CHAPTER 3
The silk in my gown catches branches as I sprint away from the man but I don’t make it far before a hand clamps around my waist and yanks me back like I am nothing more than a rag doll.
“LET ME GO!” I scream, kicking and thrashing. “Ever heard of consent?!”
He says nothing. Then, he just throws me over his shoulder like I am a goddamn sack of potatoes!
Who is this man?
“Put me down, you oversized Neanderthal!”
He doesn’t. Of course not. He just walks calmly through the mud like I weigh nothing.
“I swear to the moon, if you don’t let me go…”
“Keep squirming,” he mutters, voice low and rough, “and I’ll drop you on your head.”
“Tempting,” I hiss. “Might knock some sense into me for not running the other way the moment I saw your fucking face!”
Still… there’s no reaction from him.
Then, a few minutes later…
We stop under another canopy of trees, and without further ado, he drops me on the ground like trash. I immediately sit up, glaring daggers as I wipe mud off my ass.
“Ever heard of chivalry? Or are you too busy being a caveman?” I ask but it is more like an insult to his style of dealing with a woman.
However, when his gaze slides over me, my cheeks burn.
Damn him!
He has no right to be this hot and this annoying!
“Who are you running from, Missy?” he asks again.
I snort. “You. Obviously.”
He steps forward. “Humor me, darling.”
My body goes stiff and every cell screams danger. “Don’t you dare touch me again!”
“I won’t,” he said.
But he is a liar though because the next second, he scoops me up again like I am made of air.
“I am not a damsel in distress, you can just carry off into the woods like this!” I snap.
“You are,” he says simply. “Whether you like it or not.”
My pulse skyrockets. Who the hell is this guy?
“You’re not just a warrior,” I whisper. “You’re high-ranking, aren’t you?”
He nods once.
“Then, why don’t you use your rank to do something useful?! Like not manhandling random girls in the rain!”
He doesn’t blink. “My job is to bring rogues to the dungeon.”
The dungeon of Crescent Fang?
I gasp.
Oh, no!
“You can’t throw me in a dungeon! I’m allergic to enclosed spaces!” I scream but he just ignores me.
Then, we reach our destination; the pack’s dungeon.
I scream again as the iron gate leading to the dungeon creaks open but he doesn’t blink. He doesn’t even flinch and just shoves me inside like I am a bag of trash.
“Seriously?!” I spin around, wide-eyed and soaking wet. “You really don’t know who I am?” I shout but there’s no response and then the door slams shut.
Damn!
Clenching my jaw, I pace back and forth inside the dungeon cell and gaslight myself that everything will be alright.
Then, I stop and take a deep breath.
Okay, I am fine. I mean I am not really fine but I am alive.
However, the air in the dungeon suddenly becomes heavy for my lungs like it’s pressing down on my chest. Using my palm, I hit my chest several times to ease my breathing but as I stare at the moldy stone walls, my brain starts spiraling. It usually happens when I am nervous or stressed.
What if I die here?
I wrap my arms around myself and shuffle backward until I hit the wall, but truthfully, I really hate this! I hate the darkness and I hate the way my own heartbeat is the loudest in the room. Most of all, I hate that I don’t know what’s coming next.
Desperate to get out as soon as possible, I run to the entrance and grab the bars. I grip them like I can force the damn thing open with sheer attitude.
“Silence!” the guard yells.
“At least tell me what I did wrong to deserve this!” I shouted.
He looks at me with cold eyes before speaking. “We execute rogues on sight,” he says.
My stomach drops and the silence between us stretches and then I panic at the thought of being executed!
“But I’m not a rogue!”
He shrugs casually. “Then tell me the name of your pack, Miss.”
I open my mouth to speak… and then close it again because revealing the pack where I belong will only expedite my death. If I am going to tell him that I am from the pack of Reed Moon, or if I admit that I am the daughter of the Alpha, the same man who owes Crescent Fang a lot, I am not just a trespasser. I am public enemy number one, so instead, I lift my chin like I’m not terrified and respond with a question.
