Chapter 27: Chapter Twenty-Seven

Saffron walked towards the back of the bar, grimacing at the task before her.

How in the world was she supposed to be able to lift a beer keg all by herself?

But, her employers—her captors—didn’t care about the fragile state of her body.

All that mattered to them was that they ordered, and she obeyed.

“Grab the empty one,” Hael ordered, as he followed behind her to make sure that she did as she was asked.

He could have just gotten it himself and saved her the trouble of exerting her body, while in turn saving his time.

But alas, it seemed like he didn’t care, or maybe he too was just following orders, as was evidenced by the way eyes tracked every single movement of her, ever since she had been re-tasked to cleaning and working as an errand girl at the bar on the island instead of cleaning the cabins.

The voice growled inside her, not at all happy by the new circumstances Saffron had her found herself in and the way she was being bossed around. But, what could she do?

She had no power here. And she certainly had no way to escape, especially now that there were eyes on her every which way she turned.

She had no idea what had happened in the last two weeks since her disappearance, but she knew that something important must have gone down for the Alpha to have her on 24/7 surveillance by other members of the island.

Whatever it was, she knew it had to do with the memories that she couldn’t access.

It still troubled her, the fact that two weeks of her life had gone by without her knowledge.

Two weeks of her life where she could have been anywhere, or done anything, or said something that she shouldn’t have.

But try as she might, she couldn’t remember what happened. It was like something was deliberately blocking her from accessing that part of her memories.

What had happened then?

Had it been something so traumatic that her brain was trying to shield her from it?

She heard that when a person underwent an extremely traumatic event, the brain would try to protect that person from experiencing it once again, even through memory flashes or cognitive responses.

Was it the same case with her?

“What is the hold up for?” Hael snapped from behind her, using his hand to give her a forceful shove forward.

A gasp escaped her lips as she stumbled, turning to glare at him as she straightened her posture.

Weeks ago, when the Alpha’s men had come for her, Saffron had thought that he was the nice one. But now, she took it back. He was an asshole, just like the rest of them.

“What the hell was that for?” she snapped, knowing full well that he couldn’t physically harm her.

Another thing that surprised her.

None of the men or women on the island were allowed to harm her physically.

Why the Alpha had issued such verdict, Saffron had no idea, but she was grateful for it.

It meant that she could run her mouth now without fear of retaliation.

It also meant that the Alpha wanted something from her. No good deed came from the mafia without something being taken in return.

As it stood, she was waiting for the other shoe to drop because she knew it was only a matter of time before he came to collect his debt.

It certainly meant that she would be enjoying the hell out of this forced goodwill for as long as it lasted.

“Get your ass moving!” he snapped, bearing his teeth at her in a predatory way that made her think of Ivan, the creep, who surprisingly had also gone missing the time she went missing.

Unfortunately, he, unlike her, was still unaccounted for.

She scowled but resumed her walk, not bothering to reply to him while also ignoring the leers from the bystanders.

While no one could physically harm her, nothing was said about emotional harm.

And she knew that from the way the men looked at her that they were thinking of creative ways to deal with her without disobeying a direct order from their Alpha.

She took a deep breath and lifted the empty keg up when she reached it, gritting her teeth as the effort made her muscles strain.

Tears gathered at the corner of her eyes, but she choked back on the sob, not wanting to let any weakness show.

She would have run away, but she was trapped on the island until the Alpha set her free, which was highly unlikely, or until she could find a way to escape.

She didn’t let herself think of ways that she could escape because it was an impossible task. There were eyes on her every second to ensure that she couldn’t escape.

Even now, when Hael had strolled away, there was a guy leaning against the wall, watching her with a narrowed gaze as she struggled with the heavy keg.

The voice rattled inside her, urging her to pick it up and not to dally or allow them to see her as weak.

It was easier for the voice to say that.

It wasn’t the one hefting the twenty-pound metal up its body.

She dragged it down the hall with her because there was no way that she would be able to lift it up and walk at the same time without collapsing or breaking a precious bone or two.

She had just set down the keg alongside the rest in the storage room when voices from the other end of the hall reached her.

How she could hear them was another mystery to her. But it seemed like whatever had happened two weeks ago had changed her body in ways that she couldn’t fathom.

Her senses were more sensitive than they had ever been, and her body generated more warmth than ever. Subtle changes that would have gone unnoticed if she hadn’t been as attuned to her body as she was.

“Wouldn’t it be easier if we got rid of her now?” Hael whispered. “I think she is more trouble than she is worth. Look at what happened to Alaric Vaughn.”

“No!” The Alpha growled. “I want to know how she did it or who helped her.”

Saffron frowned, the name Alaric Vaughn registering within her subconscious. But she had no idea how she knew that name or what it meant that she thought she knew him.

“She killed Ivan!” Hael growled, pain underlying his words.

Ivan was dead?

Who had killed him?

She hadn’t known that he and Hael were close, or that they even cared about each other.

‘Not the point!’ she mentally chastised herself, returning her attention the conversation at hand.

“A measly human like her couldn’t have killed both Alaric Vaughn and Ivan at the same time and come out of it unscathed,” the Alpha replied, ignoring Hael’s outburst. “It is simply impossible. Someone helped her, and I want to know who that was. In the meantime, keep an eye on her and report back everything she does to me.”

The ringing in her ears drowned out the rest of their words.

But she had heard enough.

She knew that they were talking about her.

What had she done?

Alaric Vaughn and Ivan were dead.

Hael thought that she had killed them, and the Alpha thought at the very least that someone had helped her.

Was that why the Alpha had issued that verdict? Because he thought she was responsible for the death of his men?

Was he waiting so that he could properly punish her?

Did everyone think that she had done it? Was that why they kept away from her while also keeping an eye on her?

Had she become a murderer just like her captors?

Her vision swam.

What the hell had happened two weeks ago, and why couldn’t she remember? What had happened to her memories?

She blinked, and she was transported back to when she had woken up in mystery guy’s bed.

“You don’t remember?” he asked, his brows furrowing, as he took in her accusing expression.

“If I did, I wouldn’t be asking you,” she snapped back at him, as she shrank away from the warmth emanating from the naked upper half of his body, lust briefly flashing across her face before it got replaced with disgust and anger.

“I have no idea what had happened, but I found you passed out in the ocean, and I brought you to my cabin.”

The memory warped, and she was back in the storage room once again, with no possible solution to her current predicament.

She had to find out what had happened, and why she had no memory of the last two weeks of her life.