that came before that. Elly … that bastard Rogue … silver.

“I could’ve asked how you were doing, but looking at how you threw that woman, I bet you’re pretty healed up by now,” he smiled, staring down at my torso. When I opened my mouth to speak, it came out wrong and I cleared my throat.

“Elly …” I managed to say, my voice croaky.

“We’re yet to find her since she and rest of the rogues scampered away, but not to worry, we have one of them with us,”

“It was a Rogue,” I almost felt angry tears sting my eyes, my wolf thrummed for blood “I’m going to kill, Bradford.”

Bradford remained silent, which I was grateful for, I wasn’t ready to talk about what happened yet as the only thing I could feel aside from anger was shame. Humiliation. I should have known.

I remembered a girl’s voice, soft hands roaming on my body and I asked, “The girl …”

“Yeah. We caught her. She’s in the dungeon as we speak.”

“Oh, s**t! She was the one who saved me!” I shot upright, ignoring the sharp pain I felt at my chest. “Please tell me you didn’t punish her?”