A Captive's Despair

A Captive's Despair


“The Oceanside Pack owes you, Ms. Future Luna of the Coronado Pack,” my stalker said, smiling at Katya.

“Anything to ensure a long-lasting peace between our packs,” she responded, tossing her hair behind her shoulder with a flourish. “It’s just lucky I noticed her sneaking off.”

The two of them smiled down at me, my heart racing so fast that the sound of my blood began to muffle their voices. It was him. I recognized his voice like it had only been yesterday. The cruel tone of his laugh echoed in my ears as he knelt beside me. He smelled like seaweed—a salty scent that I might have enjoyed in another context, but from him, it curdled my stomach. It took all I had not to throw up right then and there.

“Last I saw of you, Little Riding Hood, you left me with my feet frozen to some rocks. I must admit, I almost lost you.” He brushed the hair from my face, and my body jerked back on instinct. “How fortunate it was that you were hiding in the Coronado Packhouse. I have to admit, I was surprised. Furious, in fact. To think you were pretending to be another man’s mate.” He clicked his tongue, shaking his head. “I told you; you belong with me.”

“You fucking wish,” I growled, spitting at his face.

I fell forward again, a stinging pain at the back of my head as I looked back to find Katya glaring at me.

“You should show some respect to Alpha Markus; after all, he is your mate. You don’t have a choice, remember? Fate decides.”

“Fate decided that Nyte was my mate, not him,” I argued back, glaring between them. “He’s just delusional. Like you. Maybe you two should pair off instead.”

“Now, what good is a power-hungry she-wolf to me?” Alpha Markus chuckled. “I have so many to choose from back in my pack. What I need is a powerful witch. And that’s what I get with you.”

“If you don’t need me for anything else, Alpha, I have some shopping to do.” Katya bent down and grabbed my bag, smiling as she put it over her shoulder.

“That’s mine!” I called out, throwing a sheet of ice at her feet, but it had little effect.

Katya looked back at me and smirked. “Don’t worry, I’ll be sure your clothes go to a good cause. But this bag is just too cute. Totally vintage. I just love some good flower child vibes.”

I watched her walk out of the cave, leaving me with my captor. Alpha Markus bent down again, grabbing me by my wrists and yanking me to my feet. I struggled against him, holding my breath against his foul scent.

“Let’s get you home, Little Riding Hood. I have a whole pack to introduce you to. They might not be happy about a witch Luna, but they’ll learn to love you just like you’ll learn to love me.”

“Doubtful,” I growled out before shrieking as he threw me over his shoulder.

He chuckled, smacking me on my rump as I hung there helplessly. I growled at his touch, but I didn’t dare struggle anymore. There was no escape for me right now; if I tried, I only risked hurting the baby. I couldn’t be sure, but I wouldn’t risk any more harm to the growing child within me.

I closed my eyes, praying silently to the gods to protect my child and guide me out of this mess I was in.

Back at the top of the stairs, the parking lot now sat empty. Not a human soul around. I desperately scanned the area, hoping to see a familiar face. My family’s coven often came to the cliffs; they were drawn to them just as I was. But as I looked, I found no one. It was like the entire area had been blocked off from the public, giving my captors the perfect opportunity to take me and disappear without any witnesses.

“Alpha,” a voice greeted, his tone less than approving at the sight of me.

Great, another werewolf who didn’t like witches, I thought. A gasp escaped my lips as Markus dropped me to my feet just before shoving me into the back seat of a black town car with overly tinted windows.

“Alpha, are you sure about this?” the new werewolf asked, my gaze finding his eyes now.

He didn’t look utterly disgusted by me. It was there, but clearly not the prime thought in his head as he questioned his alpha. “If he finds out…”

“He won’t. We’ve already made sure of that. The girl isn’t going to tell anyone. Besides, it’s not like we took her from the packhouse. So, the pack won’t turn on us. They don’t even accept her.” Markus laughed darkly. “Now, let’s go before these witches out here get curious about what’s happening at the cliffs.”

“Yes, sir.”

Markus slid into the back seat with me, my body recoiling as far from him as possible. I pawed at the door handle, desperate to escape the car, but it remained locked.

“Now, now, Little Riding Hood,” Markus purred at me, grabbing me by my leg and dragging me towards him. “The child’s lock is there to protect you. Can’t have you jumping out of a moving car on the interstate, now can we?”

“Sounds a whole lot better than going anywhere with you,” I spat out, pulling against his hold.

The car began to pull out of the parking lot, and my head whipped around to see a sign that hadn’t been there when Katya and I had pulled up. A warning sign to the tourists and locals about loose rocks on the cliffs, the potential of falling, and a rope blocking the parking lot, preventing anyone from entering. How had they been able to plan so flawlessly? I had only just decided to go home to my parents, yet they were so prepared to take me. How?

As we passed the entrance to my neighborhood, I felt a cry bubble up my throat. Familiar faces stood among a crowd, walking toward the cliffs to investigate the closure. I tried banging my hands on the windows, screaming out to my father and mother as they walked by—all to the great amusement of my captor.

“They can’t hear you. They can’t see you. They can’t help you, Little Riding Hood,” Markus said with a laugh. “So just sit back and relax. We have about an hour's drive to my packhouse. Thompson, how about some music to calm your new Luna?”

“Yes, sir,” Thompson replied through gritted teeth, the music filling the car.

“There,” Markus sighed. “Just enjoy the ride. We will be home in no time, Little Riding Hood. Then we can take care of that false mark you bear before giving you mine.”

