Michelle Torlot
Skylar
Emmeline shook me awake, her voice urgent. She said our father needed to see me right away.
I walked into the room, my heart pounding. The men I’d been watching from my window were there. I felt a flush of embarrassment. I knew I shouldn’t have been spying.
We all knew the alpha of the Tenebris pack was visiting. He was known for his brutality, ruthlessness, and the fact that he was mateless.
Emmeline was still hoping to find a mate with a high rank. She didn’t care if they were fated or chosen.
I did. I wanted my fated mate.
Looking at an alpha was considered disrespectful. I didn’t mean to stare. I was just curious. He rarely left his territory unless it was to attack.
Few people knew what he looked like.
Now, I was standing in the same room as him. I should have been scared, but I wasn’t.
My father started to speak, but the alpha silenced him.
I thought that was rude. This was my father’s house.
Then he took my chin in his large, tattooed hands, adorned with gold rings. He tilted my head from side to side, examining me like I was an animal at a market. I felt a surge of anger. We might not be as wealthy as his pack, but we deserved respect.
He didn’t even ask me his question directly. He asked my father, as if I couldn’t speak for myself.
Then he ordered me to look at him. I didn’t want to, but he forced me to.
I met his gaze for a moment before looking away.
Then he had the nerve to question my parentage. I decided right then that I didn’t like him. How dare he!
My father started to speak, probably about my mother, but he was silenced again.
Then he said the words that made my blood run cold.
“Good, I’ll take her.”
I’d kept my head down out of respect, but at his words, I looked up. His face was expressionless. Not kind, not angry. Just matter-of-fact.
I turned to my father, my eyes wide with fear.
Was this his doing?
“Daddy?” I asked, but the alpha cut me off.
“Skylar? Look at me.”
I swallowed hard and looked back at him.
Then he said the words that made my stomach churn.
“Kneel. Submit to your alpha,” he demanded.
I couldn’t believe what was happening. My father was giving me away.
I shook my head and stepped back.
“N…no. I won’t. You’re not my alpha,” I said, my voice trembling.
I looked at my father.
“Daddy? What’s happening?”
He tried to smile, but I could see the strain on his face.
“Sky… You have to go with Alpha Sebastian, you’re to be his mate.”
I shook my head. This couldn’t be happening. My father had always protected me from mateless wolves.
Now he was giving me to this brute.
“No…no,” I protested, “I won’t go. He’s not my mate, not my true mate.”
I turned and ran for the door. I’d run away if I had to, but I wasn’t going to give myself to him.
Somehow, Alpha Sebastian reached the door before I did. He slammed it shut and grabbed my hair.
I cried out as he yanked my head back. It felt like a thousand nails were being driven into my scalp.
He forced me to look at his face, which was now twisted with anger.
“You will submit to me, Skylar, now kneel,” he warned.
I heard a voice in my head. At first, I thought it was my wolf, but then I realized it was Emmeline mind-linking me.
Whatever you do, Sky, don’t submit to him.
She didn’t need to tell me. I had no intention of submitting.
I called on my wolf’s strength to give me the courage I needed.
“I will not,” I hissed through gritted teeth.
His hand tightened around my throat.
If it was submit or die, I would rather die.
After that, everything was a blur.
The doors being slammed open as two strange warriors entered, my father’s protests, Alpha Sebastian yelling angrily…
Then one of the warriors came toward me with a rope. I tried to struggle but the alpha’s grip only tightened.
As the rope touched my skin, I screamed.
It burned on contact, and it continued to burn as the warrior roughly bound my wrists together.
There must have been something on it. Wolfsbane, or silver.
I felt my wolf fading as the chemicals did their work.
“It hurts,” I whimpered.
The alpha looked at me and smirked, almost as though he was enjoying my pain.
“There are consequences when you disobey your alpha.”
I was about to scream at him, that he would never be my alpha, but he just walked away.
Even if I wanted him for a mate, what sort of mate would he be? He was vile and loathsome.
I hated him.
I gave my father one last pleading look.
“Please Daddy… Don’t do this,” I begged.
“Just…just be a good girl, Skylar. It’ll all work out if you’re a good girl,” he replied.
Then the rope was yanked harshly. I stumbled forward.
I was dragged out of the pack house by the rope around my wrists, totally ignored by the alpha and the two warriors.
When they didn’t think I was walking fast enough, they would roughly yank on the rope.
I looked behind me one last time as my home disappeared from view. Silent tears ran down my cheeks.
I’d always tried to be good. To be respectful. What good had it done me?
Why hadn’t he wanted my sister?
She would have willingly gone with him. Then why did she tell me not to submit? Not that I wanted to, but it seemed strange.
The thought was soon pushed from my mind as brambles and branches snagged the skin on my legs and feet.
The cuts on my skin were oozing blood, each one throbbing with a pain that seemed to intensify. Without my wolf, I couldn’t heal. Was this what he meant by consequences?
Every time I stumbled or fell, the warrior dragging me along would yank the rope harshly. Shooting him a glare would only make things worse. He saw the blood, but he didn’t care.
I could feel it.
The boundary line between my pack and his was approaching. Once I crossed that line, there was no turning back. I’d heard the whispers. Once I was in his territory, I would be trapped.
This was my home, and I was being taken away against my will.
I came to a halt.
The warrior holding the rope turned his head and shot me a glare.
“Move,” he ordered.
I stood my ground and shook my head.
He yanked the rope so hard that I fell to my knees.
A sob escaped my lips. It wasn’t just the invisible boundary line that had been crossed. I felt something else. A rejection, a severed link.
My pack had rejected me.
I’d heard stories about the pain of being rejected by your mate. It was rare, but it happened. But the agony of being rejected by your pack was a hundred times worse.
No wonder rogues lost their minds or became addicted to Wolfsbane.
I clutched my stomach as best as I could, with my hands still tied. I doubled over in pain and let my tears fall.
I only lifted my head when I felt a gentle touch on my cheek.
“That’s it, Skylar, kneel and submit to me.”
I jerked away from his touch and glared at him.
“You... You did this. You made him reject me from my pack,” I accused.
He looked at me and nodded.
“It’s for the best. Now you just need to kneel and submit to me as your alpha and as your mate.”
I shook my head and glared at him.
“I’ll never submit to you, not ever. I’d rather die. I hate you.”
I glanced at the rope tied to my wrists. I knew it was laced with Wolfsbane or silver. My wrists were still burning from the contact.
That’s why the warrior was wearing gloves.
I grabbed the rope with my bare hands. I didn’t try to stifle the scream that erupted from my lips as the rope seared my palms.
Alpha Sebastian yanked the rope from my hands. He glared at me, his eyes filled with anger.
“Why? Why would you do something so foolish? You know that rope is laced with silver and Wolfsbane?”
I sneered at him.
“You want to hurt me... go ahead, or kill me, you can do that too, I don’t care anymore,” I spat.
He shook his head, then grabbed my arm and pulled me to my feet.
He turned to the warrior who was still holding the rope.
“Come on, let’s go,” he hissed as he walked away.
The warrior tugged the rope gently, much gentler than before. Maybe he felt sorry for me.
I didn’t need his pity. I would just bide my time until there was an opportunity for me to escape.
I didn’t need to remember my sister’s last words to me. I was never going to submit to him. I’d rather die first.