Chapter 13: Chapter Thirteen

It was the noise that made Saffron pause as she stepped into the main cabin, holding the freshly pressed linens she had gotten from the laundry room.

She had passed the main cabin earlier and gotten into the laundry room without incident, and now, she was hoping to return to her chore without meeting the Alpha and his men.

She really didn’t want to investigate what the noise was.

Determined to ignore it, Saffron started on her way when the noise came once again, halting her in her tracks.

The noise had come from behind one of the closed doors.

Saffron looked left and right, checking to see if anyone was coming that way.

The cabin was basically empty, since everyone on the island was mostly outside, or in the other cabins, as they prepped for the celebration.

Taking a deep breath, she set the linens on a table by the wall, nudging aside the vase that was kept there.

Tiptoeing to the door where the hushed voices were coming from, Saffron bent down to peek inside the room through the tiny keyhole, her heart beating wildly against her chest.

The Alpha was hunched over something in the middle of the room peering at something, while his men circled around him.

They talked so quietly and rapidly that Saffron was unable to make out what they were saying. But from all indications, they seemed to be arguing over something.

‘What do you think you are doing, Saffron?’ the voice hissed, shaking its head at Saffron’s stupidity. ‘You do know what they say about the cat that got curious? She died. Curiosity killed her.’

“How do you know it’s a her, smartass?” she whispered back, rolling her eyes.

As if they heard her, the men inside the room turned as one to stare at the door. But thankfully, she had the good sense to duck before they were able to spot her.

The smartest thing to do right then was to run away and head back to her chore before she got discovered. But no one said that she was smart, especially when it came to life-or-death situations.

Saffron felt her heartbeat jump into her throat as she cast a quick look around the cabin again, to ensure that it was indeed empty, before turning back to continue watching what was happening inside.

The men had now pulled back, and Saffron was able to see what they have been circling earlier.

It was a man, bound to the floor of the room, his clothes a tattered mess and bloody.

She sucked in a breath, as she took in the amount of blood that covered him and the pool of blood that surrounded him.

Though it seemed like none of the men cared about it, as the Alpha was standing right in the middle of the blood wearing a mask of indifference.

“Will you tell me what I want to know, or should I send your body back to your Alpha?” the Alpha asked quietly, as he gripped the man’s chin in a harsh hold that she was all too familiar with.

“I think we should keep him in the holding cells Alpha,” Ivan spoke in that gravelly tone of his that sent shivers down her spine. “He isn’t talking, and sending back his body to his Alpha could send a message, but that is only what it would do.

“We could torture more information out of him and hit Alpha Gabriel’s pack before they know it.”

Silence followed Ivan’s statement. And she could tell by the uneasy way the others exchanged looks between themselves, it had been the wrong thing to say.

The room was so silent and filled with malicious intent, Saffron barely dared to breathe, for fear of discovery.

She gripped the side of the doorframe, so she didn’t lose her balance.

She should leave; she knew that. But her feet stayed glued to the spot, her one eye peering into the room with rapt focus, waiting to see what the Alpha was going to do.

A part of her wondered if she could run to kitchen and get a set of matches, along with petrol to burn down the room while they were in it and be done with her revenge plan in one swoop.

Kill them all, earn her freedom at once, and also rid the world of their maliciousness.

But she also knew that it was most definitely not a foolproof plan. A lot of things could go wrong while she was executing her murder plan.

And if the Alpha or one of his men were to get wind of what she had just thought of doing or even actually catch her in the act?

Then, her life was forfeit, along with the lives of the other slaves on the island, whether they were her accomplices or not.

“You know that’s not how things work. I won’t break, no matter what you do,” the man tied to the floor spat, his resolve clear even as his blood continued to drip out of his body and onto the wooden floorboards of the room. “You would be just wasting your time. And I do wonder what your son will say when he finds out you are deliberately antagonizing and targeting other packs without…”

The rest of his words were lost, as the Alpha suddenly pulled out a gun and pulled the trigger straight through the man’s chest.

The loud noise ricocheted in the room, startling Saffron, and making a yelp escape her lips before she could stop it.

Clapping a hand over her mouth, she stumbled back from the door.

With trembling hands, she picked the linens and ran out of the cabin through the window, her heart hammering in her chest.

She heard a noise behind her, but this time around, she didn’t stop to check what it was, as she ran for her life.

She had just seen the Alpha kill a man.

And she knew that she would be next if he or his men caught her now or even knew that she had eavesdropped on them.

Oh, she definitely had to get off this island of horrors before she ended up like the man on the Alpha’s office floor.

Tomorrow couldn’t come soon enough.

She bypassed the woods and ran towards the open area bustling with other slaves and dignified members of the Blood Moon gang, trying to seem as normal as possible.

Her heart was still racing wildly, and her hands were still trembling, but her feet carried on as if they had a mind of their own.

She knew that if she stopped, there was a good chance that she would get caught.

And the last thing she wanted was getting caught witnessing something she shouldn’t be privy to when she was only a night away from freedom.

‘I warned you not to listen to what you had no business listening to, and look what you got us into,’ the voice huffed, disappointment about what Saffron had done clear in its voice.

“Not now!” Saffron snapped, as she increased her pace, annoyed that the voice was berating her.

Yeah, she knew that she had messed up, but she didn’t need the reminder. Neither did she need to be chewed out by a voice that had no face to it.

She only stopped when she collided into a brick wall and said wall held her tightly by her hands, restricting her movement.

“Whoa there!”

It was her mystery man. His voice was like a bucket of ice water, dousing the flames of fear that had gripped her heart, instantly mellowing it into relief.

“Are you okay?” he asked, his voice laced with so much genuine concern that, for a moment, she thought about telling him what she saw but decided against it.

For her own safety, she had to keep quiet.

“Yeah,” she nodded. “I just…I’m late for my chore.”

She started to pull away, but his grip tightened a fraction more, not enough to hurt her but enough to still lock her in place.

“Look at me,” he ordered, in a tone that brokered no argument.

Without meaning to, her eyes snapped towards his, honey brown eyes clashing with dark browns.

“What happened? You seem shaken,” he demanded, his eyes momentarily flicking behind her, before returning once again to settle on her.

“It’s nothing. Please let go of me,” she pleaded. “I need to get back to my chore.”

His fingers flexed on her biceps before he released her, his jaw clenched tightly.

She released a sigh before resuming her walk, only looking back once to see that he was indeed still standing on the same spot she had left him, his eyes on her.

Swallowing a lump in her throat, she pushed open the door of the cabin and disappeared inside.