Chapter 23

The pure terror that rocked me should not have been possible for a person to feel but knowing that my future was now in the hands of monsters terrified me to the verge of tears. My eyes filled, so I blinked many times quickly to try and stop them from falling.

“What do you think will happen now?” Again, I was scared to hear what Mum had to say, but the not-knowing was already killing me.

“I don’t know.” It was probably hurting Mum not being able to give answers in a situation like this or even be the one asking. Since she became a Luna, all she has ever known is how to comfort and protect her people. But now, she had more questions than answers.

“How long have I been out?” I groaned as I attempted to sit up; my whole body protested the movement, and my head rejected the idea of being upright, deciding to spin and dance as if it was going at it on a pole.

“Only a couple of hours, possibly. But if I remember correctly where his territory is, then his pack shouldn’t be much further.”

I looked Mum in the face; a grim expression was cemented in place. I was hoping that we all had a bit more time to try and figure something out, but the looks that she gave me said it all; we were not getting out of this.

“Who’s in here?”

“Just women and children are in this van and a couple of others. The men that they didn’t kill were beaten, badly, before being put all into one.” Mum sorrowfully answered my question, giving me the information that our once big and bright pack was now reduced to just a few vans full of broken wolves.

“Dad and Eli?”

“They’re still alive, for now. But neither were looking too good when they were taken away.” I could hear her voice breaking as she struggled to let me know the condition of my family, so reached out and pulled her in for a hug.

As I still held her close, she whispered into my ear, “I’m scared, what do you think will happen to us?”

I guess that I could not be shocked at her statement, she could not be strong all the time, something had to give at some point.

“I don’t know, but we’ll figure something out.” I barely made a sound as I spoke the most hopeless words I have ever said before.

Beaux’s voice appeared from the depths of her own despair, ‘He hit us. Our mate hurt us.’

‘I know he did Beaux, but maybe it was just the pressure he was under from his dad.’ I tried to comfort my precious wolf, but I know that she was hurting very deeply, and no words would soothe the pain.

She disappeared into the furthest recess of my mind where she kept herself unreachable whilst she nursed her emotional wounds.

I huffed out a breath, unsure of what to do next. I could hear numerous poundings of nervous hearts surrounding me, and the smell of fear was nauseating. I used my wolf sight to look around the tightly cramped and dimly lit van, seeing nothing but huddled, terrified figures of children and adults of varying ages, many of them weeping for everything that we had lost.

There was a sudden screeching of old, rusty brakes as the van abruptly stopped, lurching all of us around the dirty floor of the van. It was like there was an echo of brakes all around us as many other vehicles came to a stop, then repeated slamming of metal doors as people climbed out.

The van we were being held in swayed as the people from the front climbed out, shouting to each other about the reliefs of being back in their pack and getting off their tired arses. The chatter from the outside seemed to have pressed a mute button inside the van, everyone silenced to listen; it was like everyone was holding their breaths to hear better. There was more shouting around the van, but I could not focus. The panic I was feeling was getting out of control, knowing that once we left this dark hole then we would be facing a whole new world of torture and agony like never before.

Squeaks from the locks came from the back of the dark space, and anyone nearby tried scooting further into the van to escape as both doors swung open to reveal four dirty wolves armed with all manner of weapons.

“Let’s go, move!”

One of the four wolves that stood at the doors grabbed a leg of the nearest child to him, causing a backlash of shrieks from the pup's mum and other females close by as they lunged and tried to pull her free. The males were stronger and better prepared though, they yanked the child free of all other hands and straight out of the van. A tidal wave of females flowed from the van, blinded by the sudden morning sunlight bursting through the clouds and temporarily stunning them.

Many shouts of ‘come here’ and ‘grab them’ called out as multiple males ran forwards to grab the females, using their momentary hesitation to their advantage. They pulled the struggling women away as the children voluntarily followed, crying and reaching for their mothers.

Mum pulled me to my feet and to the doors, where I stood squinting as my eyes adjusted to the light that I had been denied the last few hours. Before I could move any further, someone clutched at my ankle and pulled me free from the van. I landed hard on the floor, winding me and sending a sharp burst of pain all through my already aching body. Again, before I had time to move, someone grabbed at my arms and pulled me up to my feet, sort of. They were pulling me along, away from the van before I had found my footing. I stumbled along through the dry dirt trying to get my balance, kicking loads of dust and crap up all over my already disheveled and grotty dress.

“Get your fucking filthy, tramp hands off her, now!” Reid’s voice roared over all the noise and chaos of people being forced from the formation of vehicles.

As I finally stumbled onto both feet, the person who had me gripped tightly was ripped away, removing my counterbalance so I sprawled on the ground like a starfish out of water.

As I forced myself up into a sitting position with my knees bent to the side of me, I shook my head to try and shake off the momentary stunning from dropping to the ground.

The sound of flesh hitting flesh came from the side of me, and as I moved my ruined hairstyle from my face, Reid came into view, and I saw that him pounding on a bloke's face was the cause of the noise. He stopped hitting the male wolf’s face just so he could grip the male's arm that had grabbed me and twisted it around and backwards so that the bones in it loudly snapped.

Reid spat on the bloke as he rose to his feet and stormed over to me with a look of thunderous rage on his face. It did not matter what expression he wore, he was still handsome as ever and wearing only a pair of low-hanging sweatpants, leaving his impressive, hard arbs on show that had a surge of jealousy take over me at the idea of all the females that were able to see it as well as me.

He came to stand in front of me, his hand outstretched, offering me help to get up from the floor. I was just a bit distracted by the bulge staring me in the face, especially when it started twitching in the baggy grey trousers, showing that there was life there. My pussy twitched right along with it, dying to be filled.

A deep, growling chuckle came from Reid just before he opened his delicious lips. “Hey short stuff, my face is up here. Or are you enjoying the view too much down there?”

Embarrassment coursed through me, forcing heat to my cheeks and making them as red as a slapped ass after a good night.