“Is that a trick question?”
“Last chance, Miss,” he says.
“Can’t help you,” I say with forced calm, even though my hands are shaking behind my back. “But for the record? Still not a rogue.”
He tilts his head, those sharp eyes narrowing like he’s trying to cut the truth out of me with his stare alone, and then he smirks…that cocky kind of smirk that makes me want to punch his fucking nose!
“No pack and no name means you’re a rogue in the eyes of our Alpha and his brothers,” he informs me.
Then he turns around and walks away from my cell.
I sink down to the cold stone floor, and hug my knees to my chest. For the first time since I left home, I regret my actions. Right now, I am nothing but a prisoner in enemy territory, locked in a dungeon, and sentenced to death.
What’s worse, no one will know about my death.
Damn it!
I press my forehead to my knees and try not to cry. I can’t break down now, not when I am able to leave my Dad’s clutches!
But will they really kill me?
Standing up, I pace like a lunatic. Then, I kick at the walls before looking for a way out of the dungeon. When I find an opening above, I try climbing the stone like I am a werewolf version of Rapunzel but I fall flat on my ass.
I curse loudly!
I curse Jimin.
I curse Dad.
Lastly, I curse the freaking Moon Goddess for giving me the worst luck known to wolfkind.
I want to believe that everything is going to be fine. I didn’t run from Dad’s pack just to rot in someone else’s but the hours stretch and there’s no food or water for me.
I try to think of other options to survive in Crescent Fang when I hear some footsteps approaching my cell.
Then, the door opens.
My eyes widen upon seeing him again, but this time, he is in uniform. So, he is really an official in Crescent Fang!
He is smug, arrogant and freakin’ hot!
I glare. “Oh look. My kidnapper returns.”
“You should be honored that I came here to escort you personally,” he says.
I raise a brow. “To where? A five-star hotel? A chic coffee shop?”
“To your execution.”
My blood turns to ice, and then I blink in disbelief.
“W-What?”
“You heard me,” he says, already pulling out the damn chain. “Don’t keep the high-ranking wolves waiting.”
“You’re joking, right?”
“Do I look like I’m joking, Vivienne?”
So, he remembers my name but at the moment, it isn’t important. Did I hear him right?
I shrug my shoulder, but then I notice the metal collar in his hand. “What is that for?” I inquire.
“It’s for you,” he answers and then he immediately fastens it around my neck like I am some wild animal.
“Oh fantastic,” I snap but he says nothing.
He just drags me out of the dungeon toward the execution platform in the courtyard and then I freeze. The courtyard is packed with more than a hundred wolves, and they are all staring at me.
I glance at the platform and I laugh bitterly. This can’t be real. This has to be a nightmare or some fever dream I will wake up from… and then I see him.
The Alpha of Crescent Fang!
He strides onto the platform like the ground bows beneath his feet and every step is soaked in authority, command and absolute power. He doesn’t even speak yet but I feel him…in my soul. Then he sits on his chair, and his brothers follow. When our eyes meet, it hits me!
It was them! The bastards who saved me before. I wasn’t hallucinating. There were really three of them!
They look at me with curiosity, and suddenly, I catch a whiff of their scents and my wolf howls. My knees wobble at the truth before me!
However, they are not supposed to be mine and they are my Dad’s mortal enemy.
Can I deny the matebond?
I don’t want them as my mate but when our eyes meet again, I swear they feel it too!
When I open my mouth to beg the Alpha for my life, he rises from his chair, and walks toward me. His brothers follow him and as they get closer to me, the bond slams into me like a cruel joke from the Moon Goddess herself.
I lurch forward, yanking at the chain like a madwoman, but then he raises his hand at the crowd to shut up for a moment.
What’s going on?
It’s not possible, right?
My wolf goes still, then she starts purring!
Not one or two, but three!
I have three mates…so what kind of cosmic glitch is this?
“Kill her.”
I gasp as soon as the Alpha orders the executioner and for a moment, my world crumbles.
Is this really the end?
