Chapter 21: Chapter Twenty-One

Saffron took a step backward, stumbling on her feet, as she aimed for the safety of her prison cot blindly.

She knew the Alpha’s presence here only spelled trouble for her. And from the way he assessed her from outside her prison cell, his lips curled up in a snarl, Saffron knew that her days were numbered.

Her body broke out into a full-on tremor, as her eyes locked on the gun hanging by the side of his slacks, her mind flashing back to the way he had killed that man in cold blood, the man whose death was the reason why she was held here in this dirty underground cell.

Tears spilled from her eyes as she shook her head adamantly, denying what her mind and heart knew to be true.

She was going to die today, she knew it, but Saffron refused to accept that truth, even as she stared her death in the eyes.

There was no way that she could be dying here, today of all days.

Where was a white knight when you needed him?

Where was her knight in shining armor when she needed him to save her from her ending now? Where was he?

She thought that she had time. She thought she had the time to execute her well thought-out plan, but it seemed like fate was about to prove her wrong.

She thought that Ivan and Alaric Vaughn had let her live, even when they wanted to end her life, because they wanted to extract information from her.

Now, she realized just how stupid her thoughts were. She should have known that nothing came easy with these gangsters.

Even as he stepped into the cell and the door clicked shut behind him with a resounding clap, Saffron still couldn’t accept the fact that this was going to be the end for her.

Before she could make it to the cot, the Alpha was on her in seconds, his fist slamming into her stomach and knocking the air out of her.

She wheezed as the air got knocked from her lungs, crumpling into a heap on the ground, her hand going over her stomach protectively. Tears blurred her vision, rendering her blind for a moment, but it was nothing compared to the pain in her lower abdomen.

Before she could recover from that brutal hit, he kicked her again, in the ribs with the fury of a man who had been severely wronged, like she had taken something personal from him.

Saffron heard a popping sound, and she knew without checking that she had a broken rib or two.

Pain assaulted her, dulling all of her senses, but there was nothing that she could do to save herself from the monster.

He hauled her up by the front of her T-shirt, eliciting a strangled whimper from her.

“Please,” she managed to croak out, having no idea what she was begging for—for him to stop, or for the pain to go away.

“Please,” she pleaded again, as he threw her into the wall, hard.

Limp, she curled up into a ball, her body shaking with the intensity of her sobs.

She had no idea where the pain was coming from now. It seemed to be coming from all over her body and nowhere at the same time. It was just so overwhelming.

“Who sent you to my pack?” he snarled, spittle flying from his lips and enraged veins throbbing against his temples as he grabbed her by the hair and hauled her up to her feet.

“No one,” she cried out in pain and terror, half-confused about his question but still delirious from the pain to form a coherent thought.

He released her hair with a snarl, shoving her roughly onto the cot and causing her head to knock hard onto the stone wall.

“You want to lie to me now?” he snarled, beginning to pace the length of the cell and flex his curled fists. “You might want to rethink that, girl. I am not here to play. Who the fuck sent you?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she cried, rolling onto her uninjured side and curling her body into a ball.

“You still choose to lie to me?” he roared, stalking towards her and dragging her onto the floor before she could reply.

The force of the hit this time when it came was enough to cause her to slide over to the other side of the cell.

Before she could process what had happened, he flipped her over onto her back, his hands going around her throat.

“I hate liars,” he snarled at her, his hands tightening around her neck and cutting off her air supply.

“I…” she wheezed, clawing at his hands weakly, trying to get him to release her. “Not…”

Her eyes began to roll back in her head due to the lack of air, her hands going lax over his, her body already growing stiff.

Before she was lulled into the deep unconsciousness from the strangulation, he released her.

And it took a moment before she could greedily suck in a huge gulp of air into her body.

Dimly, she registered the opening and closing of the door, but she paid no heed to it. The pain was now assaulting her every which way, and she wished that she had been able to succumb to unconsciousness, knowing that she could escape the pain, if only for a moment.

She wished he had just killed her because dying was better than living through this circle of hell.

She let out a sob, calling out for help, even though she knew none was coming, as she held onto her broken ribs.

His words had confused her then. But it was only now that she was alone, that she was able to think about he said, even though the pain made it hard for her to think.

All her evaluations had been wrong. She thought Ivan had taken her because she had eavesdropped on their conversation, and Alaric’s statements from when she had woken up in the warehouse suggested much of the same thing.

But now, the Alpha had asked her about something that was entirely different from what she had thought.

Did he think that someone had sent her to the island to spy on him and his operations?

If so, did he think that someone could be delusional enough to accept such a job?

Had he forgotten that she had been forcefully taken from her home, after her father had sold her to him, and brought to the island?

Had he forgotten that he had been the one to claim her as his slave?

Did he think that someone had asked her to eavesdrop on that conversation, and many of such, just to report back to them?

Was he as clueless as he was a brute? As irrational as he was quick to torture and murder someone in cold blood?

Had she done anything out of the ordinary to make her seem like she was taking orders from someone else?

The thoughts followed her into a dreamless sleep, as the pain grew too much for her to bear and hold on to her consciousness as well.