I cringed at his words, my hand reflexively going up to my shoulder where Nyte had marked me, as if I could protect my connection to him that way. My body curled into a ball in the seat, pressed against the door as I gazed out the window, watching the passing scenery. He wouldn’t be able to remove my mark. I knew that for sure now. The mark of a fated mate was permanent. No amount of magic in this world could sever the bond, but someone could certainly try. No matter how painful it might be for the couple, they could still attempt to tear them apart.

My other hand touched my belly, worry crinkling my brow as I thought about the pain I would be forced under in Markus’s delusions of making me his mate. The amount of torture I would endure could quickly end my pregnancy—a pregnancy that I had no guarantee of experiencing again, given my health condition. I had to do something to protect my baby while I could.

I glanced over at Markus, watching him hum and tap his fingers to the beat of the song. He was completely distracted from me, giving me the perfect moment to act. I slipped my hand under my shirt, pressing my bare palm to my skin. Closing my eyes, I focused my power on the hand, picturing a perfect sphere of magic surrounding my child like a second womb. My child would feel none of the stress or pain I would endure inside the sphere. It would be as if I were walking along the beach, swaying the baby with my movement.

As I opened my eyes, we were on the freeway, the world speeding by in a blur as we left the peninsula behind, and all I could do was watch. My heart screamed out with each mile we sped. The tether between Nyte and me stretched thin but never broke. He knew I was gone by now. He was screaming through the bond and following my every move. He would feel where I was going—the direction and the speed—but would he know the end location before I arrived? Would he know what happened or think I was running away?

Closing my eyes, I reached out to the bond, tapping it to let him know I was there and hadn’t run from him. Not this far, at least. I had never intended to be away from him for long. I only wanted my family to help ground me and control my anger. I would have been back to him by tomorrow at the latest.

Another strum rattled the tether between us—a response to the tap I had sent him. I could feel his emotions—fear, anger, confusion. I gathered my own, trickling them back to him, starting with my anger and hurt. I had been so mad at him when I left—all the secrets he had kept from me, the decisions he had made for me that controlled my life. I wasn’t a toy to be bent and twisted at his will.

Then I sent him my fear. Not for me, but for our child. The danger I was in should Markus discover I was pregnant. The risk my child would be in. I sent him the anger I felt toward Katya, the betrayal of her deceit. She had tricked me. Even with as much as she didn’t like me, I never would have thought she would lead me to the person I had been hiding from. She had purposely made me trust her, putting on a show of accepting my place with Nyte only to take me to the man who would see me destroyed instead of with my rightful mate.

Nyte. I can’t get out of this without you.

The thoughts trickled down the bond—a prayer to the gods that he would hear my words, that he would understand. For good measure, I sent down images of Markus and the wolf driving—his Beta, I assumed. I sent images of what Katya had done, her car, her fake smile as it fell from her lips when I stopped making things easy for her, and my bag. She had taken my bag with my cards inside. If I had any chance of escape, Nyte would need to be able to find my bag and prove her involvement. That was if he could even convince his pack I was worth saving—a Luna they didn’t want.

“What are you thinking about over there?” Markus asked, as if we were a real couple driving through the city.

I turned and glared at him, keeping as much space as possible between us in the small back seat. “I’m thinking about how great it’s gonna be to see Nyte kick your ass when he comes and gets me.”

Markus let out a deep laugh, his head falling back on the headrest of his seat. “Even if he wanted to come for you, he won’t.” He turned to look at me with a cruel smile on his lips. “We are at war with something much bigger than all of us. The war is making us all join together as one. Can’t be one if he comes charging into my territory for a little witch.”

He reached out for me, and my body jerked back. I curled my lip in a snarl, glaring at him. “You mean like how you kidnapped this little witch from his territory?”

“His territory? Oh no, he has no territory. He gave up his future as the Alpha when he claimed you as his mate. No, he’s just a rankless wolf in the pack now. And the Alpha of the Coronado Pack isn’t going to care that I took you. He is too busy worrying about his pack to care about a little witch from the San Diego Coven.”

He laughed again as my back pressed against the door as much as I could without merging with the leather. He was right. Nyte had given up any power he had in the pack for me. He had brought me in because I asked him for help hiding from Markus. Now all of that had backfired. Nyte had no power to help me now, and by hiding in the packhouse, I had lit up flares for Markus to find me. Had I not asked Nyte to help me and just stayed hidden at home, would I have ever fallen into his hands? And if I had, would Nyte have had the power he needed to come for me then? He would have probably been Alpha by then. The pack wouldn’t have been able to reject him had he waited to claim me until after he took over. They would have had no choice but to accept me as their Luna.

Now, all Nyte had on his side was Madi and Chase.

A soft scoff left my lips at the thought of Chase. I had thought he was my stalker. I had been so suspicious of him. Right up until the end, watching him chat with Katya before I left, I had been wary of his intentions. Now I doubted he was ever a real danger to me at all—just a guy who was looking out for his friend’s mate.

“Thompson, call the pack. Tell them there will be a meeting as soon as I arrive. I want everyone to be ready to greet their Luna. And I want no objections to who she is. I’m not like Nyte. I won’t allow my pack to drive me out, and I won’t allow them to reject my chosen mate.”

“Yes, sir,” Thompson answered, pushing a button on the screen of the dashboard and calling on a number.

Markus turned to me as Thompson talked over the speakers, smiling. “See, life as my Luna is already going to be far better than what Nyte offered you. I offer you power.”